Thauma - Atlas of Gesture: beyond function, to the nature of the gesture
A new philosophy linked to gesture filled the month of September. Thanks to Virgilio Sieni's workshops, developed for the project Thauma - Atlas of Gesture, dozens of citizens have been able to rediscover, reinterpret and give new dignity to ancient gestures perceived up to now as mere complements to an action, to another goal.
The re-elaboration, slow pace and reflection have allowed those who have tried their hand in the spaces of I-DEA or in those of the Teatro Quaroni in La Martella (reopened for the occasion) the possibility of rethinking the gesture and understanding its deeper nature, through an exploration of one's most intimate self.
That was the case, with perhaps the most emotionally powerful workshop 'Agorà Mothers and Children'. A workshop that turned out, in the final performance, to be a profound sublimation of pregnancy and its final moment, birth. Letting bodies and expressions speak, six mother and child pairs explored their relationship, in its more physical, sensorial aspects, linked to that memory of the body that is sometimes drowned out by everyday life. A way to talk about oneself and tell the story of an unbreakable bond that is consolidated by taking care of the child but is rooted in the animalistic nature of procreation.
With the workshops 'Frontier Dances' and 'Officina Tattile', citizens have denied the gesture of its function to reflect on its nature. Ancient gestures, repeated for centuries and then forgotten, have rediscovered their own dignity, by disconnecting them from the work of the land. Action is thus perceived independently, leaving bodies a new awareness, "giving the gesture more weight than if it were done thoughtlessly" says one of the participants enthusiastically.
Another citizen, Vittoria, who took part in the Teatro Quaroni workshops, reveals the profound meaning of her experience with Virgilio Sieni. "Thinking of the gesture" - she affirms - "as a moment of communication, not of imitation, through an expressiveness that makes it more direct, more effective - in some ways unfiltered".
