CAS “Theatricality meets dementia”

“La teatralità incontra la demenza”

is an experiential and theoretical training course

It is a training that explores the different dimensions in human encounters, with a special focus on the encounter between people with dementia and those who would like to approach or already share their daily lives.

It is an exploration that draws directly on studies on dementia, on techniques dedicated to a conscious participation in the dynamics of breathing and on a pedagogy of training for actors that will make it possible to see and experience how the art of theatre helps to recognise the potential of bodily expressiveness in order to develop and integrate it in a conscious way with verbal language and thus enrich communication skills.

It is an experience dedicated to a wide range of social and health professionals, theatre professionals, artists and all people interested in this aspect of ageing.

Objectives

• To widen the view towards that part of ageing that brings with it unexpected changes related to a cognitive decline trend but that, as James McKillop, a person living this experience, says: “I can assure you that no matter how bad you feel at the beginning, it is still possible to live a quality life even when you have dementia. It may not be the life you had before, but it is a life full of promise…”
• Acknowledging that the possibility of interacting with the other in respect of the acceptance of their life condition starts first of all from a dimension of listening to oneself and promoting one’s physical, psychic and emotional balance. This awareness fosters a state of well-being that allows access to a free and independent receptive space, where together with the other we can both feel welcome and safe.
• To find, through confrontation with the theatrical and artistic gaze, the possibilities of transmitting one’s own feeling and interacting with sensitivity, delicacy, precision and firmness in order to live together a pleasant and perhaps regenerating experience for all.
• To provide a small amount of indispensable knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease (and other forms of cognitive decline) and the different ways of encountering people with dementia: thanks to the experiences proposed in this course we will try to build bridges between what we are and offer as a space for tuning in and encountering (each with their own uniqueness) in welcoming and listening to the expression of their Being of each person with dementia
• Building tools to recognise the uniqueness of identity that persists despite the advancement of the neurodegenerative

Target group

• Social and health care workers, doctors, care assistants, medical staff, psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors, animators, activation specialists and educators wishing to introduce into their professional interaction communication skills enriched by a theatrical and artistic perspective and by listening deeply to themselves.
• Playwrights, poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, artists who bring or wish to bring their professionalism to the field of dementia support in a way that is educated to the condition and needs of people living with dementia, in order to create accurate and sustainable proposals.
• And also to those who are personally experiencing dementia at its beginnings or full-blown, of a person close to them and are willing to recognise the relational channels still available to interact and acquire their own receptive and expressive communication skills, necessary both to support their own emotional response and to respond adequately in interaction and catch the opportunities still present in this new proposal of Life.

Methodology

• Knowledge of the biological, psychological and emotional condition of people with dementia, in order to understand how the condition of a person with dementia irreversibly changes their living.
• Exploration of the perception of one’s own “feeling” using also techniques related to “Neo Reichian breath/bodywork” practices, which will allow us to explore our breathing space.
• Confrontation with the world of theatre using some elements of a theatrical pedagogy that will accompany us in the discovery and development of individual expressive skills in interaction with others.
• Meeting with plastic arts and music professionals to recognise looking and listening from a perspective that integrates a broader artistic dimension into our practice.
• Face-to-face meeting with people with dementia. A meeting accompanied and supported both in the field and with individual and group supervision.

Duration

The full course runs from September 2022 to December 2023. It will consist of 4 intensive residential weekends every three months, interspersed with monthly one-day meetings.

The total number of hours includes practical and theoretical training and the preparation of the final work, the form and content of which will be determined during the training period according to the interests and curiosity of each individual participant.

The CAS timetable is flexible and can vary between 5 and 7 hours per day, depending on the possibilities and needs of the conductors and participants.

Dates

1° intensive weekend: 2 – 4 September 2022

“Teatralità incontra la Demenza”, practical introduction to the route.

2° intensive weekend: 13 – 15 January 2023

“Teatralità incontra la Demenza”, in-depth study on corporeity and breath.

3° intensive weekend: 12 – 14 May 2023

“L’ascolto e lo sguardo da dentro”, a meeting with the humanistic dimension of the artistic gaze. Led by Luisa Valentini and Gilberto Richiero and featuring Rita Pezzati and Dante Carbini.

4° intensive weekend: 22 – 24 September 2023

“Teatralità incontra la Demenza”, concluding meeting of the course.