Antonella Usai, internationally renowned dancer: «Sardinia is my refuge»

What she has with Sardinia is a strong bond, gradually recovered over the years: «When I was a child, Sardinia was a place of the sea, of holidays, but more and more it has become a place of tradition and the heart and when I can I also try to move my work commitments here." Those are words full of love and gratitude for the Island of Antonella Usai, 52 years old, internationally renowned dancer, choreographer and dance teacher.

Born and raised in Turin, to a Piedmontese mother and a Sardinian father from Ozieri, she escapes to Sardinia as soon as she can not only to regenerate and catch her breath, but also to work: «I am 100 percent daughter of the kingdom of Sardinia», she says. In recent days she was the protagonist in the theater in Cagliari and Sassari, enjoying great success, with the show "Shivoram", a representation that investigates the theme of Consciousness. Poetically political, it is dedicated to Mrinalini Sarabhai, a great Indian dancer and social activist, a tribute to Dance as a path to knowledge and transformation. Trained in Western dance theatre, she arrived at Indian dance theater by graduating in Bharatanatyam at the prestigious Darpana Academy of performing arts in Ahmedabad. She is also the only European dancer to be part of the Darpana Performing Group, one of the most famous Indian dance companies. A thirty-year career, but in his rich baggage there is also a degree in theater history. He then founded the association and the eponymous dance company NAD active in the field of education, information and the production of shows with particular reference to the relationship between human beings and nature.

«Since I was a child I have studied a lot of dance, taken many courses and competitions. I then worked abroad, especially in Belgium and Switzerland, but thanks to the scholarship from the Sardinia Region I started my journey in India. It seems like a lifetime ago, I spent six years there and my new journey in the Indian dance company began."

Today in Sardinia he often organizes seminars that combine well the passion for dance and the love for this land. «For years I have frequently taken groups of people to do intensive seminars to help them get to know and experience the Island. They are dance and yoga seminars in contact with nature and then with the history of the place, so as to create a profound bond between man and the environment."