Let's Dance! L'Arsenale della Danza in Venice - Body in Progress

Ismael Ivo

(Venice, Italy) Ismael Ivo, the Director of the Dance sector of La Biennale, is the man swirling in blue. Those of you who read the Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog sidebars will know that Ismael was recently awarded the Republic of Brazil's highest cultural honor, the Ordem do Merito Cultural Brasil, the first time an interpreter of contemporary dance has been so recognized. I gave Ismael a cyber hug back then in December. On Friday, January 14, I had the pleasure of giving him a real hug at the press conference for Arsenale della Danza at Ca' Giustinian, Biennale di Venezia headquarters. 

Arsenale della Danza means "Arsenal of the Dance," or "Dance Arsenal." It is a company of twenty-four young dancers that have arrived here in Venice to begin their master classes, which started on January 17 and run through May 15, 2011. The dance students come from all over the world -- 12 from Italy; the other 12 are from the USA, Canada, Sweden, Greece, Russia, plus five from Brazil -- and are the results of auditions last year in Venice, Italy, Vienna, Austria and San Paolo, Brazil. 

Dance Arsenal is a play on words because the group takes its name from the ancient compound where the Venetians used to build their boats, the Arsenale. 

The Arsenal by Francesco Guardi

From Wikipedia:   

"Construction of the Arsenal began around 1104, during Venice's republican era.^[1][2] It was the largest industrial complex in Europe prior to the Industrial Revolution,^[3] spanning an area of about 45 ha (110 acres), or about fifteen percent of Venice.^[1] ...

...By the 16th century, the Arsenal had become the most powerful and efficient shipbuilding enterprise in the world. Not only did it supply ships, rigging, and other nautical supplies, it was also a major munitions depot for the Venetian navy and was capable of outfitting and producing a fully equipped merchant or naval vessel in less than one day.

This is in stark contrast to the rest of Europe, where the production of a similar sized vessel could often take months. This amazing production capacity was a result of the massive amounts of people that the Arsenal employed, almost 16,000, and the streamlining of production within the Arsenal itself. ...

Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of the Arsenal was its employment of the moving assembly line. The galley itself, through the use of a canal, was moved along during its stages of construction, allowing the galley to be brought to the materials and workers, instead of the materials and workers going to the galley itself. This remarkable feature of the Venetian Arsenal was not seen again until the early 20th century when Henry Ford "invented" the modern assembly line.^[12]"

Today, the Arsenale has morphed into a playground for artists and their international audiences. This is where La Biennale art and architecture exhibitions take place. Other spaces inside the enormous complex have been transformed into theaters for dance, music and theatrical productions. Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, an amazing space secreted far away from civilization, reached by a long, leisurely walk through the ghosts and phantoms of the ancient shipyard, is where Arsenale della Danza holds its master classes. This is the third edition of the program, and this year's theme is Body in progress.

There were some young dancers at the press conference on Friday, and it was thrilling to see that Ismael had actually manifested them right into Ca' Giustinian, La Biennale headquarters. When I first wrote about the auditions back in May, 2010 (click HERE to read Oxygen - Finally a Breath of Air!), the students were still in the ether. Now they are here in the flesh, with very cool hair.

Ivo says, "We can imagine the body as a unique orchestra that must play every part, exactly like the different musical instruments correspond to the full range of motion. But when the body-orchestra begins to tune its instrument to prepare for a symphony -- here is where experience is needed to prepare for a task so high. This is the moment when the dancer needs to know how to find the space and have the power to dispose of it, experimenting and honing skills that have already been acquired."

 Ismael Ivo will choreograph a New Creation, which will be performed on May 11 and 13 at the Malibran Theatre. Ivo's creations are eagerly anticipated, and it becomes nearly impossible to get a seat, so plan ahead. This year, for the first time, Ivo's New Creation will go on the road, and will be at Teatro Verdi in Padova on May 17; Teatro Comunale in Vicenza on May 19; Teatro Comunale in Belluno on May 21; and Teatro Comunale in Treviso on May 24. It will also be at the Teatro Social in Rovigo on a date to be determined.

Paolo Baratta, Venetian of the Year

Paolo Baratta, the President of the Venice Biennale, was also at the press conference. On Sunday, January 17, 2011, he was formally presented with the "Venetian of the Year" award for the year 2010, and it could not have gone to a more deserving individual. You don't have to be Venetian to receive this immense honor, but you do have to work selflessly, determinedly and against all odds for the good of Venice. The recognition is awarded by the Association Settemari in collaboration with the Cassa di Risparmio di Venezia, and it is now in its thirty-second edition.  The vote was unanimous for Paolo Baratta for the following reasons:

"For having established and spread widely, with noble determination, the centuries-old presence of La Biennale in the life and urban fabric of the city, returning buildings and prestigious places, finally healed, to the community, and suggesting, with a far-reaching strategic vision, the destiny of Venice as a privileged global forum of art and culture. " 

The ceremony was held in the Halls of Apollinee Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, in Campo San Fantin. Paolo Baratta made the following statement:

"I thank the Venetian friends who have honored me with this award, and with so flattering a motivation. I am particularly pleased because it is also indirectly a hug on the part of Venetians DOC to the Biennale, fully including it as a vital energy for the ambitious future of a city that lives up to its past. "

Paolo Baratta 
President of the Venice Biennale 

There are so few real Venetians left in Venice that those who are here are referred to as Venetian "DOC." "DOC" stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which is a designation Italian wine gets for authenticity and quality. So we call a real Venetian, "Venetian DOC."

I have worked with La Biennale for more than ten years. I have watched Paolo Baratta at the center of this magical, mystical nebula filled with art, imagination, and creativity, whose vibrant energy wakes up old buildings and abandoned spaces around Venice. Contemporary thought mixed into an ancient labyrinth creates a dynamic that does not exist anywhere else on earth. Creators and innovators arrive from all corners of the planet, meeting kindred spirits full of vision and hope. Venice's destiny: a magnet for enlightened thinkers.

Schedule for Biennale 2011

Arsenale della Danza   -  January 17 to May 15
Carnevale dei ragazzi   -  February 26 to March 8
Arti Visive                   -  June 4 to November 27
Cinema                       -  August 31 to September 10
Musica                        -  September 24 to October 1
Teatro                         -  October 10 to October 16


Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat- The Venice Blog

On the 12th Day of Christmas my True Love Gave to Me -- Befana!

(Venice, Italy) The holidays are officially over now in Venice, finishing up yesterday with the Epiphany -- La Befana -- the Twelfth Day of Christmas -- one of my favorite holidays. And one of my favorite aristocrats organized a Befana dinner with some of my favorite Venetian witches at the table, complete with cackling strega centerpiece, so we did manage to have a bit of festivity here in the lagoon.

From ANSA:

(ANSA) - Rome, January 6 - The gift-bearing 'Befana' witch delighted children all over Italy on Thursday with her annual appearance on the Catholic church's feast of the Epiphany. The Befana is the mythic old witch who is said to fly into children's homes on her broom during the night between January 5 and 6, filling stockings with sweets and small presents for good kids, and lumps of coal for naughty ones. Click HERE to read the entire article.

Here is the Venetian Cat - Venice Blog from January 7, 2009,

Befana Regata and Epiphany

The Epiphany, or the Twelfth Day of Christmas, on January 6th is a national holiday in Italy. It is also the day of the La Befana, a witch who hands out candy and gifts for good children, and coal for bad children, similar to Santa Claus.

In Venice, the holiday has morphed into something truly unique. During the Regata delle Befane, male Venetian rowers dress in drag as female witches, and have a little regata, or race. The finish line is below my apartment, so I usually have a Befana party to close the holiday season. No one ever seems to know, exactly, what time the race starts or finishes. Some posters from the Comune said to go over to the fish market at 11:30AM for hot mulled wine and sweets, so I thought 11AM would be a good time for the party. It turned out it was too late. Note to self: the Befana regata celebration starts at 10AM!

A Venetian chorus started singing Venetian songs at the foot of the Rialto Bridge at about 10AM, so I called the documentary filmmaker Anny Cararro and told her to come earlier because she wanted to shoot some footage. We started getting all teary-eyed listening to the songs. For me, the Befana regata is one of the most Venetian holidays because the Venetians really run the show. The acoustics are very particular at the foot of the Rialto Bridge, and the voices of the chorus soared over the Grand Canal, echoing off the palazzi and skipping across the water. An enormous stocking is hung from the top of the Rialto Bridge, and with the men rowing frantically dressed as women... well, you can only imagine.

One year, I spent La Befana in the Veneto on the mainland, and out there they burned her image, sort of like a scarecrow/witch, in a huge bonfire. She then resurrected into human form and handed out sweets or coal, and then later the children went in and sat on her lap while the adults munched on traditional sweets and drank hot mulled wine.

The Twelfth Day of Christmas, or the Epiphany is celebrated to commemorate the day the Three Magi arrived with their gifts for the infant Jesus. How did a witch get involved with that?

According to Wikipedia, La Befana may have pagan origins, and since many Christian holidays and images can trace their origins back before the Church got involved, I am putting my money on that theory. La Befana feels pagan:

A popular belief is that her name derives from the festival of Epiphany, but there is evidence to suggest that Befana is descended from the Sabine/Roman goddess named Strina. In the book Vestiges of Ancient Manners and Customs, Discoverable in Modern Italy and Sicily by Rev. John J. Blunt (John Murray, 1823), the author says:

"This Befana appears to be heir at law of a certain heathen goddess called Strenia, who presided over the new-year's gifts, 'Strenae,' from which, indeed, she derived her name. (D. Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. iv. c. 16.) Her presents were of the same description as those of the Befana—figs, dates, and honey. (Ov. Fast. i. 185.) Moreover her solemnities were vigorously opposed by the early Christians on account of their noisy, riotous, and licentious character" (Vide Rosini, ed. Dempster. lib. i. c.13, de Dea Strenia}. – page 120

To read the entire article, click HERE.

In any event, I would like to thank my guests for their excellent conversation and generosity in creating a spectacular table. Each person contributed something, so we had lasagna, salad, mushrooms, cheeses and plenty of fine wine, panettone and chocolates!

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - Venice Blog

Happy New Year 2011 - Venice, Italy

(Venice, Italy) We have arrived into the Year 2011. Let's hope that the Wise Ones get everything balanced this year.

Here's to creation, not destruction; honesty, not lies; fairness, not manipulation, and strong encouragement mixed with gentle restraint.

Happy New Year,

Cat 

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Harley, Like a Person by Cat Bauer

Harley's Ninth by Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - ALWAYS on Santa's Team!

Muran Glass Christmas Tree
by Simone Cenedese

(Venice, Italy) I don't know who wrote this little Christmas story -- not me -- it was sent to me by an old school chum from Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. If anyone knows who the author is, please tell me so I can give credit where it is due, but apparently it's been floating around cyber space for years. 

Enjoy:

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second World-famous cinnamon bun. 

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything.  As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. 

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.  Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement.

I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. 

Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby. 

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were, ridiculous.  Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care. And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

Merry Christmas! Buon Natale! Happy Holidays to All!

Ciao from Venice,

Cat -- ALWAYS on Santa's team!

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Romeo & Juliet at the Teatro Goldoni in Venice

(Venice, Italy) William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has been making audiences weep for more than four hundred years. Still humanity does not learn this lesson. When the play opens, two warring families, the Capulets and the Montagues, have already been fighting for centuries.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Photo by Marta Ferranti

It is not a private battle. They are both important families and their hatred spills into the streets, disturbing the peace of Verona. 

The citizens are tired of the constant fighting and step in themselves, shouting "Clubs, bills, and partisans! Strike! Beat them down! Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!"

Prince Escalus himself appears on the scene and commands the warring families to stop. 

Since we all know the ending, the only thing that causes the two patriarchs to finally shake hands and declare peace is the agonizing death of their own children. The passionate love of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet culminates with them dying in each other's arms. Perhaps they are together in Paradise.

I caught yesterday's matinee at the Goldoni Theater where Romeo e Giulietta is playing from December 16 through 19, with excellent performances by Lucas Waldem Zanforlini and Eleonora Tata in the starring roles. Giuseppe Marini directed a condensed version.

In this production, the Ladies Montague and Capulet were nowhere in sight, making it truly a war between patriarchs. 

The theater was almost sold-out, the boxes overflowing with young people all the way up to the ceiling, both male and female, who really seemed to enjoy the show. That is what is great about Romeo & Juliet; I remember studying it myself when I was about fourteen-years-old. In fact, I stuck it in my first novel, Harley, Like a Person.

Photo by Marta Ferranti

The vibrant costumes by Mariano Tufano were a delight for the eyes — a mixture of Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland, and The Importance of Being Earnest meets A Clockwork Orange — top hats and checkered pants mixed with rich royal velvets. 

Nicolò Scarparo was a stand-out as Friar Lorenzo (Laurence), floating seamlessly across the stage an inch above the ground. The set was sparse, but effective.

Romeo and Juliet has been produced an infinite amount of times, in zillions of languages, in ancient and contemporary interpretations. It has been filmed and made into operas, ballets and Broadway musicals. Switch-blades have replaced swords; hypodermic needles have replaced poison. 

According to Wikipedia:

The play is sometimes given a historical setting, enabling audiences to reflect on the underlying conflicts. For example, adaptations have been set in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,^[124] in the apartheid era in South Africa,^[125] and in the aftermath of the Pueblo Revolt.^[126] Similarly, Peter Ustinov's 1956 comic adaptation, Romanoff and Juliet, is set in a fictional mid-European country in the depths of the Cold War.^[127] 

At the end of the play, Prince Escalus laments after too many good people have died for no good reason:

Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,

That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.

And I for winking at your discords too

Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.

Photo by Marta Ferranti

Dec 16 & 19 at 4:00pm

Dec 15, 17 & 18 at 8:30pm

Teatro Goldoni

San Marco 4650/b

Venezia

041.2402011

Ciao from Venice,

Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Madonna of the Sun - Venetian Cat - December 8 Anniversary Blog

Here's the traditional Madonna of the Sun blog for Wednesday, December 8, 2010 
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Madonna of the Sun

THE MADONNA OF THE SUN

(from 8 dicembre 2006)

Today, December 8th, is the birthday of my protagonist, Harley Columba. It is also the day that John Lennon was assassinated. When I was creating Harley, I wanted her to have a deep connection to John Lennon, so she was born in the same hospital where John Lennon died.

December 8th is also a holiday here in Italy, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is the day Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived.

One wonders how that came about... since most Christian holidays turn out to have more ancient meanings.

It turns out that December 8th is also Bodhi Day, the day the Buddha became enlightened.

It is the Festival of Neith, the Egyptian goddess who gave birth to Ra, the Sun god; it is celebrated by the Feast of Lamps. Neith, in turn, transforms into Isis, the "woman clothed with the sun," wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus.

It is the day that Amaterasu, the Japanese Goddess of the Sun, was born.

On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. The Japanese royal family is descended from the Sun Goddess.

On December 8, 2009, Cat Bauer woke up inside her apartment on the Grand Canal. 

***

On December 8, 2010, Cat Bauer woke up outside her apartment on the Grand Canal, from which she was forcibly and violently evicted again on June 11, 2010. This year, however, the gas and electricity are in my name. To read the Madonna of the Sun blog from last year, 2009, complete with comments, please click HERE.

Ciao from Venice,

Cat 

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

http://venetiancat.blogspot.com