Il Paracadute di Icaro is an artistic and pedagogical center based in Florence, active for more than fifteen years in continuous work with children, adolescents, young people and adults.
Over time, our work has grown into a stable and living context in which artistic practice, training and pedagogical research do not proceed separately, but nourish one another. Theatre, dance, music, visual arts and training paths coexist within a single environment, inhabited throughout the year by people of different ages, experiences and roles.
What we do is not limited to organizing classes or activities. We build paths over time. We accompany children and young people, but also young artists, teachers and practitioners, through processes in which art becomes a real space for growth, knowledge and transformation.
A central part of our identity concerns our work with children and adolescents. For us, theatre, dance and the arts are not only expressive languages or technical disciplines. They are tools through which the body, attention, listening, relation, imagination, discipline and the capacity to remain within a group can be trained. They are places in which a person can mature both artistically and humanly.
For this reason, we attach great importance to continuity. Many of our paths develop over several years. We do not believe in fragmented or purely episodic experiences. We believe in the value of time, in the construction of real processes, and in the possibility that a coherent body of work can truly transform the way a person acts, relates and creates.
At the foundation of our approach lies a simple conviction: art can be a concrete place of formation. This is why we place the body, presence, relation, process and responsibility at the center. We do not separate pedagogy from art, and we do not separate art from life. What happens in artistic practice also shapes the person, the group and the way of being in the world.
In our path of research we have encountered practices and teachers that have had an important weight in the construction of our work. Among these, Nikolay Karpov has represented a significant point of reference. Our encounter with his teaching opened a line of work on the body, theatrical biomechanics and the precision of action that, over time, also found continuity through Maria, who trained with him and who today carries that method forward in a living way.
Today, Il Paracadute di Icaro is not only a school or a cultural association. It is a living environment of research, creation and ongoing formation, in which children, adolescents, artists, educators and teachers share an experience in which art is lived not as ornament or mere expression, but as a serious, concrete and transformative practice.
Sono strumenti attraverso cui allenare il corpo, l’attenzione, l’ascolto, la relazione, l’immaginazione, la disciplina e la capacità di stare dentro un gruppo. Sono luoghi in cui una persona può maturare artisticamente e umanamente.
Within the path of Il Paracadute di Icaro, the encounter with Maria has had a deep and precise value.
It has not been an occasional collaboration, nor the external insertion of a guest teacher into an already defined program. Her work entered a field of research that was already alive for us, and it did so in a way that made some essential nuclei of our path clearer, more rigorous and more traversable.
This encounter has been particularly significant for a precise reason as well: Maria trained with Nikolay Karpov. For us, this is an important element, because our work had already directly crossed paths with his teaching. With Maria we have been able to continue, deepen and keep alive a path that we had begun with him. In this sense, the seminar with Maria is not for us an isolated episode, but a true continuity of research.
What we recognize in her work is a strong fidelity to the method, but not in the sense of mechanical transmission. What comes through Maria is a living, embodied and concrete work, capable of carrying that line forward in a real way. Not a repetition, but a practice that preserves the rigor, the precision and the centrality of the body, action and presence.
Her way of working places the body at the center not as a simple executive instrument, but as a living place of knowledge, perception and transformation. Through practice, those who take part are called to work with real attention, to enter into action, to listen, to react, to become more available, more precise, more present.
For us, this is a decisive point. Our pedagogical and artistic approach, too, assigns a central function to the body. The body is not an accessory element of the work: it is one of the principal places in which formation happens. It is the point at which presence, relation, listening, precision, energy and the capacity to act manifest themselves.
Maria’s seminars are, for us, places of real study. They are not decorative additions to our activity, nor experiences designed simply to “enrich” a program. They are spaces in which the work is brought back to what is essential: body, action, listening, relation, precision, presence. They are places in which one does not merely witness a transmission of contents, but enters into a process.
And this is precisely what makes the work so important. It does not offer a superficial or outward experience. It asks for true participation. It invites the person to enter into the work and to go through it with seriousness, availability and openness.
For this reason, the August seminar has a particular value for us. Its intensive nature allows the work to develop with continuity, concentration and depth. At the same time, the fact that it takes place within Il Paracadute di Icaro gives it a further meaning: those who take part do not enter an isolated event, but a living artistic and pedagogical context that works throughout the year with children, young people, artists and trainers.
In a time when many training experiences risk becoming fragmented, superficial or purely technical, we believe it is important to preserve spaces of real study. Maria’s work, for us, belongs to this kind of space. It brings one back to what is essential, does not simplify the process, but makes it traversable through practice. And above all, it allows a line of work to remain alive, in a concrete way, from Karpov to us through a continuity that is real rather than theoretical.
The August seminar is an intensive experience of study and practice centered on the body, action, presence and relation.
It takes place within Il Paracadute di Icaro, an artistic and pedagogical center in Florence that has been working continuously for more than fifteen years with children, adolescents, young people and adults through theatre, dance, music, visual arts and training. This context is an integral part of the meaning of the seminar. It is not an event placed in a neutral or temporary space, but a work that happens within a living environment in which the relation between art, pedagogy, body and group is part of daily practice.
The seminar also has a particular meaning because of the line of work it carries. Maria trained with Nikolay Karpov and today carries his method forward. For Il Paracadute di Icaro, this represents an important element, because it makes it possible to continue and deepen, with her, a work that we had already begun from his teaching. For this reason, the seminar is not only a formative opportunity, but also a point of real continuity within a path of research that was already underway.
What it is
The seminar is a space of real work.
It is not conceived as an introductory workshop or as a short experience built only to transmit techniques or notions. It is a concentrated time in which those who take part are invited to enter a process through practice.
The work develops through exercises, actions and dynamics that directly involve the body, attention, listening, relation with space and relation with others. The aim is not simply to learn something new, but to go through an experience capable of affecting the way one works, perceives and remains on stage and in relation.
Who it is for
The seminar is addressed to students of theatre, dance and performing arts, to young artists, to teachers and educators, to practitioners who work with the body, with groups or with creative processes, and to people interested in a serious path of artistic and pedagogical research.
A high level of technical specialization is not indispensable. What truly matters is openness to work, attention, discipline, openness and real involvement.
What kind of experience it offers
The seminar offers a practical and demanding experience.
Those who take part are invited to work on the body as a place of action, on attention and the quality of presence, on listening and reaction, on relation with space, on relation with others, and on the precision and necessity of action.
For this very reason, the work can be intense. It requires participation, availability and commitment. But for this very reason, it can become a meaningful and transformative experience, both artistically and personally.
Why this seminar is important
The August seminar is important because it brings together two fundamental dimensions.
On the one hand, it offers the possibility of entering Maria’s work in an intensive and concentrated way, within a precise methodological line, rooted in her training with Nikolay Karpov.
On the other hand, it takes place within a context that can genuinely sustain and deepen that experience: a center with a long-standing artistic and pedagogical practice, and with many years of continuous work with children, young people, artists and educators.
For those who take part, this means entering not only a seminar, but a real field of experience.
In brief
The August seminar is an intensive space of study and practice in which body, action, relation and presence are approached in a direct and concrete way.
It is addressed to people who are looking for a serious and living work experience.
It takes place within Il Paracadute di Icaro, a center active for more than fifteen years, and it is part of a continuity of research linking the teaching of Nikolay Karpov to the work carried forward today by Maria.
WHEN?
July 18–28, 2026
August 1–11, 2026
WHERE?
Florence – Casa delle Arti
Via San Gaggio 29/31, Florence, Italy
WORKING HOURS
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Ten days of daily training in which the body becomes the central instrument of stage action.
A practical and intensive exploration of presence, precision, partnership, and the construction of physical action.
During the seminar, participants will work on:
Psychophysical preparation of the actor (individual and group training)
Fundamental principles of Theatrical Biomechanics
Active analysis of dramatic texts through stage practice
The work will also draw upon “Don Juan” by Molière and “Three Sisters” by Anton Chekhov, approached as living material to be embodied and explored in performance.
TUITION FEES
Please complete the following application form to be considered for the Theatrical Biomechanics Seminar led by Marie Karpov.
Two sessions are available:
July 18–28, 2026: program designed for young actors and actresses.
August 1–11, 2026: program intended for actors and actresses with greater professional experience.
Participation fee: €550
Registration deposit: €110
The deposit is required to reserve a place in the seminar and serves as a non-refundable confirmation deposit.
Cash or card payment (POS) at the Association’s office and at the workshop venue: Via San Gaggio 29/31, Florence.
Bank transfer payable to:
Il Paracadute di Icaro APS
IBAN: IT85D0867338050000000924292
For bank transfers, please indicate the following payment reference:
“July Seminar” or “August Seminar”, according to the session for which you are applying.
A place in the seminar will be confirmed only upon receipt of the €110 deposit.
In the event of withdrawal or non-attendance by the participant, the deposit cannot be refunded.
The Association reserves the right to allocate available places according to the order in which applications and deposits are received. Therefore, a place cannot be guaranteed without payment of the deposit within the indicated deadlines.
The remaining balance must be paid by the following dates:
July Seminar: by July 13, 2026
August Seminar: by July 25, 2026
Once you have submitted the application form, the administration office will review your application and contact you regarding the outcome of the selection process and any further steps required to complete your registration.
The July seminar is offered as an additional and exceptional opportunity alongside the main August seminar.
Its activation is subject to reaching the minimum number of participants required.
Should the July seminar not reach the minimum enrollment threshold, applicants accepted into that session will be offered a place in the August seminar, which remains the principal and confirmed session.
If a participant enrolled in the July seminar is unable to attend the August session, the registration deposit will be fully refunded.
