NEST was born from a simple, yet far from obvious, decision: four contemporary dance organisations based in Piedmont, all recognised by the Italian Ministry of Culture, chose to pool their skills, experience and project ideas, making collaboration their working method. Today, the network includes the production organisations Balletto Teatro di Torino, Zerogrammi and CODEDUOMO ETS, together with CRID Piemonte, represented by Fondazione Egri per la Danza—the only Centre of Significant Interest for Dance in Northern Italy.

This decision was also made possible by the Trampolino residency programme, promoted by Piemonte dal Vivo as part of the Lavanderia a Vapore Dance Residency Centre. The programme created the conditions for the four organisations to meet, exchange ideas and embark on a shared path.

That experience gave rise to the desire to turn an opportunity for joint work into an ongoing collaboration, grounded in mutual trust and in the belief that a cultural system grows when the relationships among those who inhabit it grow. NEST is a nest that weaves together visions, languages and skills, bringing different experiences and trajectories into dialogue. The network promotes training, research and experimentation programmes, especially for emerging generations of artists, encouraging encounters among diverse artistic visions, practices and methodologies. We believe that the cross-pollination of languages can generate new opportunities for growth and meaningful experiences for artists, audiences and communities.

Over the years, this collaboration has already produced tangible results: expanding opportunities for the dissemination of choreographic works, sharing tools and resources, developing training pathways for new generations, and promoting cultural mediation initiatives that bring increasingly broad audiences closer to the languages of dance. NEST has thus become a platform capable of connecting resources, experience and projects already present across the region, enhancing them through cooperation.

Today, we wish to strengthen this experience by expanding opportunities for shared production, consolidating training programmes, developing new touring strategies, and building national and international partnerships able to offer greater opportunities to artists and the region. We believe that the value of a network lies above all in its ability to generate knowledge, create opportunities and produce a cultural impact that no organisation could achieve alone. Its strength does not lie in uniformity, but in its ability to value the plurality of languages, artistic visions and perspectives, recognising difference as the main driver of innovation and development.

This is the vision that guides NEST: a vision we wish to continue building together with institutions, so that Piedmont may increasingly become a region capable of supporting contemporary creation, attracting talent and contributing to the growth of the dance sector as a whole.