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My purpose is to create...
A space for me to display the steps of the research I am conducting around the topics of
Rope, Creativity, Artistry and Choreography.
A space for you to share your
ideas, reflections, experiences and imagination.
A virtual circus space to nurture research
to nurture circus.
A space to contemplate our practices
with the aim to contribute to its and our evolution.
A space to connect and exchange.
Open to ropers and anyone interested in
circus, movement research and freedom of expression.
A space to push the boundaries of what's visible,
beyond the known.
To expand to new horizons,
tapping into the limitless potential of rope.
Latest Research Posts
I am..
Gaia Santuccio.
Originally from Sicily, I was raised in the Uk and I am currently based in Budapest.
I am a kinaesthetic and multi-sensorial learner. From a young age, movement and expression through the body have brought an immense curiosity in me and represented a safe space. While dance technique often felt limiting, I was drawn to exploring the deeper meanings of body language, fascinated by the infinite ways we can articulate and communicate through movement.
At the core of my creative and artistic exploration is Movement research through knots and sensory engagement. I believe in structured improvisation and the power of communication between bodies as the most authentic means of creative expression. Rope, my long-term partner, is both a medium and a catalyst for this ongoing investigation.
Alongside my physical practice, I use writing as a tool for reflection and understanding, listening deeply to the narratives our bodies tell. I also capture movement through photography and videography, producing Body Stories that reveal the poetry of the human form. In my spare time, I crochet ropes, weaving memories of the past, present, and future into each knot.
I teach aerial rope workshops worldwide, with the ultimate goal of sharing Rope Manipulation - a creative methodology I have been developing since my Master's studies at SKH (formerly DOCH) in Stockholm, Sweden. This methodology is central to my practice and will soon be the subject of a book, set for publication in 2026.
In parallel, I am working on my first solo production, Isola-Ta, which embodies the space-time in which this same research was born.
Rope Manipulation is...
... is a series of task-based improvisation approaches designed to create focused, confined spaces for research where practitioners can experiment freely on the aerial apparatus. This method is the result of a process of deconstructing the rope practice.
Consciously, it started during Covid. But really, it has been there for me since I can remember.
... born from a need to understand the rules to break them.
Understanding the fundamentals of movement - knowing your tools, your body, and the apparatus deeply in order to move beyond rigid, machine-like techniques.
Understanding is knowing an object or instrument deeply to its core.
Understanding makes space to move in alignment with to your body, your mood and your perception, free from imposed athletic regimes or conventional movement patterns.
This approach celebrates multiple forms of virtuosity and diverse aesthetics, encouraging personal expression and creativity.
The aim of this practice is simple yet profound: to allow myself, fellow practitioners and professionals to move on the rope like we walk. Step by step, we acquire technique (= knowledge). And as we move, we create new journeys.
It is a guide to rope to rediscovering rope, an explorative approach of reintroduction to our practice. These intimate adventures foster skills in adaptability, awareness, and presence.
With Rope Manipulation, my intention is to push the boundaries of creative, technical and artistic knowledge within rope work and, perhaps with time, other circus disciplines as well!
Rope and our ability to manipulate it are now in the spotlight, in a dialogue where the common language is the one of knots.
Knots are as integral to rope as steps are to walking.
They are circles. Loops. Spaces. Most importantly, they are endless opportunities for pathways...
FIRST STEPS INTO THE RESEARCH, 2020
Back to when time expanded, my home turned into a playground and everything changed.
"What I would like people to experience is to enter an intimate space of home where there is no right or wrong, but there is life
The singularity of what that person is experiencing and feeling.
And there is that beauty in the vulnerability of simple moments like communicating,
attempting and not managing, getting out of something and coming back to it..
There can be vulnerability and life through something that seems so strong
I hope I can humanise my art on some level and that I can let people into this world".
CLICK ON THE EYE TO READ MY MASTER'S THESIS. FREEDOM THROUGH RESTRICTION, 2022
In a process of
deconstruction of and reintroduction to my practice.
I explore new heights and challenge the limits of my creativity.
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