Orsolina28 Moncalvo en Danza Summer Intensive

About the Program

This summer I attended Orsolina28 Art Foundation’s Moncalvo en Danza Summer intensive for professional and pre-professional dancers. The program took place in the Monferrato region in Moncalvo, Italy. When I arrived at Orsolina28 I was pleasantly greeted by nature surrounding every aspect of the living and dancing spaces. Horticulture farms flanked our dining halls, and the studios opened to the views of mountainous valleys and vineyards. The experience of dancing and living within nature helped in grounding myself for the work to be done as a dancer and in discovering new ways to incorporate the Earth’s gifts into my dance work. As someone who hopes to utilize dance to both fundraise and raise awareness about the conservation and protection of our Earth’s environment and resources, being able to dance within the surrounding environment, rather than detached from it like the typical studio, gave me the ability to fulfill a mind and body connection to the Earth distinct to anything I have experienced in the states before.

A portion of the funds I received that were not going directly to program costs, were used on the travel to Italy. The Moncalvo intensive in particular attracted a larger Italian audience than some of the more international intensives that Orsolina28 hosts. This is because the two choreographers headlining the program are both Italian. Italian-based companies. This meant, to my surprise when I arrived, a large number of the dancers attending did not speak English. The language barrier between myself and the Italian dancers and even the choreographers provided me with a different lens than I could have predicted. We were able to communicate through dance, feeling and the language of movement rather than verbal communication. This strengthened what I have already thought to be true in dance, that it transcends the way many people comprehend communication and enters a new realm of both interpretation and liberation. I hope to use this interpretation to aid me in the choreographic process in both funding and advocating change for our world.