| Dance of Likeness |
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A Studio Matejka workshop Leaders: Matej Matejka and Cécile Da Costa, assisted by Martin Talaga and Katarina Kalivodova Tue–Thu 1–10 September 2015 Brzezinka, forest base of the Grotowski Institute Contact and application Please send your completed application form and CV to studiomatejka.workshops@gmail.com by 17 August 2015. The workshop will have a limited number of participants. Fee The session fee of 400 EUR includes accommodation, transport between Wroc³aw and Brzezinka, and meals for the entire period of the work session. This workshop is targeted towards professional actors and dancers willing to explore less common fields of physical expression, who are driven by the necessity of a free, yet well-guided path of movement, dance and bodywork. How deep can dance take you into yourself? In this new workshop we will allow each other to go deeper into traces of traditions inside of us. How often do we realise that we repeat things that our parents, grandparents and earlier generations passed onto us? We move like our mothers, we touch like our grandfathers… Would we dance the same way to the music they danced to? And how would they dance to the music we listen to today? Nowadays, there is an extreme focus on the ideal body: the naked body, the beautiful body, the perfect body measured in numbers… One should not only have a perfect body, but be perfect in all aspects of life. Inspired by these themes, we want to explore them in our workshop process, confronting them with the ideals of our ancestors. In our new theatrical project, BOI, we are referring to Slovak traditional dances and music. The rich Slovak traditions will be used as a springboard for our workshop journey. The traditional dances and songs will be confronted with elements of our postmodern society. What can be the outcome? We are looking forward to encounters with a wide spectrum of traditions brought by participants themselves. We will meet in a place where our body and voice grow in their freedom and limits, in their spontaneity and calculations, in their chaos and order, on a journey towards a deeper understanding of ourselves. We will focus on:
Participants will be introduced to elements of:
Language The workshop will be held 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. Location The work session will take place in Brzezinka, forest base of the Grotowski Institute, located 46km from Wroc³aw. From 1971 to 1981 it was home to Grotowski's Paratheatre and Theatre of Sources work. It is mainly used as a workshop space.  Matej Matejka (Slovakia/Poland) 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. In 2001–2006 he was an actor of the theatre studio Farm in the Cave, Prague, and co-creator of performances Dark Love Sonnets and multi-awarded Sclavi/The Song of an Emigrant (Total Theatre Award, Fringe First, Herald Angel). Since 2005 he has been a collaborator of the Grotowski Institute as well as actor in Teatr ZAR, with which he co-created and performed in Anhelli: The Calling and Caesarean Section: Essays on Suicide, awarded with the Herald Angel and Total Theatre Awards in Edinburgh in 2012. Since 2010 Matej has been the leader of Studio Matejka, an ensemble that works under the auspices of the Grotowski Institute and takes part in the BodyConstitution research programme. He directed seven short films and five performances with the Studio Matejka company. The film Pearadise has been awarded for Best Foreign Film in Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival 2013, film Conflict of Apathy was awarded for the Best short dance movie at NU Dance festival, Slovakia, 2014. He has led workshops in theatres and universities all around the globe (UNEARTE, Venezuela; CalArts, California, USA; NSD, New Delhi, India; DS Delos of Dimitra Hatoupi, Athens, Greece; University of Salford, UK; Double Edge Theatre, USA; Charles Working Theatre, Boston, USA; Au Brana, France; Lebanon, etc.). In his work he searches for the performer’s “essence of communication” where both dance and drama are equal vehicles for the actor’s expression. Cécile Da Costa (France/Czech Republic) has been working as a physical actress and singer since 2005. For 5 years she was a member of the Farm in the Cave international theatre studio (Prague, Czech Republic), taking part in the performances SCLAVI/the Song of an Emigrant, Waiting Room, Divadlo/The Theatre and work demonstrations under the direction of Viliam Docolomansky and with the choreographic guidance of Charlotta Öfverholm (DV8). Within Farm in the Cave projects, she took part in several research expeditions in Ruthenia (Slovakia) and Northeast Brazil (work on the martial art of capoeira and on dances bumba meu boi and cavalo marinho). The company performed widely in Europe and beyond, and received several awards, including at the Edinburgh Festival. Cécile is now working as a choreographer and actress/singer with Spitfire Company, Prague, as well as leading workshops. |