Sheltered in Italy: Northwest Arkansas natives wait out covid-19

Northwest Arkansas natives wait out covid-19

Dory Ford-Sibley (center and left in these two photos) moved first to Florence in 2005 to study in an immersive Italian language class and then to Arezzo in 2006, where she began studies in physical theater and extended vocal techniques. Now, she teaches at the Accademia dell'Arte and is the founder of Tut'Zanni Theatre Company and Women From Mars, a dark feminist clown troupe. (Courtesy Photo)
Dory Ford-Sibley (center and left in these two photos) moved first to Florence in 2005 to study in an immersive Italian language class and then to Arezzo in 2006, where she began studies in physical theater and extended vocal techniques. Now, she teaches at the Accademia dell'Arte and is the founder of Tut'Zanni Theatre Company and Women From Mars, a dark feminist clown troupe. (Courtesy Photo)

Long before anybody knew the phrase "covid-19," Fayetteville native Dory Ford and her boyfriend, Jesse Sibley, a University of Arkansas graduate, packed up their bikes, their dogs and their backpacks and moved to Italy. Ford wanted to study at a performing arts school in Arezzo called the Accademia dell'Arte. Sibley was a mountain biker and "had been itching to do an epic cycling trip through the country."

That was 15 years ago. They're now married with two children -- Elisabetta Marie Sibley, 7, and Eliot James Sibley, 3 -- Ford-Sibley now works for the arts school, and Sibley leads bicycle tours in Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Liguria and Alto Adige in the Dolomite Mountains.

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Accademia dell’Arte

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Or they did, until the coronavirus came roaring down on them. They're still in Italy, the kids have been out of school for nine weeks, and they're starting their eighth week isolated at their home, "a great house in the countryside with a generous amount of land [where] the kids are able to play outside in the sunshine and ride their bikes." It hasn't been a piece of cake, but Ford-Sibley says "we are quite fortunate."

"Jesse and I are both on Italian contracts, and the government here has agreed to pay 80% of your salary for nine weeks if you do not work," she explains. "Because of this, both of us have been able to take this time to spend with the kids and work on personal projects. I'm still doing some of my recruitment and development work, which is for a different side of the Accademia, but for now the future is uncertain. Jesse's tours have been canceled, the summer programs here are in question, and we had to send students home in March, ending their semester abroad experience. That was really hard."

"Since my job and business are based on tourism, all trips for 2020 have been canceled," adds Sibley. "I had to cancel a trip only days before leaving to Southeast Asia."

The couple are homeschooling their children, who are "doing most of their work in virtual spaces online now,"and Sibley says he's enjoying his garden and extra time with the family.

"To go anywhere off of our property, we have to have an auto-certification that states our purpose, where our residence is and exactly where we are going," Ford-Sibley says. "There are blocks all around the city, and if you get caught traveling around without necessity too far from home on foot, by car, motorino or bicycle, you will be fined anywhere from 400 to 3000 EUR. Only one family member is allowed to go out to the grocery store, and the lines wrap around the stores now since they are allowed to let in only the maximum number of people based on the square footage of the building.

"But Tuscany has not been hit as hard as the northern regions," she adds. "We have only had about 400 cases in the Province of Arezzo, which includes all of the smaller surrounding cities, including Cortona, for example. The government has handled all of this very well. We feel really lucky right now."

Raised at the UA

Ford-Sibley was born and raised in Fayetteville, where her father, James Frances Ford Sr., Ph.D., "was the chair of the foreign language department in the '80s when I was young," she remembers.

"I grew up running through the halls of Kimpel and drawing at an extra desk while my father taught Spanish or linguistics classes," she says. "My mother, Mary Ford, finished her degree in speech pathology there and taught for a few years in that department. It was my home away from home, so it is no surprise that I studied there as well."

She was a Barbara Mashburn Scholar, part of a group assembled and supported through scholarships by the former professional singer. She also studied with the late Sarah Caldwell, an internationally recognized opera director, conductor, producer and impresario, through the UA Opera Theatre.

"There are so many highlights from that time in my life," Ford-Sibley says. "A big part of my experience was singing with the Mashburns. We sang at the White House three times! It is unbelievable to me that I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity.

"A huge and obvious highlight is I met my future husband there. In fact, it was actually because of one of my favorite performances. Echo Sibley and I sang together in opera, [and] Echo became my sister, even before I married her brother!"

Ford-Sibley says, however, that by 2004 she felt "very stuck."

"As a young idealist, I was frustrated and disillusioned by the political decisions of our country, and as a singer I felt stuck in my technique inside a form that had so much room for development but not enough tools to evolve."

Through her godfather, J.T. Rose, she found out about the Accademia dell'Arte, a small nonprofit study abroad institution that offers summer, semester, one year and MFA programs in physical theater, dance and music.

"When I showed up, I knew nothing about physical theater, clown, commedia dell'arte or Roy Hart Extended Vocal Techniques," she says. "I also had never lived anywhere outside of Fayetteville. I remember walking in for my first dinner, and I was terrified."

Now, she is director of the summer intensives, the inter-program associate and a member of the core faculty.

"I teach voice from a physical theater perspective and collaborative devising as well as lead recruitment tours throughout the USA," she says. Nine years ago, she also founded Tut'Zanni Theatre Company, a masked theater company which has taught and performed all over the world including UA and TheatreSquared, and in 2014 created Women From Mars, "a dark feminist clown troupe, with my sister Echo and our colleague Francesca Chilcote."

"We've had two tours so far in the USA and Italy of our show 'Silent Reflections,'" Ford says.

She has also performed in Berlin, on various stages throughout Italy, and toured the United States, stopping in cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and, most recently, Las Vegas. And she has been invited to teach in Italy, Slovenia, London, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and at universities in the United States including Boston University, Vassar, Tufts, Hampshire College, Wellesley College, Muhlenberg College, Bucknell, Seaton Hill, Syracuse, Ithaca, American University, George Washington University, Webster Conservatory and Furman University, among many others.

"The most surprising part is, I never thought I would be a teacher," she says. "I watched my parents struggle, fighting for their students day in and day out, and I remember thinking, 'Nothing can be worth that.' It was [UA professor] Janice Yoes that convinced me to start teaching private singing lessons to high school students. She gave me some of the best advice I've ever received; she told me that when you teach someone else, you begin to integrate the information into your own system and practice in a more profound way. That was two decades ago and not only was she right, but over the years I have realized why we fight for our students, why we fight for unique educational experiences and processes. Teachers are the backbone of our society and awaken the curiosity within each of us that fuels creativity and empathy."

Bike to the future

Sibley went to high school in Eureka Springs and says his mom, Sandra Synar, lived there for many years as an artist. But he didn't fall in love with art. Instead, cycling became his passion while he was studying business management at the UA. He even co-founded a cycling club at the university.

"Italy in general, but Tuscany especially, has amazing cycling opportunities, so for me it was a paradise," he says.

"Upon arriving in Italy I found pretty quickly a job as a guide leading bike tours in the Chianti countryside which departed from Florence," he recalls. "We also did pasta making classes and wine tours, which was a good fit for me as I worked at Bordinos for many years leading up to our move.

"Over time, I decided I wanted to start my own company organizing multi-day bike trips, ether guided or self-guided. The most difficult part is the famous Italian bureaucracy. Everything moves slowly here, and trying to navigate this system as a foreigner and learning the language at the same time was challenging. Even so, I established Broken Compass Tours in 2009 and was a contributing researcher for the Lonely Planet Cycling Italy Guide in the same year.

"I was never tempted to give up this business, as I saw the potential," he adds. "Seeing the smiles on clients' faces and the positive feedback kept me going. It is a lot of hard work and can require long hours at times, but it also affords me lots of free time with my family and has allowed me to travel all over Italy and beyond.

"My ultimate dream was to end up in an old Tuscan farmhouse with my wife, a couple of kids, a dog and garden," Sibley concludes, "so I guess you could say I am living my dream. I hope that when this is all over the world will re-emerge with a new outlook on our place on this planet and appreciation for what we have. I hope that societies will somehow benefit from some much needed changes in how we live in harmony with nature and each other."

NAN Our Town on 04/23/2020

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