This week our bloggers share some thoughts on what they’ve learned about this experience and some fun Italian travels.

 Julie Weikart, Muhlenberg College

Semester Physical Theatre Program

The Importance of Being You

Here at the Accademia we have learned the importance being a collective has on the art we create. It is rewarding to have the chance to submerse yourself in a collaborative environment where there’s safety in taking risks, comfort in the trust you form with your peers, and pride you feel in creating a piece. When you think of an ensemble the image that comes to mind, at least for me, is a well-oiled machine; where everyone is in sync with one another.However, this can lead to your own unique artistic identity feeling minimized for the good of the collective. I’ve struggled a lot with balancing working for the collective while working for myself. Throughout this process I have learned that the collective is more of an amoeba: a free-flowing structure comprised of the individual identities that help to shape it.Personally, the most important lesson I’ve learned is that in order to form the collective you need to form yourself.

Kayla Cardenas, Gustavus Adolphus College

Dance Program

Day Trip to San Gimignano

I am Kayla Cardenas. Spring 2019 Dancer at ADA and this one of the fun “travel to random places in Italy” I have done since coming to ADA. I am a bit of an AC (Assassin’s Creed) gamer geek so my desire once arriving to Italy was to go see San Gimignano. To give a little background on the AC 2 storyline. You play as one of the best (in my opinion) assassins to grace the AC universe Ezio Auditore da Firenze. One of Ezio’s many missions was to spy on the Templars and kill Vieri de’ Pazzi in San Gimignano. The Pazzi conspiracy was a plot to end the Medici family. Ezio was in alliance with Lorenzo de’ Medici so you could see why these conspirators had to be killed. The most amazing part of this location in the game was the San Gimignano towers. That is where most of the fighting happened. You would climb up the side of these towers, fight, and get to the very top and what the AC universe games do is once you hit these peaks in high locations you perch and “synchronize”, overlook the entire city landscape and then you purposefully jump off this point and land in a pile of hay or leaves. San Gimignano is known for these towers. It showed wealth. The three that are predominate are the Torre Grossa, Torre del Diavolo, and Torre dei Salvucci. The Torre Grossa is that tallest of them all. I had the pleasure to climb the Torre Grossa (via inside modern stairs not AC style). I am not typically afraid of falling from great heights but once I looked over the edge outside at the very top after climbing a million stairs, climbing a latter, and ducking below the huge bell, just a few thoughts came to my head “this is a very VERY high tower, am I synchronizing?”

So if anyone is interested in becoming an assassin for a day I highly recommend climbing the Torre Grossa in San Gimignano.

Kendra Weingast, Muhlenberg College

Semester Physical Theatre Program

Thoughts on an Ensemble

There are seven days of class left to the semester, and all I can think about was how long I spent anxiously waiting for the end to come, and how silly it is now that I would want that. The Accademia does that to you; you don’t realize its your home until you’re about to leave. The Undergraduate Theatre program has been talking a lot lately about what it means to be an ensemble, and everyone has differing opinions about it, but I have come to realize the one that is the most true to me. We are a collective. A group of people with a similar goal, with a similar drive to create. We all come from different backgrounds and approach our difficulties differently (our Philosophy class proves that), but in the end, we all cared enough about art to come all the way to Italy to study a new form of it. We spent all semester debating its definition in Philosophy, deconstructing the very way we talk and walk in Voice, and creating constantly in Commedia.  I will never again have an opportunity quite like this one; one in which I will be able to create with encouragement and voice my opinions without judgment. The UG Theatre program is, but all of Accademia is, an ensemble. We’re a family.

Ellie Strayer, Skidmore College

Semester Physical Theatre Program

Hey guys!

I’d love to share a fun story of something that happened to me this weekend! As I was trying to get to Siena, I accidentally took the wrong train coming out of Arezzo.  (Oh no, right?) in my panic, I jumped off at a small stop called Castiglion Fiorentino. After realizing the train was not going to come through for another hour or so, I decided to explore and make a day out of it. I climbed up (through a swamp) to the small walled city, and walked around some beautiful secluded piazzas. I found a small bar/cafe, and quickly made some friends. Some of them were archers tire students studying abroad from Texas A&M, and a few lived in the city. They gave me some recommendations for things to check out, and they also recommended a hair dresser in town when I mentioned I wanted to do something impulsive and exciting. I left with fond memories, new friends, and a cute new do. I am always in awe of how friendly and accessible Tuscany is. One small train mistake can really turn a weekend travel day into something new and lovely!

Emma Payne, Fordham University

One Year Physical Theatre Program

A day trip to Reggio Emilia

(A haiku)

A jolly fog-filled ride

To see Batsheva perform

We missed our train back