Well, it's been an interessante few days to say the least. A lot of gushy feelings and stuff. First came Tarantella with Gianni and his lover, Francesco. Both have that bald-headed, facial hair, and slender body kind of artsy look that make them impossibly cute together. Francesco is a writer and an actor, so clearly the perfect choice for a dance class? I had no idea where this was going, but I had liked Ash so much I decided to trust Gianni's taste in people and teachers. I'm still not entirely sure what to think of the whole experience, but I have many scattered thoughts that are ripe for the sharing. First of all, the most common critique I get after a performance is, "you seem like you didn't really know what to do with your face." I'm not offended by this because it's true. Most of the time, I dance for me. I dance because I enjoy it, and don't know how to approach the audience. The whole performance aspect and pde (public dispalys of emotion) still feel new to me. I need to learn how to use my face, yet another part of dance that most people would think is natural but still baffles me. So, as if I did not already know that I was in the right place, these classes with Francesco confirmed it. The Accademia is dedicated to building well-rounded, talented artists, which involves dance beyond technique, and exposure to completely unfamiliar forms. Francesco's class was no exception. Both days Francesco chose songs that he found emotionally stimulating and told us to improvise to them. This experience interested me for a number of reasons. First of all, it was odd that we had to do soul searching to a song that someone else imposed on us. I liked his selections but he kept telling us that we weren't doing enough, which makes sense for people who didn't connect as strongly to the song. Finding inspiration to music did remind me how much I love the connection between movement and sound, which I have not played with in a while. Moving to songs that I feel passionately about inspires me to perform, so it may be a technique worth exploring.
Anyway, the music Francesco chose ended in a lot of crying from the class. We had a lot of sobbing girls trying to dance, to which Francesco told us we were not doing enough. He said we needed to tell more and do more. He started out both classes pretty harshly, which left a funny taste in everyone's mouths. I don't know that I feel comfortable having someone tell me my emotions and story aren't enough. Fortunately, after these aggressive comments that we were not doing well enough, he adressed each of us individually.
The individual comments really helped me understand how I can get better. Like all of my teachers at Emory he told me to show my strength more. I guess if I have muscles I may as well use them.
Besides the fact that he started the class with a few too many negative comments that did not set the right tone, the only other thing that I don't completely agree with Francesco on his view of dance. As an actor he believes that everything we do is for the audience, and he strongly emphasizes the connection between story-telling and movement. While there is certainly a time and place for performing and for story-telling through movement, I think there is so much more to dance. Like I said, I often move because it makes me feel good, with little to no interest in showing my work to an audience. Also, there are many choreographers who create movement for movement's sake. I'm not sure that Francesco really understands the difference between theater and dance, but after a lot of emotions and near miscommunications, I'd say it was worth it to learn more about performing.
The other notable class was the 4 hour contact improvisation jam, which was a rubbing up against each other kind of love and beauty led by a marvelous German man named Thomas. Disclaimer: contact jams are weird to watch and even weirder to describe, but beyond amazing to experience. It's a lot of touching and meshing of kinespheres, as you completely lose the boundary between you and your partner. If you have not yet experienced this mesh of bodies, you must. Now. Back to this class. It was a lovely way to spend my afternoon. We started out by finding our hips, before rubbing each other, manipulating each other, and lifting each other. They've given us a few workshops on lifting to make sure that we know the techniques that will allow anyone to lift anyone else. I often just jump into lifting people and end up pulling muscles because I get too excited and too ambitious, so this is a much needed lesson. It was beautiful to share this experience with the MFA's, theater students, and dance students because everyone was happy to move together. And guiding our perfect journey was Thomas's voice uttering sweet nothings such as, "enjoy the uniqueness of you in the present" and "appreciate the way you are supposed to be." Thank you Thomas, I think I will.
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