The project The Body’s Journey is the fruit of more than 20 years of experience in the theatre field (training, university research, teaching, devising). It concentrates on the fusion of two contemporary techniques for the actor/dancer training: The organic research initiated and developed by Jerzy Grotowski and then by Eugenio Barba and his collaborators (theatre anthropology) and the corporeal mime of Etienne Decroux. These different techniques find a commonplace in that they both develop through the actor/dancer the sense of scenic presence and the autonomy of the author/performer/creator.
The exercises of the organic process liberate the energetic flux from the spinal column, and propagate to transform the physical body. The actor/dancer thus develops a concentration and identifies with his physical, emotional, and mental centers. Instead of searching for a specific expression, the actor/dancer plunges into a real process of organic research, which in turn becomes an artistic expression. The corporeal movements are initiated by impulses that are germinated from the interior of the body and develop within and throughout it. The research in theatre anthropology draws its inspiration from traditional theater from diverse parts of the world.
In the practice of Corporeal Mime, the actor/dancer finds the possibility of creating his or her own personal compositions in isolating different parts of the body, in mastering its articulations, and in playing with varying speeds, resistances and designs of corporeal movement.
The play and the joy of playing, and the improvisation are part of the listening and of the sharing. The exercises with objects, the masks, the acrobatics, the voice work and the exercises of awareness and awakening the interior are also part of our training work, research and creation.
Our project, The Body’s Journey, will guide actors/dancers on a road to self-discovery in order to explore new corporeal paths through the listening of impulses, abandoning of stereotypical and mechanical behaviors, and through the discovery and the respect of a genuine organicity inherent in the body. A corporeal work conducted with attention and sensibility allows the actor/dancer to develop an original language capable of communicating to a larger audience and to cultivate openness to one’s self and to others, recovered through the artistic training of theatre and performance throughout the ages and across cultures.
Program
Pratice – with Leela Alaniz
- Exercises of the organic journey – research of organicity, energetic flux, opening the blockages of the body, and of the release.
- Exercises of attention and interior awakening
- Stage Presence
- Acrobatics, Contact improvisation
- Corporeal Mime – Technique Etienne Decroux – articulations, counterweights, dynamo-rhythm, intra-corporeal and inter-spatial causalities.
- Creation of Characters through the body
- Alexander Technique – relaxation and liberation of the articulations
- Work with objects
- Voice – corporeal resonators, text
- Improvisations, play
- Compositions, structure
- Final Project – Presentation
The Body and the Mask – with Lluis Graells
- Semi-mask: movement techniques, lecture and study
- Fixed Type, Type/CounterType, Style, Attributes
- Corporeal Schema of the Character and the Physical Transformation of the Actor
- Technical Limitations as a Source of Creation
- Improvisation as show
Composition Exercises – with Gilberto Icle
- Composition of the line of physical action; study of actions: plans, levels and details.
- Exercises to bring to the stage – Transformation of elements : character, designs, use of legs, use of hands; semantic study; improvisation and compositions both individually and collectively.
Theory – with Marc Duvillier
- History of the body in theater.
- Historical perspective of three grand experimentors: Edward Gordon Craig, Antonin Artaud, Etienne Decroux.
- To eliminate the frontiers between art and other activites in life: Robert Filliou, Chomo.
Class of 2011-12
We are proud to present the selected group of actors/dancers who have trained with the company Pas de Dieux for the project The Body’s Journey – training, research, and creation for three months, five days a week, 3 to 6 hours per day.
They come from 15 different countries : Argentina, Portugal, Taiwan, Canada, Italy, United States, Venezuela, England, Hong Kong, Brazil, France, Greece, Bolivia, Belgium, and South Korea on a quest to discover and share a new Journey of the Body.
They are:
Alex ACCORSSI, Dylan CORLAY, Flavia COUTO, Man Wai FOK, Adèle FRANTZ, Tara JAFFAR, Emma JASTER, Juliette KEMPF, Won KIM, Christina KOMI, Muriel LIU, Guy MARSAN, Teresa OVIDIO, Marta ROSA, Giusy PIGNOTTI, Pedro SIMONI, Estelle SORRIBAS, Diana TRUJILLO, Laure WERNLY
