Serena Vinci (pictured below, bottom, wearing a face mask), is one of the brightest dancers of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, with her story of overcoming challenges and disability through a “passion beyond the senses”. And so here she is, in her healthcare worker’s uniform, standing just to keep company to the aged guests of a private residence for the elderly in downtown Florence, Italy in the time of coronavirus. Photo courtesy of her herself.
|
And so, congratulations to Serena Vinci (pictured above with her brother), ballerina of Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, who quite early this morning successfully underwent her final maturity exam at the State Institute of Higher Education Elsa Morante in Florence, Italy. For Alessandra’s joy, Serena presented a little thesis entitled “A Passion Beyond The Senses” documenting and telling the story of how she succeeded in overcoming deafness through dance!
|
From left: Letizia Rogai, Arianna Settembrini, Serena Vinci, and Chiara Ciocia Vida performing in the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”’s final dance showdown at the Teatro SMS of the People’s House in Grassina on Saturday, June 17, 2017. Photo: Foto Rapid Center.
|
From left: Arianna Settembrini, Letizia Rogai, Chiara Ciocia Vida, Sophia Menconi, and Serena Vinci performing in the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”’s final dance showdown at the Teatro SMS of the People’s House in Grassina on Saturday, June 17, 2017. Photo: Foto Rapid Center.
|
From left: Serena Vinci, Chiara Ciocia Vida, Letizia Rogai, Arianna Settembrini, and Sophia Menconi performing in the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”’s final dance showdown at the Teatro SMS of the People’s House in Grassina on Saturday, June 17, 2017. Photo: Foto Rapid Center.
|
Serena Vinci chatted all the evening with her friends, so I must feel lucky that just for an instant she shut up and allowed me to take a picture of her.
|
And Serena Vinci, too, was so kind to send us at least a picture of her eighteenth birthday (shy) party, in which she was wearing a very elegant evening dress. Of course, we will ask for an opinion from a competent fashion designer! In the meantime, don’t forget to timely attend your dance class at Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”. Photo courtesy of her herself.
|
Tonight Arianna Settembrini (right) and Serena Vinci (left) celebrated – in between the ballet’s hour – their 18th birthday with a sober party at Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, even though they are not born on the same day (Serena is born on 15 November and Arianna on 17 November).
|
Serena Vinci, virtuoso dancer of Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, sent us a school theme she wrote for her summer program – indeed, her favourite one as it deals with dance. As maybe you know, Serena has developed herself as an élite dancer in spite of her being deaf, which earned her a public award for the ability with which she performed in overcoming deafness through dance on occasion of the 18th International Dance Festival “Vetrina Scuole di Danza AICS”, held at the Teatro Verdi in Florence on Sunday, May 15, 2016. In her school theme she speaks about how, even without hearing any sounds, she learned to feel the waves of music moving through her, as well as the vibrations through her feet all the way to her heart. Well, we’ll provide an English translation for it as soon as we can, but for now we wish to reassure her that if she will one day have a daughter her ballet teacher will want her daughter to become a dancer as well! Photos courtesy of Serena Vinci.
“The day when I will quit dancing I’ll be sad, because I know I’ll miss it so much. I will wish to be young again, as much as when I entered the school for the first time, and I weared a tutu. I will love dance all my life, and, if ever I’ll have a daughter, I hope Alessandra may yet be her dance teacher”. |
Serena Vinci dancing in the Associazione Culturale ”Il Delta della Luna”’s show of end year at the Teatro SMS of the People’s House in Grassina on Saturday, June 20, 2015. Photo © Stefano Marmino.
|
Letizia Rogai, Arianna Settembrini, Serena Vinci, and Chiara Ciocia Vida, acknowledged superstars of Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, intensely rehearsing their dance moves for a choreography by Alessandra on the theme of the Afghan rapper Sonita Alizadeh’s Manifesto “Brides for Sale”. Since today one dancer (Sophia) was missing from the usual quintet, and since my smartphone video is so non-professional as to discourage even the most marvellous étoile, I recommend you to not miss their performance at the Teatro SMS of the People’s House in Grassina on Saturday, June 17, 2017.
|
Yesterday we chatted a bit with Serena Vinci (in the picture at centre), virtuoso dancer of Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” who, on Sunday, May 15, 2016, was awarded by the organizers of the 18th International Dance Festival “Vetrina Scuole di Danza AICS” at the Teatro Verdi in Florence with the medal “A Passion Beyond The Senses” for the ability with which she performed in overcoming deafness through dance. We asked her what was her secret. She said that even without hearing any sounds, she is able (she learned) to feel the waves of music moving through her. She feels the vibrations through her feet all the way to her heart. Then the constant movement repeating and refining throughout each dance class together with her teammates and friends Arianna Settembrini (in the picture on the left), Letizia Rogai (right), and Chiara Ciocia Vida create the “miracle” of a group dance choreography. I asked her how she could understand her teacher when she was talking. “I read her lips”, she said. And what when you cannot see her in front of you? “I ask my teammates to tell me what she said”.
Serena made it look easy, but it was not easy. Serena’s family, she herself, her dance teacher Alessandra, her dance teammates made it on their own way, without following any “scientifical method” except the method that works for any dancer. |
Serena Vinci dancing in the Associazione Culturale ”Il Delta della Luna”’s show of end year at the Teatro SMS of the People’s House in Grassina on Saturday, June 20, 2015. Photo © Stefano Marmino.
As you already know (or maybe not), on Sunday, May 15, 2016, Serena Vinci (Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”) was awarded by the organizers of the 18th International Dance Festival “Vetrina Scuole di Danza AICS” at the Teatro Verdi in Florence with the medal “A Passion Beyond The Senses”. Today we received the following letter from Mrs. Stefania Marinaccio Ballerini, which may be of some interest to our readers, as well as to Miss Serena Vinci: “Bravo, Serena! Your passion, dedication and constancy will bring you far. I know you since you small, I watched you grow and progress. Like many other children born with profound deafness, you worked hard and now you’re able to speak like everyone else. You’ve studied and learned with your professors and classmates in public schools. In short, you demonstrated that deafness can be overcome, even though, of course, with a hearing aid and rehabilitation. So you became a distinguished ballerina... Congratulations: you did it! You are an example to a lot of girls and boys. Finally, I invite you all to visit our website http://www.fiaddatoscana.org/ as well as our Facebook account Fiadda Toscana ONLUS”. |
And here is Serena Vinci (Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”), who not only performed in the 18th International Dance Festival “Vetrina Scuole di Danza AICS” at the Teatro Verdi in Florence, but was also awarded by the organizers with the medal “A Passion Beyond The Senses”. Photo courtesy of Chiara Angelini.
|
From left: Serena Vinci, Chiara Angelini, Viola Rocchini, and Alessandra Innocenti. Photo: Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”.
Sunday evening, on occasion of the 18th International Dance Festival “Vetrina Scuole di Danza AICS” Award ceremony at the Teatro Verdi, the artistic director of the organization Mrs. Stefania Landi awarded the medal “A Passion Beyond The Senses” to Serena Vinci, élite dancer of Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” for the ability with which she performed in overcoming deafness through dance. Serena is deaf and reads lips to understand the world around her. When very young she came to our dance school, nobody could know that she would have became such a good dancer. Her dance teacher Alessandra as well as her dance teammates Arianna, Chiara, and Letizia didn’t follow any “method” except their own, that consisted of behaving normal with her. Serena’s family constantly helped and supported her without any valuable assistance from the institutions. Her mother left her own work – and her income as well – to devote herself more to her daughter, and her father had to work twice as hard to take care of the family – Serena, in fact, has also a brother. When dancing on stage, no one ever noticed she didn’t hear the music, and that’s worth more than any rethorical speech. |
