The Scuola Internazionale di Creazione Teatrale HELIKOS is the evolution of KIKLOS, a school active in Padova, Italy, between 1999 and 2004.
The vision of Kiklos was rooted in the process of re-invention of Movement Theatre, based on the body in space, on improvisation and on play (le jeu). This vision was also linked to the renewal of the renaissance experience of the actor/creator (teatro d'attore) in Commedia dell'Arte, and integrated into the experiences of the Pedagogy of Movement of the 20th century.
One pivotal event leading up to the realisation of Kiklos was the encounter with the Pedagogy of Movement of Jacques Lecoq.
Giovanni trained at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, with Jacques Lecoq and his team, and later followed the pedagogic training and the LEM at the school, where subsequently he became member of the teaching team as an improvisation teacher.
After the death of Jacques Lecoq in 1999, he returned to Padua to co-found Kiklos Teatro, alongside Paola Coletto and Sean Kaplan. This was an international theatre center devoted to theatre creation and pedagogy. Here Giovanni directed the Scuola Internazionale di Creazione KIKLOS for five years, developing the vision of a school rooted in tradition, and free to create and re-create new poetic paths.
The other pivotal process that guided the evolution of Helikos is Giovanni's research, training and practice in the field of personal development, bodywork and psychotherapy (Gestalt, Reichian Analysis and Process Work) as well as his background in Natural Sciences and Ecology. This lead to the unfolding of a pedagogy that focuses on a FIELD of practice, in which the poetic and the personal are evolving in parallel and with multiple interconnections.
Photo Credit: Dell'Arte
After the end of the Kiklos experience in 2004, Giovanni Fusetti continued to work around the globe as a teacher and director, during an artistic journey that led him to work with leading theatre companies, universities, schools and training centers. He has been invited to teach and lecture at numerous places including: Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, Blue Lake, California; LISPA London International School of Performing Arts, London; Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado (USA); Princeton University (USA); Rosegarden Theaterhouse, Kristiansand, Norway; The University of London; Toi Wakhaari / New Zealand National Drama School, Wellington, New Zealand; Centre Generation Tao, Paris.
After these traveling years, the urge to reopening a long-term training process led Giovanni to settle in Florence, Tuscany, to open a new program. The new form of the school was a vision rooted both in the Kiklos experience and the new insights of the sabbatical period. This vision has received a new name, Helikos (from Greek=spiral). In 2009, Giovanni developed a Pedagogic Training to refine his approach and to train the pedagogic team in his pedagogic vision, integrating the specific and unique charisma of each teacher to the highest vision of the school. The first year of the three-year professional training started in Florence, Italy, in 2010. Two full cycle of the Three-Year Program has unfolded between 2010 and 2014. A One-Year-Training has been active in 2013-2014.
After 4 years of trainings in Florence, at the end of the 2013/2014 season, Helikos has stopped offering long term programs in Italy. The Fonderia studio in Florence has closed in July 2014 and Giovanni Fusetti has been offering shorter trainings around the world and developing further his pedagogy.
The members of the pedagogic team are also continuing their autonomous journey.
In January 2019 a new Studio has been set up in Padova, Italy to host THE PEDAGOGIC JOURNEY, a three months intensive teachers training that took place in the Spring 2019, as well as a calendar of workshops and short trainings planned for the year 2020.
After the suspension of all activities during the Covid-19 pandemics , the Giovanni Fusetti has returned to the pedagogic field with renewed focus and passion, engaged to embodied theater practice more than ever. Workshops and training have returned to the Helikos Studio in Padova as well as to Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
While developing the teaching practice, Giovanni is focusing on writing and organizing the pedagogic harvest of many years, planning a new long term training. He is looking for a more sustainable location and design for a new school structure, in order to adapt and evolve towards the poetic, geo-political and ecological landscape of the upcoming future.
Art, Natural Sciences, Awareness, Co-Creation and Sustainable Lifestyles will be unfolding together, in the fierce defense, practice and celebration of an embodied theater and life.
Please return to this website if you are curious about the unfolding of Helikos vision.
