Inhabitants (eng.) / Abitanti (ita.)

The Italian word abitante (inhabitant) derives from the Latin present participle habitans, from the verb habitare (a frequentative form of habēre, “to have” or “to hold”).

The word abito (garment/clothing) derives from the Latin habĭtus, the past participle of habēre (“to have”, “to hold”, “to behave”), indicating a “mode of being” or an “outer appearance”.

These terms open up a constellation of meanings that relate to the body and, more broadly, to our way of being in the world. In this new project, Luna Cenere proposes to investigate this theme through dialogical practices, the sharing of theoretical materials and images, practices of listening, touch and conscious movement, and above all through the collective exploration of questions concerning our way of inhabiting the world in relation to others and to other forms of existence.

Within a dominant culture in which image and the aesthetics of beauty are increasingly linked to performance, hyper-reality, virtuality, speed of reaction and projection towards the future—often at the expense of presence and of being in the here and now—and where a growing gap emerges between who we are and who we would like to be according to socially and culturally imposed standards, what is the role of dance practices? And which practices can reconnect us sensorially to our act of inhabiting ourselves?
The project does not aim to provide answers to these questions, but rather to explore their meaning through empirical experience.

Since 2017, through the sustained practice of nudity, the questions of garment and inhabiting have been central to the artist’s research and reflection.

Every culture inhabits the body in different ways. The question becomes how, through a process of subtracting the garment understood as a social mask—an act of cultural unmasking—we might observe our true habitus as it unfolds within the process of existence.

From these reflections arises the collaboration with costume designer Daniela Cernigliaro, whose contribution within the workshop focuses on the theme of the garment, unfolding it as a practice of research.

A project by and choreography Luna Cenere
in collaboration with Daniela Cernigliaro

Produced by Zebra Cultural Zoo
Supported by Gender Bender Festival
and the participation of Elena Sophia Correale, Micol Cau, Claudia Carini, Ottavia Rancati, Davide D’Ambrosio, Giulia Amadori, Emma Ciavardini, Marco Lodivisi, Letizia Faglioni, Ilaria Maria Samsa, Piera Loffredo, Marieva Vivarelli, Caterina Birolo, Gabriele Pinardi, Andrea Righini, Giulia Silvestri, Adele Tetamo, Veronica Mastrogiovanni.

National Premiere
Gender Bender Festival 2025