Benjamin Millepied e November Ultra – SUMMERLAND - REF2026

As part of the celebrations marking the twinning of Rome and Paris, the RomaEuropa Festival welcomes, in its 41st edition, an extraordinary artistic encounter between Benjamin Millepied and November Ultra, the creative forces behind Summerland, the latest work by the acclaimed French choreographer.

A leading figure in the international contemporary dance scene, former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, former Artistic Director of the Paris Opéra Ballet and founder of L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project, Millepied brings to the stage a work inspired by the intimate, dreamlike musical world of November Ultra. With a sound that moves effortlessly between bedroom pop, R&B, folk and electronic music, the French singer-songwriter and producer becomes the heart of a performance in which music and movement seek each other out, listen to one another and ultimately merge.

On the stage of the Auditorium Conciliazione, a luminous and minimalist setting evokes the infinite, almost intangible horizons of artist James Turrell. Here, every element seems to breathe: November Ultra’s voice, the lighting and the dancers’ bodies gradually come together to create a poetic, delicate and deeply sensory landscape. The singer emerges as a magnetic presence, a kind of living muse around whom intimate moments unfold, slowly expanding into a shared experience.

The title Summerland refers to the Californian town of the same name, transforming its imagery into a metaphor for a place suspended between what we know and what we can still imagine, between memory, light and desire. It is within this undefined space that the performance takes shape, inviting audiences on a journey driven by emotion rather than words.

What makes the experience even more powerful is the immersive quality of the performance. You can sense the dancers’ breath, feel the vibrations of the live music and follow the subtle shifts in light as the boundary between stage and auditorium seems gradually to disappear. Summerland thus becomes an intimate and shared encounter in which dance and music do more than simply accompany one another: together, they create a gentler, brighter and more intense vision of the world.

The programme may be subject to change.