Arts and integration: 3 theatre workshops by “La Piccionaia”

From 25^th November to 18^th December 2020, three online and free workshops were organised and carried out by the Theatre Production Center La Piccionaia (Vicenza, Italy).

The workshops were dedicated to young people of all nationalities, between 16 and 35 years old, to get to know themselves and “others” in the name of cultural exchange and theatrical play.

The first workshop, focused on the topic “Theater and language”, took place on 25^th November and 2^nd December. It was led by Rosella Pizzolato, a teacher of Italian language for foreigners who has gained many years of experience in conducting intercultural theatre workshops.

The starting point was an object broughtby every participant in order to tell others something about themselves: from here, a path through the use of words and linguistic invention, passing through the basics of theatrical communication (voice, posture, gaze, relationship with the group and with space), up to the construction of simple theatrical moments integrated by moments of reflection and exchange.

Three theatre and body language workshops at La Piccionaia – Vicenza within the IMPACT project

The second workshop was dedicated to “Body expression”, conducted by the dancer and actress Valentina Dal Mas (who won the Scenario Infanzia 2017 Award for the play “From where you look at the world”) and took place on 9^th and 11^th December, 2020.

It consisted in a journey into self-expression through the languages of a dance-theater, writing and drawing, focused on the topic of colors and based on the body as a vehicle for the expression of emotions and thoughts. During the workshop, each body discoverswhich gestures, words and drawings can be created by experiencing a certain colour on their own skin and inside it. Everyone was encouraged to share a different point of view, according to their own culture of origin.

Finally, the third workshop was conducted together by Rosella Pizzolato and Valentina Dal Mas. It was dedicated to the topic “Theater, language, body”, on 16^th December and 18^th December.Two meetings integrating the tools of language, body and color for the construction of a short performative restitution, which took place online on 18th December.

The initiative is part of the project IMPACT (Inclusion Matters: using Performing Arts towards Cohesion and Tolerance), funded by the European Union programme Erasmus+ and implemented by a consortium made up of 8 partners, including, in addition to La Piccionaia, the lead partner Vifin – Videnscenter for Integration (Denmark), ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy (France), LDA AgencijaLokalnuDemokratiju (Montenegro), LDA – UdruzenjeAgencijaLokalneDemokratijeMostara (Bosnia Herzegovina), SEGA – Coalition of Youth Organizations Association (Macedonia), Association for Developing Voluntary Work Novo Mesto (Slovenia) and Urban Development Center (Serbia).