Knock, knock, it's the environment.

Hello all,
today I want to briefly discuss another world-wide issue that the majority of us seems to not care about: the environment. Yes, I am going to be one of those who drill your brain about global warming and climate change and deforestation and biodiversity and and and. I am one of those.
You know why? Because I have pondered over the reason why humans do not care about what is happening or why even those who care, do not act; and the answer made me angry. Now I wonder and wonder.. Is it because we are lazy? Is it because we are so used to a daily-life where every single activity we take-up pollutes, and thus changing our habits would be too much of an effort? Is it because we are spoiled? Is it because the world we live in is based on the flow of money and this flow of money consequently is based on building and development and this building is based on the destruction of nature and everyone is so restless and---  Let's pause, take a breath and reflect on how all the reasons above are the cause of extinction, loss of biodiversity, destruction of beauty and most recently, natural disasters.

Humans are selfish. Our greed for growth and power blinds us from caring about all the animals whose houses we are destroying. And you, reader who has the non-caring attitude maybe without even knowing that you do - understand that without the Earth you wouldn't be sitting on your laptop right now. The Earth hosts us and provides us with all her resources: yet look at how we are treating her. Some may think that I am exaggerating, that the situation is not as bad as I am portraying it to be or that I am being extremely dramatic about it - well, I really wish that was the case. But it isn't. Everyday more and more Carbon Dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and methane emissions absorb radiation into the atmosphere. Everyday the temperature rises, so don't complain about the day being 'too hot'. The natural disasters happening more and more frequently  these days (floods, earthquakes, tsunamis) stand for the environment knocking on our door, sending signals to make us change our ways and warning us that essentially, we are destroying our own race too. We are destroying our future generations.

I strongly believe in the media as a way to reach out to the people and increase their awareness, but in regards global warning, it does not seem to be working. God only knows how many blog posts, newspaper articles, documentaries, books and social media pages are desperately trying to convey the same message I am. Yet I am still waiting for the day when I will see a change in everyone's attitude regarding this issue because that day will be the day of our savior. I am still waiting for the day where there will not just be organisations such as Green Peace or the WWF making an enormous effort to better the situation; but there will be people talking, influencing one another, who defeat their laziness, who actually TAKE ACTION. I want to see people who show some pity towards species extincting (they have the same right to live that we have!) and who understand that trees are an essential resource to satisfy our needs.
I wish I had more time to expand on this but, for now, I want to ask you to listen to the environment, look at how it is complaining and sense how it is decaying. Hey, believe it or not, it's stronger than us and it will destroy us if we continue like this.
Be better, be more careful, be respectful, go green.


They are homeless because of us.

The Nirbhaya Play - Fearless.

Hello everybody,

Today I am going to touch upon a very sensitive topic: the Nirbhaya gang rape of 2012 in Delhi. I hope whoever is reading this is informed  on this incident; but if you are not, here is a brief description of this tragedy.
A 23-year-old girl was raped on a bus by a group of men, who also beat up her friend. The violence was so extreme, that her intestine came out of her genitalia. They destroyed her and left her, naked, in the middle of the street. Her friend somehow brought her to a hospital, but her conditions were too extreme, they couldn't save her.
The rapists got caught and punished, and the incident transformed into a national and international struggle against rape and the long-held idea of blaming the victim rather than the rapist for the assault. This is especially because the rapists, when interviewed, showed no remorse; some even said that it was late for a girl to be on a bus, and it was not appropriate for her to be with a male at that time.

I do not want to get too much into details, because this information can be found anywhere - and if you are really interested, watch BBC's documentary India's daughter. 
I would like to point out that this is not a feminist post, please readers, don't misinterpret this. I am sure my opinion is similar to that of most people: this event was dreadful, and it deals with a lot of social issues and perspectives. Sadly, only the the awful extreme of events such as these wake up protests, awareness and actions. Hopefully, in a better future, it won't be like this. Hopefully; education, media, effective governments and the general creation of a respectful society clean of any discrimination will prevent catastrophes such as the one of Nirbhaya.

In tenth grade (2013), my Global Perspective class wrote a very short play on this incident. Obviously, its purpose was to raise awareness and communicate the importance of courage and strength. I got to play Nirbhaya. I can barely describe how much this short role taught me; but most importantly, it made me realize how passionate I felt when I acted out my lines and when I saw the audience's face understanding the importance of this struggle. My role in sending out the message was extremely important, therefore acting this character was risky. However, my team helped me in making my acting perfect, thus serving its delicate purpose successfully. The play was very abstract and meaningful, full of symbols and effective monologues. At the end of the performance, it was appreciated by the entire school - proving that demonstrations of this sort are a way to bring about a change (Ah, I just love the power of theater).

Concluding, I hope this post gave profound food for thought to readers, as well as inspiration to speak up; because in this case, really, the more voices, the better. The issue of rape is still being addressed, as it continues to happen throughout the world. The morality of good and bad unites all humans, so let's fight for the good.

Here are some pictures of the play, as usual.

Cinderella

Hello all!

Today I would like to share with you a short part of the Ballet Production Cinderella I was part of through the Yana Lewis Foundation.
I started studying ballet when I was about 14; after courses of jazz, contemporary and modern dance. To be honest, I could not be happier about my decision. Ballet really has improved my technique, when I do some contemporary improvisation I can now notice a more precise and sharp control of my body.

During Cinderella rehearsal I was very busy with many other things. Because it was December I had school exams going on, but I was also director of my House at the Bangalore School of Speech and Drama for annual day. Hence, I could not dedicate as much time to Cinderella as I would have wanted to. However, it was my first 'professional' experience in fusing Theater and Ballet. I really enjoyed it and although this year I will not be able to participate in their next production; 'Wizard of Oz', I am still learning all the choreography and having fun with the performance.

Productions like this convince me that there is nothing better than turning your passion into a profession. The pride felt once all the rehearsal, hard work and headaches are put up on a stage and applauded by the audience is priceless.

Here are the videos of this wonderful production the Foundation put up in December 2014.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience to work with the other professional dancers and to mix theater and ballet together!
You will not be able to recognize me, that's fine - I am one of the crowd dancers.

Guildhall School of Music and Drama!

Hello everyone!
It's been a while, I know I know. But, 12th grade has hit me, and it is pretty tough to keep up with everything. Firstly, there are IB submissions and deadlines; secondly there are college essays, videos, interviews, letters etc; and most importantly there is dance class and well.. even friends.
Point is, I am probably going to post less frequently now, but I am not going to stop.

Today I would like to write about a fantastic summer course I attended in July: Shakespearean and Contemporary Theater Summer Course at Guildhall. It was in London and, sadly, only for two weeks. However the short duration probably just made it all the more intense and unforgettable.
What I loved most about it was how it gave me a good insight about how Drama classes would be in college. We had lessons like: Voice, Period Dance, Movement, Text, Improvisation, Mask and Puppetry. It was like properly studying Theater in university, which of course really excited me as i is what I've been dreaming of since I was a really little. From these classes I learnt a lot of useful theater technique, built up a lot of confidence and got to discover new areas of drama I had never even considered (like puppetry).
During the course, we also worked on two texts: Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare and Tusk Tusk by Polly Stenham. Honestly, I recommend both these plays to you readers out there - the depth of the themes, the emotions of the characters and the complexity of the settings really make you learn some life lessons and give you some food for thought. Anyway, since we worked on bits and pieces from these two productions, I finally got to properly enact Shakespearean characters! It was so interesting and different and it made me realize how much theater has changed over the years and how conveying a message to the audience was done so differently back then. Of course, the language used in Romeo and Juliet is marvelous and most of the times I would wonder how I was going to be able to do justice to each and every line given to me, but, learning is a process, and I like to believe I did a fairly decent job. To be honest I was extremely surprised by how comfortable I felt while performing Shakespeare by the end of the course.
This program had the best professors/advisers. They all were rich with experience in theater and with enthusiasm to teach us. I am very grateful that I got the opportunity to work with them.
Last, but definitely not least, I loved the whole atmosphere of the course. I was surrounded by people my age and with the same passion and interest as me. Moreover, there were a lot of students from a lot of places around the world, who talked to me about their future plans (which were very similar to mine) and their own school and culture. I met some really great people I will never forget and made some wonderful memories.

I wish I could go back to that beautiful city, to doing what I love everyday, to learning from every class and to those beautiful people from the course.
I strongly recommend this course to any young aspiring actor out there, and I also recommend Guildhall School of Music and Drama as a post high school option.

Here are some pictures of the course as usual,
to next time!

Giorgia

Matilda

Hey all!
Yes, it's been a while since I have posted and I am sorry. The thing is that, the past few months have been completely crazy! Between exams, musical rehearsals, friends and packing for holidays I have been a tiny bit busy. Fortunately I am on holiday at the moment and tomorrow, in fact, I will be going to this wonderful place called Moneglia with a lot of wonderful friends!
Today I really want to share with all of you the best experience of my life so far: the production Marvelous Matilda! As I have said before, theater is my main passion and being on stage for the rest of my life is my dream; well, this production was that dream too.
To begin with, I believe most of you know the story of Matilda from the book 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl. Although it's a children's book, I personally feel that it has a lot to teach to adults as well in terms of how to treat children, how to believe in themselves and how to be fair towards others. The story revolves around this little girl who has mean and ignorant parents who not only don't appreciate her, but they also don't appreciate her brilliant mind. Matilda at a very young age reads and solves mathematical problems in her head with no hesitation. She becomes so brilliant that she can actually move objects with her eyes. Her first day of school, for which she was very excited, is ruined by a tyrannical and strict Principal named Trunchbull; however, her class teacher Ms. Honey, sees her potential and decides to help her explore her intelligence. Soon Ms. Honey and Matilda become really close friends and after a struggle against the principle and the girl's parents, Ms. Honey adopts Matilda and they live happily forever after.
The book has been turned into a movie and, eventually, the movie was turned into a musical which was acted at West End and Broadway winning many awards. (For more details open this link: http://www.matildathemusical.com/)
Believe it or not, when I was a child 'Matilda sei mitica' was actually my favorite movie; so when I got the role of Ms. Honey after an audition I was not only happy, I was really really excited!
For a month I watched videos of the play on Youtube, I tried to walk like Ms. Honey, to dress like her, to keep my hair the same way she did, to talk like her and I even wore glasses when studying! All of this helped me get into character and perhaps for the first time, I sometimes could not recognize myself in my own movements, I only saw myself as Jennifer Honey. The process of understanding such a wonderful and sweet character helped me in becoming a more apprehensive and kind person myself.
In May, rehearsals started. Our perfect, and I mean literally perfect, director Dr. Zulfia Shaikh lead us step by step in order to put up a splendid show. During rehearsal there was concentration, fun times, laughter, singing, dancing, crying (yes, I swear) and teamwork. Although I had exams simultaneously and thus ended up sleeping only four hours every night for more than a month, I have to say that I waited the entire day to go to rehearsals. The passion and dedication that filled the air really helped us to support each other and put our hearts into the Musical. The ones who surprised me the most were the little children who learnt their lines quickly and ended up doing a fabulous job on stage by bringing the play to life and giving it a cute touch. Matilda was  literally their life for that period of time. It was not just about putting all our energy in rehearsals everyday for four and a half hours, it was also participating in mall walks, promoting and selling tickets, getting attention by singing in shops and dancing in corridors and encouraging the buying of online tickets too. The constant effort paid off.
After a lot of hard work and after I finished exams (which also went really well), was showtime. Two days, four shows, all sold out. I absolutely adored playing Ms. Honey, singing my songs, acting my lines, building chemistry with Matilda, helping backstage and having fun with friends. I discovered that every time I got into costume and I got my make up done - I fell down a rabbit hole, like the one in Alice in Wonderland; just like my director and teacher always said and taught me. Lights, props, set up, costumes and make up - all of it made it a sort of different life. When I was on stage, I was not Giorgia anymore. It was beautiful, so beautiful. I will cherish those moments on stage, backstage, at home practicing, the seconds before going on stage, the friendships, the emotions I felt, the things I learnt, the rehearsals and the character I played forever.
It took a while to wear off Ms. Honey's character, but as Shakespeare once said: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages." 

'Even if you are little you can do a lot, you musn't let a little thing like little stop you' - Matilda

Here are a few picturesss as usual - Thank you so much Bangalore School of Speech and Drama, Chowdiah Memorial Hall and all my dear dear friends. 

Just a bit of music

Hey all!
Extremely sorry again for skipping a week of posting! SO much has been going on, I shifted houses and everything - it's all such a mess!
Either ways, I am afraid I will start writing posts again only towards the end of June: I have exams coming up and I am starting rehearsals for a fabulous musical I will be part of! From next week onward my life is going to get really hectic with studies, dance classes and drama rehearsals. Eventually, it is going to end in June.. But I am so excited!
Anyway, today I would like to showcase how a person can grow with their abilities. I will do this trough an example from my life. I have always loved singing since I was very small, however I got the chance to perform only once I was in high school. From ninth grade to now (11th grade) it is amazing how much I have seen myself improve as a singer. In ninth grade I was untrained, I was less attentive of key and pitch and I had no knowledge of vocal techniques. Mostly, I would go on stage, have fun while singing and let my body language to the rest. But in tenth grade there was an immense improvement, mostly because I started going to Musical Theater vocal classes, but also because my voice became stronger, I became a smarter performer and I controlled my pitch much more.
And yet, it was so amazing to see that in 11th grade my voice could still go higher. I could play around with rhythm more and be more involved in a song emotionally.
In my school every year we organize a Music Festival, where all the students get to perform what they want. In ninth grade I performed with my friends, we used to call ourselves 'Rise Up Lights', in tenth I did quite a bit of performances such as 'Let It Be' by the Beatles, 'Thank you for the Music' by ABBA, 'You are the one that I want' from Grease and a song which I performed with my mom. In 11th grade, I sang in a different language - Portuguese to Frank Sinatra's 'Girl from Ipanema', 'Englishman in New York' by Sting and 'Call me Irresponsible' Micheal Buble's version.
Through a few videos I will share with you (I did not get hold of all of them) I would like to demonstrate how within a year so much can be learnt. Learning really is a process and I cannot wait to see how I will perform next year!
I have realized how there is always room for growth and sometimes I get frustrated and tell myself that I could have performed better - yet this is not true, because at the time of that performance, that was just how big of a performer I was, but now I am bigger and next year (hopefully), I will grow further.
It's just a beautiful natural process everyone goes through.
Either way: here are the links, they performances are quite short so you won't spend so much time watching them! Enjoy!

This is the very first of the performances: 'Pumped Up Kicks' - 9th grade.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FprEQ50hnssw&h=xAQFpnB-s

Tenth grade performance: Let It Be, You are the one that I want (the mics were an enormous issue here) and Thank you for the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRGv-TIUjN0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBBQqpSRp-g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1K8WK3S5UA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6URspes0yUI

Finally, 11th grade - only one of the three performances so far. - Part of Girl From Ipanema.
https://www.facebook.com/kittyclouston/videos/560123727424436/  (sorry if you can't see it)

Hope all of you like this and understand that one's growth of talent is only for the better! Never stop practicing!
See you all!

The importance of reading.

Hey all,
today I would like to share a few of my concerns with you. I felt that, for some reason, this week I should have shared a few thoughts that often cross my mind instead of my deeds or passions.
As I read the news, day after day I come to realize that the light of hope for our future world is becoming dimmer and dimmer. We don't know it - or maybe we do, but we just ignore it- but the lives of our children are likely to be miserable because of our own actions. Yes, I know many speak about global warming all the time and everyone must have heard 'do your own bit for the planet' etc. but I will really try to push this concept a little further. I will not only talk about global warming in my future posts, but also war, terrorism, literature and more.
To start with, today I would like to ask: how is it that children don't read anymore? I would not call myself a bookworm but I know the importance of Literature. I know what it feels like to be immersed in a book and to learn from every single comma and character in it. There are very few with whom I could sit today and have a discussion about an author. Children are lazy to read, they have better things to do, they do not have time or they find it boring to let their mind travel in a book while physically staying in the same place. I understand that some may find it uninteresting to read, but when did they become so many? One of the many answers to this question that comes to my mind is: technology.
Yes, it is sad to admit it but, everyone is a slave of technology. Children whoa re bored at restaurants steal their parents' phones or Ipods instead of playing or, well, reading. Personally, I think live in denial: I convince myself that I don't NEED internet connection and I could very well do without Facebook and all other social networks. However, this is ,again, denial. I have grown accustomed to checking notifications, newsfeeds, Instagram pictures as if it were a customary daily routine like lunch. It breaks my heart when, if I occasional wake up earlier than the alarm in the morning, instead of reaching out for a book I reach out for my phone. Before having a computer or an account in every social network possible - I reached out for the book. However, please do not get me wrong, I still make sure that I keep some time of the day to read at least a little, and with the loss of touch with pages I have come to terms with the bitter fact that I miss books. I miss the periods when I had the time and the privilege, to finish books and more books... When I see a random child or a teenager with a book in their hands I seriously put my arms up to the sky and whisper :'Thank you! Thank you so much.' It makes me feel so relieved to see a little boy in my school bus who reads different books every week on the way to school, from 'I am Malala' to 'Geronimo Stilton'.
This may sound a little extreme but there ARE many who haven't read Charles Dickens, George Orwell, Doyle, Dan Brown, Dr. Seuss, Dylan Thomas, Hemingway, Fitzgerald and the list goes on and on.. However everyone knows about the release date of the next Iphone 6; everyone knows about the new picture effects on Snapchat and everyone knows about the latest edition of Facebook. To be honest, I do not disrespect the ones who are passionate about the things mentioned above or who know all about them; however I believe everyone should have balance. There is NOTHING wrong with checking your phone to see what your friend is up to and sharing what you are doing with your friends, as long as that does not build walls around you that shut you out from the rest of the intellectual world and stop you from exploring more knowledge.
Reading is knowledge. Reading teaches you how to write, how to think, how to accept, how to judge, how to dream, how to live and how to imagine. Reading makes you detach from reality and take your mind on a journey in a different world. I wish I had the time to read more and I wish I hadn't let technology take over me the way it has. I wish teenagers, children and parents opened their eyes to see how dangerous this issue is becoming - literature may disappear! Books may become useless and the demand for them may fall tremendously. The beauty of words, of stories and of fantasies may vanish. Instead, we will find ourselves with some sort of technically advanced device stuck to our ties which can project information from the net about anything we want without the need of research, of being curious and of putting effort into discovering things. Books will be replaced by microscopic laptops and our Facebook page will be our identity if the dependence on the internet does not slow down and if the interest in books does not increase. (Books would be a good distraction from Facebook).
There are no limits to the importance of literature. Books like the Diary of Anne Frank or even lighter reads such as Eat Pray and Love can gift us with many life lessons which are so precious.
In this post I was planning to discuss about other issues concerning me presently too, but I just got carried away with the above. For those of you who are reading this: tonight pick up a book and enjoy it. The book does not have to be something deeply philosophical - it can be any read, even a children's book such as Matilda by Dahl; but please learn from it and don't check your WhatsApp every two minutes in the process.
I really really hope I was motivating enough,
to next Thursday for more thoughts like these,
Giorgia.