The Company was created in 1986 by the choreographer Marco Berrettini under the name Tanzplantation. Tanz means dance in German and the name Tanzplantation refers to surgical transplantation. This play on words evokes a certain working approach which consists of borrowing various artistic or non-artistic elements from daily life – and to transplant them into choreographic pieces: bits of films, dances already existing elsewhere, dialogues from films and operas, etc. who thus find new life in the dance creations of the Company.
In 2000, during a residency at the Kampnagel theater in Hamburg (D), the Company was renamed *Melk Prod.. The Asterix in front of “Melk” refers to the phrase: “because I’m worthless” in response to Claudia Schiffer who, at the time, proudly said “because I’m worth it!” » in an advertisement for a famous cosmetics brand.
*Melk Prod. now has created nearly sixty pieces. Most are choreographic works. The Company also produces performances, video installations, as well as collaborations with visual artists. On several occasions the pieces were signed by different members of the Company, who periodically attempts “collective” experiences.
To date, around a hundred performers, scenographers, sound and light artists, amateurs and professionals have participated in the *Melk Prod. adventure.

Marco Berrettini

Dancer and choreographer.
Born on 23.10.1963 in Aschaffenburg (D) of Italian parents, he currently lives in Geneva (CH). At 14 he discovered dance through ballroom dancing lessons at the Bier dance school in Wiesbaden (D). Marco Berrettini enrolls in Disco dance competitions and manages to win the German Championship in Stuttgart at the age of 15. But, aware of his technical limits in dance, he began very intensive training. After his baccalaureate in 1981 he was accepted at the London School of Contemporary Dance – The Place (UK) to train as a dancer. In 1983 he changed school and graduated in 1985 at the Folkwangschulen Essen (D) directed at the time by Hans Züllig and then by Pina Bausch. Between 1985 and 1987 Marco Berrettini tries to develop his own choreographic work, in Germany, but the independent scene doesn’t really exist yet. Hence, in 1988 he moves to Paris (F). In 1990 Christian Ferri, the director of the Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris (F) spotted him and programmed him with Flack(s) 11, which symbolizes the beginning of his career as a choreographer in France. Between 1990 and 2001, when Marco Berrettini moved to Geneva (CH), he danced for Georges Appaix and created around 30 choreographic pieces of its own. He will dance in television-shows, appear in documentaries on dance, will direct several event projects, advertisements, fashion shows and private parties, as well as collaborate with other artists such as for example the choreographers Martine Pisani and Catherine Bay and the visual artist Jan Kopp. In 1999 his company won the ZKB Prize at the Theaterspektakel Festival in Zurich (CH) for the piece Sturmwetter prépare l’An d’Emil. From 2004 to 2007 he directed the Movement module at the Haute École de théâtre et de danse de Suisse romande La Manufacture in Lausanne (CH). In 2018 Marco Berrettini received the Swiss Dance Prize for his piece iFeel3. Since 2021, *Melk Prod. is a contracted company approved by Pro Helvetia, the city and the Canton of Geneva (CH). In 2022, Marco Berrettini receives the Swiss Dance Prize for all of his choreographic work “on the fringes of the mainstream”. The year 2023 will be very eventful. Besides choreographing the duo El Adaptador for his own company and Songlines for the Ballet de Lorraine CCN de Nancy, he directs the Atlas program at Impulstanz Festival in Vienna (AU).