Sabato.

It's Saturday!
 

I'm tired, a bit hungover, and not feeling all that reflective on the week... QED. But that's okay. In Amy Poehler's book YES PLEASE she spends a lot of it talking about how she thought writing the book was the hardest thing she had ever done and didn't really like writing it all that often. Unlike Amy Poehler, I don't have a multi-million dollar contract or hosting award shows to work around to induce anxiety for this blog (I have enough of that anyway)... But I do like what she says about writing: "You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing it is the thing. The talking and worrying is not the thing."

Found this gem at the market. An enormous (maybe 10'x8' painting)

The first week of classes is over and done with. Our final class on Friday was the Tarantella - a traditional Italian dance. The man who led it could have begun hovering over the class and I don't think anyone would have been surprised. A visual: He came in wearing tight fitting black pants, a white turtleneck, and had one of the most severe, intense faces I've ever seen. He was bald but had a beard as well. What a combination.  We began dancing together on the ground. He spent a lot of time helping us warm up by relating us to babies on the ground. We writhed back and forth on our backs, reached up and tried to grab hold of our mothers, and discovered our butts. We eventually made our way through different levels until finally reaching standing. Spending a lot of time squatting was incredibly difficult on my thighs which are sore in a way I can't understand. Most of the Tarantella is done in a circle formation. We would put our hands on each other's shoulders and do steps that felt a bit like loosey goosey Irish step dance. It was really interesting to watch the students interact with the teacher... The energy and vocalizations made by the students was so strong and loud compared to this very zen, gentle man. He was so kind to us. It was very clear that he normally works with dancers who are very advanced, and he imposed no judgement on our funny little group.

Other classes: 

Philosophy - Lots of big concepts, problems, and not lots of solutions... But I guess that that's probably the way with philosophy. How does one become a philosopher? And once you are one, what do you do? The concept we focused on this week was essentially the "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for life" idea. Except this time we were learning about how by giving a man a fish (charity) you are essentially feeding his hunger (poverty). Interesting.

Italian - Very basic so far. Very fun. I need to learn fast. Every time I walk into town I am so struck by how incapable I am of speaking to anyone. It's very isolating and difficult.

Voice - We're spending a lot of time with the EBAS technique. This means a lot of pelvic and spine work on the floor with a partner while focusing on breath. She started adding sound yesterday, but not sound of our own. We would walk/run around the room and when she played a note on the piano we would have to find a partner. At some point (not always) she would ask us to sing that note or a series of notes and see how listening to the music affects the way we move, hold ourselves, and how we anticipate speaking. 

Commedia - This week we just had a lecture about the history of commedia from the director of the program. I arrived late, and when I went to apologize to the director after class, to which he said "You. came in late? I'm drunker than I thought." It was 11am. Good.

This morning I walked into town and went to the market which lines the streets. Tomorrow I'll go in to look at the antique fair and (hopefully) work on my Italian a little bit. I want to familiarize myself with the city a bit more as well... My inability to communicate only makes asking for directions even more difficult.

Ciao ciao ciao!