Giovanni Di Cicco is an acclaimed choreographer, dancer, and pedagogue based in Genoa. Drawing on his extensive theatrical experience, he founded and assumed the artistic direction of the experimental project DEOS - Danse Ensemble Opera Studio in 2013, within the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova. In 2015, DEOS became an independent resident company, where Di Cicco has developed innovative projects between contemporary dance and theater. For DEOS, he has choreographed numerous productions, including Esclamazioni Mute (a project supported by SIAE and Mibac), Portrait à danser, Scarlatti in Danza, Blaubart Blue, MM_MicrocosmoMozart, Relâche, Pulcinella, Un tango per Violetta, Frammenti sotto un affresco, Tempesta, Sottosopra, Menodramma Dry, Scrittura per un corpo indefinito, Archeological Sextet, and Spirite. In 2021 he choreographs Tango Macondo with original music by Paolo Fresu for the Teatro di Bolzano. Since 2018, he has collaborates with the Teatro Nazionale di Genova, choreographing many of the productions for the 2019/2020 season. With the Dergah Danza Teatro company, he created numerous choreographies, including Stanza augurale, Il quattordicesimo fiore, Sheliak, Pizzeria Kamikaze, and Commedia delle ceneriand establishes a multi-year collaboration with the Ikonoklaste festival in Wuppertal. He was Guest Choreographer for the Dansa Contemporanea de Cuba company. He has worked with the Compagnia Arbalete in Genoa since 1983. In 1988 and ‘89 he was a guest at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen (directed by Pina Bausch), where he choreographed Occasione per uno schizzo. As a professor at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza di Roma, he directs the master class L’Azione Silenziosa, supported by MiC. He is a member of the Galata Mevlevi Music and Sema Ensemble of Istanbul and a board member of AIADA (Italian Academy of Aikido and Related Disciplines). His works, alongside collaborations with prominent directors and musicians such as Daniele Abbado, Giorgio Gallione, and Paolo Fresu, reflect an artistic pursuit that seamlessly integrates movement, technologies, and cultural traditions.

Ahmad Rifai Hambrouch is a rotating dervish from Aleppo, born in 1994. His father, a dancer, taught him the Sufi dervish dance from an early age. At the age of 5, he performed for the first time in front of an audience, becoming the youngest dervish to take the stage. At the age of 18, he left Syria because of the war, but did not lose his passion for dance. He performs regularly in Europe and aims to make his art known to the general public.