Compangia T.P.O. Farfalle Study Guide

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description

‘Butterflies’ is a show created by TPO, a theatre company based in Prato, Italy.TPO was formed in 1981 as a visual theatre group and already in its early years it began to create original visual theatre works for children’s audiences. Currently it is exploring the use of digital technologies for the animation of images and sounds within a theatrical context.From TPO's research in this area, shows have been created, conceived as ‘sensitive environments’ where performers, or the audience itself, can interact through the use of specific technologies.Within these virtual sceneries, TPO’s shows have been characterized by a strong visual impact and an original and refined style, based on a dramaturgy which privileges narration through images and choreography.

Transcript of Compangia T.P.O. Farfalle Study Guide

Page 1: Compangia T.P.O. Farfalle Study Guide

T P Oc o m p a g n i a

F A R F A L L E

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c a t i on

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Page 2: Compangia T.P.O. Farfalle Study Guide

‘Butterflies’ is a show created by TPO, a theatre company based inPrato, Italy.TPO was formed in 1981 as a visual theatre group and already inits early years it began to create original visual theatre works forchildren’s audiences. Currently it is exploring the use of digitaltechnologies for the animation of images and sounds within atheatrical context.

From TPO's research in this area, shows have been created,conceived as ‘sensitive environments’ where performers, or theaudience itself, can interact through the use of specific technologies.Within these virtual sceneries, TPO’s shows have been characterizedby a strong visual impact and an original and refined style, basedon a dramaturgy which privileges narration through images andchoreography.

interactive theatre for childrenT P Oc o m p a g n i a

FARFALLE

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The show is divided into two moments which alternate witheach other: one part where the audience, seated at the sidesof the stage, observes the dancers’ actions and another partwhere the audience, in small groups, is invited to enter thestage and participate.

The subjectof this show is a butterfly’s lifecycle, presentedin chronological order: the egg, the caterpillar,the cocoon, the pupa, the adult butterfly.

The subject is simple, but the show is rich with differentlanguages: dance, sounds, images, interactiveanimations.However, what makes the show special is that every scenehas its own particular movement-sensitive environment; itis the dancers’ movements which cause new animatedimages and sounds to appear; dancers, acting as paintersand musicians, compose the visual and sound frames whichallow us to play with forms and colours…the world ofbutterflies.

B U T T E R F L I E S

In the show the stage is ‘curled up’, with a white carpetand two big wings. Images are projected onto two differentsurfaces: the horizontal plane of the carpet and the verticalone of the slanted wings. Some stylized props decorate thestage.

‘Butterflies’ is suitable for audiences between the ages of4 and 8 but it is also rich with suggestions for adults.

Butterfly: this word makes us thinkof colours, movements and thewarmth of a sunny day, it gives usa sense of well-being and quiet, itmakes us feel at peace with theworld.

In Italian the sound of its name iselastic and pleasant, 'farfalla’, inSpanish it is very sweet, ‘mariposa’;mellow is the French pronunciation,'papillon’, while the word in German,'schmetterling’, sends us a livelyvibration.

In English instead its sound goesback to ancient legends and recallsplayful fairies entering houses byflying (‘fly’) to get butter from larders.

As moving coloured ‘spots’,butterflies have always fascinatedand intrigued human beings, alluredby the halo of mystery characterizingthe lifecycle of these insects.

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Sscene 1 NIGHTIt is night, a summer’s night, wecan hear the songs of crickets andother little animals. The twodancers living in this mysteriousnocturnal environment play withfireflies, letting them dance in theair, letting their little curly peabranches ring, branches which willappear and disappear as the twodancers move by; they also meetand dance together in the wake oftwo big shiny leaves, rocking alittle mysterious sphere.

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There are many species of butterflies all over the world…of different colours, shapes and sizes:the biggest reach 30 cm – as big as this sheet- the smallest are like a bread crumb.

Try to imagine being aslittle as a butterfly…

how would you seethings around you?

small or big ?

A BUTTERFLY’SPOINT OF VIEW

scene 1 EDU

But how small are butterflies?

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B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

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The country cricket alsolives in meadows, in grovesand in gardens where itdigs long galleries, but atnight it prefers to sing byrubbing its sheaths - thatis, its front wings. It is anuptial song to call thecricket’s bride.

At night there are animals that stay awake, fireflies, for instance, or crickets, moths…

Moths are nocturnal butterflies; the coloursof their wings are less conspicuous thanthe diurnal ones - and stay open even whenthey rest, or they shut them to form a kindof roof. Their antennae too are different;the diurnal butterflies have antennae endingin a club shape, while for moths they areantlered like a comb with a lot of hairs;these hairs are sensitive to movementsand smells present in the environment, sothey may feel what is happening aroundthem.

WHO IS AWAKEAT NIGHT?

Have you ever been in a meadow to listen to the nightsounds?Which sounds did you hear?

Fireflies are little luminescent insects,that is, they emit light. If we look at onecarefully, we will see that this light comesfrom their abdomen, their belly, whichshines as if it were transparent and hada little lamp inside. But the male firefliescan also fly, so on summer nights, wecan see their little light flying and shiningin the air…

scene 1 EDU

a n t e n n a e n o c t u r n a l b u t t e r f l yantennaediurnal butterfly

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B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

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scene 2 THE EGGIt is still night; is the sphere thatthe dancer carries with her anegg?On the big smooth elastic curlswhich now cover the stage, littleby little dancers let many butterflyeggs appear; rocked by danceand sounds, the eggs wait to openup. It will be the sound comingfrom the two long curly flutesplayed by the dancers in the night,to awaken the eggs, that will thenhatch.

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Every female butterfly lays hereggs directly on the leaves of aplant. From the eggs caterpillarswill be born, feeding on thoseleaves, after eating the remainsof their own eggs.

scene 2 EDU

Butterflies’ favourite drink is flowers’ sweetestnectar. To sip it, the ‘sweet toothed’ ones, usetheir built-in straw, an extension of their mouthcalled ‘spirotrumpet’, which they directly insertinto the flower. Some moths even use it to piercethe beehive’s cells and steal honey from bees! Inthe breaks between one sip and another the‘straw’- which in some species can be three timeslonger than the butterfly’s body- gets rolled underthe head, where it won’t bother anyone.

BEFORE BEINGBUTTERFLIES

BUTTERFLIES … 8

B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

Before being butterfl iesbutterflies have a long way togo, but let’s start from thebeginning:

at the beginning there is theegg, from the egg a caterpillaremerges, the caterpillar eatsa lot and then it builds acocoon making a thread itwraps itself with, inside thecocoon it waits and waits andl i t t le by l i t t le i t ge tstransformed, all the things itneeds appear in its body andit becomes a pupa.

When everything is ready itleaves the cocoon: here is thebutterfly.

The transformation undergoneby the butterfly has a name,it’s called ‘metamorphosis’.

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with the shapes you’ve cut youcan reconstruct the butterfly’s‘metamorphosis’

scene 2 EDU

MAKE UP THE STORY

BEFORE

THEN

AFTERTHAT

like in the example at the side

or you can make up otherthings, a mushroom, forexample, a funny chick… andinvent a story of your own.

cut

out the shapes you will find on

the following page

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print this page, if possible on a thick sheet, and then letan adult help you cut out the shapes

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scene 3 THE CATERPILLARThe little caterpillars have brokenout of the egg and are ready toplay, to discover shapes, theround one, to discover all thecolors, to move and roll, to gofrom one leaf to another, to eat,to discover the space surroundingthem: mushrooms, grass,cobwebs.

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scene 3 EDU

GREEN ARTIST

After a while the eggs hatch and a larva called a caterpillar is born, with no wings, so itcannot fly, but it has little legs under its belly so it can move. The caterpillar has a mouthwith robust jaws, thanks to which it voraciously feeds on vegetable parts, especiallyleaves.The caterpillar eats non-stop and grows a lot, but its cover, its skin, doesn’t grow with itand so when this gets too tight, the caterpillar throws it off and makes a new one; thischange of ‘clothes’ is called moult. After undergoing many moults and reaching its highestdevelopment, the caterpillar stops feeding and looks for a suitable place where it canmake the cocoon, under a leaf, on a branch, or on the ground.

In the world there are many species of butterflies with different colours andshapes; even when they are little, we can see they are colour artists: look atthese holes, what drawings, what colours they manage to create…

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B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

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scene 3 EDU

which caterpillar are you?print the page and color the little caterpillar with the colours you like the most

WHICH CATERPILLAR ARE YOU?13

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scene 4 THE COCOONIt’s night time again, perhaps it’stime to finish playing games andstart weaving a thread, a longthread to swing on for a while andthen wrap all around like a blanketsnugly rolled round the body.

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scene 4 EDU

THE CATERPILLAR’SLISTENING POINT

In the world there are many species of butterflies withdifferent colours and shapes, so their cocoons can alsohave different shapes and colours. The cocoon is builtby the caterpillar with a silk thread coming out of itsmouth: it can be a simple thread that it hangs on to or,as you can see from the pictures at the side, it cancover itself all up with the thread, a lot of thread it wrapsitself up with.

Let’s imagine you are a caterpillar inside the cocoon;what sounds will you hear coming from out there?

Form two groups. One group will be the caterpillars; theother group will be the sounds.The group of caterpillars finds a comfortable position,possibly crouching, blindfolded, or under some cloth,and with hands covering ears, so as to filter sounds.

In twos or threes, led by an adult, the other group willimitate the sounds of nature:

the water of a stream, f lowing slowly/ fastthe rain ticking down slowly / fastthe wind blowing softly/ loudlycrickets singing softly / loudlyowls…

Next, roles are swapped, but, before that, when thecaterpillars come out of the cocoon they will be askedwhich sounds they’ve heard, how they heard them, soft,loud, far away or close..

A GAME TO PLAY IN TEAMS

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B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

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scene 5 WAITINGWhile waiting, the caterpillar insidethe comfortable cocoon, fallsasleep, rocked by the wind andwhile it sleeps, it grows and getstransformed; after that it dreams,it dreams of being a butterfly withcolourful wings.While waiting, time passes, cloudspass and the rain ticks…it knockson the cocoon; will it be time toopen up?

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When the caterpillar is inside the cocoon, it staysstill, it rests, but it also gets transformed, wingsappear, its mouth turns into that straw which iscalled ‘spirotrumpet’, and many other thingschange turning it into a pupa.

scene 5 EDU

LULLABIES

As we wait for the caterpillar to transform,

we may sing it a lullaby; can you

remember or invent one?

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B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

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scene 6 THE BUTTERFLYWhen it leaves the cocoon, it isdifferent, it flies away, the air islight like wind, gliding and running;things, grass and flowers go fast;they seem to be flying.But especially colours…beinginside them and being a colourand, as a colour, paintingeverything up, down, here, there….

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When the pupa leaves the cocoon at last, it is a butterfly and, once it unfolds its wings, it startsflying…

scene 6 EDU

BUTTERFLIES’COLOURS

But how can butterflies have all these colours on their wings?Butterflies’ wings are covered with minuscule scales (as you can see inthe photo); in the scales there are tiny crystals which capture light and,according to the way they are inclined, they show one colour or another– for example blue or brown.

Do you feel observed? No problem,this is not a real eye, but one of thetwo round spots, called ‘ocelli’,decorating the wings of the ‘owlbutterfly’, widespread in SouthAmerica. For some scholars thesespots are to frighten lizards and littlebirds, greedy for this butterfly.

Why do butterflies have all these colours and shapes on their wings?In most cases the colours and the patterns of butterflies’ wings representa protection, allowing them to blend into the environment- leaves,flowers, stones- to deceive or not be seen by other animals, predators,which would like to eat them.

Blending in with the surrounding environment is called ‘camouflage’.

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B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

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Seen with its face upsidedown, this butterfly forms afigure with its wings, recallingthe face of a fearful owl.

scene 6 EDU

HIDING OR SHOWING ONESELF?

But when the butterfly imitates the owl, it doesn’t do this as it really is, especially it makes usimagine it, and this is even more fearful. Some insect scholars call ‘ocelli’ a form of ‘theatricalmake up’, like that of a beautiful and scary show…

But will this colouring of many shapes only be a camouflage or also ‘the art of becoming wonderful’?Like when we put on a mask, in a sense we hide because our face can’t be seen behind a mask, but inanother sense we also draw attention to ourselves…

Let’s play a game, let’s print the following page, use a thicker sheet if you can, like a Bristolboard, and then let an adult help you cut out the shape of a butterfly to make a mask with;you’ll then have to cut out the holes for the eyes too. To fix the string or the elastic youneed to wrap it around your head, you can you use the stapler or some cellotape.

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look around, if you wanted to camouflage yourself, whichcolours and shapes would you paint on your mask?

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We can do an experiment to understand symmetry, and to make abeautiful artistic butterfly..

1 The first time you do this experiment, print the following sheet with theshape of a butterfly; then once you understand the game, you can do it onwhite sheet, and you will need finger paints or tempera tubes.

2 Fold the sheet into two, dividing it vertical-wise on the longer side ( thatis, divide the butterfly along the symmetry line).

3 Unfold the sheet and lay it on a surface.

4 Put some colour at the centre of the sheet, vertical-wise; this will be thebody.

5 Put the colours you like on one wing only, you don’t have to colour it all;it is enough to put some colours here and there inside the border.

6 Close the sheet, press the two halves against the other, open it againand here there are the two symmetrical wings of the butterfly; admire thecolour combination you have obtained.

7 Let everything dry. Here is your butterfly.

8 Now that you have understood the game, you will be able to do it yourselfas often as you like; you may need more than one try to obtain the butterflyyou most wish for.

Look at a butterfly closely; you will see that the left wingand the right are exactly the same, this is a remarkableexample of symmetry in nature.But what does symmetry mean?The word symmetry is used to say that a shape or anobject can be split into two parts which are the same.

For example if you draw a line in the middle of a butterfly,the part on one side is exactly the same as the part onthe other side (and, if you fold them in two, you canjuxtapose them). The line separating the object into twoequal parts is called the line of symmetry.

scene 6 EDU

COLOUR AND SYMMETRY22

B U T T E R F L I E SB U T T E R F L I E S

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In the world there are many butterflies – more than 165,000species – with many different colours, shapes and sizes, forevery child in the world…

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I n t h e T P Ocompany there aremany people whowork to do theshows that you seeat the theatre.

T O M A K E T H E S H O W ‘ B U T T E R F L I E S ’

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SPARTACO madethe sounds andmusic.

ELSA made theimages andthought of howthey would be inspace and howt h e y w o u l dmove.

CATERINA recordedher voice to enable theeggs, caterpillars andbutterflies speak duringthe show.

VALENTINA, VALERIA,FRANCESCA and LINA,organized the timetables,dates and money fromtheir office, they spoke withmany people on the phoneso that everything couldwork well.

ROSSANO and MARTINprogrammed the computersso that images, sounds andmusic move together withthe dancers and theaudience’s movements.

LORETTA createdand sewed thedancers’ costumes.

ANNA and PIEROinvented the dancesand the movements. GREGORY, VALERIO

and LIVIA built thescenery and the propswhich dancers use in theshow.

S T E F A N I Awrote the wordsyou hear in theshow.

FRANCESCO eDAVIDE directedall the people sothat the show wouldbe really nice.

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Per fare lo spettacolo “FARFALLE”:

'have fun!'

Let an adult help you to print the

page and cut things out…

Cut out the butterflies and in the

space at the centre of the butterfly

draw your face or that of a

friend…or cut out a photo of yours,

and stick it into the space at the

centre of the butterfly.

IN GROUPS: on a large cardboard

you can draw an environment, a

meadow, or your class and stick

all the butterflies you have created

onto it …