CHIARA D'ANNA

Actress, Director, Movement Coach, Commedia dell'Arte Specialist



Dr Chiara D’Anna leads workshops, courses, masterclasses and one-to-one sessions on Physical Theatre, Movement, Devising, Character and Commedia dell'Arte worldwide.


She currently teaches at RADA and Goldsmiths University in London, as wellas at the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy.


After studying at Teatranza Drama School in Italy, Chiara developed her practice in Poland and the UK. She trained at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław with Zygmunt Molik, co-founder of the Grotowski's Laboratory Theatre, and with Andrei Droznin, Master Teacher of Movement at the Moscow Art Theater School and the Vakhtangov School in Moscow, as well as Head of Movement for the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.


Following her MA in Physical Theatre at Royal Holloway University, Chiara trained at the Centre for Theatre Practices "Gardzienice". This led to her collaboration with Ali Hodge and the international performance ensemble The Quick and the Dead. The outcome of this research was published by Routledge on the DVD-pamphlet ‘Core Training For the Relational Actor’. Core Training is taught in leading dram schools in the UK and internationally.


To discover more about my courses, workshops and tailored packages for companies and individual artists just get in touch!


GET IN TOUCH

"A truly special teacher with an intoxicating, addictive and infectious passion for her craft."



STUDENT | E15 Acting Schoo​​l



"Chiara D'Anna not only proves great mastery of Commedia in her stunning performances, but also as a teacher."



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS | Commedia dell'Arte Masterclass



"Chiara is an extremely enthusiastic tutor who gets involved and guides you with energy and passion."



STUDENT | E15 Acting Schoo​​l



"Loved every moment, motif and gesture of Chiara D'Anna's Commedia workshop for Neat16 at NonsuchTheatre"



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Nottingham European Theatre Festival



"Chiara was exceptional: I feel that I can 100% apply techniques that I learnt in my own future work!"



STUDENT | E15 Acting School, Physical Theatre



"Chiara is a lovely, engaging and supportive teacher: I’ve learnt so much about character physicality, improvisation and playing with fellow actors on stage"



STUDENT | Rose Bruford College



"Brilliant tutor who created a lovely encouraging atmosphere that inspires you to work and create fun and exciting theatre, whilst learning extremely useful skills"



STUDENT | E15 Acting School, Physical Theatre



"Excellent screen acting masterclass today from Chiara D’Anna.”



STUDENT | Identity School of Acting



"Chiara in an excellent, energetic and incredibly knowledgeable tutor.”



STUDENT | E15 Acting School, Physical Theatre



"It expanded my horizons and got me doing things I never felt confident in doing.”



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS | Commedia dell'Arte Masterclass



"Chiara offers original, intelligent, and inspiring ideas that are both challenging and stimulating.”



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS | Devising Masterclass



Chiara D'Anna | Natural You Workshops



NATURAL YOU



It is a movement meditation class that blends elements of yoga, physical theatre, and dance. This dynamic, playful, and transformative practice explores the deep connection between body, mind, and spirit.


Natural You helps quiet the negative, judgmental inner "chatterbox" and, unlike practices focused on specific steps or postures (asanas), Natural You creates space for you to discover your own unique movement.


Chiara (PhD, MSc, MA) developed Natural You over many years of research and training with practitioners from all over the world in the diverse fields of physical theatre, yoga and mindfulness to name a few. Natural You satisfies her deep desire to help people experience their natural fun loving selves in supportive and inclusive environments.


No matter your physical ability, each session leaves you feeling stronger, happier, and more energised. You can discover more about Natural You and listen to what people say about it: here If you want more information: just get in touch!


INFO & BOOKING

"Exceed expectation…lovely, gentle, day: I loved the trust work and the playfulness."



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



"I love that you blend from your experience of theatre, dance, yoga, spirituality and you make it uniquely your own…you come across with real authority and people feel safe with you."



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



"It has been a fantastic experience! I’d love to attend more of these types of events"



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You Dance, London



"You re both amazing, dynamic, informative beings: I trust you!"



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



"Thank you so much for a wonderful day. Very, very interesting. It was extremely powerful!"



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



"I loved the day. I love your energy, your passion and your enthusiasm."



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



"Thank you for a wonderful day, the first step on a journey..."



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



"I was so grateful for find you. I loved the energy and the friendly atmosphere that you created. Something has moved inside me."



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



"It was the first of this kind of workshops and I didn’t know what to expect. It has been a fantastic experience! "



WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT | Natural You, London



NATURAL YOU



WORKSHOPS | MASTERCLASSES



Natural You is a movement meditation class that blends yoga, physical theatre, and dance. This dynamic, playful, and transformative practice explores the connection between body, mind, and spirit, helping to quiet your internal "chatterbox."


Unlike practices based on learned steps and postures, Natural You gives you space to discover your own movement and dance, embracing your unique body. No matter your physical ability, each session leaves you feeling stronger, happier, and more energised.


COURSE CONTENT:

Natural You offers:

  • Effective tools to transform how you feel about yourself and your relationships.
  • Powerful ways to heal the past and release preconceptions about your strength, abilities, movement, and body shape.
  • A deep experience of being in your body, helping you give it the care it needs to be strong, toned, and healthy.


DEVISING



for ensembles and solo shows



This course offers a range of useful tools to create intriguing characters, extraordinary imaginary worlds and captivating narratives for the stage. Rather than interpreting a written text participants will ‘write’ their own stories.


CONTENT:

Inner Creativity: through a series of playful exercises, we will unlock our inner creativity by working with our memories and the senses. We will connect to ‘the familiar’ – people, places, sensations and imagery that make who we are shaping our ‘personal identity’ – and utilise this material to develop physical scores for the stage.


Playfulness: We will re-connect with our playful nature through games and explore how to interact with others while playing. We will then integrate costumes and props to explore how a character can emerge from a playful situation.


Physical Approach to Character: Playful interactions with props and costumes will naturally lead to the next stage of the creative process: character building. Characters will start to emerge by refining the physical and vocal scores developed in stage 1 (inner creativity).


Narratives After our initial work on memory, imagination and character-building, we will explore how to develop a dramaturgy through improvisation and devising. This is the stage when the piece starts to emerge.



PHYSICAL THEATRE



workshops & Masterclasses



This is an energetic course exploring the full potential of performers' body as a ‘medium of expression’. You will build a ‘movement toolbox’ to develop your awareness, readiness and responsiveness. Participants will expand their self-awareness, spacial awareness and responsiveness and explore physical approaches to characterisation. This will allow you to find ease of expression, presence, physical instinct and spontaneity. This is an excellent training to expand performers' physical vocabulary.


CONTENT:


Awareness: We will focus on how actors work together in relation to one another and the space. We will discover a deeper physical understanding of mind, body and space in performance, and expand our awareness, presence and availability on stage.


Mutuality and Trust: An exploration of trust, availability and awareness through a series of exercises inspired the notion of ‘mutuality’. These series of exercises are inspired by Chiara’s work with Ali Hodge on the ‘core training’; a new methodology of actor training that encourages a profound awareness of inter-relationships.


Physical Approach to Character: We will play with texts, costumes and objects exploring a range of character-led devising methodologies.



GET IN TOUCH





Happy to hear about new projects or collaborations!








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