The art that unites

by Angelica Edna Calò Livnè

 

 

 

The pandemic has overwhelmed us with damage and loneliness but has also unleashed a series of dynamics that have brought to light individual skills, resources and inexhaustible energy. We have been forced to reinvent ourselves, rewrite our agenda, learn to communicate and dialogue with inspiration and alternative methods. By now I was used to going around Europe two or three times a year with the guys from the Arcobaleno-Beresheet LaShalom Theater, igniting the hearts of the public, making adults and children fall in love with Israel and awakening feelings through shows and workshops. of positivity and optimism.

 

Since March 2020, transmitting the pedagogy of the expressive arts, through the computer, has been a challenge, but activities that have prevailed over immobility and passivity in front of the screens have sprung from embarrassment and despair. The via Zoom workshops that I created after sleepless nights were tested with 200 students from the Pedagogical Faculty of Tel Hai College, 50 Jewish and Arab boys from the Rainbow Theater of Galilee and even 40 adults of different backgrounds, ages and backgrounds that through the activities proposals have experienced a regenerating path with the help of dance, theater, bibliotherapy and encounter, albeit virtual. The atmosphere of mutual listening and attention and communication have restored confidence in oneself, in one's own resource and renewal abilities. I therefore accepted the invitation of the Italy-Israel Association of Milan to organize a series of activities with the Liceo Casiraghi in Cinisello Balsamo with which we had planned a student exchange.

 

In recent years, following the theatrical performances and our workshops held in the high school, a relationship of deep friendship has been created with some teachers and their students. The expressive arts are an effective means of education due to the fact that they appeal to the whole individual, to his profound humanity, to his awareness of values, to his most immediate and spontaneous sociality (Oliva, 2005) and the first meeting was a Extraordinary success: the boys from Galilee with masks and their inextinguishable enthusiasm met the class of prof. Maria Teresa Sweaters. The Casiraghi boys, each in their own home, at first a bit shy, when they found themselves divided in the Zoom-rooms mixed with the Israeli Jewish and Arab boys, introduced themselves and the serene atmosphere gave life to short scenes in the which were to represent their common dream to be realized after Covid. They talked about their families, their free time activities (which is a lot now) and everyone's common dream of finally going out, traveling and getting to know each other physically. The smile on everyone's faces and the promise to meet again and write a song in Hebrew and Italian together to be sung together, for a while longer through the frames of the Zoom but soon embracing each other from life, is one of the goals achieved in this meeting. We have to take these guys by the hand ... that hand that expresses warmth, affection, which gives the hope and security of an imminent return to life that, after this calamity, will seem much more beautiful and meaningful than the one we lived up to. to date!