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. Through seminars and discussions, the enjoyment of “maps” and the studying of “logs”, guides and those with a particular interest in pedagogy will share practices and knowledge 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 as a sequence of three pedagogic themes, covering ten topics.
Particpants may enter the Voyage at different points, at the beginning of three different Practitioner Intensives, or they can travel with us for the entire 8 weeks.
The Voyage welcomes those who wish to discover the pedagogy for the first time, who are interested in physical performance practices and actor-creation.
It is also designed for those who wish to discover the pedagogy “as if for the first time”. For those who are already well-traveled in the pedagogy or who have significant teaching experience, they may join us for Pedagogic Training. These pedagogic students will receive a pedagogic certificate for the topics they study with us, or, upon completing the entire First Voyage, they will receive a Diploma in the Pedagogy of the First Voyage.
The First Voyage 2025 includes three Pedagogic Intensives: in the first week, an approach to working with neutral masks, with Amy Russell and Sara Corsini, and Parts 1 and 2 of Lecoq’s 20 Movments with Norman Taylor.
Pedagogic students will also participate in weekly pedagogic seminars in which reflection, theoretical discussions and pedagogic practicums will take place.
ITINERARY:
First Practitioner Intensive (1 week)
I June 1 - 6: PEDAGOGIC INTENSIVE on Neutral Masks with Amy Russell and Sara Corsini
Theatre trainings often prioritize one type of physicality over another, calm over tension, equilibrium over edginess, symmetry over asymmetry. While allowing neutral masks to inspire in us states of being that we might desire or even crave, we do not prioritize one state or physicality over another, nor do we prioritize one form of mask. Instead, we use masks that reflect different aspects of what might be considered “neutrality” in order to explore two important reference points for creative performance: transparency and availability.
Releasing orthodox ideas about “the neutral mask” and the normative tendencies inherent in a paradigm of neutrality, our approach to neutrality and neutral masks is focused on working towards performative freedom, relaxation and availability, through physical and playful preparation. Participants on this course will approach neutral masks as a gateway 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 will focus on observing, identifying with, and expressing the dynamics of the observable world through movement, gesture, image and word.
Translating this work into different media - drawing and 3-D construction - will deepen the exploration of the poetic relationship between the body and the world.
Highlights of these topics:
-A deep understanding of "mime" will be instilled: a fully vocal process, whereby the performer finds intuitive channels of expression through identification with the movements of the world.
-Physical and vocal gestures will be developed into psychological gestures and with them, characters, situations and scenes.
-Powerful works of art - music, visual arts and poetry - will serve as the inspiration for the development of theatrical material and furthermore, for the construction of complete scenes.
-The relationship between the body, movement, and the space will be explored throughout, giving rise to the idea of "constructing the space". This process will result in concrete forms: scenes, drawings, 3-D shapes and mask-like objects (which Lecoq referred to as "portable architecture").
2 June 8 - 13: THE POETIC BODY - Elements and Materials with Amy Russell and Sara Corsini
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, the infinite world of materials is explored case by case, a deep-dive into close observation of the world through physical identification. Our work on the material world will also introduce us to the dramaturgy of conflict and how to create dramatic build across increments of stage time, or “scenes”.
Second Practitioner Intensive (1 week)
3 June 15 - 20: PEDAGOGIC INTENSIVE on Lecoq’s 20 Movments - 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 to be sequenced into a continuous suite and performed – neither dance nor pantomime – simply the body in motion.
Highlights of the Topic:
-In this intensive workshop, participants will follow the movement practice of learning, embodying, rehearsing and finding their own intuitive choreography for the 20 Movements.
-At the same time, we will apply these movements to moments of acting, exploring how theatre can originate from the body rather than from the cerebral mind.
-Words will come from the body, rather than the body being adapted to words. We will discover how the performer-creator becomes the playwright of a theatre of gesture.
4 June 22 - 27: Expressive and Larval Masks with Amy Russell and Sara Corsini
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 persona. 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
Our exploration of embodied poetics builds to the play of synaesthesia, in which our senses of sight and sound, and their artistic forms, become confluent and mutually translatable. Beginning with our perceptions of colours and lights, we will widen our exploration to include music, including 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 work on Lecoq’s 20 Movements, Norman will complete work on the series.
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 a nexus of three fundamental gestures, we will identify the generative movements of a human character. Like the masked characters in the previous topic, these personas shift in different situations. We will explore building dramatic tension and how this building tension affects our sense that we are seeing the heart of a character. In this approach to character, we will alternate character facets according to the comic techniques of farce and slapstick.