Sacre Radici – La Maestà del Legno is a multidisciplinary show in which live music, singing, video, and dance merge into a single narrative of nature and memory, centred on the olive trees of Salento devastated by the Xylella bacterium.
The olives — torn down, uprooted, declared dead — are reborn as works of art: trunks and branches transformed into sculptural objects by the artist Ilaria Milandri, in an act of regeneration that becomes the symbolic heart of the performance.
A second narrative thread recovers the Salentine-period songs of Domenico Modugno, rewritten by Ilaria Milandri and performed live by singer and musician Luca Gemma: another form of rootedness, another way of keeping memory alive through voice and sound.
Concept and texts: Ilaria Milandri
Choreography: Giorgia Maddamma
Music and voice: Luca Gemma
Dance: Sara Bizzoca, Jolanda Perniola, Giorgia Maddamma
Video: Carlo Mazzotta
Sculptures: Ilaria Milandri
Production: Koreoproject
Site-specific performance at Campo dei Giganti in 2024 and 2025 with inmates from the Lecce Detention Centre.
Performances at Fondazione Dino Zoli Forlì, Teatro Fantasia Barletta, Fondo Verri Lecce, Castello di Otranto.
