Chille de la Balanza
The theater company Chille de la balanza was founded in September 1973 in Naples by Claudio Ascoli. Since 1985 CDB are based in Florence a city of excellence of cultural tourism and beautiful rural surroundings.
In recent years, Chille are engaged in storytelling: 2011 – Lettera a una professoressa (from the book by the students from the School of Barbiana, edited by Don Lorenzo Milani) and 2012 – L'uomo planetario (talk-show regarding father Balducci's personality and works – premiered in the Roman Theatre of Fiesole – Estate Fiesolana).
In 2013, a two-year course on "Don Quixote and the crazy dream" started, together with a touring production Don Quixote in San Salvi (June 2013) and Hamlet and Don Quixote (June 2014), a comparison-performance between the two characters.
An important event of storytelling (La terra, il colore - Storie fiesolane The earth, the color. Tales of Fiesole) will debut in the Estate Fiesolana 2014 (June 23).
La terra il colore is the story of Silvana Boni, last sharecropper and Paolo Tellini, the painter–cobbler, and will be performed by Monica Fabbri and Andy Hunter in a bilingual event. This production is within the European project Seeing stories, which sees the company engaged with partners in Edinburgh, Lisbon and Aachen.
In their artistic life, which goes on for over 40 years, the Chille and Ascoli participated in important festivals, including Expo Sevilla, Taormina Arte, carnivals of Venice and Viareggio, Mannheim, Sitges, Barcelona, Freiburg, Asti, World Marché de la Poésie in Paris, Orléans, Nanterre, Estate Fiesolana ... and in worldwide television broadcast by Vittoria Ottolenghi dedicated to the world of dance, with appearances in Naples and Trieste.
The Strolling Stories
The Strolling Stories are a project founded in 2010 by Daniela Corradini (art historian and tour guide) and Giovanna Conforto (storyteller) for the Associazione Gruppo LeFalene. The aim is to relate storytelling and heritage and to bring to life stories hidden in Italian Art and Architecture.
The Strolling Stories duo has been working in historical locations such as city centers, archaeological sites, castles and museums with various institutions creating almost 20 events. In 2011 they win the call for events in Museums in Rome "Musei in Scena". Since 2012 they work on an ongoing basis in the National Museum of Palazzo Venezia in Rome developing and producing storytelling events for schools and adults.
The "Strolling Stories" are a format that combines both the historical and the artistic background related to a museum or group of works of art such as paintings or sculptures, or even buildings and locations along an historic route, with the development of the stories enclosed within them. It is assumed that art tells us stories, stories that we must learn to decode and understand to fully appreciate them. The guide and the storyteller will therefore work together to make them available to the audience, helping to decipher and shed light on the stories that can be, at times, obscure. Storytellers regularly use their creativity in developing the stories not only when there are no reliable data (as happens for example in proto Christian stories), but also when deciding how best to present a well-known story.
In the city centers, castles or in archeological sites the public follows the duo (storyteller and art historian) through the real sites where a story (true or imaginary) has taken place. What secret tales of betrayal, intrigue and adventure are etched in the stones of the streets, palaces and ruins? The audience will discover e it through a stroll full of suspense.
In a museum The Strolling Stories tell stories drawn from iconography and artists' lives. So, the works, paintings or sculptures, come to life through the storyteller's voice and they are explained by the art historian. Each hall of the museum is seen and used as the location of a particular event of the plot without fall of rhythm and attention. Every hall will be an integral part of plot so the audience will be personally involved and will have a complete sensory experience.
