An itinerant workshop in contemporary dance technique and choreographic composition 

curated by Stefano Mazzotta

The body, despite all our efforts toward neutrality, communicates incessantly, making use of a vocabulary of forms shaped by every lived experience — especially those we love most deeply and in which we most fully recognize ourselves.

We can consciously gather these “signs” and, through them, construct our own language. Then learn to recognize its mechanisms, its “lexicon”, its “syntax”, in order to find a precise correspondence between what we intend to express and what our continuous being and doing inevitably reveal.

The first responsibility of anyone stepping onto the stage and choosing choreographic language as a means of communication is to know, in all its most subtle nuances, their own instrument: the body.

Though seemingly simple in its structure, and limited by weight, form and function, the body is capable of expressing an extraordinary multitude of colours — endlessly multiplied when blended together into ever-changing and unique shades.

To know one’s own body and the infinite meanings of which it can become a bearer means being consciously present in every single gesture and movement, fully aware of its dramaturgical implications. It means inhabiting even the smallest fragment of oneself and learning how to articulate each part in service of constructing a clear and conscious message.

To “compose” the phrases through which the body will speak — to dance — is like painting a landscape before the eyes of another: understanding and restoring its forms and dimensions, its spaces and distances, the intensity of its colours and nuances.

By undertaking this path of analysis, we take the first step toward the honesty required of us on stage, while embracing the precious unpredictability that belongs to all living things.

PEDAGOGY

These intermediate/advanced study programs are intended for dancers, actors and professional performers aged 16 and above who have already begun a training path and wish to deepen, refine and strengthen aspects related to physical theatre and dance techniques.

The study of movement techniques and compositional practices includes:

– technical training (movement and dance techniques)
– choreographic writing (movement analysis and compositional exercises)
– creative laboratory (staging processes developed around specific themes or theatrical texts proposed by the teachers)