the first voyage…
A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY…
Embodied Poetics brings together a school of theatre practitioners and pedagogues who express, through continuing creative work, reflection, adaptation and innovation, the significant influence of Jacques Lecoq and his predecessors, Jacques Copeau and Suzanne Bing, (among many others). Each one of our guides has done their own journeys – and we call ourselves “guides” for this reason: we’ve traveled these routes many times and in many different ways, and this body of experience is our reference point in guiding others.
The First Voyage is both an immersive practical experience, and an opportunity for ongoing pedagogic research. Weekly seminars and pedagogic practicums are offered to participants with a particular interest in pedagogy, in order to study the “map” of this pedagogy in more detail so that they may also guide others on voyages of creative discovery.
LOGISTICS:
The First Voyage 2026 will take place in Padua, Italy over 8 intensive weeks, from June 1 through July 25.
The First Voyage is structured around three topics by which we map the First Voyage: working with masks, including neutral masks; developing what Lecoq called “the poetic body”, a deep and poetically evocative approach to miming; and creating human characters by using transpositions and applying techniques from masked play.
The analysis of movements underpins the First Voyage; Norman Taylor brings this analysis to its most refined and rigorous form in his two, one-week intensives on Lecoq’s 20 Movements.
Participants may join the First Voyage at two different points: at the beginning in June, or they may join us for Norman’s 20 Movements intensives. The Practitioner Intensives may be taken as stand-alone, one-week workshops.
ITINERARY:
First Practitioner Intensive (1 week)
I June 1 - 6: PEDAGOGIC INTENSIVE on Neutral Masks with Amy Russell and Ivano Conte
Neutral masks are some of the best-known devices in the Leocq pedagogy, inspiring a state of calm, wonderment, and discovery. For the actor-creator, neutral masks prioritize two essential qualities: transparency and availability. Releasing orthodox ideas about “the neutral mask” and the normative tendencies inherent in a paradigm of neutrality, we approach neutral masks as gateways to embodied imagination.
THE POETIC BODY
A guiding principle in the Lecoq/ Copeau/ Bing Pedagogy is that, consciously or unconsciously, our bodies identify with the world and its movements. For the actor-creator, this physical identification is a wellspring of corporeal poetry. In search of such poetry, we focus on observing, identifying with, and expressing the dynamics of the observable world through movement, gesture, image and word.
2 June 8 - 13: THE POETIC BODY - Elements and Materials with Amy Russell and Ivano Conte
An embodied exploration of the elements and their dynamics of change, creating transpositions and exploring the idea of transpositional “dosages”, this topic creates an elemental tool-kit for actor-creators and opens up an embodied approach to writing.
In this topic, we also explore the vast world of materials, a deep-dive into close observation of the world through physical identification. Our work on the interaction of materials leads us to the dramaturgy of conflict and how to create dramatic build.
Second Practitioner Intensive (1 week)
3 June 15 - 20: PEDAGOGIC INTENSIVE on Lecoq’s 20 Movements - Part 1 - with Norman Taylor
“Gesture is more important than speech… Speech is inferior to gesture because it corresponds to the phenomena of mind. Gesture is the agent of the heart…”-- Francois Delsarte (1811 – 1871)
Lecoq, Copeau, and Bing, Delsarte and other movement practitioners harkened back to the great gestural theatres of the past and of Asian traditions. The also drew on ideas of athleticism and efficiency of movement as well as a resurgent interest in mime.
Lecoq’s “20 Movements” became a hallmark of his training, a series of full-body movements that each student sequenced into a choreography and performed at the end of the first year.
In the course of these two intensive workshops, participants will explore and learn each movement, finding their own intuitive choreographic sequence.
4 June 22 - 27: Expressive and Larval Masks with Amy Russell and Ivano Conte
Masks extend the performer’s physicality and playfulness into a larger and more vivid dimension.
In this topic we will explore larval and expressive masks as well as “found masks”, repurposed objects that suggest the dynamics of a mask. The idea of “masked-play” will become a reference point for unmasked character work, opening doors to highly physical forms of theatrical creation.
5 June 29 - July 4: THE POETIC BODY - Synaesthesia - The Arts, Colours, Music and Painting with Amy Russell and Ivano Conte
In synaesthesia, our senses become confluent and mutually translatable. Embodied poetics is a deeply synaesthetic method, whereby the body’s sense of movement translates the experience of the other five senses. Beginning with our perceptions of colours and lights, we will widen our embodied exploration to include music, as well as the music of the spoken word.
Third Practitioner Intensive (1 week)
6 July 6 - 11: PEDAGOGIC INTENSIVE on Lecoq’s 20 Movments - Part 2 - with Norman Taylor
In the second part of Norman’s approach to Lecoq’s 20 Movements, Norman will complete work on the series and participants will perform their sequence of 20 Movements.
7 July 13 - 18: Animals and Animality with Amy Russell and Ivano Conte
Building on our work with masks, we will explore animal physicality, states and behaviours, preparing performer-creators for highly physical theatrical styles and creating vivid and embodied characters.
8 July 20 - 25: Developing Characters with Amy Russell and Ivano Conte
In this last topic, all of our previous work on transpositions will serve us in creating a human characters. Like the masked characters in the previous topic, these personas shift in different situations: mask and counter-mask. This work culminates in the comic techniques of farce and slapstick.