Sylvie Guillem video project includes dancing underwater

After spending several days at the Montegrotto Spa near Padua which houses the world's deepest pool, the Y-40 known as “The Deep Joy”, Sylvie Guillem arrived at Teatro Verdi in the city to do a little filming.

It was when she received the Leone d'oro for her career at the Biennale Danza in 2012 in Venice, that she began to investigate the Veneto region and Padua. Although she retired from the stage in 2015, she is putting together a video project which will combine nature, beauty and dance, with underwater movement.

She was accompanied by underwater filmmaker Julie Gautier, as well as her photographer husband, Gilles Tapie. They visited some of the neighbouring areas and the city itself, with Guillem not being able to resist doing some dance moves in front of the stunning Palazzo della Ragione. They saw the historic gardens of Valsanzibio, the Villa dei Vescovi at Luvigliano, and Guillem was obviously taken by Giotto's masterpiece, the Scrovegni Chapel.

Gautier has already filmed in the 42.15 metres (138 ft) deep pool which opened in 2014, designed by architect Emanuele Boaretto. It contains 4,300 cubic metres (1,136,000 US gal) of thermal water kept at a temperature of 32–34 °C (90–93 °F). The incredible pool features a suspended, transparent, underwater tunnel for guests to walk through. Apart from immersion in the pool, Guillem kept in shape by attending a local dancing school.

Guillem and her team will return in May for filming.

AMA – a short film by Julie Gautier from Les films engloutis on Vimeo.

Photo: Julie Gautier in the Y-40 Pool at Montegrotto Spa

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.