ACTING COURSES
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The main goal of this introductory course is to familiarise students with the basic elements of rehearsing and acting. Through exercises and improvisations, students become acquainted with the essence of acting, its tools and training methods. In parallel, the course prepares students for the collaborative work, interaction and interdependence, the stage requires. Finally, it promotes team work, discipline and creativity as fundamental means for acting.
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In this first module of the Acting seminars, students learn how to work as a team, to communicate on stage and to develop their body expression. The training is based on exercises, improvisations and the use of visual material from older theatre and dance performances; the actual objective of the course is help the students understand and build their acting abilities. As a final step, texts are used to facilitate students’ presence on stage.
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A student’s approach of a common, “next door” personality, of the same age, e.g. roommate, classmate, neighbor, with partially or totally different way of living, through a prose text of great acting value.
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EXERCISES AND STRATEGIES TO USE DURING THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF REHEARSAL:
—“Actors” on stage “duties” awareness exercises: exploration of the physical body and its technical difficulties, confidence in front of the audience, real communication with the partner, deep understanding of how the words affect the other characters and the audience, realization and building of the feeling of an ensemble, to be open to each other, (action-reaction, allow the imagination to inform the action, improvisations)—Emotion & emotion management exercises.
—Working together on releasing the tension, on focusing, being alert, finding the rhythm and the relationship with the place and the others
—The main target of the course is to further their studies by training and pursue their knowledge of acting. Specific goals: knowledge of the art of acting: developing a physical rapport between actor and audience, working and communicating with the others on stage, awareness of space and time perception, liberation of the imagination, definition and clarity of the aim of the scene by working on a character, development of their expressive means and acting skills: awareness of physical co-ordination and energy and of how the body works, of communicating both vocally and physically.
Τhis semester the students worked on scenes from Tennessee Williams’ plays: The Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, Camino Real, The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, Hello from Bertha. -
EXERCISES AND STRATEGIES TO USE DURING THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF REHEARSAL:
—“Actors” on stage “duties” awareness exercises: exploration of the physical body and its technical difficulties, confidence in front of the audience, real communication with the partner, deep understanding of how the words affect the other characters and the audience, realization and building of the feeling of an ensemble, to be open to each other, (action-reaction, allow the imagination to inform the action, improvisations)—Emotion & emotion management exercises.
—Working together on releasing the tension, on focusing, being alert, finding the rhythm and the relationship with the place and the others -
The course focuses on devising speech and gestures of everyday life, which will involve the necessary theatricality; creating theatrical relations between next door people, and subsequent enlargement of imagination and sharpening of observation skills. The ultimate goal is the detection of a theatricality of daily life, over different periods of time and their social conditions.
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This is a continuation of the previous semester course. After modeling specific characters generated through disparate images-portraits of everyday people, students will deepen further in shaping the character, based on the work of Xavier Durringer: “Chronicles: whole days, whole nights.” All characters will be devised not on the content of the text to be interpreted, but on arbitrary character trades of student’s choice. Particular emphasis will be given to four key qualities of human behavior: straight/curved, heavy/light. The course is focused on devising speech and gestures of everyday life.
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Work on three monologues (“Letter to Orestes” by I. Kambanelis, and “Iphigenia’s return” & “Orestes” by G. Ritsos) with the addition of the students’ own texts (on blood dreams or fantasies). All texts were split to form a kind of dialogue, aiming at a performance of some imaginary encounters of three of the main figures of ancient Greek drama. The composition of a text of poetic structure, based on three mainly poetic monologues and the introduction of the students to a difficult speech texture, connecting them with the Ancient Greek drama characteristics.
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“A STRAPPED DOG’S TIME ” (tactics in front of the vacuum)
26 lessons upon the phenomenon of Acting
Values: – MICRO-ACTING – CHASING– A BODY THROWN
– INTO THE LANGUAGE– HAMLET
– ELEVATOR– CHORUS
– PERFORMANCE – BIOENERGETICS – EMBRACE WITH
NO HANDS
– PROJECTIONS
the two nervous systems – theory of the impulses anatomy on an innocent game
text and subtext
a) acting in 1st and 3rd person/NARRATIVITY b) Question – Subject and dynamic fields principles of acting in 1st persona) instant acting
b) the acting of Models
collective memory and individual experience in the function of Chorus
and Happenings – informal forms of acting upon the biology of acting
aesthetic issues on acting – Abstractionsamples of acting forms and achievements
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MELODRAMA AND THE ACTING CONVENTIONS:
—Throughout the winter semester the students will work on a method of a specific form of the theatre called Melodrama, and perform one or more plays and several characters (“Orphans of the Storm”, Adolphe Philippe Dennery). This part of work is in co-operation with the Professor Ioulia Pipinia, who has specialised in this form of theatre and other theatrical forms of the 19th century. Dr Ioulia Pipinia will provide actors with the theoretical background. In the end of the training the actors will present their work in front of the audience.
—The expectations: the acting abilities, the discipline, the perception, the creativeness and imagination, the readiness and the reaction, the clarity of on- stage actions.
—Added aim for this year: the study of Melodrama, an old and largely misunderstood theatrical genre, which however is still alive today, and more specifically the study of its acting conventions and techniques. Main question: Is it possible in our days, to deal with this type of theatre seriously without ridiculing it or performing it as a parody? -
Acting approach to ancient drama. The lesson`s objectives are to understand the text and to archive text directness and body expression. During the first classes exercises and improvisations take place with a musical. At the same time theatrical performances are shown related to ancient drama as well as interviews of directors who are researching stage behaviour.
DANCE-MOVEMENT COURSES
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In Movement – Dance I, students work individually as well as in groups and pairs to explore, improve and broaden their relation to space (the shape of the body and movement, topography and orientation) and time (rhythm, tempo and duration) through specific exercises, games and improvisations. They further investigate their relationship with gravity, energy, tension, release and balance. Students learn to communicate and respond to everything that is happening in the moment, which results in animated and true reactions. They begin to recognise their own patterns of habitual movement and action and their inherent restrictions.
Movement – Dance I also covers a brief practical introduction to the movement – breath- sound relationship. At the end of the semester students perform their own short choreographies – actions.
All Movement – Dance classes (I-VI) incorporate exercises to improve the level of physical skill (strength, flexibility, stamina), games to build trust, spontaneity, rhythm, expression, and perception to spark the imagination. -
In Movement- Dance II Students expand upon and improve their relationship with space (position, body shape and movement, orientation) and time (rhythm, speed and duration) as well as with gravity, energy, tension, release and balance through exercises, games and improvisations. Student work individually and in groups. They learn to communicate with each other, respond to stimuli in the moment so that their relationships are lively and true. They begin to recognise their patterns of habitual body movement and action and the restrictions which result.
Students will also work on the relation of breath-sound-movement.
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In Movement III students continue to explore, broaden their horizons and improve their relationship to space, shape, time, rhythm, energy and gravity using physical theatre and dance techniques. Students activate their bodies and imagination while realising the organic relationship between movement, breath, sound and speech. Students approach monologues, excerpts from plays, poems and improvised texts from a physical standpoint; exploring the possibilities of expression, live presence and communication within the group.
All levels of the Movement courses (I-VI) contain exercises which focus on improving physical fitness (strength, flexibility, stamina) accompanied by games that foster trust, readiness, rhythm, expression, and awareness aimed at sparking the imagination.
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1. The student-dancer learns to show his own truth, to listen to and observe his body, so as to eliminate any imitative tendency.
2. To obtain his own personal dancing “material”.
3. Finally, through his own movement, to develop a strong presence on stage.
SWORD FIGHT COURSES
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The students become familiarised with the specific body positions for fencing. Additionally students learn about the foil (fleur) and its movement and the spatial awareness needed to fence, all while wearing a fencing mask.
The initial practice is done on a personal level, with the target goal of working mostly in pairs. This is completed when a student can act as a real fencer on the stage.The most useful part of the lesson is that it lets the student improvise and realise what he/she is able to do on stage, by the end of the course.
