Roman Holiday

The last couple weeks have been a roller coaster. My program in Italy is over, but I have a lot to write about before I get to where I am now. So, I'll start with my visit to Rome. I went with 3 friends - Anna, Josh, and Elizabeth. We all wanted to see Rome before the end of the semester, but our biggest problem was finishing our final philosophy paper, which was due that Monday. Still, we got ourselves together and decided to take a short trip anyways.

We left early Saturday morning (Nov. 28) - and I mean 5:30am early. We got on a train and arrived in Rome at around 9am. It was tough, but we gave ourselves enough energy to see as much as the city as possible in one day.

I remember walking down the hill from the train station and feverishly looking for the Colosseum on the horizon, when Elizabeth pointed it out in a very nonchalant manner "There it is". We laughed because it was shocking to see this structure so suddenly - and so embedded in amongst the modern buildings nearby. Seeing the Colosseum after a rough traveling morning certainly lifted our spirits.

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We snagged pictures and then hopped on the line to get inside. Meanwhile, we came up with a brilliant plan to document our adventures in the form of philosophical discussions so we could prove to our teacher that we were still learning a lot (and to ask him to hopefully be more lenient on grading our papers).

Being inside the Colosseum was truly astounding. I couldn't help but feel intimidated and impressed by this structure. More so, I felt a strong sense of admiration. It seemed like a skeleton or a corpse - everything here is leftover and still standing, and it was fascinating to imagine how incredible it must have looked when it first opened thousands of years ago. I thought about the hands that made the bricks and cut the stone, the intelligence and sophistication it took to design it, and the hundreds of people who sat to watch the stage below. You really could scan over the Colosseum and paint an image in your mind of what it was like.

On top of that, I was touched by the fact that people still flock to this place every day from all over the world. As I made a lap around the circle, I overheard a bunch of conversations from different people - some in English, some in other languages - and all seemed to be discussing what exactly happened here and how it was built. Everyone wanted to know the history of this place. Visiting the Colosseum gave me hope, more than anything, to know that people aren't completely blinded by the modern world - we all still want to learn about history.

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Original floor with some modern feet and legs.

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Our viral video star.

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After the Colosseum, we got lunch and sat near a huge pit in the ground right next to the busy street. It had pieces of another structure of some sort - some ruins that were probably a part of the forum. In general, I was continuously shocked whenever we stumbled upon a ruin in the middle of the city. To see this is such a wonderful juxtaposition that is never even heard of in America.

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Next we climbed up Palatine hill. This was the hill where, according to mythology, Romulus and Remus were born from the wolf-mother and became the founders of Rome. This is also the place to see the ruins of the palaces of emperors. There was also a beautiful garden full of oranges that overlooked the forum below.

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Wishing city landscapes still looked like this.

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Anna, Elizabeth, and Josh.

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Walking through the forum also evoked a sense of respect and admiration. Every step I took in this place, and in the city in general, made me realize the history of the ground we walk on every day. I imagined the hustle and bustle of ancient Rome's forum and how similarly we hustle and bustle around our modern day empires - like Times Square. The biggest difference, however, is the sense of importance of every building and every person's role was in ancient Rome. Rituals and traditions held much more importance than I could ever imagine today.

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Dada makes us question everything.

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It was also interesting seeing the evidence of Christianity's influence in the city. Places like the Pantheon - originally a temple to Roman gods - was cleared out by 5 pm for evening Mass.

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Fountain outside the Pantheon

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We took a short visit to the Pantheon, then the Trevi Fountain, and then walked over to the Spanish Steps, which were all very elegant at night. By this time it was around 7pm, so we decided to call it a night, have dinner, and get some rest.

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View from the top of the Spanish Steps

We yet again forced ourselves into an early rise so we could see the Vatican before we left. By chance, we discovered the Vatican is free on the last Sunday of the month, so despite the huge line to get in, we were delighted to be able to see it. We rushed through the museum - I only stopped for the beautiful Chagall, Dali, and other modern religious art. Michelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel was divine (no pun intended). I was actually surprised at how small the chapel is, but it was soon apparent how much detail and how many stories are crammed into every inch of this space. I marveled at the The Last Judgment and was moved to tears by it. I had brief conversations with my friends about other interesting aspects of the paintings - how few women are featured, how unnatural the bodies seemed, the mixing of stories and themes, and the fact that Michelangelo was not the only artist who's work is in there. It sparked a lot of questions, but mostly I was in awe of the beauty and detail.

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Ironic signs woo!

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I also couldn't help but think about the money that seeps out of the walls of this museum. I have never seen such a rich and vast collection of artwork, ceiling frescoes, and intricate tiling in one building.

When we left the museum, we arrived in Saint Peter's Square with just enough time to see the Pope appear in a window at noon to deliver a small speech.

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I left Rome feeling exhausted, but extremely fulfilled and inspired.

Spirit of the Wind, Carry Me Home

Today we had our last voice class with Kevin and our last movement class with Claudia. This was just a taste of what it will be like to say goodbye on December 8th. We've been in both classes since day one. Claudia and Kevin have been like our parents away from home (well actually, we lovingly call Monica our mom and Claudia the hot babysitter). This past week we each had to write a sort of reflection paper which I took as an opportunity to track my progress in my classes. I've had moments of breakthrough and moments of breakdown in both voice and movement, but I'm quite proud of myself because I've started each day wanting to get better.

I can say right now, hopefully without sounding too mushy before it's due, that I have accomplished things here that I never thought I'd be able to do. I've always had reservations about dance and movement, but Claudia is such a wonderful mentor that I have a completely new way of thinking about moving my body. I've become far more aware of what my body is doing and is capable of. I can now do two types of head stands, walk into a backwards tumble, flip someone over my back, do a double person cartwheel, and stand on someone's shoulders... among many many other little things here and there. In voice, I've struggled with finding a bridge between my 'singing voice' and my 'stage voice'. With Kevin, I've begun to discover ways I can make incredible, strange and diverse noises without damaging my voice. On top of that, I've become much more willing to explore my vocal range. As I wrote in my paper, the pallet of movement goes hand in hand with the pallet of the voice.

Another great thing about ADA is the atmosphere. Everyone here loves their art and I have been truly inspired by them. In all honesty, sometimes I feel I'm trying to make art and music for the wrong reasons. But I have felt more creative here than I have in a while. I've now almost completed my first original song. I can now play a few songs on the guitar. These are a couple goals I've had for a long time, but for one reason or another, I couldn't reach them.

Well, enough with the sappy stuff. I still have a couple more weeks here. And you know, I'll surely be sad about leaving, but on the other hand I've got a lot of tools and ideas now that I look forward to doing more in the future.

More pictures from the Villa, taken on various days.

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Throughly Thermally Bathed

Yesterday I went on a little day trip with 6 other people. We had heard our voice teacher, Kevin, recommend the local thermal baths, so we took him up on it. We got up at 7:15 and ventured took an hour long bus ride to a little town called Rapolano Terme. It was embedded into the Tuscan hills and overlooked a gorgeous view of the rolling landscape and farms. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to the thermal bath of our choice, San Giovanni Terme Rapolano, but it was worth it. Very secluded and not too big, this bath packed some really incredible features.

It starts with an indoor, circular pool that really smells like sulfer, but I didn't mind too much. The pool has little waterfalls that have really hot water, so we think this is the source of water for the entire system. It then pours into a bigger outdoor pool, which then pours into two smaller pools, and finally a large swimming pool size.

To our surprise, the water was never ever cold - even in the largest one. It was cloudy and had bits of minerals at the bottom, which at first freaked us out, but by the end we were scrubbing ourselves with the minerals. We probably spent 4 or 5 hours total, just sitting in the water and going to the different temperatures. I was so relaxed I feel asleep on and off. By the time we left, our skin was really soft and we were all ready for bed. It was much needed after our weeks of intense physical work.

Here's the website for the baths:
http://www.termesangiovanni.it/

We Show Them Who We Are

Today we had our last Commedia dell'Arte class. Very bittersweet. It has been a long and grueling process full of emotion, energy, frustration, but most of all, fun. Someone said today that during the semester we have spent around 80 hours in Commedia class - which I believe could be true. We've been working since the first month and have spent entire 6 to 8 hour days just working on developing these characters and scenes.

It started out a little rough because we had a hard time communicating with one of our teachers, Michaela, but we soon warmed up to her energy and physical demonstrations of the characters. After we spent a few weeks working only on characters, checking in with the audience, and the precise rhythm needed for commedia, we began creating little scenes called "canovaccio".

Marcello joined our class about halfway through the semester and helped us develop these canovaccio. An example of a typical 3 person canovaccio might go like this:

A) Capitano has a monologue
AB) Isabella enters and interacts with Capitano, Capitano exits
B) Isabella has a monologue
BC) Arlecchino enters and interacts with Isabella, Isabella exits
C) Arlecchino has a monologue
CA) Capitano enters and interacts with Arlecchino
ABC) Isabella enters and they all interact, eventually all exit

When you add a fourth person, obviously it gets pretty confusing and molto difficile. But basically we learned that what makes commedia dell'arte and the use of stock characters so entertaining is the obvious status roles they have. The characters provide a foundation for the plot because they have such specific relationships to each other.

The hardest part for me was feeling in the right mood to play certain characters, and then being able to give over myself 100% to that character in the scene. It requires extreme control of your body and voice, and an enormous amount of attention to other characters in the scene and to the audience. In commedia dell'arte, the audience is there to see the mask, so as an actor, you use the mask as a tool to express emotion and reaction through a comedic rhythm. I can still hear Michaela yelling "Pubblico!" when someone would forget to 'check in' with the audience.

We learned that the most successful canovaccio would be very funny as long as this attention was spot on - it can make literally anything funny (or sad, or sweet, or whatever you like). We could not slack off in this class. Every character had to have an immense amount of energy, no matter who you played. If not, the entire group and the audience suffers.

It is a wonderful feeling to begin to have a connection to a particular character (or a few of them). Each of us had a tendency to gravitate towards a couple characters. On the other hand, it was also great to try something new and see how it fits. Personally, I was interested in playing Colombina, Arlecchino, a Lover, or Capitano.

I loved seeing the progress everyone made in this class. It required a lot of teamwork when we had to make each moment in a scene just perfect, so I definitely think we helped each other grow.

Be sure to check out the videos on the side for some clips from class!

Here are some pictures from our last day:

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Jon as Pantalone, Justin as Arlecchino

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Ilanna as Colombina, Elizabeth as Strega

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Anna as Zanni

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Anna (Zanni), Jenny (on the ground as a zombie lover?), Doug (Magnifico - above her), Zach (Strega)

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Isle as Dottore, Tristan as Zanni, Monique as Colombina

Casentino Forest and La Verna

Last weekend we went to Casentino National Forest, which is in Tuscany, but a little northwest of Arezzo. We took a bus up the big part of the mountain to spend a day of hiking around Chiusi della Verna, a monk commune, which is located on the peak of a mountain. It was rough, considering the night before we had our Halloween party (I dressed as the musical "Rent" by the way - all of the characters). Despite our tired dancing gams, we managed to hike quite a lot. It was worth it - the views of the Tuscan hills in autumn were too good to be true. The monastery itself was beautiful, rich with old stone passageways and caves embedded into the mountainside. We even got to hear the monks chant a little bit, which was a haunting and beautiful moment. This monastery was founded by St. Francis, and it was there that he had a vision of Christ and received the stigmata. They have the exact floor where this happened well protected, as well of one St. Francis' habits still intact. Pretty cool stuff.

The hike was absolutely breathtaking. It seems like the perfect place for a monastery. All that surrounds you is nature, completely secluded from the mess of every day life.

Here's a website about La Verna:

http://www.comune.chiusi-della-verna.ar.it/

And pictures of course

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