SITI COMPANY (USA)

(Teaching Artist: ELLEN LAUREN)

Wednesday-Saturday, 22-25 July

SUZUKI METHOD (daily, 10am-12 noon)

VIEWPOINTS (daily, 1-3pm)

OPEN WORK (daily, 3.15-4.15pm)

SITI Company is renowned for its unique approach to theater training, based upon a symbiotic pairing of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training and the practice of Viewpoints. While the trainings are distinct from one another and are taught as such, they share hallmarks that include collaboration, rigor and addressing the meeting point where the individual encounters the ensemble. The influences on both these trainings range from classical Greek theater to post modernism. Together they offer an alternative to current practices in actor training that focus primarily on psychological and emotional approaches. The trainings are not intended to dictate a stylistic approach, rather they serve as a foundation for any avenue a theater artist wishes to pursue artistically.

SUZUKI METHOD TRAINING

Developed by internationally acclaimed director, Tadashi Suzuki and the Suzuki Company of Toga, the Suzuki Actor Training Method's principal concern is with restoring the wholeness of the human body and voice to the theatrical context and uncovering the actor's innate expressive abilities. A rigorous physical discipline drawn from such diverse influences as ballet, traditional Japanese and Greek theater and martial arts, the training seeks to heighten the actor's emotional and physical power and commitment to each moment on the stage. Attention is on the lower body and a vocabulary of footwork, sharpening the actor's breath control, Vocal Strength, focus and concentration.

VIEWPOINTS TRAINING

Originally developed by the choreographer Mary Overlie, the Viewpoints is a philosophy of improvisation that grew out of the postmodern dance world. Ms. Overlie broke down the dominant issues of time and space into six categories, calling this approach The Six Viewpoints (www.sixviewpoints.com). SITI Company has continued to research these notions, adapting and expanding them for theater artists. The language of the Viewpoints allows artists to create together spontaneously and intuitively. It fosters a sense of ensemble, as well as deepens the individual’s sensitivity while onstage. The practice of the Viewpoints develops an artist’s awareness how to read what is being made in the process of making. It strengthens an artist’s articulation, and clarifies emotional, intellectual and physical flexibility.  

Photo credit: TBA

TROUBLEYN/JAN FABRE (Belgium)

(Teaching Artists: JAN FABRE, JFTG)

Monday-Saturday, 27 July - 1 August

JAN FABRE TEACHING GROUP (daily, 11am-4pm)

Just like Stanislavski, Meyerhold, and Grotowski, throughout his career, Jan Fabre has put together a set of ‘exercises’ which he uses to prepare his performers (his actors and dancers) to work on stage. These ‘Guidelines for a performer in the 21st century’ have developed into the basis of his teaching and find specific expression in his work.

The series of exercises focuses on systematically refining and optimising the quest for the potential of the physical acting (also known as ‘physiological’ acting). The exploration of the evocative imagination of the ‘body as a whole’ is a leitmotif here. In exercises with titles such as ‘the old man’, ‘the tiger’, ‘the insect’, or ‘rice paper/fire’, it’s neither the imitation nor the psychological aspect which takes centre stage, but the exploration of the physical potential of the transforming body. Here, Fabre attaches great importance to breathing, the use of explosive energy, and the articulations of head, torso, and limbs. A lot of input is drawn from the kinetics of cold and warm-blooded animals. 

For a few years now, Jan Fabre has also been training some of his most experienced performers (including Ivana Jozic and Annabelle Chambon, who will lead the 2020 CPP sessions) to teach these ‘guidelines’.

During the week-long workshop, the performer’s body becomes an instrument which examines and embodies the transition from act to acting. The imagination and physical awareness are gradually sharpened and the performer is challenged to build a bridge towards a state of physical transformation. Jan Fabre himself will join the faculty to lead a masterclass in the final part of this week.

Read more: JAN FABRE TEACHING GROUP, a guiding line for a contemporary performer: From Act to Acting.

MINDFLOCK (USA)

(Teaching Artists: IVAN TALIJANCIC, ALEXANDRA BELLER)

Monday+Tuesday, 20+21 July

MINDFLOCK WORKSHOP (daily, 10am-4pm)

Mindflock is an intensive workshop in Devising and Dramaturgy focused on developing strategies for jump-starting new work from scratch by layering compelling visuals, vivid relationships, coherent text, and propulsive narrative.

Designed for Theater and Dance makers, regardless of experience level, this methodology sequentially trains participants to build skills in movement, spatial relationships and imagery, and arms them with tools for devising and coaching text, character development, and specific meaning. We will work to create dynamic, innovative, personal, challenging material where both speaking and moving can be acts of survival and subversion.

Co-created and taught by CPP Artistic Director Ivan Talijancic and the renowned American choreographer Alexandra Beller across the United States, we are excited to offer the inaugural international edition of Mindflock to Croatia this summer. This course will model collaborative techniques for Directors and Choreographers to co-parent their art works at the service of meaning and metaphor.

Read more: Ivan and Alexandra speak with Culturebot about dramaturgy, directing and Mindflock in Zen and the Art of Stage Directing or Conversations about Expectations or just making up your damn mind already.