85122 - The Italian Contemporary Performance Scene (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will have acquired knowledge of the theoretical and critical reflections on the performing arts in Italy from the second half of the twentieth century to the first decade of the new millennium, with a particular focus on mise-en-scène and dance. Students will be capable of autonomously analysing critical, theoretical and poetic texts regarding the performing arts and will have acquired a series of tools for understanding pertinent iconographic and video documents.

Course contents

What is performance? How is it related to its cultural and historical context? What defines the “Italian” Performance Scene? Rather than searching for an ontological definition of the “Italian” performance scene, the course will focus on an historical reconstruction of the performative genres that developed in Italy since the Sixties questioning the culture the theatre forms reacted to or contributed producing in the specific circumstances of their inception.

It will be divided into three parts: - methodological introduction on theatre and performance studies; historical overview from the Sixties onwards; case studies in dance, theatre and performance (New Theatre and Environmental Theatre / Applied Theatre / Urban Dance and Community Dance).

Readings/Bibliography

Valentina Valentini, New Theatre in Italy (1963-2013), Routledge, London and New York, 2017, selected chapters.

Reader: Italian Contemporary Performance: Methodology and case studies. (The reader will be available by the beginning of class on the e-learning course page).

Attendance is highly recommended.

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars led by the teacher. Students are required to attend and actively participate in class discussions.

Assessment methods

Requirements: All students are required to attend classes, prepare a final project on a specific topic dealt with in class (10 page essay priorly discussed with the instructor and handed a week before the exam date), prepare the full syllabus for a final oral examination.

Grade distribution: attendance, participation and discussion in class (20%), paper project (50%); oral examination (30%).

Teaching tools

Performances and artistic processes will be discussed in class with reference to a rich audio-visual documentation, primary and critical bibliography.

Office hours

See the website of Rossella Nancy Maria Mazzaglia