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Instytut im. Jerzego Grotowskiego
  • Polish
  • English
Rynek-RatuszBrzezinkaNa Grobli
                                                              
Embraces. Dialogues Through Body and Voice
A workshop led by Nini Julia Bang and Przemys³aw B³aszczak

Mo–Sun 18–24 June

Venue: Gniewoszów 11, gm. Miêdzylesie 57-530, Poland
If you would like to take part in the workshop, please send an email to:
embracesworkshop@gmail.com
The workshop will be held in English and Polish.
Fee: 220 EUR/750 PLN (for participants from Central and Eastern Europe). Accommodation and food is included in the price.

 
Through working with body and voice we will focus on recognizing and overcoming our limits and performative fears and habits. Exploring the deeper connections between body and voice will allow us to see how each world enriches the other, building new channels of perception and communication. We are intrigued to go further into the question of intention. Intention of movement. Intention in song. How do we take the crucial steps from doing an exercise to being an active and alive performer? How do we go from executing a song to actually telling the whole story through our voice? What is the journey to make an exercise or a song become vibrant and alive? How do we become more active performers with a living imagination and a full presence? By deepening the participant's connection with physicality, rhythm, breath and songs the workshop aims to awaken creativity and enhance the relation between body and voice.
 
 
Body
We will work with dynamic movement, individual training, essential elements of acrobatic partner training as well as techniques of breath and body work originating from two Japanese martial arts, shintaido and aikido.
 
Voice
We will work with polyphonic Corsican and Georgian songs as a tool to find an open and natural common sound. Extracting elements of Scandinavian and Georgian rhythmical patterns will lead us to a deeper musical intuition, offering us the possibility to improvise within the structure of the songs and explore our individual voice.
 
Location
The base for this intensive work will be a very beautiful village house in gm. Miêdzylesie, the Polish mountains right on the border to Czech Republic, where we will be able to dedicate ourselves fully to the creative experience.



Przemys³aw B³aszczak
Before becoming an actor, Przemek studied philosophy at the University of Wroc³aw’s Faculty of Social Sciences. He has been connected with the Grotowski Institute since 1995. Between 1996 and 1999 he worked with Grzegorz Bral’s Song of the Goat Theatre, performing in Dithyramb. In the autumn of 2002, he began working on his own project, which culminated in a solo performance, Ecce Homo (premiered 21 March 2003 in the Grotowski Centre). Since 2004 he has been an actor of Teatr ZAR, participating in the Gospels of Childhood project (a triptych comprising Gospels of Childhood, Caesarian Section and Anhelli), led by Jaros³aw Fret. He is currently involved in the creation of a new Teatr ZAR piece, Armine. For over six years Przemek has studied the Japanese martial art of aikido under sensei Piotr Masztalerz (5th Dan). In 2011, he was an uchideshi under Juba Nour Shihan (6th Dan) in Baja California, Mexico. He is currently taking a kenshusei teacher training class in his local dojo. In 2005, he spent a month in Japan at the invitation of Toshi Tushitori, practicing shintaido, a Japanese system that integrates voice and body through training based on traditional Japanese karate.
 
Nini Julia Bang – a singer, actress and musician. She studied western classical singing, piano, folk music and music theory in Denmark. She continued her training and research in India within the field of theatre, voice and music. She composes her own music and teaches. She has been an actress of Teatr ZAR since 2006, and she performs in all parts of ZAR’s triptych where she has been instrumental in creating the last two parts, Caesarian Section. Essays on Suicide and Anhelli. The Calling. Nini frequently leads workshops with Teatr ZAR, and currently she is also involved in creating the group’s new performance, Armine. Her deep interest in the human voice has led her on various expeditions as far as; Asia, Tuva, Iceland, Corsica and Georgia – the heart of polyphonic singing. She is a yoga practitioner with experiences in the fields of aikido, capoeira and Contact Improvisation.

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