Rinascere e volare | Erica Occhionero | TEDxFoggia

Quick Overview

Erica Occhionero recounts her journey of rising from devastating personal setbacks, including the shattering of her dream to become a principal ballerina after a severe accident and subsequent bullying, by embracing resilience, finding stability in mathematics, and ultimately merging her rational and artistic sides through the unique discipline of aerial dance research, culminating in a successful thesis that mathematically modeled her aerial movements.

Key Points: Erica Occhionero's initial dream of becoming the first ballerina of the Paris Opera shattered at age 16 due to an unexpected scooter accident causing a broken ankle and a wrong diagnosis. Following the accident, she endured severe bullying, including having her hair cut, which made her feel 'invisibile, inadatta' (invisible, inadequate). To find stability amid internal chaos, she chose to study mathematics at university, finding logic and a solid ground in every problem presented as a new challenge. She returned to dance by setting up a 'fune a forma di U' (U-shaped fabric/tissu) in her bedroom, practicing aerial movements inches above the ground, supported by her parents who told her not to listen to others. She eventually progressed to practicing on trees in a park, where her father would set up a hammock and her mother assisted when she got tangled in the ropes. Occhionero merged her two seemingly distant passions by modeling her aerial movements mathematically for her Master's thesis using the theory of annular braids, choosing 'di non scegliere' (not to choose) between math and dance. She quotes Einstein: 'C'è una forza motrice più forte del vapore, dell'elettricità e della bomba atomica. La volontà' (There is a driving force stronger than steam, electricity, and the atomic bomb: Willpower).

Context: This TEDxFoggia talk by Erica Occhionero details her personal story of 'Rinascere e volare' (Rebirth and Flying), focusing on overcoming significant adversity that derailed her initial aspirations. The narrative centers around two major life crises: a career-ending injury at 16 that crushed her ballet dream and subsequent psychological distress from bullying, which she navigated by finding structure in mathematics before creatively synthesizing her rational and artistic sides through aerial dance.