Francesco Procopio was born in Calabria in February 1977. He holds a Doctor of Laws and is a master of Caribbean and Argentine dance.

 

Let's get to know the author and his work better through an interview...

 

Question: The first question concerns your legal education. Where did you study?

 

Answer: I earned my first degree in legal sciences from the Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, and continued my studies at the Niccolò Cusano University of Rome, earning a Master's Degree in Law and a Master's Degree in European Project Management, currently underway.

 

Where did you train in dance?

 

My dance training began at IALS in Rome, where I was able to interact with international professionals and explore numerous disciplines. Luckily, I continued my partner dance training in Calabria with excellent teachers, and then graduated in Caribbean dance and Argentine tango. Let's just say my life has always been divided between law and dance, trying to reconcile these two passions. Not always with excellent results, but with commitment and sacrifice, things always succeed.

​

​How did you come to write two books on Leonardo's Vitruvian Man?

 

I studied dance more than I actually danced. During my partner dance classes, I wrote the entire Cuban dance curriculum and part of the Argentine tango curriculum, although I never published them. I've always been fascinated by the motion of the body, and I believe this is the main reason that drew my curiosity to drawing, even if it was accidental. The initial idea was to write a short manual on the practical use of musical time applied to our natural space of motion. I had managed to calculate the precise measurements of our space, which are different for each of us because they are based on the measurement of our body height. I wanted to use a vector drawing of the Vitruvian Man to demonstrate that our body moves in space like a compass. Researching the drawing online, I discovered Leonardo's annotations at the top and bottom of the drawing. Reading them, I realized that he had clearly not only preceded me, but his study of motion, unlike mine, was comprehensive and much more detailed. The rest was a consequence. I deepened my knowledge by researching various studies of the drawing and purchasing several books on the subject, before interpreting it and writing the two volumes.

 

​​Are you referring to two precise rules of bodily motion derived from the drawing?

 

Exactly, I call them rules because our bodies, in motion, follow precise patterns, all interrelated within a natural logic. I derived the first from Leonardo's drawing of the body, specifically from the position assumed, which seems unnatural but isn't at all. Simply assume the two positions described in detail in the first volume to understand how the first rule works. The second volume explains the rest of the drawing. The interpretation I provided covers the entire drawing, including the annotations, and is supported by numerous clues, all precise, consistent, and based on a natural logic of motion. The two rules are applicable in reality and are decidedly very important, not to say fundamental. They help us understand that there's much more to what we perceive than what we see. Most of the exercises we perform daily i won't say they're inaccurate, but they're certainly off-axis and completely disproportionate.

​​

​Will there be a way to explore the use of the two rules in more detail?

 

Of course, I'm available for any discussion.

​

​

 

​

​