This week’s bloggers physical theatre students Livia and Jem, dance student Nadia, and One Year Program student Dara, talk about some breakthrough moments for them this semester!

Livia Chesley, Bennington College

I have to describe two break-through experiences at ADA if I am to describe any. Both occurred in the same week. It was the week of the Experimental Lab: three days of testing the waters of the unknown, to learn and gather from what was made in the space. In a group of twenty-five, a lot came up. But to consolidate from my
experience, one of the most impactful things I began learning in that setting was what it feels like to act upon a choice made. So much of the term we have spent learning about the choices we have available to us, and the Experimental Lab provided me a place to make new choices. After and amidst this series of classes, I felt an awakening of something inside me that wanted to be heard—a voice of direction amongst the many choices—and I started acting on them without the space of the Lab. This is really a choice to surrender to divine will, and I believe that that is the only way to make progress on my true path. The other moment in this same week was in Dory’s “Voice in the Mask” class. I had been struggling with mask work since we started, and I didn’t know how much of it had to do with voice, and even simpler than that—resonance. I watched my classmate find an entire character in the moment that her voice resonated in the nose of the mask. This was the pivotal connection between her body and the mask. When I tried it, I connected with my mask immediately through the visual element, which then translated to movement. Then I found the voice. Realizing that the voice of the character is decided almost entirely by the mask, simply because only a certain range of notes resonates in it, took a huge burden off me.

Jem Oshins, Boston University

The plague has struck. It’s been tumbling through for two weeks now. We have become more tired than we previously thought possible. Our bodies have become weak. But our minds are strong. We are resilient. When met with seemingly insurmountable odds, we prevail. This is what it means to be a student at Accademia dell’Arte recently. Workload grows exponentially but we carry on. Bodies continue to sicken, but we create. Although we can’t go on, we must go on. This plague too shall come to pass.
Now get outside and enjoy that brilliant sunshine and blossoming flowers!

Nadia Ureña, Muhlenberg College

For me, one of my break through stories this semester was definitely during Butoh week. We had to put a show together in a week and we also had the honor to be in class with the one year students. Our piece was about hometown and our roots and it had all sorts of nuggets and movement bits about who we are and where we came from. Often times I look to where I go next and what’s in the future, so conceptualizing myself and my art from where I came was especially grounding for me. I learned that art and life is often times more of an accumulation of where you came from rather than what you learn in class.