The Art of the Performer between West and East

Participants will explore rhythm, body plasticity as well as elements of the classical Indian dance-theatre (Kathakali and Odissi style) and how to integrate them into the training of European theatre actors.

Rhythm/dissociation

  • rhythm sequences
  • rhythm games
  • rhythm connections
  • rhythm/vocal sequences

Body plasticity

  • segmentation
  • isolation
  • contraposition
  • walks
  • postures
  • facial expressions
  • composition

Common principles – from the basic positions and sequencesof the Indian dance-theatre (KathakaliandOdissi style) to their western transpositions

Teatro dell’Albero was founded in 1999 in Milan (Italy) by Mario Barzaghi and Rosalba Genovese. The work of the company focuses on the development of the actor’s craft by confronting Eastern and Western traditions through the pedagogical and artistic study of stage techniques from different theatre traditions. The result of this research is the work demonstration An Athlete of the Heart and the performance piece Divine Fragments of a Journey into Hell.
Teatro dell’Albero collaborates with many theatres around the world, including Attori e Cantori, Faber Teater, Teatro Persona, Teatro due Mondi, Teatro dei Venti, Teatro Rebis, Limen Teatro, Teatro B. Brecht, Teatro La Madrugada, Teatro dell’Acquario, Arsenic, Theatre L, Studio d’Action Théâtrale, Teatro Taller de Colombia, le Galpon, Odin Teatret, and with artists such as Jacques Gardel, Gabriel Alvarez, Robert Clerc, Tage Larsen and Else Marie Laukvik.  Its collaborators also include theatre scholars including Nando Taviani and Mirella Schino (Università de L’Aquila), Piergiorgio Giacché (Università di Perugia), Franco Ruffini (Università degli Studi Roma Tre), Marcello Gallucci (Accademia di Belle Arti de L’Aquila).

Recently, Teatro dell’Albero has collaborated on the montage of Oriente (Teatro Due Mondi) and Se ci fosse luce e il Draago (Teatro dei Venti). Its latest co-productions, directed by Mario Barzaghi, are: Limen Teatro’s Geometria del Caos, Diaphanès Teatro’s …viene il mattino azzurro, Mi e Ti…, Teatrodell’Albero’s Ardendo si consuma, and Hernàn Gené’s La Biblioteca di Scardanelli, Tage Larsen as a director: Sancho Panza and Non Chisciotte (Teatro dell’Albero/Odin Teatret).

Mario Barzaghi has been repeatedly invited to teach and perform at the open sessions of Regula contra Regulam, a research project led by Raúl Iaiza and organized in collaboration with the Grotowski Institute.