Language a Gift for Life

In the soupy air of a Brisbane summer night, a small group of curious people gather in the Judith Wright Arts Centre of the bustling Fortitude Valley. We come together with a willingness to play, to experiment with sound and movement through the space, guided by our intuition, spontaneous impulses, and the directions of Eleonora Ginardi. We recite from Dante’s Divine Comedy, “Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura …”. We repeat the passage softly to ourselves, mindful of tone and intonation, we chant them louder like an incantation, and we shout them at the tops of our voices. The words ricochet off the walls and ceiling, they soar out the windows to the streets below, and for this moment Dante is alive in the room with us. Facilitated by Eleonora Ginardi, a trained actor and performer of over 20 years, these Viva Voce classes for non-actors, centre around the goal of complete vocal and physical freedom. Run in association with Danteatro, The Dante Alighieri Society of Brisbane’s own theatre company, the Italian influence in the classes is strong yet subtle enough that it’s inclusive of those with no knowledge of the Italian language. Eleonora guides us through movements large and small, fast and slow, uniform and varied, with an emphasis on playing with and exploring modes of expression, different ways of carrying oneself and different ways of being. Drawing on influences of the Suzuki method, Impulse Training, Meisner and Butoh, each class unfolds in an unexpected, and often very silly way; a powerful evocation of the inner child. I met with Eleonora to chat about her theatre work and the concept behind Viva Voce. What became evident through our conversation was Eleonora’s captivating skill as a storyteller, as she carried me through her migration story, her acting and theatre-making journey, and her

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by Kristy Stanfield | Photography by Jacob Paint

connection to her heritage. «I have a love-hate relationship with Italy. It seduces me and then it slaps me in the face and kicks me in the guts and I come home crying. But then I go, “Oh, hang on a minute. You’re calling me again.” And I go over.» Eleonora spent the early years of her life in Castiglione di Sicilia, a little village in the foothills of Mount Etna, before her family relocated to Australia in 1972. Two adults, three children and one suitcase travelled by boat on a monthlong voyage around the Horn of Africa, docked in Melbourne and caught the train up to Brisbane, stopping in Sydney to visit relatives on the way. Eleonora recalls the surreal feeling of returning to her village at the age of 18 for the first time since leaving. «I got dropped off in the village square and I said to my Mum and Dad, “Let me see if I can find my way home. I think I remember.”» She ventured past her old school and found the old family house virtually untouched. Some of her toys were still there, and childhood memories came flooding back. «It was pretty overwhelming returning to my childhood after so long.» Eleonora found herself drawn to performance as a remedy for low selfconfidence that plagued her all through her schooling. «English was my second language. If I had to do any reading aloud in the classroom I would sweat profusely because I had a little bit of an accent. The thought of public speaking terrified me, except when I was in theatre class. It was kind of okay to be silly in the theatre room. I think acting was a way of confronting my fears.» This too was part of the motivation for creating the Viva Voce workshop for people who are not actors. «It goes back to giving confidence. If you keep smiling, eventually you will be happy. If you use your posture right, it is almost like an affirmation for your body. By finding affirmations for us in a non-acting world, we can have a better, more confident life.» Eleonora’s smile grows brighter as she talks me through her fascination with verbatim theatre, a form of performance which involves the embodying of true stories by using unchanged dialogue from people who have lived experience of a chosen event or subject. «I’ve been now recently drawn to more truthful shows and I want to remove the word “acting” because I don’t feel like I want to act anymore. I really love verbatim. I want to tell stories.» Eleonora is a curious spirit, eager to learn and forever striving to further her craft, she raises the subject of potential further study. «I’m interested in psychology - that’s kind of what you do anyway as an actor and a performer. Look around us now and everyone’s posture is so different and that tells a story. If you’re trying to relive somebody else through performance you have to look closely at how different people move, and think “Why are they sitting in that posture? What’s making that person smile that way right now?”». Inevitably Eleonora wonders what her life would have become had she not migrated to Australia. «Who I would have been in the village? Would I have gone on to further education, done the work I do now and still be attracted to performance and the arts? Or would I have not done that? We used to have a chestnut farm which would’ve been alright, or perhaps I would’ve been stomping on the grapes …I don’t know».