We will spend the first two days making a mask from stockings and recycled materials natural and man-made. The other two days we will do some physical training and exploration of the peculiar movement of each mask. Ideally we want to build masks of some invented creatures but also some kind of abstract masks. To us is very important to have a mask that is open to different interpretation, so the participant will feel more free in exploring and trying out different ways of embodying the mask.

Laura Bartolomei, was born and raised in Rome where she attendend fine art studies, contorsionism and acrobatics. After a bad injury she was forced to find a different way to use her body, and went into dancing. The interest for dance made her travel to London and then New York where she’s got in contact with butoh, contact improvisation and creative dance. In New York she has danced with off off Broadway companies including Stephen Koplowitz, Nadine Hellstroffer, Frey Faust, Howard Katz Fireheart and Poppo and the Go-Go Boys.
While in N.Y. met James Davies, illustrator, and started a long collaboration with him in the field of puppetry and found La Capra Ballerina with him. Now based in Italy, she’s working on regular bases with musicians, actors, visual artist and VJ as well as schools and social workers in Italy and abroad.

Ilaria Comisso comes from Italy. She is a freelance illustrator, set designer and puppet maker for theatre and stopmotion movies industry. She works primarily in Italy, but collaborates with many international artists and theatre companies. Ilaria had 1 year of apprenticeship in puppetry for theatre under the tutelage of master puppetmaker – Natale Panaro. She also got a diploma in professional school of puppetry (Puppetry School of Cervia) in 2007 and a diploma in illustration (Scuola del Fumetto) in 2005 in Milan. For her works the artist mainly uses wood, but she also works with paper mache, foam, metal, plastics and mixed media. Ilaria’s main passion is the mechanical part of puppetry.