This week we hear from Undergrad Physical Theatre Students Tim, Chloe,  and Julia and One Year Program Student Dalton! They are back from their long weekend, and share some reflections and excitement.

Tim Janovsky, Muhlenberg College

What’s surprised me most about living at the Accademia and in Italy is that anything is possible when you throw yourself into it fully. In movement this week with Chris, the undergrad theater students worked on contact improv and partner tricks. It’s amazing how sharing body weight and being a trustworthy base can allow two people to enact feats that most people wouldn’t dare to try. Similarly, both the dance and theater students began their Tarantella workshops, an Italian folk dance style new to all of us. Both of these experiences, while unique, had similar ties. All it took was a group excitement and willingness to try to get into it. Even when students failed, we were all there to support and encourage each other.

I hope my mom is snuggled up tight in Maine.

Being here for two separate semesters is a ride in itself–new people, new classes, and an entirely new set of challenges. Last semester I was in a group of 15. A group this big presents many challenges in both individual attention in class and in collaborative devising. There are simply a lot of voices that need to be heard. Moving from 15 down to a group of 4 has been a shock to the system. All eyes are on you all the time, all voices are magnified and investigated in a way. It is an exhausting way to work, but rewarding just the same. I was very focused, last semester, on receiving the work fully–listening, doing, interpreting (hopefully in that order), however now, with the added focus on the individual brought on by a smaller ensemble, I am able to fully implement a fourth step–reflecting. Now of course, this was a present step in my first semester as well but it was difficult with so many cooks in the kitchen. If I took the time to allow the work to filter through my own being, forming personal connections to the intricacies of each new idea, I would have fallen behind and likely not listened as intently to the group. I feel as though this semester, the stark differences in personality, movement, energy, and experience in certain areas are celebrated. It gives me the opportunity, not only, to learn but to contextualize as well for myself what this work’s effect could have in my artistic and personal life. I am happy to be a part of this “core four,” together we will make magic, but I am eternally grateful for Group B last semester. Without them, I would not be prepared for what this semester holds. I feel very lucky to be able to live in this magical place for a full year. Every day, it seems, I learn something new.