Where to go: URBINO.

Modern Dance in a Renaissance Town

Nearly everyone who takes part in the Dance in Urbino Summer Study Abroad program finds it to be a life-changing experience. Studying dance at the University of Urbino in this beautiful Italian Renaissance town that is about two hours from Florence, joining the community and learning the language, taking time to explore the rest of Italy and other parts of Europe, and making friends from all over the world have kept many dancers coming back to this program year after year.

This monthlong modern dance intensive is sponsored by the State University of New York at New Paltz and is now in its tenth year. The program flows smoothly, and the inhabitants of the castle town of Urbino welcome the return of "their" dancers every summer. Study here has inspired dancers and teachers from the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Europe.

Lynn Barr, artistic director of the program, does not take it easy on her students. A former member of the Paul Sanasardo Dance Company, she encourages beginners to work just as hard as professionals, and she never allows professionals to slack off. Somehow, she finds a way to bring out the best in all her students, despite their varying skill levels and prior training.

Students dance every day. They have a ninety-minute technique class in the morning in a well-equipped studio, immediately followed by another ninety minutes of rehearsal. They rehearse again in the afternoons, after the all-important meal and siesta, and sometimes in the evenings, too.

Participants work hard, focusing all of their energy on nothing but dance. According to Barr, "Dancers should train, not just take class; in order to do this, sometimes it's important to be separated from everyday things. To be able to focus fully on dance and experience another culture gives one the perspective and depth needed to become an artist." Barr stresses theatricality and presence, but she never forgets about technique.

Studying in Urbino truly made this writer, a Penn State University graduate and three-time participant in the program, feel like a real dancer. Barr provided everything in dance that had been lacking in her college dance courses."

According to Warner Williams, a professional dancer living in New York City, "Lynn Barr's ability to inspire the novice as well as the professional dancer is rare. She is an artist and a teacher who teaches by doing and showing her passion for art exuding from every pore. Anyone who listens and watches cannot help but be impacted by the presence of one so fully absorbed, disciplined, and uncompromising."

At the University of Urbino, each student has his or her own dorm room and is provided with abundant tasty meals by the school's enormous cafeteria.

Exploratory field trips to Venice and Florence are also included in the program. Each summer, the weekend trip to Venice conveniently coincides with the city's Festival of the Redeemer, where all the townspeople come out to view the parade of ships on the Grand Canal and the spectacular midnight fireworks display.

To visit Urbino itself is to see one of the jewels of Italy. Its majestic panorama includes the Ducal Palace, a part of a walled castle like one in a storybook, with spires that seem to stretch up to the moon. The palace is visible from a winding mountain road as the students enter the town. Many of the students visit the palace just to touch its walls to make sure that it's real, and they take photographs to remember it once they return home. Urbino comes to hold a special place in the hearts of many who attend the program. Dancers return home with souvenirs, posters, and sketches of the city that they frame and hang on their bed-room or dorm walls.

And, of course, they put on a show for Urbino. At the end of three weeks of rehearsing, the dancers give two free performances. Their outdoor stage is a 500-year-old courtyard originally designed for dancers during the Italian Renaissance. Music reverberates off the thirty-foot stone columns. The audience, made up of both locals and international tourists, congratulates the dancers after the show. Audiences often ask if this is a professional company.

Many students keep in touch after the program ends. They hold class reunions, write to each other, and swap photos. It often turns out that the students have shot the same picturesque views: the town by night and day, the rolling green velvet hills seen from their university dorm windows, and the gold, orange, and pink sunsets viewed from the cafeteria balcony.

Students seem to share the same feelings afterward, too.

"I miss everyone so much!" said theater major Crystal Gipe, who returned to Ball State University after the Urbino program ended. "It really stinks being in Muncie [Indiana] after being in Urbino. I still can't believe what an incredible experience I had in Italy--or the incredible group of people I spent it with!"

After she came home from Urbino, Bowling Green State University student Heather Baur said, "1 did have a very hard time adjusting. For about a week I thought I'd dreamed the whole thing."

"This is a gift you give yourself," Bart tells her students. "It is one that keeps giving to you long after you've left Urbino. Three college credits and a lifetime of memories!"

When the program and the summer end, inevitably there are tears. As new Italian friends say goodbye to the American dancers, everyone hugs and exchanges addresses, promising to write and visit. They all count the days until next summer.

Carolyn Burke will be returning to Urbino again for the dancing and the flowering in the sun.