La Bella Lingua - near Verona in April 2011

La Bella Lingua is not simply a program providing an opportunity to experience Italian culture, learn a little language and a few dances - a fairly typical consumer approach to tourism. The deeper significance is to create an opportunity for profound change in each one of us, in place.

A little more about what you'll be doing when you join us:


The Anatomy of Grace
Grace: the winning and elegant command of body and soul.
These fluent and gorgeous movement combinations are constructed around natural principles including effortlessness, grace, elegance and harmony. The sequences refine connections between apparent separate parts of yourself and uncover your integrated presence.  Practice precision and clarity. Practice sensing the invisible, Reveal your innate balance, dignity, poise, agility, suppleness, symmetry - grace! (Based on Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement)

Poetry: the Latin lyric poets and Dante
Virgil, Horace, Catullus, Dante; all four Italian poets resound over millenia, across oceans and continents. Selecting some of their most place explicit poems - speaking them in Latin, reading in English translation - we will explore the landscape of the poetry, the land, ruins of their homes, and our own somatic experience of place, poetry and time.

Dance: The Noble and Necessary Art of Dance
During the Renaissance dance was all about acquiring the Graces essential to the genteel life of a courtier. These Graces had to appear natural, without any suggestion of stiffness. In addition, dancing helped to keep the body healthy and fit, and enabled men and women to socialize and have fun together.
We'll learn some of the exquisite dances form the 16th century manuals of Fabrito Caroso and Cesare Negri, which embody the Renaissance ideals of Grace, Beauty, Harmony, Proportion and Symmetry. In the evenings, there will be more opportunities to dance (if so desired) with dances from the English Country Dancing repertoire. No previous dance experience is necessary.

Learn Italian!
Around the kitchen table, preparing food we'll buy in the village, travelling to ancient ruins in the stunning countryside....Appreciate the rhythm, expression, gesture, and structure of Italian."No other tongue offers so many sfumature (subtle shadings) that can foster understanding and cooperation. Italian, which has enriched the realms of art, literature, music, philosophy, cinema, fashion, and cuisine, embodies civilization itself. To me, it is the language of culture and humanity - and therefore everyone's mother tongue" (Dianne Hales author of 'La Bella Lingua', a must read).