Description
A fluid border territory inhabits cities. We see this in the many gangs and groups that mark the lives of second-generation immigrants. These dynamics have always existed in urban subcultures, creating shared languages that choose music and dance as their label and banner. Here we bring to light the Milanese world that has moved from tenement houses to suburban apartment buildings, which identified itself in Ambrosian dance. We present documents, chronicles and reflections from research conducted over 40 years in the city of Milan, when only the last representatives of this world remain. Other gangs, other groups, other dances populate the streets, discos and social centres of the suburbs. Bauscia (meaning “show-off”), used in particular by one of the masters, accompanied Michele and Romana’s progress for several years. It is a characteristic Milanese and Lombard interjection with which some Ambrosianists addressed dancers who showed off with particular and flashy steps or moves. The intention was halfway between mockery and admiration: an epithet emblematic of the invitation to control, moderation on the dance floor and openness to comment, comparison and judgement in life.
ARCHIVE DOCUMENTS, AUDIO, VIDEO, DISCOGRAPHY, ANALYTICAL INDEXES, SCORES AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION WITH QR CODES CONTAINED IN THE TEXT.
Michele Cavenago has a degree in foreign cultures and physiotherapy, with a study on movement analysis. A music and dance animator, he is involved in the visual documentation of traditional dance and its contexts.
Romana Barbui has a degree in cultural anthropology, trained in dance movement therapy, and is a primary school teacher. She carries out training and animation activities and is involved in the visual documentation of traditional dance and its contexts; she has contributed texts and visual materials to various publications.
Fabio Lossani is a musician, guitarist and composer who has been active in Milan since the 1970s. He was a member of the Cooperativa Musicale l’Orchestra di Milano and works in some historic Milanese venues (Palazzina Liberty di Dario Fo, Derby Club Cabaret, Capolinea Jazz Club). In the 1990s, he turned to jazz, about which he has written several publications. He collaborates with Radio Popolare Milano on his programme “La Musica del Vento” (The Music of the Wind).
Placida Staro, ethnomusicologist and ethnocoreologist, has been researching and analysing music and dance since 1974 and is also active as a choreographer, musician and teacher. She has published hundreds of articles and audiovisual works in Italy and abroad on dance, singing and movement analysis. She is president of the Ethnochoreology Study Group of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance, of which she has been a member since 1985.
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