ARTS I20: Painting
Students work as a team during critiques to begin to
articulate what they see in each other’s own work and the work around them.
This class gives students the chance to question how painting functions, how it
interacts with its audience and how it embodies content. While delving into all
of this – individual skills in handling materials grow. Students experiment
with scale, format, and color as well as paint application. This class includes
a thorough exploration of other artists’ work, both contemporary and historical
through weekly slide lectures, the local art and artifacts housed in Arezzo,
and weekend field trips. Students create a detailed sketchbook documenting
certain aspects of setting and discussions and develop a body of paintings.
DANC I25: Dance
Technique
Classes address fundamental elements of dance training,
such as endurance, flexibility and accuracy in execution of combinations.
Students sustain and further their technical and expressive skills and consolidate
their knowledge of their own body’s potential whilst extending this to their
ability to learn and perform short solo and group sequences. Students learn to
approach acrobatics through a heightened awareness of balance and weight.
Regular classes in ballet and modern technique prepare students for the demands
of improvisation and composition, as well as the rigors of Tarantismo.
DANC I30: Cultural Dance Studies
This interdisciplinary course focuses on expressive
performance that thematically emerges from the traditional Pizzica and
Tarantismo and from Butoh and Tanztheatre developing its theatricality through
an exploration of its vocal, narrative, and ritual elements. This course of
dance and theatre takes its inspiration from the phenomenon of Tarantismo in
Italy to introduce the popular culture of Italy and the Mediterranean and its
relation to myth and history. Butoh was born in Japan in the sixties and
derived from traditional Japanese dance and performance forms. Tanztheater is a
form of dance that developed in Germany. Difficult issues, such as personal
identity, narrative, character and authenticity, come under serious scrutiny in
Tanztheater, which freely crosses the boundary between pure dance, theatre and
mime.
DANC I35: Extended Performance Topics: Dance
Extended Performance Topics is a class that is specially
designed to expose students to specific practices and aesthetic traditions that
can serve to deepen the dance student’s understanding of the aesthetic range of
their art as well as specific structure of their corporal techniques. The
course is comprised of 45 hours Dance Performance, 30 hours Laban - Bartenieff
Studies and 10 hours Contact Improvisation/ Feldenkrais Method.
FILM I20 &
FILM I30: Digi-Realism I & II:
Filmmaking in Arezzo
This course explores hybrid forms as students explore
Italy and the city of Arezzo. Students look at Italian Neo-Realist Films as
well as contemporary films that borrow formally and stylistically from both
documentary and fiction. As the discussion, screenings and workshops begin to
erode preconceptions and arbitrary boundaries between “fiction” and
“nonfiction,” students use the city of Arezzo as our set and laboratory as they
make videos that respond to and articulate these very issues. Throughout the
summer students also be developing our filmmaking techniques—from
cinematography and lighting and sound acquisition, to documentary filmmaker-subject
relationships, to scriptwriting, to blocking and directing actors, to learning
post-production techniques in Final Cut Pro.
FILM I22: Cinema and the “Messogiorno”
The course analyzes how the South of Italy has been
represented in contemporary Italian cinema. Covering famous filmmakers, such as
Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio DeSica, to lesser known authors, such as
Antonio Capuano and Leonardo DiCostanzo, and different genres, ranging from the
romantic comedy to crime film and documentary, the students observe how the
South of Italy has been seen as a land of extremes, and as a territory characterized
by specific recurring traits.
ITAL I10 &
ITAL I11: Italian Language I & II
This elementary level course is directed towards students
who have no prior knowledge of the Italian language. Our language component
course is loaded towards the first portion of the semester in order to give
students basic skills for comprehension and communication in their work with
Italian faculty and guest artists throughout the semester. The emphasis in the
first semester is on developing listening and communication skills in addition
to cultivating a solid grammatical foundation. Direct interaction with Italian Faculty,
students and guest artists ensures the skills acquired in the classroom are implemented
into the daily life and activities of the student. If a core group of students
already has completed a cycle of elementary Italian studies at their home
institutions, an elementary level 2 or intermediate level may be conducted simultaneously.
A placement test on site at ADA is required for entry into the appropriate
course. The Italian language component at ADA is required
of all students.
LBST I20: Renaissance Mosaic
This multidisciplinary course emphasizes research using
primary documents drawn from music, art and theatre of the Italian Renaissance.
Research and writing are fundamental aspects of this course. Aesthetic
philosophy is a common thread that runs throughout.
MUSA I30: Applied Skills – Voice
This course consists of weekly individual voice lessons.
Lessons and Studio Classes are devoted to the development of the vocal, musical
and dramatic talents of each individual.
MUSA I40: Applied Skills – Voice (Master Class)
This course consists of weekly individual voice lessons
and Master class (specializing in Baroque Music). Lessons and Studio Classes
are devoted to the development of the vocal, musical and dramatic talents of
each individual.
MUSA I42: Applied Skills – Horn
This course consists of weekly individual horn lessons
that are devoted to the performance of horn concertos (Beethoven, Mozart,
Strauss, Arnold, Brahms) and orchestral excerpts. The student will work to
improve his technique, his musicality, and the knowledge of appropriate performing
style.
MUSA I44: Applied Skills – Guitar
This course intends to deepen the study of classical
guitar from the technical point of view and propose outlines of analysis and
musical composition for solo guitar and chamber music ensembles. It takes into
consideration classical and contemporary composers, paying particular attention
to Scarlatti, Tarrega, and Domeniconi, analyzing the repertoire both from the
compositional point of view and the demands made on the instrumentalist. This
in-depth analysis allows the instrumentalist to master the technical challenges
of these compositions, thereby enabling him to fully enter into creative
interpretation.
MUSI I31: Basic Conducting
This course is designed to develop the basic skills
necessary to become successful in leading a musical ensemble. Topics include,
among others: posture and presentation, baton grip, basic time patterns,
preparatory gestures, expressive gestures, and score study. Observations of
professional educators (if available) and conductors, outside reading
assignments, reports, and periodic testing of conducting technique form the
core of the evaluation process.
MUSI I35 &
I36: The Sonic Landscape I & II
This course uses the unique setting of Accademia
dell'Arte to allow for exploration of composition/ improvisation as a
collaborative process, creating music for dance, theatrical productions or
films, as well as concert pieces. It is a study of relevant problems and compositional
techniques of contemporary music. Composers and improvisers create works for
various ensembles in both large-scale and short forms as appropriate to their individual
goals, as well as explore alternative notation and/or cueing systems. Classes consist
of periodic roundtable discussions of orchestral as well as formal issues.
Score study is included to encourage a broadening of each musician's technique.
In addition to work for acoustical instruments, introductory to advanced work
with electronic resources including introductions to Ableton Live, Max4Live and
the use of electronic controllers in live performance is an important element
to this course.
MUSI I41: Music History Before 1750
This course offers a survey of Western Art Music up to
approximately 1750. It is the companion course to MUSI I42, offered in the
Spring Term. A large number of specific pieces of music are the basis for
discussion of changes of musical style and genres, within the context of social
and biographical history. Students complete regular reading and listening
assignments, as well as projects for each professor.
PHIL I20: Philosophy of Art and Performance
The proposal of the class is to provide students with
tools taken from the modern philosophical currents to analyze contemporary
cultural shifts and shifts in social perception as influenced by the
development of a “modern world system.” The course explores topics such as mass
production, fragmentation and specialization of life and work, the development
of the information age, the commodification of culture, the compression of time
and space, and the aesthetic shifts which have accompanied these developments with
an emphasis on the development of what one might call a “performance culture.” Readings
are taken from both classical and contemporary authors: Aristotle, Schiller, Hegel,
Mark, Nietzsche, Croce, Breton, Artaud, Deboard, Baudrillard, Foucault and
others.
TART I15 &
I16: Commedia Dell’Arte: Acting I &
II
In addition to providing a comprehensive introduction to
the history and influence of Commedia, this class explores the practical use of
the mask as derived from the classical characters of the Commedia Dell’Arte.
Through work on gesture, voice, and movement within a specific socio/historical
context, students study the characteristics of Arlecchino, Zanni, Brighella,
Pantalone, Colombina and others, with the intention of developing the student’s
own character. The student actor is led to discover the vital force locked in
the masks, by being at the service of the mask: this apparently banal notion actually
has far-reaching effects on the performers own practice and their relationship
to the public. This is a core acting class and includes: introductory mask
design and construction. A course feature is regular evening performances
devised by the student body in the multiple locations of the Villa Godiola. Topics
may vary each semester.
TART I20: Voice and Performance Topics
Students work on: voice and body integration, extended
vocal techniques and textual expression using the internationally recognized
work developed by Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart. The intention is to open the
boundaries of what is possible with the voice to provide essential material for
the development of vocal character within the mask.
TART I24: Mask Making
This course focuses on the creation of leather masks.
Students study facial types and traditional character masks from commedia
dell’arte. Using this research, the students sculpt the mask in clay. These
sculptures are used as a model for the mould each student will carve in wood.
On this mould the student shapes, refines, and paints their own original mask.
The purpose of the course is to give each student the ability to create a functional
leather mask. Students understand how to fully realize an artistic idea in a concrete
form through sculpture. Students take the first steps in wood sculpting, creating
a matrix for the leather form.
TART I25 &
TART I26: Masked Theatre Topics I &
II
Courses for theatre students interested in the use of the
mask in performance, with a specific focus on Contemporary full head masks,
clown work, and mask making. We begin with improvisation and incorporate masks
to the improvisational structure. We begin each day with training games during
which we create the foundation for our nonverbal and action oriented work. We
conceptualize and execute the creation of paper Mache masks that are tested and
further developed by the actors themselves. In addition to discussions and
reflections we also present and discuss various arguments and aspects of mask
making and construction techniques. Taking from the material created and the
experiences had early in the course the participants collaborate to develop a
sequence of scenes that will be presented to the public at the end of the
course. Topics vary each semester.
TART I30: Applied Skills: Theatre
This course is a selection of movement, voice and acting
options that reflect the interdisciplinary thrust of the program. Depending on
Visiting Faculty and on-going developments in the program, students are able to
choose from a variety of options that are integrally connected to the core
substance of the training. The course includes a concentrated period of daily
class designed to prepare students for the intensive needs of commedia and mask
work.
TART I35: Extended Performance Topics: Theatre
This course, designed to prepare students for the
intensive needs of commedia and mask work, is chosen from a selection of
movement, voice and acting modules that reflect the inter-disciplinary thrust
of the program and that are integrally connected to the core focus of the
training. These courses are a combination of regular classes scheduled over a sustained
period and intensive workshop segments. It includes a three-day field trip to Venice.