| Liquid Way to Action |
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Studio Matejka summer workshop led by Matej Matejka and the members of Studio Matejka Mon-Wed 22–31 July 2013 Brzezinka, the forest base of the Grotowski Institute Fee The session fee of 460 EUR includes accommodation in the Brzezinka forest base, transport between Wroc³aw and Brzezinka, and meals for the entire period of the work session (10 days). Contact and application Please send your completed application form and CV to studiomatejka.workshops@gmail.com by 31 May 2013. The workshop will have a limited number of participants. The workshops will be conducted in English. The final action in the performance is often the result of a long transformation of an idea or intuition. It seems there is not one fixed way to reach the action, but that the path we choose can be stable and yet fluid at the same time. In this work session of “The Liquid Way to Action” we search for the fusion of the creative training developed through our research with the performers’ individual experience, in order to uncover a unique and personal form of expression. We will use as a starting point the theme of contradictions as a source of research for the performer. Contradictions are not a limitation, but rather, by focusing simultaneously on opposite ideas, they open doorways for the inner, primal sources of the body to flow. The world exists as a dynamic fusion of contradictions in which the performer is able to discover a path to his total essence. Through a laboratory model that seeks to break the borders between dance, theatre and movement techniques, we aim to unlock the potentialities for beginnings, where action is born. This is an invitation to delve into the rigorous and experimental workspace that defines Studio Matejka.  This work session is targeted towards practitioners with an interest and experience in theatre, dance or physical performance. It is open to both professional actors and dancers willing to explore less common fields of physical expression. This challenge requires serious focus and precision from all engaged in the work. Participants will be introduced to elements of: • respectful and focused working environment • building a personal, daily physical practice • sensitivity and listening through partner and group relation • awakening the anatomy of the body to develop readiness for action • group rhythmical pulse and body rhythm • flow between the physical body and sound and vocal elements • transformation from physical training into creative improvisation • composition of physical structures Creative Preparation Participants will be asked to bring: three images of any personal inspiration (printed hard copies), a text which has personal value (written by other author or participant, with printed copies and translations into English, if in foreign language). If you have any competency with a musical instrument, please bring it to the session. Language The workshop will be in English. The practice is based on the platform of listening and communication through the body and intuitive experience, therefore verbal explanation will be kept to a minimum. Conditions for work • comfortable training clothing for dynamic movement and strenuous work (spare shirts recommended) • participants should be present in the space 20 minutes before a session begins for individual warm-up and stretching • only water and notebook/pens will be allowed in the space in order to keep a clean and hygienic working atmosphere • refrain from speaking and discussing inside of the workspace, discussions should be kept outside of the workspace in order to protect the energy for the work Location The work session will take place in Brzezinka in the historical forest base of the Grotowski Institute, located 46 km from Wroc³aw. The Brzezinka forest base began as a renovation project by Jerzy Grotowski and the Laboratory Theatre in 1971. Surrounded by ten hectares of forest, the renovated farm buildings now contain a theatrical space, studio spaces and full living accommodation. Studio Matejka began its activities in 2010 as a physical theatre laboratory exploring 21st-century performance techniques that specifically work across borders: borders between performance genres, borders between training techniques and borders between individual expression and collective resonance. Through practical investigation, the performers work to develop the strength, agility and dexterity to physically “speak” through a diverse range of ideas, images and vocabularies. The Studio is led by Matej Matejka and composed of eight performers from seven countries. Additionally, the Studio is regularly accompanied by external affiliates. Vivien Wood (UK), Sarie Mairs Slee (UK/USA) and Milan Kozanek (Slovakia) assist the leader in the psychophysical research. Ditte Berkeley (Denmark/UK) and Jaros³aw Fret (Poland) lead music training and supervise music composition. Bryan Brown (USA) collaborates on the dramaturgy of the performances. The academic team of the Studio is supervised by Sarie Mairs Slee (USA), assisted by Torbjorn Oppedal (Norway) and Ragnhild Freng Dale (Norway), who record, contextualize and inform the laboratory research. The Studio’s film and documentary team is comprised of Adam Hanuljak (Slovakia), Peter Kotrha (Slovakia) and Karol Jarek (Poland). More: www.studiomatejka.com Matej Matejka is the founder and leader of Studio Matejka. He studied acting at the State Conservatory in Bratislava, Slovakia, later at JAMU University, Brno, Czech Republic. From 2001 to 2006 he was an actor with the theatre studio Farm in the Cave, Prague, and co-creator of the projects and performances Dark Love Sonnets, Journey to the Station and Sclavi/The Song of an Emigrant, which won a Total Theatre Award, a Fringe First Award and a Herald Angel Award at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe. Since 2005 he has collaborated with the Grotowski Institute, where he is engaged in research of physical expression in the theatre. He is also an actor and leader of physical training in Teatr ZAR, performing in Gospels of Childhood, Caesarean Section: Essays on Suicide (winner of a Total Theatre Award and a Herald Angel Award at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe) and Anhelli: The Calling. He leads his own work sessions called “Wakening the Listening Body” at the Grotowski Institute, as well as with Teatr ZAR, both in Poland and internationally. In his work he searches for the performer’s “essence of communication” where both dance and drama are only vehicles for the actor’s expression. Guillaumarc Froidevaux was born in Switzerland, and graduated from Scuola Teatro Dimitri in 2005. Before this, he performed with TPR Theatre School’s Company and Théâtre Circus Junior. He has collaborated with groups such as Twof2, Palin Teatro, Teatro Paravento and DschungelWien, and is currently a member of the duo The Sunny Side Up. Other experience includes film, dance and cross-disciplinary collaboration. He co-founded, with Zuzana Kakalikova, the company T-d’U, which presented its first play, Silence..., in 2008, and is currently touring their latest production, Ôkô, which was created in 2010. He teamed up with visual artist Kelzang Ravach to create short films in Brussels. Guillaumarc was a teacher of acrobatics in LeZarti Cirque in Switzerland, and leads acrobatics and body rhythms sessions within the Studio work. Daniel Han was born in the United States and holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and an MA in Acting in Physical Theatre from Manchester Metropolitan University after studying with Song of the Goat Theatre in Wroc³aw, Poland. Raised with background in tae kwon do and classical violin, he has worked extensively throughout North America and Europe in film, theatre and performance art projects including the 2007 Jeff-Award winning production of Equus (RedTwist Theatre) and Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays. Since 2010, he has been a collaborator with the Grotowski Institute as a researcher and performer with Studio Matejka, led by Matej Matejka (Teatr ZAR) and collaborating with Milan Kozanek (Artyci Dance Company) and Vivien Wood (DV8). With Studio Matejka, he co-created and performs in Awkward Happiness or Everything I Don’t Remember About Meeting You. Daniel is a founding member of Odra Ensemble, a project developed in collaboration with Song of the Goat Theatre, with which he co-created and performs in We Will Leave Only Bone: Reflections of Eurydice. He is the project leader and co-founder of Jubilo, an international artistic endeavor against social exclusion through the language of the body and sound. Past projects with Jubilo include engagements with mentally and physically disabled adults, Roma gypsy youth, and refugees of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was leader of the Poland group for the international Brave Kids project in Wroc³aw in 2010 and 2011. Daniel led workshops for actors and dancers throughout Poland, UK, USA, Germany, Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was awarded a Fulbright Grant for 2011–2012 for his artistic research in theatre with the Grotowski Institute, with a grant renewal for 2012–2013. Zuzana Kakalikova was born in Slovakia and studied acting at the Academy of Arts in Banska Bystrica from 2000 to 2003, and later at the Academy of Musical and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava, where she completed her MA in Dramatic Arts in 2005. Her interest in movement led her to Scuola Teatro Dimitri in Switzerland, where she practiced pantomime, tai-chi, dance and acrobatics from 2005 to 2006. She is co-founder of the multicultural ensemble T-d’U, with which she has created Silence... and Ôkô, two performances which toured Switzerland, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Zuzana participated in many different workshops with companies like Farm in the Cave, Les Slovaks, as well as with Dominique Duszinski and Ana Stegnar. She is part of Studio Matejka’s team of artists, as well as continuing to work with her company in Switzerland. Alexandra Kazazou was born in Wroc³aw, Poland. She is half-Greek, half-Polish and studied acting at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She worked as an actor in the North National Theatre and co-founded Asypka, a theatrical group based in Athens. She first encountered physical theatre in a workshop with the Song of the Goat Theatre during her studies and in 2009 she went to Wroc³aw to enter the MA in Acting course with the Song of the Goat Theatre in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University. Currently, she is a member of Studio Matejka in the Grotowski Institute, with whom she developed and performs in the solo piece Charmolypi. She is also a member of the Odra Ensemble, which collaborates with the Song of the Goat Theatre, and of Jubilo in Wroc³aw. Her main interest of research is the function of chorus in Greek tragedy and the connection with the daily chorus of life and ensemble work. A significant inspiration and life experience was her expedition to the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba. She is a certified teacher of Ashtanga Yoga and teaches Ancient Greek tragedy at the University of Wroc³aw (ISKIO), Mediterranean Studies Department. Magdalena Koza was born in Poland. She earned a diploma from ballet school and completed a Master’s degree at the Academy of Physical Education in Kraków. From 2003 to 2005, she collaborated with Iwona Olszowska, with whom she created several performances based on contemporary dance technique. She then joined the Krakowski Teatr Tañca and over four years she co-created and performed in various dance theatre productions. In 2008 she represented Poland in the 13th Biannual of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in Bari, Italy. In 2009, with Jacek Gêbura, she co-created the performance Podobno, which played in the Scena Tañca Capitol in Wroc³aw. She is an organizer and co-founder of the Wroc³aw Festival of Movement CYRKULACJE. Since 2010, she has been a member of Studio Matejka with whom she performs in Awkward Happiness or Everything I Don’t Remember About Meeting You. She leads workshops together with Studio Matejka for actors and dancers, as well as workshops in contemporary dance. Her main interest is practice with body awareness in physical theatre and dance theatre, based on her experience with contemporary dance, Body Mind Centering, improvisation and contact improvisation. She is a certified pedagogue of contemporary dance. |