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 2024 will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia over 12 intensive weeks, from June 3 through August 23.
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 summer.
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 includes the 2024 Pedagogic Intensive on Neutrality and Neutral Masks with Amy Russell and Norman Taylor, as well as weekly pedagogic seminars in which reflection, theoretical discussions and pedagogic practicums will take place.
ITINERARY:
june
THE ART OF OBSERVATION
First Practitioner Intensive (1 week)
I June 3 - 7: Replaying daily life with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
In this topic, performer-creators will discover the dynamic foundations of theatrical play through improvisation and analysis of movements, time and space. We will take as inspiration the experiences of daily life, from the subtle realities of social space to the diurnal rhythms of the city.
Second Practitioner Intensive (2 weeks)
2 June 10 - 21: PEDAGOGIC INTENSIVE on Neutrality and Neutral Masks AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
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.
July
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").
3 June 24 - 28: Elements with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
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.
4 July 1 - 5: Materials with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
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”.
5 July 8 - 12: Synaesthesia with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
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 15 - 19: The Space of the Body with AURELAIN KOCH
Part of Embodied Poetics Laboratory of Embodied Space, this one-week intensive is an exploration of the space of the body through the lens of movement, translating physical experience into 2-D and 3-D constructions.
The Laboratory of Embodied Space provides performers, directors, pedagogues and writers with a new frame of reference for dramatic space and action.
This one-week workshop starts with the exploration of the ‘Dynamics of Colours’ and applies the findings to our own body and the spaces within it. Through a series of provocations, participants will create a dynamic sculptural representation of themselves, turning their body inside out, experiencing a different mirror image of themselves. This journey takes participants from identification to abstraction and then to construction in order to observe how space can be constructed from the dynamic interplay of simple forms.
7 July 22 - 26: The Body of Space with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
A continuation of the work of the Laboratory of Embodied Space, this topic is a spatial approach to performance making. This will be an exploration of space as the material of scenic construction. Participants will transpose perceptual dynamics such as light, colour, rhythms, levels of tension etc. into the spatio-temporal dynamics of physical relationships on the stage. This topic also looks at a range of ways to use sound as a creative tool in the process of exploring and creating space.
august
MASKS AND PERSONAS
8 July 29 - August 2: Masked Play with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
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.
9 August 5 – 9: Animals and Animality with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
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.
10 August 12 - 16: Developing Characters with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
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.
11 August 19 – 23: Mask and Counter-mask with AMY RUSSELL and NORMAN TAYLOR
In this final approach to character, we will alternate character facets according to the comic techniques of farce and slapstick. Supported by movement analysis, we will create physical comedy according to method and madness!