Interview with Angela Calia and Felix Baumann, students at Accademia Teatro Dimitri and ESKAS scholarship holders

Angela Calia performing DisAbility
Angela Calia performing DisAbility
Felix Baumann on stage performing A Boat.
Felix Baumann on stage performing A Boat.

Servizio relazioni internazionali e mobilità

26 Aprile 2018

Angela Calia, an Italiana dancer, choreographer and trainer, and Felix Baumann, a physical theatre actor, both hold an ESKAS scholarship for the Accademia Teatro Dimitri in Verscio.

Why did you choose Accademia Teatro Dimitri?

Angela: “Because I was searching for a place where I could increase and integrate all my competences in dance and physical theatre, following a programme for professional dancer.”

Felix: “After my first theater experience in the end of high school, one theater director gave me the advice, to start with my studies at the Accademia Teatro Dimitri. Not least due to the school’s high profile belonging to physical theatre and clownery, but also because of the professional standard of education and the international networking opportunities, for future projects.”

How did the ESKAS Scholarship affect your life?

Angela: “It was a great opportunity to receive the ESKAS scholarship because this gave me the possibility to be fully concentrated in the studies and in my professional process, focusing all my energy in the path and feeling supported.”

Felix: “The main affect the ESKAS Scholarship had on my life, was the gain of quality time. Due to the regular income, I didn´t have to do different part-time jobs during the studies, as many others of my colleagues do. This freedom gave me the possibility to focus radically on my work as an artist and my research project in the master programme.”

Could you please describe the life of an artistic student?

Angela: “It is very intense, physically, emotionally and mentally. We have a regular training to follow in order to be always in good condition to dance and perform, and we have special intense courses, mostly one-two weeks, where we can learn about many different specific techniques in the fields of dance, physical theater, consciuos movement, voice, acting, commedia dell’arte, clown, dramaturgy, history of theatre, theatre analysis and many others. We are supposed to achieve a good general knowledge in all the fields and then go deep in what is our specialization.”

Felix: “In addition to the daily training in the various disciplines of physical theatre, belongs to the everyday life of an artistic student the constant confrontation with internal and external processes. This workload and confrontation forms later the language of the actor, which will be used to express his/her own perspective. Further important aspects are the ongoing creation of new material and the reflection and analysis of the current work and the own artistic position. Also, a constant specific research connected to the individual project and its management and organization are of importance.”

Could you please explain which are the main characteristics of the physical theatre? Are you currently working on a performance?

Angela: “The main characteristics consist in the research through the movement trying to achieve the goal of creating a physical language that can express what we want to say with our artistic process. It is a physical job, but requires also a lot of mental presence and emotional consciousness. Right now we are working on a performance with our teacher of dramaturgy and physical composition. This performance is about a text of Picasso, called “Desire caught by the tail” and it will be performed at Lac, in Lugano, the 12th of May.”

Felix: “The performance I am currently working on is inspired by great sailors´ destinies and the risk they faced throughout their travels, following the task of life - to find out who they are. At the same time, it is an homage to all outsiders, who took that risk, leaving behind societal conventions, looking for something that nobody can understand or tell them. Facing the paradoxicality of human life with a humorous angle is a fundamental motive of the work. Collecting things and stories, which old sailors left behind for us, as well as society leftovers, is one of the main parts of the work. Bringing these things together and transforming them on another level into a contemporary context is one main aspect of the production.”

What are your plans for the future?

Angela: “My plan is to go on with my personal research as an artist, go deep in my field of study and increase the aspect of artistical creation and production. I also would like to increase my research asking for a Phd programme in a European university.”

Felix: “My long-term vision is the foundation of an artistic platform, on the interface of theatre, dance & clownery. A platform, where different encounters, workshops and performances can happen. The first step for this is the foundation of an artistic collective, which will be the base of the international artistic and cultural center. The center will be open for different happenings, such as physical theatre workshops for people with and without physical and or mental disabilities, residencies of other artists, projects and performances on the interface of art and enfolding processes.”