Love Parade
ocram dance movement/Glenda Gheller (Italy)
28.07 | 22:00 | “Mikis Theodorakis” theatre
Glenda Gheller
Originally from Asiago, Italy, Glenda started her professional training in various dance programs all around Italy. She then decided to moved to the UK where she continued her education at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. She graduated in 2018 with a First Class Honours Degree and in the autumn of the same year she became a member of VERVE19, a junior dance company directed by Matthew Robinson. In August 2019, she completed her MA Degree in Contemporary Dance Performance. In January 2020, Glenda becomes company dancer of Scottish Dance Theatre, Dundee. During her artistic career, Glenda has performed works by Sharon Eyal, Maxine Doyle, Noa Zuk, Emanuel Gat, Roser Lopez Espinosa, Sofia Nappi, Botis Seva, Joan Clevillè, Ben Wright, Theo Clinkard, Colette Sadler, Mele Broomes, Janine Harrington and Meytal Blanaru. In June 2023 Glenda joins Komoco, Italian company directed by Sofia Nappi. Currently, she’s touring four productions with them, Chora, IMA, PUPO and Wabi-Sabi. Since 2020, Glenda has been developing her teaching practice, leading classes and workshops around Italy and the UK. Over the past few years, she has been developing her own artistic voice as a choreographer. In 2022, she created her first full-length work, Achilles’, commissioned by the Sicilian company Ocram Dance Movement, for whom she later created a new duet, Love Parade (2025). That same year, she premiered Camaré, a solo work featuring dancer Mattias Amadori, produced with the support of Teatro del Lemming, Operaestate, and Scenario Pubblico [Centro di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale]. She was also commissioned by the Institute of the Arts Barcelona (IAB) to create Double Folk for their graduating class. In 2026, she will create works for Balletto di Calabria (IT) and the graduating class of Northern School of Contemporary Dance (UK).
ocram dance movement
ocram Dance Movement was founded in 2013 by Marco Laudani and Claudio Scalia. The idea of creating an ensemble of dancers as a means of in-depth exploration and research has grown over the years, resulting in the realization of 20 productions hosted in internationally renowned festivals and supported, among others, by the Italian Institutes of Culture in New York, Stuttgart, Sofia, and Athens. The symbol of Ocram is a wave, representing eternal movement, transformation, and dynamism as the objectives of an ever-evolving project. Italy, Germany, USA, Argentina, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Turkey, Greece, Mexico, Bulgaria, Poland, and France are the locations where Ocram has performed during its first ten years of artistic activity. Since 2022, the company has been associated with the Center of Relevant Interest for Dance “Scenario Pubblico.”
“Everything we seek can only be found in the present”
“Love empowers us to live fully and die well”
“To believe that to be too celebratory is dangerous”
“All about Love: New Visons”
bell hooks
Imagine a parade, not of allegorical floats, but visions, a procession that winds through introspective spaces where love reveals itself in all its honest complexity.
A silent exchange begins between two bodies, connected by the shadows of the past and an intangible future, they are striving to dialogue, fully embracing just that present moment.
The parade reveals love amidst the fragility of existence. Love and loss are constantly intertwined, moving like two directly proportional forces. Everything becomes a delicate balance between an embrace and a farewell.
Love spreads: a chaotic multitude of voices merges into a single chant, an anthem of diversity and inclusion.
A powerful whirlwind of movement becomes a liberating, wholehearted cry for universal love.
Love Parade reflects, in its present, the battles of the past.
From the ballroom culture of 1980s New York, where queer minorities competed in catwalk battles to celebrate their identity and artistic expression, to the Love Parades festivals of 1990s Berlin, where rhythm and movement were acts of manifestation for peace, unity, and love without labels and restrictions.
Inspired by the provocative reflections of bell hooks, Love Parade also looks with hope to the future,
inviting us to speak of real love, without veils and idealizations. It all begins with “Why are we still afraid to talk about love?” and continues with the desire to encourage this feeling, which remains at the core of human existence.
Idea and choreography: Glenda Gheller
Dramaturgy: Glenda Gheller with the collaboration of Sergio Campisi
Production: ocram dance movement in collaboration with Scenario Pubblico Centro di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale
Original music: Michele Piccolo and Massimo Lievore
Costume consultancy: Adriano Popolo Rubbio
Costume Creation: Gabriella Palomba
28 July | 22:00 | “Mikis Theodorakis” theatre
ocram dance movement/Glenda Gheller – Love Parade
