Bolzano Danza 2026 - Margherita Landi

Landi's Cube: Inside the Code – Talk and Showcase

What happens when a choreographer hands dancers a VR headset instead of a mirror? Landi's Cube: Inside the Code is a public talk and showcase in which choreographer Margherita Landi presents the latest developments of her research, carried out with NOI Techpark and Fraunhofer Italia as part of Bolzano Danza's OpenLab.

Landi's Cube is a choreographic application for the Quest headset: a three-dimensional grid whose faces are numbered and colour-coded like a Rubik's cube. The system maps body parts to points in space — right hand to blue 7, left knee to orange 3. The dancer knows where to arrive and with which body part. Everything else is theirs. The audience sees no headset image, only the bodies moving through space: the virtual manifests in the real through the body.

As a non-verbal notation system, the application opens up possibilities beyond choreography: a learning tool for deaf dancers, a movement archive, a system for remote teaching and collaborative performance across distance.

After the talk, visitors can try the headsets firsthand, followed by an open Q&A. No dance experience required.