The Physical Theatre Program is designed as an intensive training program under the guidance of highly competent teachers integrating various techniques in a body-based approach to performance. While providing demanding physical training and exposing students to challenging encounters with prominent artists from theater, dance and performance art, special attention is dedicated to the development of individual potential and the artistic interests of each student.
As well as providing students with acting tools grounded in the unique tradition of Commedia dell’Arte, Movement and Voicework, the program immerses them into contemporary European performance trends that are currently driven by a conceptually oriented and socially engaged approach. The theoretical courses – as well as lectures by guest scholars and artists – are conceived to inform students about related theories in contemporary art, philosophy and social studies. The aim is not only to raise awareness of underlying connections between aesthetics, concepts and conditions of (art) production in the past but primarily to give them adequate instruments for the articulation and the contextualization of their own performance practice within the present.
All the main courses of the program reflect the grounding principle of ADA which is the formation of the actor-creator and, as such, are focused on devising original work, on a mentoring approach, and on providing the conditions for students to explore ways of collective creation and of horizontal collaborative processes, encouraging them to take full responsibility for their creative choices and to become aware of the language and the aesthetic that better reflects their specific interest.
As a faculty we feel that being a part of the ADA artistic community engages us with students for a challenging, creative journey in constant development and we have a unique opportunity to share, transmit and learn. Teaching is a dynamic encounter between faculty members and students, a nourishing and inspiring practice, where pedagogical process reveals important discoveries for students and teachers alike.
The undergraduate program with its distinctive residential dimension and its concentrated academic schedule offers an outstanding insight into the world of physical theatre. We hope it will be an inspiring, fulfilling, transformative training and artistic experience capable of generating further interest, questions and dedication in each students’ continued development and formation.
Nhandan Chirco
Physical Theatre Program Director
