Francesca Santamaria

Francesca Santamaria is an artist active in the field of Performing Arts.
Her research focuses on performance logics and their implications through the moving body and its limits.
She trained as a dancer at Balletto di Roma and at Biennale College Danza 2019, where she performed works by Marie Chouinard and Daina Ashbee. As a dancer with the CZD2 ensemble she danced for Roberto Zappalà, Moritz Ostrushnjak, Amos Ben-Tal and Manfredi Perego, and later as a freelancer for Alexandra Pirici, Clara Delorme and others.
Her authorial journey began in 2021 with SHIFTING TOOLS, a dance film presented and awarded at numerous international festivals including Cinedans 2022 (NL), InShadow Festival (PT), Screendance Festival (SE), and La Danza in Un Minuto (IT).
In 2022, she joined the three-year choreographic research program Incubatore per futur_ coreograf_, CIMD in Milan.
She made her authorial debut in 2024 with the solo COME SOPRAVVIVERE IN CASO DI DANNI PERMANENTI, selected for the Vetrina della giovane danza d’autore 2023 in its work-in-progress iteration and later co-produced by Operaestate Festival and presented at B.Motion 2024.
Within the Milanese hub she works on the research and development of the GOOD VIBES ONLY macro-project.
GOOD VIBES ONLY (beta test) – the first chapter of the trilogy – is co-produced by the festivals MILANoLTRE, Più che Danza, and FDE Festival Danza Estate. In 2025, the creation wins Danza Urbana XL (Anticorpi XL Network) and is selected for the Vetrina della giovane danza d’autore 2025.
She is currently working on GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort), the second chapter of the trilogy, set to premiere at Romaeuropa Festival 2025 as part of the Dancing Days program.
Her works are presented in numerous national and international contexts and festivals. Over the years she has collaborated with various artists of the theatrical and performance scene including Pietro Angelini, Vittorio Pagani, FanniBanni’s, and UCCI UCCI.
Alongside her authorial path, she graduated from La Sapienza University of Rome in “Writing and Production for Performing Arts and Media” with a MA’s thesis on Dance Dramaturgy.
From 2021 to 2023, she participated in various projects with ASAC – Venice Biennale: she conducted archival research at the International Center for Research on Contemporary Arts, she published an essay for Biennale College ASAC – Writing About Dance under the guidance of Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino, and she moderated some of the post-show talks at Biennale Danza 2023.