Workshops Embodied Performing Arts - click for more details The Improviser’s Toolbox, a workshop with Al Wunder - click for more details Voice workshops with Adrienne (Slater) Thomas - click for more details Music Essences - click for more details Please note, that this page is generally updated every first Monday of the month. So, if an advertised practice is not listed, this is probably the reason. Embodied Performing Arts: Body-Mind Centering® Tools for Performing Artists Training in Embodied Performance and Embodied Creative Process Facilitated by Katy Dymoke and Mark Chandlee Taylor. The Embodied Performing Arts training, for professional practitioners in dance, performance art, theater, and music, provides a framework for self-study that deepens and refines the creative process and performance work. The program is based on the experiential anatomy of Body-Mind Centering®(BMC). Body-Mind Centering® enables you to experience in the present how an understanding of your evolutionary past directly influences your life, your professional practice, and thus your presence in the work you make for the stage. By delving into the body you will discover an infinite palette of possibilities, contained within a clear, purposeful methodology, to enrich your personal creative process. The work provides insights rich in implications for performers who seek to enliven their performance with authenticity and refinement. The program will provide a laboratory for you to explore: • How the body moves the mind and the mind moves the body. • How recollection, exploration and composition are preceded • by movement; are movement; or originate in movement. • How BMC and embodiment practice provides an opportunity • for you to experience, enhance, and develop new potential • that make your work unique. • How the history of your body directly influences the work • you make. The 140-hour program is divided into two unique studies: Embodied Performance Studies and Embodied Creative Process. Embodied Performance Studies addresses the balance of self-awareness and external awareness necessary to work in performance contexts. Embodied Creative Process invites you to deeply assess what aspects of yourself are utilized and underutilized in the creative process as well as to risk new and unfamiliar approaches to making work. Certification as a BodyMindMovement Somatic Performer is available if you complete the entire training. (Please note that the training does not qualify you as a Body-Mind Centering practitioner.) The program is divided into ten units over the course of a year, beginning in November 2007. The classes will run from 10am to 6:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. You may register for: The BodyMindMovement Certification Program Embodied Performance Studies Embodied Creative Process Course Costs Certification Program Performance Studies Creative Process Individual Units Professional Artists £1,500 £750 £750 £150 Self-employed Artists £1,200 £600 £600 £125 Unemployed Artists £800 £400 £400 £80 Register early and provide 50% payment to receive 10% discount. Early registration discount deadline: October 1, 2007 for Performance Studies and July 1, 2008 for Creative Process. For application and registration forms please download at www.bodymindmovement.com, email touchkate@aol.com, or call +44(0)161 8680509. Biographies Mark Chandlee Taylor is the director of the Centre for BodyMindMovement. A certified teacher and practitioner of Body-Mind Centering®, he has taught in the School for Body-Mind Centering in Massachusetts and Germany, and served as the school’s U.S. Program Director and Program Coordinator. He was artistic director and choreographer for Dance Alloy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Mark Taylor & Friends in New York, and served as a member of the Princeton University dance faculty. Mark teaches movement and embodiment practices in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Central and South America, and maintains a private practice in Pittsburgh. Katy Dymoke. Certified teacher and practitioner in Body-Mind Centering from Manchester, UK. Katy has been teaching BMC in England since 1997 and integrated into her job as Movement Psychotherapist in the NHS as a touch based specialist. Katy is a professional dancer and director of Touchdown Dance creating dance theatre and film. She has collaborated with musicians, actors and dancers for 25 years. She has presented at conferences, been a guest lecturer and has published her writing on touch based working methodology and integrated dance. Katy is doing a PHD and establishing the Body-Mind Centering ® Somatic Movement Educator program in the UK. Katy has a 3rd degree black belt in Jujitsu. Body-Mind Centering® and BMC™ are registered service marks of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Embodied Performance Studies Unit 1:Consciousness and Presence; November 17/18th, 2007 Understanding pre-vertebral movement patterns as pathways to refinement of consciousness in self and to being present in relationship to an audience. Unit 2: Enhancing Mobility and Stability; December 15/16th, 2007 Finding a relationship between the stability of the skeletal system and the mobility of the fluids to provide performers with a body-based approach to finding phrasing, vitality, surprise and ease in transition. Unit 3: Principles of Alignment; January 26/27th, 2008 Establishing a relationship between the diaphragms (pelvic, breathing, thoracic inlet, vocal and cranial) in order to facilitate internal energetic flow, physical alignment and emotional grounding. Unit 4: Organ Expression; March 1st/2nd, 2008 Embodying organs to provide dimensionality, passion and depth to expression. Unit 5: Breathing and Vocalization; March 8/9th, 2008 Acquiring articulation and range in voice and movement. Embodied Creative Process Each unit is presented in a weekend, with 15 hours of study and group creative time. Unit 6: Contents and Container; September 20/21st, 2008 Understanding how one’s individual body-mind influences the balance between structural elements and material elements in creative work. Unit 7: Endocrine Expression; September 27/28th 2008 Sourcing energy and personal history through the dynamics of glandular expression. Unit 8: Senses and Perception; October 18/19th, 2008 Seeing what is really present as an artist creates material; identifying the differences and consonances between our perceptions of our work and audience experience. Unit 9: Taking Hold and Letting Go; November 1st/2nd 2008 Embodying basic reflexes having to do with grasp and release, in order to understand how we can enhance the editing process and choice-making in the creation of new work. Unit 10: Balancing the Three Brains; November 29/30th 2008 Allowing the nervous centers of the head, the heart and the gut to function independently and in harmony, in order to consciously balance creative issues of risk, innovation, self-actualization and intellect in making new work. Back to top The Improviser’s Toolbox A workshop with Al Wunder Sat 24th and Sun 25th May, and Monday 26th to Wednesday 28th May 10.30am to 4.30pm Al Wunder is Australia's leading teacher of Movement Based Improvisation. For 35 years Al Wunder has been developing a form of Improvised Movement Theatre that is unique in its teaching of performance as a means of communication between people. His philosophy is that performance is for everyone, not just highly skilled professionals. In a safe non-competitive environment, Al guides participants to allow their thoughts and feelings to be explored in a theatrical setting, through movements, words, sounds, and each individual’s unique way of being in the performing space. The space becomes not something to fear, but a source of power. Performance becomes a showing of, not a showing off. During the second part of the intensive (Monday to Wednesday) the focus will be on exploring vision - the fifth appendage. With the skilful use of eyes and focus, vision becomes a more powerful communicator than our arms and legs. During the course of this workshop we will look at, explore and develop several uses of vision that will be valuable for any performer in any situation. For the improvising performer this is one of the most basic tools to include in your performing tool chest. Mentor to Ruth Zaporah (pioneer of Action Theater) and Andrew Morrish, Al is a legend in the field of improvisation. He has inspired performers alongside people from all walks of life in his Melbourne studio for over 24 years. For further information on Al and his work see www.theatreoftheordinary.com Please book early especially if you wish to participate in the five day intensive, as numbers are limited. Cost: 2 day weekend: £105 or £90 if deposit received by 21 Apr. Cost: 5 day week: £210 or £190 if deposit received by 21 Apr. To book: please send a £50 non-refundable deposit to Kate Hilder, 20 Northfield Way, Brighton BN1 8EH For more info: please contact Kate at kate.hilder@zoom.co.uk or call her on 07976 484929 Back to top Voice workshops with Adrienne (Slater) Thomas Voice It! A One Day Workshop Sat 19th July 10:30 to 4:30 Express a full range of emotions…voice your joys, frustrations, light and shadow…give full reign through voice and body to every aspect of your personality without judgment or censure. Leave your comfort zone and journey into the unexpected in a safe environment…release deeply held tensions…feel grounded, liberated and whole! Fee: £60 Please wear loose clothing and bring lunch and a yoga mat or blanket if you have one. More information available at: www.thevoiceproject.co.uk or call Adrienne on 07981 226 568 Back to top Music Essences A transformational Journey, with Katalin Kertész. Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th May 2008 - Studio 10 (10am to 4pm, both days) This workshop is an opportunity to hear the music behind Music Essences, and explore through the music a unique journey encompassing the Cycle of Creation. The focus of the workshop will be the music of J.S. Bach and the essences produced from it. Katalin will play the music live, allowing it to speak directly. The keywords and concepts which will be discussed along the way will serve to guide the attention of the mind. The true experience takes place in any case, far beyond the mind's understanding. The cycle of the 32 individual essences, corresponding to the musical movements in exactly the order they were composed, works with  the concept of materialisation of Spirit, in other words the expression of  Spirit in the material world. Along the way, profound healing can be triggered where parts of this cycle still dormant in our consciousness are reawakened. The course is suitable for anyone eager to connect to the deeper layers of consciousness within them, anyone involved in healing, whether professionally or otherwise, and anyone who enjoys music and its interaction with the subtle realms. Katalin is the creator of Music Essences, a professional violinist and healer. Cost for the 2 days: £130 (£100 conc.) or £100 if received by May 10th Includes your choice of  an individual essence. For more info and booking: Email Simon at: simon.fox@dsl.pipex.com or call on 01749 860120 www.hansgal.com/musicessences/workshop.htm Back to top