Ten years after the establishment of the Dance section within the Venice Biennale, a need has been felt to take stock in order to start anew and reflect on the future of dance. The result is an ample and ambitious project summarized in the title Degree Zero. The project will take place over the three-year period 2009, 2010, and 2011 under the direction of Ismael Ivo.

Among the ideas that inspired Degree Zero we can include the need to create a place for critical thought and discussion; to bring new ideas into circulation; to respond to the need for renovation.

In 2009 the project consists of:

• Arsenale della Danza (30 march – 30 june) the creation of a national center dedicated to contemporary dance training which will unite the importance of conveying knowledge through contact with the Masters and the ability to inspire the creative energies of the new generations who will shape the dance of tomorrow. Arsenale Danza will open its doors to the public with open classes and the presentations of the master classes at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, the initiative is titled Open Doors. The public demonstrations will be held in the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale at 6:00 p.m.:
  
  - Thursday April 23, the presentation will feature the work of Geyvan McMillen – a pioneer of contemporary dance in Turkey with the Istanbul Dance Theatre, formerly a guest at the Biennale for the 4. International Contemporary Dance Festival with Kimlikler and Mahrem, a poetic look at the world of women, with its extraordinary emotional impact;
  
  - Friday May 8 will be the turn of Juha Marsalo, the author of an original synthesis between the teachings of Carolyn Carlson and those of Wim Vandekeybus;
  
  - Friday May 22 with Susanne Linke, one of the greatest interpreters of German Tanztheater, who has performed many times at the Biennale Danza, where just last year she presented a revisitation of her famous solo: Schritte verfolgen II – reconstruction.
  
  Every Saturday in the venue of the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (at 4:00 p.m.), scholars, critics and renowned professors, will address some of the essential moments in the historical and theoretical development of this discipline, through several of the protagonists of contemporary dance:
  
  - Saturday 18th April - The art of seduction by Chris Haring, with Francesca Pedroni
  
  - Saturday 16th May - Shen Wei between East and West, with Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino
  
  - Saturday 23rd May - Martha Graham: classical mythologies and modern identities, with Susanne Franco
  
  - Saturday 30th May - Literature and dramaturgy for the performing arts, with Stefano Tomassini
  Free entrance. For further information: +39 041 5218828 promozione@labiennale.org
  

• International Dance Academies (june 26>27) an exchange program with the major institutions and academies also dedicated to contemporary dance training (Centre National de Danse Contemporaine, Accademia Nazionale di Danza of Rome, Scuola d’Arte Drammatica “Paolo Grassi” of Milan, Arsenale della Danza
  
  
  
• The new creation by Michael Clark (June 25>26) the most provocative, brilliant and acclaimed of British choreographers, the author of pure dance to music of the most raucous hard rock, will makes its world debut at the Venice Biennale in the Teatro alle Tese.
  
  
  
• The International Contemporary Dance Seminar (June 26>27)  brings together scholars, artists and experts to address some of the vital issues in dance today, to raise questions about its future development.
  
  

The initiatives of the 2009 Biennale Dance are the indispensable premise to the 7th International Festival of Contemporary Dance that will take place in 2010: an event conceived within a process of knowledge, planning and experimentation of which it is the natural outcome.

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