Dance

Francesca is an Italian dance artist based in Leuven, Belgium.

She graduated from the BA Contemporary Dance at National Dance Academy of Rome before achieving the MA Choreography from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with a postgraduate bursary award.

Francesca has over ten years of experience in dance teaching at various age ranges and levels and she is specialized in floorwork and dynamic release. In 2016 she joined the Trinity Laban teaching team as a graduate intern for undergraduate and postgraduate technique classes. Among others, she taught for Trinity Laban Summer School, Vi.P. Danza in Rome, WISPER (Belgium), and the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC) in London. In 2020 she joined the artistic organization WISPER (Belgium) as responsible for the dance department of Leuven. There she curates and offers various dance courses for adults both in Belgium and internationally.

Francesca’s scientific background is highly informative for her choreographic choices. Space design, time perception, sound and movement cohesion are all shared aspects of her practice. As a choreographer, Francesca has developed works based on the application of astrophysics principles and kinesthetic perception to the choreographic process.

Among others, Francesca performed for choreographers Giorgio Rossi, Walter Matteini, Enzo Cosimi and Roberta Romei and worked with choreographers Lizzi Kew Ross, Daisy Farris, Martin Nachbar and Jacqueline Bulnes (Martha Graham Dance Company) as rehearsal assistant/ director.

As part of her ongoing professional development, she regularly attends workshops in UK, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium and Italy.

Francesca is also a 200hrs Registered Yoga Teacher at Yoga Alliance on her pathway to the 500 hrs RYT qualification. For more details check her Yoga space.

Yoga

Francesca approached Yoga more than 20 years ago. Since then, Yoga has been a recurring and trusted companion for her. She studied Ashtanga Yoga during her professional training at the National Dance Academy in Rome, which deeply inspired her daily practice of flowing Vinyasa-based sequences. During the four years she lived in London, she experienced Hatha, Flow, Yin & Yang, Iyengar, and Aerial Yoga. In 2020, Francesca qualified as a Hatha Yoga teacher at Yogalife. In 2021 she continued her professional development with the qualifications in Somatic Intelligence: cueing for Vinyasa (50 hrs) and Advanced Yoga Anatomy (100hrs).

Now she is a 200 hours Registered Yoga Teacher at Yoga Alliance, on her path towards the 500 hrs training attended.

The joint practices of dance and yoga offered to her a very fertile ground for enquiry and research on the connection between mind and body, imagery and quality of movement, developing her expertise of meditation-based somatic practices. She found that a regular practice of yoga and meditation has a calming and clearing effect on her mind, easing the process of decision making and sharpening her attention and focus.

CLASSES

Francesca loves sharing her knowledge of yoga through playful and restoring classes. As styles, she mainly teaches Vinyasa flow and Hatha yoga. Her aim is to raise awareness of mind and body state and, through yoga practice, tune into a blissful state of gratitude and connectiveness. In her classes, Francesca encourages balance between physical activity and mental rest and invites her students to become more connected with their bodies and aware about their thoughts. Classes are open level and a broad range of modifications is available to fit students’ requirements.

In January 2022, Francesca started to offer independent Yoga classes in Danstuin in Tiensestraat, 47 – 3000 Leuven. For more details about the offered classes click here!

From September 2022 two new classes will be offered in Danstuin:

For more information and to book your spot:

For information about corporate and private classes e-mail: info@francescaorlando.com

FREE YOGA VIDEOS

Francesca is happy to present her new YouTube channel Sati Bliss Yoga where she publishes free yoga videos to spread even further the joy of practising Yoga.

To be the first one to know about her new free classes subscribe to her channel and turn on the bell icon.

Choreography

INTER ASTRA / INTER ALTERA

The immersive performance looks at how the principles of revolution of celestial masses can be negotiated and placed through movement.

Labyrinthea

What happens to a body trapped in a labyrinth? What happens if the body becomes the labyrinth?

TranscenDance

At the core of the short dance video echoes the duality of perception of ourselves form our and others’ point of view.

More works

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Contact

Photo credit: juliatestas.com