DansCirque at Teatro Belli, November 21 and 22, 2026

DansCirque, the contemporary dance and circus show by the Turin company blucinQue directed by Caterina Mochi Sismondi, is on stage at Teatro Belli in Trastevere on Saturday, November 21, 2026 at 19:00 and Sunday, November 22 at 17:30. The hall is at Piazza di Sant'Apollonia 11/a, 00153 Rome, a short walk from Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. Tram 8 runs along nearby Viale di Trastevere, and the ATAC journey planner gives updated connections. Tickets cost 20 euros full price and 15 euros reduced, according to the theater's official website, and are sold from the show's page on the Teatro Belli website, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the box office (06 5894875, botteghino@teatrobelli.it), open Tuesday to Sunday before performances.

Language: performed in Italian. No English version or English surtitles are announced.

DansCirque at Teatro Belli at a glance

DansCirque is an evening made of three solos of dance, physical theater and music, drawn from three blucinQue shows, with only two performances on the weekend of November 21 and 22.

Dates and times

Saturday, November 21, 2026 at 19:00 and Sunday, November 22 at 17:30. These are the Belli's weekend times, designed to leave the evening free after the show. The length isn't given by the theater.

The price

The full-price ticket costs 20 euros, the reduced one 15 euros. Ask the box office about the conditions for the reduced price.

The credits

Directed by Caterina Mochi Sismondi. Created and performed by Elisa Mutto, Alex Duarte, Gabriel Pimentel, Ivan Ieri, Bea Zanin and Jonnathan Lemos. Produced by blucinQue Nice.

DansCirque: three musical and choreographic movements

The subtitle of DansCirque is Three musical and choreographic movements: three excerpts from shows directed by Caterina Mochi Sismondi, now presented as solos with cello and electronics.

An announcer, as on the radio

According to Teatro Belli's presentation, the three solos follow one another introduced by the announcer Ivan Ieri, who, as in a radio program, tells the audience in advance what they'll see and hear. It's a light frame that holds together three different works and gives the evening the rhythm of a live broadcast.

Why

The first movement, Why, presents excerpts from the show Heroes, in which the icon of the clown becomes the starting point for a reflection on the mask each of us wears. The soundtrack mixes sounds sampled from films, music by Luciano Berio and voices of the clown Grock, with electronics by Bea Zanin.

Effetto Marilyn

The second movement draws on the words of Marilyn Monroe, whose birth centenary falls this year, to turn the image of the doll woman, the object woman, into a liberation from stereotypes through the power of dance.

Solo Due

The third movement starts from the cello and from sound interventions on Bernard Herrmann's score for the film Vertigo. It's an exploration of identity in a single, fragmented, double body, in which instrument, voice and movement talk to one another as in a mirror and meet in disorientation, fragility, limits, the fleeting instant of the sound moment.

The common thread

All three solos come from the company's film-inspired shows and bring back their original music. The theme uniting them, the theater says, is identity, explored in dreamlike atmospheres.

blucinQue, Caterina Mochi Sismondi's company

blucinQue is a dance-theater and contemporary circus company founded in Turin by choreographer Caterina Mochi Sismondi, author and director of all its works, and has been permanently based at Teatro Café Müller in Turin since 2018.

Origins

The company was born from a collective that included, besides the founder, actresses Elena Cavallo and Fabiana Ricca, writer Marta Pastorino and musician and performer Gianluca Pezzino. Its first major work was Studio sulla Vertigine, presented at Mirabilia in 2014, at the Castello di Rivoli and at the Fonderie Teatrali Limone.

From the Piccolo in Milan to Avignon

In 2015 blucinQue won the Next call, which took the company into creation at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, then at the Teatro della Tosse in Genoa and Teatro Astra in Turin. In residence at La Cascade it presented We273, a show devoted to John Cage, which took part in the Festival d'Avignon Off in 2016 and debuted in Italy at Civitanova Danza. In 2017 came Xstream, with more than 30 performances at festivals and seasons.

The female trilogy

Vertigine di Giulietta, Gelsomina Dreams and Effetto Marilyn form what the company calls its Female Trilogy. Gelsomina Dreams, a tribute to Federico Fellini, was selected in 2020 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Ministry of Culture, among the 20 new dance, theater and contemporary circus productions funded by the initiative Vivere all'italiana sul palcoscenico, and was also taken to Frankfurt and Thessaloniki. Effetto Marilyn premiered at Teatro Le Serre in Grugliasco between December 26, 2022 and January 8, 2023 as a tribute 60 years after the actress's death. In 2026 the company presents a new, completely renewed version of it.

The latest works

In 2024 blucinQue presented the world premiere of Puccini Dance Circus Opera, with the Fondazione Entroterre and the ORT Orchestra della Toscana, devoted to Puccini's women. In 2025 came Why and Heroes, works on the conflict between what we are and what we choose to show, between the mask that protects and the one that imprisons.

The story of DansCirque

DansCirque is a 2023 creation. In its first version it contained Solo Due, Coppelia Project and Vladimir Ježić's Missione Priscilla. The Belli evening offers a configuration with Why, Effetto Marilyn and Solo Due. The title has stayed, the movements have changed: a living repertoire, which the company reassembles depending on the occasion.

Caterina Mochi Sismondi and the performers

Caterina Mochi Sismondi is a choreographer, director and artistic director of the national production center blucinQue Nice and of Teatro Café Müller in Turin, as well as co-founder of the Fondazione Cirko Vertigo.

An idea of performance

Mochi Sismondi's work mixes dance-theater, contemporary circus, live music and poetry. With the Fondazione Cirko Vertigo she conceived and directed the multidisciplinary season Solo in Teatro, available on the niceplatform.eu platform, in which many of the company's performers took part.

Alex Duarte and Solo Due

Solo Due was born from Gelsomina Dreams as a solo excerpt between movement, live music and poetry, and was presented at the SoloCoreografico Festival 2022 in Frankfurt. With this work the collaboration with performer Alexandre Duarte took hold. He appears in the Belli credits as Alex Duarte.

Bea Zanin's music

Musician Beatrice Zanin oversees the creation of the original music for all the company's shows. At the Belli evening she does the electronics for Why and is one of the performers.

The team

Alongside Duarte and Zanin, Elisa Mutto, Gabriel Pimentel, Jonnathan Lemos and Ivan Ieri, who acts as announcer, are on stage. The company's technical collective includes lighting designer Massimo Vesco, videomaker Stefano Rogliatti and photographer Andrea Macchia.

Teatro Belli, a historic Trastevere hall

Teatro Belli, today Teatro Belli di Antonio Salines, is a small hall built inside the church of the old monastery of Sant'Apollonia, already active as a theater in the second half of the 19th century.

The hall's many lives

The history published by the theater tells of a building that changed its skin several times: a 19th-century theater, a movie theater with the sign AMOR in the 1910s, a nightclub between the 1950s and early 1960s, until the last night spot closed after a bloody incident at the entrance.

The 1972 rebirth

In 1969 actor and director Antonio Salines took over the ruined hall, already slated to become a restaurant, and reopened it after restoration in January 1972. For more than 40 years he was its artistic director, making it one of the reference points of experimental theater.

A stage for bodies in motion

The technical sheet gives a stage of 9.25 by 5 meters, with a usable space of 8 by 4.54 meters, a slight rake and a grid at 6.80 meters. For dance and contemporary circus these are intimate measurements: the performer's gesture reaches a few meters from the audience, and every physical effort can be seen up close.

Trastevere around Piazza di Sant'Apollonia

Teatro Belli is in the densest part of Trastevere, between Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere and Viale di Trastevere, on a November weekend when the district is full of life.

The basilica's square

The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere is a short walk away: in the evening the facade mosaics are lit, and the fountain in the middle of the square is the meeting point for the whole neighborhood.

Santa Cecilia and Tiber Island

Toward the river are the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and, across the Lungotevere, Tiber Island: a walk suited to Saturday afternoon before the 19:00 performance.

The district on one page

To put together the rest of the day, the page on what to see in Trastevere gathers the neighborhood's churches, museums and squares.

Getting to Teatro Belli for DansCirque

The simplest way to reach Teatro Belli from the center is tram 8 along Viale di Trastevere, or a walk across Ponte Sisto. Check updated options on the ATAC journey planner.

By public transportation

Tram 8 and several bus lines run along Viale di Trastevere. Once off on the viale, head into the lanes toward Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, and from there Piazza di Sant'Apollonia is very close. On weekends frequencies differ from weekdays.

On foot

From Campo de' Fiori, across Ponte Sisto, it's about 10 minutes. On weekends it's often the quickest and most pleasant option.

By car

In the evening Trastevere is largely a limited traffic zone and parking is almost impossible, especially on Saturday. It's best to leave your car outside the district or take a taxi to Viale di Trastevere.

Planning the DansCirque weekend

With two performances, one early Saturday evening and one Sunday afternoon, DansCirque fits easily into a weekend in Trastevere.

Saturday at 19:00

You go in as the neighborhood starts to come alive and come out at dinnertime. On Saturday night Trastevere is the busiest area in Rome: book your table.

Sunday at 17:30

The afternoon performance is best for families and those coming from out of town: have a relaxed lunch, take a stroll, go to the theater and head home at a reasonable hour.

Two shows in a week

If you want to get to know the Belli better, you can come back a few days later: from November 24 to 29 the same hall hosts Sarfatti, Angela Dematté's monologue with Claudia Coli.

Tickets for DansCirque

Tickets for DansCirque cost 20 euros full price and 15 euros reduced, according to Teatro Belli's official page.

Where to buy them

Online from the show's page on the theater's website, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the box office before performances. For information you can write to botteghino@teatrobelli.it.

Only two dates

With two performances in an intimate hall, there aren't many seats: if you've decided, buy in advance.

Accessibility, children and families

Teatro Belli is housed in an old building: for reduced mobility needs, the reference is the box office, at 06 5894875, to contact before buying.

With children

Dance, contemporary circus, live music and an announcer introducing each movement: DansCirque has a language kids follow without difficulty. The Sunday afternoon performance is the best for families.

On the cobblestones

Trastevere's sampietrini cobblestones are uneven: be careful with strollers and after rain.

Where to eat before or after DansCirque

Around Teatro Belli there are trattorias, pizzerias and osterias on every corner. The problem, on the weekend, is finding a seat.

Saturday evening

After the 19:00 performance you come out at dinnertime: the streets toward Viale di Trastevere and Piazza di San Cosimato have places frequented by people who live in the neighborhood, cheaper than those on the main squares. Booking is essential.

Sunday

After the matinee, a supplì and pizza by the slice are the quickest ending. If you'd rather sit down, tables are easier to find than on Saturday.

A curious fact about DansCirque at Teatro Belli, November 21 and 22, 2026

The curious fact is in the title and its history. DansCirque was born in 2023 as a container: in its first version it brought together Solo Due, Coppelia Project and Vladimir Ježić's Missione Priscilla. It reaches the Belli in a different lineup, in which alongside Solo Due come Why, an excerpt from 2025's Heroes, and Effetto Marilyn, which the company has just renewed. In short, the same title indicates an evening that changes its skin, like a live album that changes its set list on every tour. The second curious fact concerns the radio frame. Ivan Ieri introduces the three movements as in a radio program, and radio is the medium where sound comes before image: in an evening built on cello, electronics, film samples and recorded voices, it's a consistent choice. The third concerns dates. Effetto Marilyn was first presented 60 years after the actress's death. At the Belli evening, according to the official presentation, it returns in the year that marks the centenary of her birth. Two anniversaries, a few years apart, for the same work. And a curious fact about the place: a hall that was a movie theater with the sign AMOR hosts three solos all inspired by cinema.

Something nobody tells you about DansCirque at Teatro Belli, November 21 and 22, 2026

Nobody says it, but for contemporary circus a small hall is an advantage, not a limit. Under a big top or in a large theater the body's effort gets lost in the distance. At the Belli, with a usable space of eight meters by four and a half and the audience very close, you hear the performers breathe, see the tension of their muscles, sense the possible mistake that makes the gesture risky and therefore alive. If you associate the circus with animals, clowns and trapezes, know that contemporary circus is something else: a theater of the body in which acrobatics, dance and music serve to tell a theme, here identity and the mask. A second thing: the cello and electronics aren't background. In Solo Due the dialogue between instrument and movement is the heart of the piece, and it's worth sitting where you can see musician and dancer together. The center of the orchestra is the right choice. Third thing, a practical one: with only two performances, the Sunday afternoon tends to fill up first, because it draws families. If you're free to choose and want a quieter hall, go for Saturday.

My advice for attending DansCirque at Teatro Belli, November 21 and 22, 2026

My advice is to arrive with your ears as ready as your eyes. Before the show it's worth listening to a few minutes of Bernard Herrmann's music for Vertigo, on which Solo Due is built: recognizing those notes in the cello changes the experience. In the same way, if you have a precise memory of Marilyn Monroe, bring it with you, because Effetto Marilyn plays precisely on the gap between the public image and the person. Which performance to choose depends on who you're with: with your kids, Sunday at 17:30, as a couple or with friends, Saturday at 19:00, followed by dinner at a San Cosimato trattoria. Arriving with 20 minutes to spare lets you cross Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere calmly. In the hall, no phone: dance lives on details and darkness, and a lit screen distracts both those sitting next to you and those on stage. In our view it's the right evening for those who have never seen contemporary circus and want to understand what it's about, without committing to a long show. If instead you want to build a tailor-made Roman weekend, between shows and visits, you can contact Tour Leader Pro, which organizes tailor-made private experiences.

Another well-known fact, yet one that is rarely mentioned

It's well known that Teatro Belli is a hall for experimental drama. It's less often mentioned that its history is full of bodies and variety, even before words. Among the names the theater remembers as having passed through its stage between the 19th and 20th centuries is Leopoldo Fregoli, the inventor of theatrical quick-change, able to switch through dozens of characters in a single evening, and Ettore Petrolini, the Roman comedian of variety. Physical theater, quick-change, the stage number have an old tradition in this hall, and blucinQue's contemporary circus takes it up in another language. A second rarely mentioned fact concerns the company. blucinQue was born in Turin, but its path runs through institutions rarely associated with the circus: the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, where it worked in creation thanks to the Next call in 2015, and the Festival d'Avignon Off, where in 2016 it brought a show about John Cage. Italian contemporary circus found space in drama theaters before big tops, and this company is an example of it. Third fact: Caterina Mochi Sismondi is also co-founder of the Fondazione Cirko Vertigo, with which she conceived the multidisciplinary season Solo in Teatro.

The right photo to take at DansCirque at Teatro Belli, November 21 and 22, 2026

No photos or video during the show: in dance and circus a flash can be dangerous as well as annoying, because it distracts someone performing a difficult move. The right photo is taken outside. The first is the theater facade in Piazza di Sant'Apollonia with the DansCirque poster, at Saturday sunset: the little square is small, and the low light of the streetlamps turns it into a stage set. Better horizontally, with a bit of cobblestone in the foreground. The second is taken in Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, with the fountain and the lit facade of the basilica: with a slightly long exposure, passersby become trails of movement, a way to take home an image in keeping with an evening of bodies in motion. The third is for those who come on Sunday: the Tiber from Ponte Sisto in the late afternoon, when the Lungotevere lights come on. At the final applause, if the company allows it, a photo of the performers on stage is the most genuine keepsake: ask, don't take it for granted.

Some important events that happened here in history

Teatro Belli has a history made of transformations. Originally the building was the church of the monastery of Sant'Apollonia, which gave its name to the square. In the second half of the 19th century it was already a theater, and it hosted some of the great names of the Italian stage of that era. In the 1910s the hall became a movie theater with the sign AMOR, following the fate of many small Italian theaters at the time silent film was winning over the popular audience. In the 1950s and early 1960s nightclubs followed one another there, until the last one closed after a bloody incident right at the entrance. Then abandonment, until 1969, when Antonio Salines took over the building, reduced to rubble, while there was talk of turning it into a restaurant. The restoration lasted until the reopening in January 1972, and since then the Belli has become one of the historic theaters of Italian experimental theater, directed for more than 40 years by Salines himself. In the 2026 and 2027 season program the hall hosts contemporary drama, French-language theater, fairy tales in English for children and, with DansCirque, contemporary dance and circus: an eclecticism the building has known for more than a century.

Who has passed through DansCirque at Teatro Belli, November 21 and 22, 2026

The stage on Piazza di Sant'Apollonia, according to the history published by the theater, has seen Gustavo Modena, the great actor of the 19th-century Risorgimento, Ermete Novelli, one of the stage's leading actors at the turn of the century, Leopoldo Fregoli, the quick-change artist, Lina Cavalieri, soprano and Belle Époque diva, and Ettore Petrolini, the king of Roman variety. After the 1972 reopening, Antonio Salines brought to the hall for decades actors, directors and authors of Italian experimental theater. In the current season the Belli welcomes, among others, Claudia Coli with Sarfatti, Golden Art productions and the Théâtre Français de Rome. On November 21 and 22, 2026 Caterina Mochi Sismondi and the blucinQue performers pass through here: Elisa Mutto, Alex Duarte, Gabriel Pimentel, Ivan Ieri, Bea Zanin and Jonnathan Lemos. And with them, evoked by music and words, come 20th-century figures who have nothing to do with Trastevere and for that very reason create a disorienting effect: Marilyn Monroe, the clown Grock, the composer Luciano Berio, Bernard Herrmann. A hall that was Fregoli's theater once again hosts a theater in which the body changes identity before the audience's eyes.

blucinQue's touring repertoire

blucinQue's website lists nine touring creations, from 2020 to 2026, which give a precise idea of the breadth of the company's work.

The trilogy years

Vertigine di Giulietta dates from 2020, and the same year the Distance mode version was born, designed for the conditions of live performance at that time and presented in December 2020 in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of Palazzo Ducale in Genoa. Gelsomina Dreams dates from 2021, Solo Due from 2022.

From 2023 to today

DansCirque and Coppelia Project date from 2023, Coppelia un ballet mécanique and Puccini Dance Circus Opera from 2024, Why and Heroes from 2025, the new version of Effetto Marilyn from 2026.

Earlier works

Before the trilogy the company had worked on the Trilogia del Limite, with Bird/Osservatorio presented at the Festival delle Colline Torinesi, in Grenoble, Bologna and Brussels, and on Off Ballad, born in 2019 after winning the Boarding Pass Plus call.

Contemporary circus, a user's guide

Contemporary circus is a form of performance in which circus techniques, acrobatics, juggling and balance, merge with dance, theater and music to build a dramaturgy.

No animals, no ring

In contemporary circus, as a rule, there are no animals and often not even a ring: a theater stage is enough. The performer doesn't do an isolated act, but plays a part in a story.

Live music

In many blucinQue works music is as much part of the show as movement: in DansCirque the cello and electronics talk with the bodies.

For beginners

An evening of three solos, each introduced by an announcer, is the most welcoming format for those approaching this language for the first time.

A November weekend in Rome

The weekend of November 21 and 22 falls in a quiet period for Rome: the summer crowds are long gone and the holiday crowds haven't arrived yet.

The weather

The evenings are cool and rain is frequent: an umbrella and shoes with a good sole are the minimum for Trastevere's lanes.

The rest of the program

Trastevere offers museums, churches and walks along the Tiber. The Janiculum is the climb to make on Sunday morning, before heading back down for the matinee.

Frequently asked questions about DansCirque at Teatro Belli

When is DansCirque on at Teatro Belli?

DansCirque is on at Teatro Belli in Rome on Saturday, November 21, 2026 at 19:00 and Sunday, November 22 at 17:30. There are two weekend performances, by the Turin company blucinQue directed by Caterina Mochi Sismondi.

How much are tickets for DansCirque?

A ticket for DansCirque at Teatro Belli costs 20 euros full price and 15 euros reduced, according to the theater's website. Buy it online from the show's page, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the box office before performances.

What kind of show is DansCirque?

blucinQue's DansCirque is an evening of three solos between dance, contemporary circus and live music: Why, Effetto Marilyn and Solo Due, introduced by an announcer as in a radio program. The common thread is the theme of identity.

Who is Caterina Mochi Sismondi?

Caterina Mochi Sismondi is the choreographer and director who founded blucinQue, the company performing DansCirque at Teatro Belli. She directs Teatro Café Müller in Turin and is co-founder of the Fondazione Cirko Vertigo.

Is DansCirque suitable for children?

DansCirque at Teatro Belli has a visual and musical language kids follow without effort and a length designed for a short evening. The Sunday, November 22 performance at 17:30 is the best for those coming with their kids.

Where is Teatro Belli?

Teatro Belli is at Piazza di Sant'Apollonia 11/a, in Trastevere, near Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. You get there on tram 8 along Viale di Trastevere or on foot from the center across Ponte Sisto.

Final advice on DansCirque

DansCirque at Teatro Belli is, in our view, the ideal gateway to contemporary circus for those who don't know it: three short solos, a clear thread, live music and a hall that puts the audience a step away from the bodies. The advice is to choose Sunday afternoon if you're coming as a family and Saturday evening if you want to end the day at a table in Trastevere. Either way, sit in the center and keep your phone in your pocket: much of the show is in the details.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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