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ABRACADABRA

CollettivO CineticO

Abracadabra

created and performed by Francesca Pennini 

partner in crime Angelo Pedroni 

original text Francesca Pennini 

original music and sound design Simone Arganini 

set design Alberto Favretto 

technical and lighting design Alice Colla 

invisible actions and inventions Carmine Parise 

costume creation Maria Ziosi 

co-production CollettivO CineticO, Fondazione Teatro Stabile di Torino / Torinodanza Festival, Festival Aperto / Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Centrale Fies | Art Work Space  

with the support of Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale – focus CARNE and L’Agora de la danse in Montréal  

supported by the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Italian Ministry of Culture 

winner of the residency call at L’Agora de la danse in Montréal, supported by CINARS, NID Platform, the Italian Cultural Institute in Montréal, and the Québec Delegation in Rome  

duration 75 min  

notes: Features pulsating lights and high volume. 

Abracadabra means ‘disappear like this word’ and ‘I create as I speak’. Abracadabra is many different things, all at once. It is a performance about magic, truth, and imagination. It is a piece born from Francesca Pennini’s true story and her radical 130-day experiment in disappearing.  

CollettivO CineticO enchants with a metaphysical performance made of imagined bodies, hallucinated images, and words that burn in the flesh and evaporate in the breath. It tells of a body torn apart and put back together, like the classic illusion of sawing a woman in half. It speaks of bodies disappearing at the boundaries of illness or madness, where the very nature of reality is questioned. Abracadabra takes shape within the mind of the spectator, in the breath shared between the auditorium and the stage. And it is precisely to our thoughts that the spell of fragility and strength—of all that is merely imagined—is entrusted. It is up to us not to let it vanish into thin air, but to breathe it in, completely. 

Francesca Pennini

Francesca Pennini is a choreographer, director, and dancer. She trained across a wide range of disciplines, from gymnastics to freediving, and Butoh to disco dance. She studied at the Balletto di Toscana and the Laban Centre in London. She has worked as a dancer for Sasha Waltz & Guests and has been the artistic director of CollettivO CineticO since 2007, the year she founded the company. She has created works for the Balletto di Roma and the National Dance Company of Malta. She teaches at numerous institutions, including Biennale College Danza, the Academies of Fine Arts in Rome and Brera (Milan), Hochschule Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and the University of Bologna (DAMS), and is a lecturer in the Theatre and Performing Arts programme at the Iuav University of Venice.

CollettivO CineticO

CollettivO CineticO, founded in 2007 by choreographer Francesca Pennini, brings together over 50 artists from diverse disciplines. The collective investigates the nature of the performative event through playful yet rigorous formats bridging dance, theatre, and visual arts. A central focus is the development of methods for composing and organising movement, engaging bodies and devices to challenge perception and the relationship with the audience. These processes shift fluidly from the stage to urban spaces, and from everyday mimetic acts to virtual platforms. The company has produced 68 works, receiving numerous awards, including the J. Korenić Award for Best Young Theatre Director; the Rete Critica Award 2014 for Best Artist; the 2015 Danza&Danza Award for Best Choreographer and Performer awarded to Pennini; an Ubu Award nomination for Best Performer Under 35; the Hystrio Iceberg Award 2016; the MESS Award at the BE Festival 2016; the ANCT Award for Dance Theatre 2016; the Ubu Award 2017 for Best Dance Performance, and the Grand-Prix for Best Performance at the 58th MESS Festival in Sarajevo for Sylphidarium. In 2023, Francesca Pennini won the Ada D’Adamo Award for research and inclusivity, and in 2024, the Arte: Sostantivo Femminile Award.