L’Alliance New York announces upcoming performances of Alessandro Sciarroni’s Save the Last Dance for Me, set for Saturday, February 28, 2026 at 2 & 4PM and Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 2PM (followed by a two-hour workshop) at Le Skyroom, L’Alliance New York, 22 E. 60th Street, 8th Floor, NYC. Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased https://lallianceny.org/event/save-the-last-dance-for-me/.

 

A dazzling revival of the nearly forgotten Italian folk dance Polka Chinata, Save the Last Dance

for Me is a breathtaking duet of whirling spins and sweeping knee bends. Hailed as “engaging,

delicate, and terribly attractive” (La Terrasse), this acclaimed work reimagines tradition with

boldness, beauty, and contemporary flair. The performance is 20 minutes.

 

Following Sunday’s performance, dancers Gianmaria Borzillo and Giovanfrancesco Giannini will host a workshop to teach Polka Chinata to the public. Borzillo says: “The workshop is for every kind of body, every age. The dance is difficult. It took us six months to learn. Mastering it isn’t the goal of the workshop. The goal is to save the dance — maybe not from extinction, but from memory loss. A folk dance survives as long as someone has a memory of it. People who come to the workshop may not be able to dance it completely, but they will know what it is, and that’s how it survives.”

 

These performances and the workshop are part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival in New York.

 

Alessandro Sciarroni is an Italian artist active in the field of Performing Arts with several years of experience in visual arts and theater research. His work starts from a conceptual Duchamp-like matrix using a theatrical framework and they are featured in festivals, museums and unconventional spaces, in Europe, South and North America and Asia. In his creations he involves professionals from different disciplines and uses some techniques and experiences from dance, as well as circus or sports. His work tries to uncover obsessions, fears and fragilities of the act of performing, through the repetition of a practice to the limits of the physical endurance of the interpreters, looking at a different dimension of time, and to an empathic relationship between the audience and the performers. In 2019 he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance by the Venice Biennial.

Alessandro Scarroni is an associate artist of MARCHE TEATRO.

 

Gianmaria Borzillo was born in Sorrento in 1995. Dancer, performer, and director, after attending classical studies, he graduated from the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi in Milan and studied, among others, with Ariella Vidach, Biagio Caravano, Enzo Cosimi, Annamaria Ajmone, Cristina Rizzo, Maria Consagra, Ida Kuniaki, and Paola Lattanzi. His studies were complemented by training and workshop experiences with Erna Ómarsdóttir & Valdimar Jóhannsson, Virgilio Sieni, Leonardo Lidi, Dante Antonelli, Collettivo Cinetico and Anagoor. He graduated in modern literature with a thesis on film aesthetics and continued his studies in cinema and literature. In 2018, he collaborated with Israeli choreographer Dana Yahalomi and her collective Public Movement. In 2019, he supervised the scenic movements in Saul by Giovanni Ortoleva. He is a dancer in Augusto and Save the Last Dance for Me by Alessandro Sciarroni, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Dance Biennale. He is a performer in Nanaminagura by Antonio Ianniello. His first original work, Under the Influence, received a special mention at the under-30 call for directors at the Venice Biennale under the direction of Antonio Latella in 2020 and a special mention from the jury (Ippolita Di Majo, Maurizio Braucci, Davide Iodice, Roberto Andò, Viola Ardone) at the Premio Leo De Berardinis / Teatro di Napoli.

 

Giovanfrancesco Giannini is a dancer and choreographer who graduated from the Civica scuola Paolo Grassi Milan. He collaborates with Alessandro Sciarroni, Francesca Foscarini, Cie Eco Emilio Calcagno, Fabbrica Europa. He is an associate artist of Körper- Centro di Produzione della Danza and of Aiep- Ariella Vidach. He has danced for Sang Jijia, Dimitris Papaioannou, Stefano Poda, Luca Veggetti, Mathilde Rosier, Dominique Dupuy, Ismael Ivo. His works have been presented at the Santarcangelo Festival, Nao Performing Festival, FOG Triennale performing festival, Fabbrica Europa, CCDC festival Hong Kong, Korperformer, Secret Florence. The Memories project is among the winners of the Crossing The Sea 2019 call. In 2020, he was among the Italian artists selected for CRISOL.

 

Billing Credits

Concept: Alessandro Sciarroni

With Gianmaria Borzillo and Giovanfrancesco Giannini

Artistic Collaboration: Giancarlo Stagni

Music: Aurora Bauzà and Pere Jou (Telemann Rec.)

Styling: Ettore Lombardi

Technical Direction: Valeria Foti

Tour Technician: Cosimo Maggini

Curation, Promotion and Consulting: Lisa Gilardino

Administration and Executive Production: Chiara Fava

Communication: Pierpaolo Ferlaino

 

Production Credits

MARCHE TEATRO Teatro di Rilevante Interesse Culturale

Co-production: Santarcangelo Festival, B.Motion, Festival Danza Urbana

 

L'Alliance New York's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

 

About L’Alliance New York

As an independent, not-for-profit organization, L’Alliance is committed to providing members and students with engaging French language classes and audacious multi-disciplinary programming that celebrates the diversity of francophone cultures and creativity around the world.

 

A welcoming and inclusive community for all ages and backgrounds, L’Alliance New York cultivates a space where people can meet, learn, explore the richness of heritage, and share discoveries. They strive to amplify voices and build bridges from the entire francophone world to New York and beyond.

 

L’Alliance New York’s history began in 1898 when the Alliance Française established a chapter here in New York City. In 1911, francophile New Yorker MacDougal Hawkes founded the Museum of French Art, French Institute, and opened a space in 1925 inside a beautiful Beaux-Arts building at 22 East 60th Street, where L’Alliance still operates. In 1971, the two institutions combined to create the French Institute Alliance Française, now known as L’Alliance New York.

 

As a product of this union, L’Alliance is infused with the spirit of the original French Institute. Designed to serve as a museum, library, and intellectual and social club for New York’s francophone community, the French Institute is a place where all are welcome – a place of community, culture, support, and festivity.

 

About Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels

Founded in 2020, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is guided by the values of creation, transmission, and education. Its mission is to support artists and institutions in sharing choreographic heritage while encouraging new productions.

 

Since its launch, Dance Reflections has accompanied numerous companies in their creations as well as multiple institutions in the presentation of their works on the international stage. The program is reinforced each year by major events, such as the Dance Reflections

by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival.

 

In addition to supporting the creation and promotion of choreographic works, Dance Reflections places increasing importance on issues of transmission and education. With its partners, the initiative organizes residencies for professional dancers as well as actions to raise awareness of choreographic culture, open to all.

 

Its network, now consisting of more than 60 partners from 17 different countries, continues to grow with each project.