85122 - ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE SCENE (1) (LM)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

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.

Contenuti

What is performance? How does it embody the contemporary culture? Finally,  when does it foster cooperation, co-creation and critical discourse?

The course deals with these issues by presenting relevant case studies from the Italian Performance Scene since the Sixties and Seventies, and from Social and Community Theatre. 

A participatory practice will also be explored in order to inquire on the interdisciplinary methods employed in community theatre. In this section, the focus will be on the concept of "border", which will be addressed in collaboration with the theatre company Cantieri Meticci.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site [https://site/] .unibo.it/tudent-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Testi/Bibliografia

Attending students:

• Rossella Mazzaglia (ed.), Italian Contemporary Performance: Methodology and case studies, 2025-2026, pp. 150 (reader available on the e-learning course page).
• Notes/slides from class and extracts from primary sources shared in class.

Attending students will be requested to read and share readings on the "border" for the participatory practice. A reading suggestion is:

• Sharam Khosravi, "Illegal Traveller". An Autho-Ethnography of Borders", Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 (the book is available in Italian, too. Students may choose either).
  

Non attending students will replace the study of Sharam Khosravi's book with the following text, which they will add to the reader and to the slides published on the Virtuale page by the end of the course:

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

Metodi didattici

Lectures carried out in presence, and seminars. Though the classes will be held according to the published schedule, during the participatory practice, one class will last four hours and consequently exceed the regular schedule.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Students will have to pass an oral exam, based on open questions aimed at testing both their ability in exposing the contents of the program with an appropriate language and their skills in making connections between the aesthetic forms and their cultural background.

However, attending students will also be encouraged to share material and have an active co-creative participation in the workshop. 

Assessment criteria:

Proper language and the ability to critically speak about the book and reader contents, as well as the capacity to make connections will lead to a good/excellent final grade.

Acceptable language and the ability to resume the books' content will lead to a sufficient/fair grade.

Insufficient linguistic proficiency and fragmentary knowledge of the bibliographical material will lead to a failure in passing the exam.

The active participation in class will contribute to achieving a good grade.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

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

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Rossella Nancy Maria Mazzaglia