The simple change of space had the greatest impact on my work in Venice. The floor, the curtains over the walls, the shape of the space, and the giant pole in the middle of the room were aspects that I wasn’t used to from working in the teatrino. I learned that my comfort with the space has a lot of impact on how I work because my movements all relate to the space, so I don’t take it for granted. New elements in the space (like the giant pole, for example) change the way I relate to it. I was also very aware of the new floor – it was wood and relatively slippery like the teatrino, but unlike the teatrino floor, I could feel the concrete underneath the wood. I’ve worked for a while on a wood floor on top of concrete, and I knew exactly how it felt – the floor was extremely resistant to pressure. Because of this, I had to be more careful about falling down on the floor because it was a lot harder and I could really hurt myself. So not only is awareness of space helpful to find new elements in movement, but it is also important for safety, especially in the physical work we are doing.

– Carolyn Toner

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While in Venice, I had a very inspiring experience while taking Laban and Movement. One of the assignments in Laban the past Saturday was to create a sort of skit about our experience in Venice and each person in the group had a movement effort they had to use. However, the intriguing part for me as a dancer was working with how to express my movement effort using my voice along with my body. By working with the way in which I was using my voice, I felt a more fulfilling or full body experience so to speak. In a way, it removed the frustration of trying to act a certain way and instead you are feeling one effort completely. It was really inspiring to see how everyone moved based on their effort qualities and I saw it as a choreographic tool to take with me after Venice!

– Kelsey Charlotte

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I fortunately had the pleasure of being on this trip for two semesters in a row. It was nice to be able to go back and attend a similar – but different – class. My highlight of our work in Venice is focused on the entire class. I was able to work with people I have not worked before, and I explored several different new ways to move my body. Laban movement has helped me create a few whacked-out character choices. If I were to bring the level of exaggeration from extreme to normal, I have a variety of different characters I can use in ‘normal’ theater. However, I can just as easily use the extremes for a character that fits closer to home in my physical theater work. The only difficulty I found was the weather vs. Venice conflict. Cold weather is nice when there is snow, but if it doesn’t stick I can’t make a fort in the middle of the streets.

– Richie Schiraldi