Francesco Nappa was born in Napoli in 1974 and was trained there at the Accademia Napoletana di Danza Classica directed by Mara Fusco.
During his studies he joined the “Balletto di Napoli” and receiving the Thomas Cook’s scholarship he joined the senior class of the English National Ballet School. From 1992 to 2000 he joined Les Ballets de Monte Carlo where shortly was promoted soloist and than principal.
He has worked, created and performed pieces by choreographers such as: O.Anderson, K.Armitage, T.Brandsen, S.L.Cherkaoui, B.D’At, N.Duato, W.Forsythe, A.Gingras, J.Godani, J.Inger, J.Kylian, J.C.Maillot, P.Martins, N.Musin, O.Naharin, J.Neumeier, K.O’Day, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, T.Rushton, B.Scherzer, M.Tancard.
In 2000 he joined the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen and two years later the Nederlands Dans Theater in Den Haag.He was awarded for several prices: the Svenage Larsen price 2001 in Denmark.,Li Galli d’oro 1991, Leonide Massine 1994- carrier price, Roscigno Danza 2007 , Bianca Gallizia price in 2011, Amalfi International dance price 2012in Italy ,Capri International choreographic price 2014.
Since the summer 2008 he started of his carrier as a freelance artist by dancing, choreographing, coaching, painting and composing computer’s music.
He was frequently invited to perform at severals gala performances such as “Roberto Bolle & friends” among others and he gives choreographic workshops around Europe.
Francesco composed electronic music for known choreographer such as J.Godani (Disingenio), L.Timulak (Due a Due and Dear Reader) P.Delcroix (Equilibrium) V.Kunes (Twenty Questions and First Pages ) K.Ossola (Off Light) A.Salant Alt i Alt and composed for himself Play Ground, Backlash, Noi l’altra parte di me , Art von Blau , Faux Sans Blanc, Cromatismi, Hevea, Oltre il Riflesso, Identity, Prémices, Kuruka, Under-Standing..
Francesco has been setting Jiri Kylian‘s “Double You” for the Gauthier Dance Company in Stuttgart . He was invited in 2009 for the Italian Festival Danza D’Autore in collaboration with Körper Associazione Culturale to present a full evening of his work and for the Cannes Dance Festival 2009 where he presented his “Backlash”.
In the same year he created “Pulcinella” for the Cannes Jeune Ballet, “Art Von Blau” for the Palucca Schule Dresden, ” Wierd Fishes” for the Gauthier Dance Company in Stuttgart.In 2010 he created “Faux Sans Blanc” a video project where was presented for the International Video Festival at the PAN Museum in Napoli and a dance version of it was performed for the Italian Festival “Uomini& Danza” at the Teatro Nuovo in Napoli.
Then he created “Cromatismi ” for the Balletto di Toscana in Florence who was premiered in Reggio Emilia in may 2010, “Hevea” for the Ballet D’Europe directed by Jean Charles Gil which was premiered for the opening of the Bolzano Dance Festival in july 2010 and “Shortcut” together with Lukas Timulak for the Reate Dance Festival in Rieti.
In 2011 he created “Oltre il Riflesso” for the Agora Project in Reggio Emilia and “Identity” for the Junior Ballet Geneve in Switzerland. In november 2011 the famous Italian company Aterballetto premiered his first full evening creation “Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie ” in Reggio Emilia where he collaborated with the video designer Gilles Papain .In the same year he founded ,together with Franck Laizet the Somatic Dance Project a dance company based in Lyon.
In 2012 he created ” Prémices for the Jeune Ballet du CNSMD de Lyon, “Kuruka ” and “Under-Standing” for Agora Project in Reggio Emilia , “..d’une paume à l’autre” for the Amalfi International dance price, “Welcome on board” for Körper in Napoli for the Napoliteatrofestival Italia 2012 ..
In 2013 he directed and choreographed his first opera Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle who was premiere in the Christkönig-Kirche in Saarbrucken Germany with the Saarlandiches Staatstheater and he created “Catatumbo Lightning ” for Theater Ulm in Germany and “Quartetto” for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.
In 2014 -2015 he created “Eduardo Artefice Magico” a full evening for the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli , reset “Catatumbo-Lightning” for Agora project in Reggio Emilia , “La luce nel tempo” for the Teatro Maggio Fiorentino in Florence. Then he created “Una scatola di vita” a full evening for the Mecklenburgiches Staatstheater in Schwerin Germany.
www.francesconappa.com
