A forgotten dance that bridges generations, defies gender norms and pulses with life.
In Save the Last Dance for Me, Italian creative artist Alessandro Sciarroni revives the Polka Chinata — a nearly extinct courtship dance performed exclusively by men in villages near Bologna beginning in the early 20th century.
The piece was created in collaboration with Giancarlo Stagni, a Filuzziani dance master who rediscovered the form through archival footage from the 1960s. When Sciarroni encountered the dance in December 2018, it was practiced by only five people in all of Italy.
