Open classes

“BRILLIANT MIND AND POWERFUL BODY”

TRAINING

This kind of training is an authentic somatic and intellectual kit for ‘surviving’ on the contemporary scene with a brilliant mind and powerful body. The somatic training revolves around this explicit argument: the practice is a guided, observational, and acquisitional process aimed at sharpening the mover’s research method.

The class progresses as follows:

– Cycles of exercises – suggested by Alexander and Klein Technique – that focus on reading the body. Through an orderly jumble of consistent instructions, the body is broken down into its constituent elements and prismatically deconstructed. The opening warm-up is the measuring range. Here, the study enhances movement logic and observes the conditions shaping how movement travels through the body. Inhibiting muscle density, promoting joint mobility, and appreciating details and concentration are all strategies to conquer an organized body and organic and consequential corporeity.

– In an escalation of complexity, the class culminates in scores of movement in space, efficient and consistent with the proposed warm-up. Without ever neglecting gesture impeccability, value is given to personal strategies and intuitions, to develop a clear – but never illustrative – corporality, in which a pure activity – untainted by mannerism and reproduction of patterns – is dominating. The composition is perfectly simple, to leave space to change, to free personal processing of an experience revolving around a declared assumption, and to pay homage to personal wisdom and expertise.

The classes are addressed to all who have put the training of mind, body, and utopia at the center of their research. They are open to all performers, because this working method settles on multiple layers, with the ambition of enabling the mover to externalize their abilities by giving them appropriate and measured tasks. Over time, the process aims at preserving the grip of thought, transforming experiential facts, and creating a new kind of knowledge, stripped of anything unessential. 

MOVEMENT RESEARCH

The workshop presents itself as a unique somatic and intellectual training kit to ‘survive’ on the contemporary scene with a brilliant mind and powerful body. The appreciation of physical conditions – prismatically deconstructed and available to change – and the combinatory play between system and instinct are what we hypothesize at the center of our reflection. The instructions given are simple, layered, and non-contradicting. The body is broken down into its constituent elements. Movement logic becomes a virtue for redefining the body, and dialectic a device to fine-tune and expand the mover’s composite physicality. Without ever neglecting gesture impeccability, value is given to personal strategies and intuitions to develop a clear – but never illustrative – corporality, in which a pure activity – untainted by mannerism and reproduction of patterns – is dominating. The practice is perfectly simple, to leave space to free personal processing of an experience revolving around a declared assumption and to pay homage to personal wisdom and expertise. The workshop is addressed to all who have put the training of mind, body, and utopia at the center of their research. It is open to all performers, because this working method settles on multiple layers, with the ambition of enabling the mover to externalize their abilities by giving them appropriate and measured tasks. Over time, the process aims at preserving the grip of thought, transforming experiential facts, and creating a new kind of knowledge, stripped of anything unessential. 

Marta Ciappina – dancer, coach, and teacher – trained mainly in New York, at Trisha Brown Studio and Movement Research. As a dancer, she performed with John Jasperse Company (New York), Luis Lara Malvacias (New York), Gabriella Maiorino (Amsterdam), Ariella Vidach – AiEP (Milano), Motus (Parigi), Daniele Albanese_Compagnia Stalk (Parma), Compagnia Daniele Ninarello (Torino), among many others.

Since 2013, she has been collaborating with MK Company – a leading group in the contemporary scene – directed by Michele Di Stefano, who was awarded a Leone d’Argento at 2014’s Biennale Danza in Venice.

In 2015, she began collaborating with Alessandro Sciarroni – who won Leone d’Oro at 2019’s Biennale Danza in Venice with the project “Turning_symphony of sorrowful song,” a site-specific performance that was presented at MAXXI (Rome).

At the same time, Marta worked with the Swiss company Cie Tiziana Arnaboldi and started collaborating with Chiara Bersani for the projects “Goodnight, Peeping Tom” and “The Olympic Games” – a K3 Tanzplan Hamburg production, created in synergy with Marco D’Agostin.

In March 2018, she was cast as an interpreter in “Augusto” by Alessandro Sciarroni, which premiered in September 2018 at Lyon’s Biennale de la danse.

The same year, “Turning_For Marta” – a solo version of the broader project “Turning,” by Sciarroni – debuted. The world premiere was held at Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza (Varese, Italy) in a hall with set-up by Dan Flavin.

In May 2019, as a performer, she collaborated with director Carmelo Rifici in the mise en espace of the show “I Cenci,” produced by LuganoInScena.

She is currently an interpreter in replicas of the productions “Bermudas” – MK and “Augusto” – Alessandro Sciarroni.