Featuring - direct from Italy:
PLACIDA "DINA" STARO (dance instruction)
One
of Italy’s leading ethnomusicologists. Dr. Staro received her laurea
with highest honors from the University of Bologna in ethnomusicology, being
mentored by one of the leading Italian ethnomusicologists of the 20th Century,
Prof. Roberto Leydi. Her post-graduate research and publications (books, articles,
CDs, films, video, and television and stage collaborations) include anthropological
and ethnographic studies of music and dance traditions in every region of northern
Italy. As a nationally-certified teacher in the schools, she has helped many
communities retain their music and dance traditions. After her decision to not
accept tenure, and therefore be unencumbered by the constraints of the University
of Bologna, Dr. Staro’s thesis, Traditional Dances in Bologna’s Appenines,
resulted in her relocation to the Savena River Valley, where for over 30 years
she has been the catalyst for the local communities’ continuing
their centuries old traditions of music, song, and dance. She has documented
these traditions and has been the driving force to have the dances, songs, and
melodies of the Savena Valley transmitted by the carriers of those traditions
by creating the local center for traditional music and dance, E
Bene Venga Maggio. She has completely incorporated the montanaro style
of fiddling imparted to her by the late great fiddler Mechiade Benni. Dina, who
is fluent in English, has toured the U.S (grant funded) in 2000 and 2002 teaching
dances of the Savena and Resia valleys and guest lecturing at UCLA and Georgetown
University. Dina's husband Massimo Zacchi will assist as her dance partner.
SUONATORI D'L'ACQUA FREDDA
(The Cold Water Players)
Dina Staro: Fiddle, voice
Elisa Lorenzini: Fiddle, accordion, voice
Massimo Zacchi: Cello, voice
Bruno Zanella: Guitar, voice
Gabriele Roda: Bass, voice
MUSIC
AND DANCE: Participants in this weekend set of workshops and concerts
will experience dancing, singing, and playing music for dance from all of
the
regions of northern Italy as still played and danced today in the Alps and Apennines
by artisans and farmers, with an emphasis on the dances & music from the
Savena River Valley in Emilia Romagna, and including the unique dances of the
Val Resia in Friuli. The weekend will include 18 hours of dance instruction (partners
of mixed gender not required), 3 hours of singing instruction (including some
harmony), 3 hours of instrument instruction (accordion and fiddle (including
Val Resia)), 4 evening parties (2 bands) with live music from Italy (Suonatori
d’l’Acqua Fredda), 4 days of meals at the local Italian club, Il
Mutuo Soccorso, and the Labor Hall, 4 nights lodging in private homes, 4 tours
of Central Vermont (incl. local cemeteries/meeting with local sculptors).
VENUE: Enjoy New England at its finest weekend of the year. Thousands flock to Central Vermont the first weekend of October to see mother nature’s maximum color display. Barre, at the beginning of the 20th century, was the center of U.S. immigration for Italians from Northern Italy. Almost ten percent of Central Vermonters trace their ancestry to the immigrants who built the Socialist Labor Hall to serve as the center of their social life. These emigrating Italians came from every region of Northern Italy to work as sculptors and stonecutters in the granite industry. Until 1994, the Labor Hall had fallen into disrepair. The Barre Historical Society acquired the building and has renovated it so that again it provides a place for Barrites to have a suitable place for the social life of all ethnic groups in the metropolitan area of 15,000. Today, artisans still sculpt memorials for cemeteries and public buildings both locally and across the USA.
To see some examples of the types of dances and music that you will experience throughout the weekend, click here for a list of videos.
For further information, contact us at .