He organised, with five hundred school pupils, a show for Legality, becoming the protagonist of a unique initiative of its kind. For this grandiose staging, Maria Ausilia Di Falco, 36 years old, teacher but also pianist, music therapist, writer and storyteller, originally from Canicattì, earned a series of headlines in Northern newspapers.
The show
His “show”, entitled “(Getting) involved with legality” was staged at the Colosseum theater in Turin with the children of the primary and secondary school of the Ic Manzoni of a multi-ethnic neighborhood of the subalpine capital, San Salvario . Engaged for months and months in writing, organizing and staging a text (“The weight of words” by Di Falco herself) the boys, thanks to her patient, incessant and almost stoic work, have completed a one-of-a-kind educational project. These are young people, almost all of different nationalities, who have been guided, through a fascinating path, towards creativity. Some of them composed songs in their native language, the choreographers then translated them into dances that the dancers performed on stage. Set designers and costume designers then worked miracles by managing to involve their peers-actors for the broadcast of various video projections within the main show. All this thanks to the project idea of Maria Ausilia, an artist and a lot of other things (even the author of a story for children included and published by Einaudi in a collection) who did not spare herself, committing physical, psychological and artistic resources in this highly educational and life saving project.
Who is Maria Ausilia Di Falco
With elegant and harmonious features, Maria Ausilia, who has now lived in Turin for some time, talks about her Canicattì, the city where she took her first steps by attending the “Foscolo” classical high school. “The greatest joy of this show – explains Maria Ausilia – was seeing these kids at work, because they are all, or almost all, coming from very difficult socio-economic classes, some with very serious problems; many are children of migrants, others did not even understand Italian yet, having arrived in our country late in the school year. But we still managed to integrate ourselves into our work. There was maximum inclusion from all points of view. This was the biggest goal we achieved. On stage there was the orchestra, musicians, percussionists, dancers, actors and hundreds of other students. Then there was little Abdullah from fifth grade, with a very strong personal story, who prepared 900 paper flowers by himself, giving magic to all the people present. The meaning of our show was, in fact, that words can be used incorrectly, like bullets, or like flowers. And at the end of the performance, the narrators invited those present to raise the flower received at the entrance and let it be caressed, while a long cloth passed over their heads and the orchestra played a melody. In the meantime, other children distributed notes with “beautiful words” to those present. And this was “the magical moment” that moved everyone. More than a show – concludes Maria Ausilia Di Falco – I would say that it was an open lesson; a sort of common research and reflection, which we hope to be able to propose again in schools in other cities”.
