The Master of Fine Arts program at Accademia dell'Arte has developed organically after several years of research and experimentation with diverse yet interrelated European performance currents broadly defined as Physical Theatre.
In this form of performance, the expressive body and the expressive voice of the actor are conceived as full partners with the written text and scenic design. Training is thus aimed at the total mastery of the physical and vocal articulation of the actor through the study of movement, mime, dance, acrobatics, equilibrium, object manipulation and mask work, along with vocal extension, power, stamina and versatility. As the body is the expressive tool of the actor, it must be technically capable of conveying the creative content devised by the actor. But technique must be understood as having value as a means to an end, not an end in itself. While a refined and personalized technique is essential for modern performance, we must not forget that such techniques have emerged from a rich and varied past. A full appreciation of this past is a fundamental component of the training that breathes life and passion into the work of the artist.
Artistic research, training and development evolve best through a multi-disciplinary approach where unique cross-fertilization can occur in the hand of the artist. This enables the students to utilize what they have learned, and are in the process of learning, in relation to broader artistic thought, practical experience, history and a given socio-cultural context.
For this reason, the program at Accademia dell'Arte seeks to integrate historic and living traditions of performance into the actor's vocabulary, both as a rich source from which the imagination can develop and as a model that provides a high-level point of departure for personal artistic development.
The artist is not only a reflection of society and its cultural history but also--and perhaps more importantly--a social vector that plays an active part in the understanding, evolution and transformation of society. It is thus the human relationships developed between student and teacher that are privileged in the program as a direct expression of cultural, artistic and human continuity. Rather than subordinating students to an abstract and rigid methodology, the school seeks to link students to teachers in more of a master-apprentice relationship, where the multitude of sometimes infinitesimal artistic and social elements can be individually revealed and developed rather than hidden or devalued by preconceptions that often accompany methodologies.
While working primarily in an Italian context during the training, the program will take students to Berlin, Torino and Milano for in-depth exposure of varied training and aesthetic traditions. This work will open the creative process along the path of what one might call "border crossings." That is, an effort to fertilize the imagination by opening students to the broader European experience, with the aim of developing their creative autonomy within the context of cross-cultural and collective framework.
Prospective students will notice that music constitutes an integral element to the acting program, and with good reason. We believe that music is the primordial ground from which all performance originates; the social organization of sound and rhythm provide the essential structure of movement of the human body in space. Students will work to acquire a firm rooting in the music and dance traditions that historically and geographically grew out of the Mediterranean basin.
It is the ultimate goal of the program to launch students into the world as confident, creative and autonomous artists with a strongly developed aesthetic sensibility that unites the wonder of performance with a genuine search for human meaning.
In this form of performance, the expressive body and the expressive voice of the actor are conceived as full partners with the written text and scenic design. Training is thus aimed at the total mastery of the physical and vocal articulation of the actor through the study of movement, mime, dance, acrobatics, equilibrium, object manipulation and mask work, along with vocal extension, power, stamina and versatility. As the body is the expressive tool of the actor, it must be technically capable of conveying the creative content devised by the actor. But technique must be understood as having value as a means to an end, not an end in itself. While a refined and personalized technique is essential for modern performance, we must not forget that such techniques have emerged from a rich and varied past. A full appreciation of this past is a fundamental component of the training that breathes life and passion into the work of the artist.
Artistic research, training and development evolve best through a multi-disciplinary approach where unique cross-fertilization can occur in the hand of the artist. This enables the students to utilize what they have learned, and are in the process of learning, in relation to broader artistic thought, practical experience, history and a given socio-cultural context.
For this reason, the program at Accademia dell'Arte seeks to integrate historic and living traditions of performance into the actor's vocabulary, both as a rich source from which the imagination can develop and as a model that provides a high-level point of departure for personal artistic development.
The artist is not only a reflection of society and its cultural history but also--and perhaps more importantly--a social vector that plays an active part in the understanding, evolution and transformation of society. It is thus the human relationships developed between student and teacher that are privileged in the program as a direct expression of cultural, artistic and human continuity. Rather than subordinating students to an abstract and rigid methodology, the school seeks to link students to teachers in more of a master-apprentice relationship, where the multitude of sometimes infinitesimal artistic and social elements can be individually revealed and developed rather than hidden or devalued by preconceptions that often accompany methodologies.
While working primarily in an Italian context during the training, the program will take students to Berlin, Torino and Milano for in-depth exposure of varied training and aesthetic traditions. This work will open the creative process along the path of what one might call "border crossings." That is, an effort to fertilize the imagination by opening students to the broader European experience, with the aim of developing their creative autonomy within the context of cross-cultural and collective framework.
Prospective students will notice that music constitutes an integral element to the acting program, and with good reason. We believe that music is the primordial ground from which all performance originates; the social organization of sound and rhythm provide the essential structure of movement of the human body in space. Students will work to acquire a firm rooting in the music and dance traditions that historically and geographically grew out of the Mediterranean basin.
It is the ultimate goal of the program to launch students into the world as confident, creative and autonomous artists with a strongly developed aesthetic sensibility that unites the wonder of performance with a genuine search for human meaning.
News
- Jun 15, 2010 | Congratulations to the MFA Students on their Completion of Circus School!
Our MFA students recently finished the third module of the Physical Theatre Master's program with the completion of a six-week course at FLIC Scuola di Circo in Torino, Italy. Be sure to check t... - May 11, 2010 | MFA Student to Perform at International Children's Festival
Accademia dell'Arte MFA student Ben Sota will perform at the Pittsburgh International Children's Festival, a five-day annual event now in its 24th year. The festival begins May 12, and features perf... - Apr 19, 2010 | WinterFest Workshops 2011
Each January Accademia dell'Arte sponsors workshops for participants to explore various elements of the physical actor under the guidance of masters in their field. In 2011 the Accademia will host...