"Humans have lost their animal"

I am being instructed under one of the most acclaimed Commedia dell'arte performers in Italy. Michele is one of the four actors who has taken the role of Arlecchino in "Two Gentlemen of Verona" here in Italy, an he is absolutely amazing. 

The class today was a lot of physical theatre, movement that was basic but extremely challenging. The simplest movements can be the most difficult to master. 

We talked a lot about the body's center today, how the pelvis is your center, it is what drives youand in Commedia dell'arte a form of performance theatre where people are driven by power, sex and hunger, its no wonder why it would be your center. We meet at our centers.

"Humans" he says "have lost their animal". 

We think we are bi-peds but we were meant to be on our fours. we learned to have control by allowing our pelvis to be our centers. Our centers give us direction, they tell us our relationships with one another. This might not make too much sense, but it was a very simple and beautiful thought and allowed my movements to feel more controlled and natural. 

The body is a pretty miraculous thing.

I have learned so much about the animal in my body, just in one class sitting.

Michele says that we must recognize we come from ONE CULTURE, the same culture. If you can allow yourself to open your eyes to that, to understand that is our nature and animalistic truth, you can connect to each other much more.

He also told us about the body and how when a man tries to convince an audience that he is doing something real, he becomes not believable . Jeph Parker, my voice teacher last semester said something like this "Keep going deeper. When you think you have gone deep enough, keep searching deeper." I wonder to what degree I have actually accomplished just living on stage as opposed to trying to convince through acting?

We are going to be doing mask work in class, and from what we learned today the mask is an amazing thing. Every actor that works with a mask, brings life to it. Something of the human being, something different deep within can be revealed when a mask conceals the facade we put on during a daily basis. Michele says "We look to perform an "exorcism" of ourselves from the character, from the mask."  Humanity is seen beneath the mask. 

Today it was all about understanding an impulse, a reaction, how to be honest to your body. Just understanding what is happening to your human being when you perform. Understanding your animal.

After our 8 hours of class with only 1hour of lunch between, (which did not at all feel this long) I along with a coupe of homies decided to explore and find the nearest market to our villa. We hiked through vineyards and passed villas today to get to the local market. It was a long walk, but it was a beautiful journey, we tried all routes until we finally realized we had been going in the right direction during our first choice in the three forks in the road we hit. It was worth the adventure though. And Julian yelling "Escusi" over and over again trying to get the locals' attention, but failing. Again... I think they hate Americans. hahaha

We asked a man for help trying out some broken italian and he was talking to us in italian back, but then we spoke a bit of english and he started to too... it was hilarious!

Anyways, we made it to our destination finally and it was soooo much cheaper than the supermarket we went to yesterday. By the way, I don't know if I told you, but Euro sucks 1.6 times more in conversion than us. boooo... i bought plenty the drinks because I hate the water here, its calcium treated and tastes a bit funky. We felt accomplished and my tan is pretty tan hahaha, DarKaba maybe? We'll see if my Tuscan sun tan pans out!

After dinner I took an amazing shower and chilled outside with my friends Dana and Aarynn. Only for our teacher to start rocking out to Benny and the Jets with us. He comes and sits with us and we talk about his travels and his experiences and he brings us an Asahi beer each. We were knocking down beers with our teacher, this extraordinary performer, witty, charming and humorous italian man. It was amazing, until we got in trouble for being too loud. 11:00pm is quiet time in our Villa and in our neighborhood as a whole, we heard stories about yogurt and dirty mop water being thrown on folks who were making noise on our outside street past 11:00pm. The only place to do this is the Limonia. But our conversation with Michele just seemed to end too soon. 

Tomorrow is class again 9am sharp. I'm so happy to be in Italy and I am happy for the friends I have made! We're eating lunch in the best winery in Arezzo which is acclaimed all throughout Italy; they invited the students for a wine tasting and a light lunch... AMAZING! And then class all day and maybe hit the town late at night. We'll see where the wind takes us!

My few times I can be on my computer to say hello to you all is just to remind me how lucky I am that after I leave Italy to come home to all of you! I love you guys!