Grape Harvest!!

Yesterday I went with Lenka to help one of her friends with the grape harvest.  It was AMAZING!  We each picked up a bucket and a pair of pruning scissors and joined Marco, Lucio, Carlo, and Andro in the vineyard (no heiresses yet, Clare and Angie).  

We cut the grapes off the vine - negro e blanco – with the shears,put them in buckets, dumped them (gently!) into bigger crates,which Marina took in her tractor to the shed

where they put them into a machine that removes the stems and filled a HUGE bucket with grape pulp. 

 

I was so scared that I was going to do something wrong and would ruin a whole batch of wine.  Something like, “Don’t drink the 2009 –that was a very bad year.  Oh right, that’s when the Americana came to help us.”  I felt so bad about wasting any grapes, but if they're not sweet, then you don't pick them - or you toss them on the ground.  You have to taste them to find out :)

 

We worked for about three hours, with help from a few more people, laughing, talking, cutting, and collecting.  Andro was the only Italian fluent in English, and though I was pulling out what I realize now is my not-so-limited Spanish, I thoroughly enjoyed everyone talking around me.  I love listening to people speaking Italian, especially when they are not worried about translating for me all the time.  I can pick out enough words to get the gist of what they are saying, and anyone who has been around Italians knows that at least half of what is being said is coming through facial expressions and gestures – I was laughing right along with them. 

 After that we had a huge Italian lunch with everyone that helped with the grapes.  Huge bowl of fresh, home-made pasta, egglant with red peppers, sausage, bread cheese, tomato and pepper salads – all fresh – so delicious.  (Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of the food Mocha!) Andro kept singing rock songs, and kept being told to stop.  When we were picking grapes, he said 'so I guess this is where the Rolling Stones got the idea for sticky fingers.'  But it was like steecky feengrs - precious.  And then when they were serving coffee after lunch, he broke out into, 'wack up, leetl suzeee, wack up' I almost peed in my pants.

 

I love these Italians so much.  Everyone was involved somehow in antiques - they are so smart and kind and full of life.  They were/are all part of this movement from the 70s to start communes - they came from the north of Italy and moved here to Tuscany/Umbria, bought land, and live from the earth.  I wish I could get across the feeling of how intelligent and sensitive of humanity they are -  honest, real, and reflective about human nature.

What a gorgeous day.

My street, for now....

So this is my street.  When I arrived, Lenka said, just go down this street, follow it 

around, and you will arrive at the plaza.  I was looking for the street, until I realized that she meant this paved walkway.....  

I am staying in a house with the four dancers of the company, and my room is very very very small.   A twin bed, and enough room to open the door.  Lenka is looking for another place for me, but for now I have no problems with the lack of space.  It actually makes me feel safe, almost cocooned.  Of course it may be a completely different story next week, once I've gotten my bearings.  

Yesterday I went for a walk with Lenka and her daughter Giulia to Vernazzano, a little village with a music school where Giulia will start piano lessons next month.  It is so beautiful here. People WALK.  We walked through the woods, along dirt paths, on paved roads - no street signs - saying 'buona sera' to everyone we saw.  We passed 

grapes vines, olive trees, and horse corrals. 

It seems ridiculously romantic, and I love it.  I am wondering when it will feel 'normal.' 

On Sunday, I will go with Lenka to her friend Marina's and help with the grape harvest.   I cannot wait!!!  And Lenka and her husband Simone own some land on a small hill.  They have 1,000 year old olive trees  - !!!!  I am going to pick olives with them at the beginning of November, and then we will take the olives immediately to press olive oil.  I often think that when I quit this dancing life, I'll get some land (with what money??) and grow things.  Anything - things that I can hold in my hands, things that hold actual nutritional value, that feed more than my curiosity.  Tangible things, instead of dance works that disappear as soon as they appear and remain only in my body's memory.  Don't get me wrong - I regret nothing, but sometimes I just think it would be nice....

 

Oh right, why I'm in Italy.....

Dancing, of course.

My friend Lenka Flory of the DejaDonne Company invited me come to Italy to perform solos from my solo project I premiered in Austin last April (08).  She and her production manager/assistant Elisa put together a dossier for me and have booked a few gigs for me.  The first one is at the Autumn dance festival in Cagliari - on the island of Sardegna - so lovely.  Then I perform a few more times in Umbria: in her town, Perugia, and perhaps a few more dates.  I have been calling this my Italian tour of closets and bathrooms, but I have been told to stop with the self-deprecation.  So I will.  

I am beyond grateful.  None of this would be possible without Lenka - her generosity, support, and eastern european work ethic (she's originally from Prague) is overwhelming.  

Many of you know that this past year has been a tough one for me.  I was denied tenure, my relationship finally spit out it's last breath, the company I had been working with folded, and I had finished a huge project that had consumed much of my time for a few years.  And then here comes Lenka who says, "Come to Italy - we can make some performances for you."  So I decided to take a leave without pay, buy a plane ticket, and here I am.

Ciao!

Arrival in Italia!!

Ciao lovelies! I am in a small town called Tuoro sul Trasimeno, near Perugia in Umbria. I arrived in Rome on Monday morning, and took a train from the airport to Roma-Termini, the big train station where I would catch my train to Tuoro.  

I suspended my phone service for these two months I am away. I have a fear that I would accidentally push the wrong button on my phone, and next thing I knew I would be paying hundreds of dollars in international roaming fees. I feel disconcertingly naked without my cell phone. Kind of like when my watch died, and I realized how many times I checked it, and panicked, wondering how I would make it on time to the places I needed to go. Then I remembered that it didn't matter as I'm never on time anyway.... very freeing.  

Anyway, since I didn't have my phone, I had to buy a schede-telefonichi from the tabacchi shop, which I then proceeded to stick into everyone public phone I could find, to no avail. Thankfully a kind old Italian man saw me, popped off the corner of my card, dialed Lenka's number, and all was well.  

After a two hour train ride, I arrived at the Terontola-Cortona station. For those of you who saw my solo show, this is the train station where we filmed the video for All The Stories.... which was created the last time I was here. It is so lovely to find a familiar place so far from home. And there was Lenka on the other side of the platform, looking for me, jumping and waving, running for the sottopassagio to come help me with my bagagli.  

This is how I learn a foreign language, by the way - signage.  

The last time I was here, I was really in the country. We had to buy all of our water, since the water from the well was really dirty. We had to use propane gas tanks for the stove and hot water heaters - which we ran out of one night, and ended up making gnocchi in the electric kettle. Not delicious. Internet access was via dial-up modem, so I couldn't even use my computer, which didn't matter anyway after I spilled chamomile tea on it.  

This time I am living in a house with the four members of the company who are touring DejaDonne's latest piece. Christine is from Norway, Martina is from Italy, Natalia is from Poland, and Dagmar is from Germany. And me.  

I can drink the water out of the tap, there is a bathtub - sigh - and there is even a tv. Last night I saw Kanye be an ass to Taylor Swift at the MTV music awards - funny that I would see that in Italy, not Texas.  

I have wireless access at Lenka's office in the theatre. And Facebook. It's a whole new world.