The 2012 Volcano Conservatory
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Classes & Instructors
QUICK LINKS:
Movement for Actors (Canada) with Peggy Baker
Introduction to Action Theatre: Embodying the Voice (USA) with Sarah Bild
Acting Mamet: Absolute Preparation, Absolute Freedom (Canada) with Daniel Brooks
The Seagull In Jeans (Canada) with Leah Cherniak
Extended Vocal Technique (Canada) with Katherine Duncanson
Introduction to Vocal Viewpoints (USA) with Michael Greyeyes
Body, Space, and Imagination 1: Awakening (France) with Jeremy James
Asymmetry, Drones, and Dissonance (Eastern Europe) with Brenna MacCrimmon
Movement for Actors
July 25 - 29, 2012 / 9:30 am - 11:30 am
Instructor: Peggy Baker
Bring your attention to your body and explore simple methods for setting yourself in motion that energize your physicality, excite your imagination, establish a dynamic rapport with the space you inhabit, and offer the expressive freedom of being limber, alert, and responsive. This course is geared to performers who are not professional dancers—singers, actors, directors, and physical theatre performers are welcome.
Introduction to Action Theatre: Embodying the Voice
July 20 - 22, 2012 / 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Sarah Bild
Action Theater is a unique form of embodied improvisational theatre, codified in the USA, and new to Canada. This workshop will introduce the fundamentals of the practice. Through playful and rigorous exercises that isolate and recombine movement, sound, and language, we will broaden our range of improvisational skills in order to become open and creative in the present moment. Always working from a fully embodied state, we will develop spatial awareness and access to our imagination, crafting creative impulses into clear images, stories and dreamscapes. This technique will turn the mind inside out, examine existing habits and open up new possibilities. We will also bring attention to the details of our physical choices, to the quality and range of our vocalizing. We will approach speech and words as physical actions in building narratives. Working in solos, duets, trios and also as an ensemble, the class will begin with physical and vocal warm-ups and will proceed through exercises to end with performance scores. This technique is open to performers and non-performers alike, although some previous movement experience is recommended.
Acting Mamet: Absolute Preparation, Absolute Freedom
July 20 - 24, 2012 / 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Instructor: Daniel Brooks
How can mental and physical precision lead to absolute freedom on stage? This question is at the centre of the work of this class. Working with the legendary Daniel Brooks, participants will be taking scenes from David Mamet plays, and using them to explore how an actor prepares mentally and physically for the moment on stage. The work involves both text analysis and physical exercises. Some preparation will be necessary.
The Seagull In Jeans
July 25 - 29, 2012 / 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Instructor: Leah Cherniak
In this scene study class led by master teacher Leah Cherniak, participants will be challenged to develop personal and contemporary connections with a masterpiece from the classical cannon, and to use those relationships as a basis for exploration and experimentation. Using a range of approaches - from traditional, Stanislavski-inspired naturalism to physical, Lecoq-inspired experimentation - Leah will direct participants in scenes from Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, approaching this classic from a uniquely modern perspective. Some preparation will be necessary.
Extended Vocal Technique
July 26 - 29, 2012 / 12:30 pm - 3:15 pm
Instructor: Katherine Duncanson
Voice professional Katherine Duncanson will conduct this innovative workshop to reveal, develop, and integrate vocal, movement, musical, rhythmic and imagination skills. Class work will delve into improvisational scores and existing music in a co-creative, safe and playful manner. Katherine will open each class with extended vocal exercises designed to free the breath, voice, body and brain. Emphasis will be on developing inner awareness, acceptance and appreciation of one's authentic voice. This approach to vocal training is designed to fuse mind, body and soul, opening a performer's ability to connect with co-performers and audience alike.
Introduction to Vocal Viewpoints
July 23 - 25, 2012 / 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Michael Greyeyes
This brief workshop is intended to introduce the Vocal Viewpoints, as articulated by American director, Anne Bogart. Viewpoints was originally created by Mary Overlie and was further developed by Mary, Wendell Beavers and Ms. Bogart. This system of improvisation is indebted to many of the developments in postdramatic theatre practice, including heightened concerns with time and space, non-hierarchical ways of working, as well as a new focus on musicalization. Related to this last development, the Vocal Viewpoints is a remarkable way for actors to approach existing texts, or develop new ones that are not based in the older paradigms of narrative and character.
Body, Space, and Imagination 1: Awakening
July 20 - 24, 2012 / 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Instructor: Jeremy James
"...when an actor has experienced this starting point the body will be freed - like a blank page on which drama can be inscribed."
Jacques Lecoq
This workshop aims to re-awaken connections between the body, breath and the imagination. Under the direction of internationally acclaimed teacher and performer Jeremy James (a member of Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre due Soleil for seven seasons), participants will undertake detailed physical training and movement analysis to identify performance habits, attitudes and mannerisms that limit and complicate their expressive potential. The work aims to develop an economy of movement where each gesture is justified, using the 'neutral mask' of Jacques Lecoq to render the body visible and reveal how each movement, each breath, is powerfully expressive.
The physical nature of the work demands that any physical limitations are declared before the workshop begins so that the teacher can adapt and accommodate participant needs/limitations. The instructor and organizers take no responsibility for accident or injury.
Asymmetry, Drones, and Dissonance
July 26 - 29, 2012 / 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Brenna MacCrimmon
Folk music can provide a rich resource to colour a performance as well as having its own rewards. Once learned, folksongs can be easily shared with others and can provide a springboard for creative exploration. Learning them can broaden our musical skills and, frankly, singing them can be fun. These sessions will be an introduction to different types of rhythms and harmonies found largely in folk music from South East Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, and beyond. We will work through a number of songs in different meters (asymmetrical and otherwise), in different languages and with different characteristic styles of harmony (drones and dissonance). The objective of the sessions is to gain a working familiarity with some new and unusual (by Western standards) music and to serve as a starting point for deeper exploration and discovery. While everyone is welcome and there are no prerequisites, you are heartily encouraged to take Katherine Duncanson's vocal workshops.
Teacher Bios
Peggy Baker - Movement for Actors
Peggy Baker is one of Canada's most outstanding and influential dance artists. A founding member of Dancemakers (1974), she toured internationally with Lar Lubovitch's New York company throughout the 1980s, and joined Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris for the inaugural season of their White Oak Dance Project, subsequently forging important creative relationships with pianist Andrew Burashko, and choreographers James Kudelka, Paul-André Fortier, and Doug Varone. Since 1990 she has created and commissioned dances through her Toronto-based Peggy Baker Dance Projects, appearing at major dance venues and festivals across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and South East Asia. Among her many awards are the 2010 Walter Carsen Prize, the Order of Canada, the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary, the TAC's Margo Bindhardt Award, five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts. Ms Baker is Artist-in-Residence at Canada's National Ballet School.
Sarah Bild - Action Theatre: The Basics
Sarah Bild, a Montreal dance artist and choreographer, has been creating, teaching and performing in Montreal and throughout Canada for the last 25 years. She has trained intensively for the last 9 years with Ruth Zaporah, founder of Action Theater. Now a certified teacher in the technique, Sarah is the first to teach the practice in Quebec. Bringing her strong compositional skills and her deep understanding of the dancing body to improvisation, Sarah is particularly passionate about bringing Action Theater to performers of all stripes and guiding them to be fully present and creative, from moment to moment, on stage.
Daniel Brooks - Acting Mamet: Absolute Preparation, Absolute Freedom
The Artistic Director of Necessary Angel since 2003, Daniel Brooks has worked as a director, writer, actor, producer, and teacher. Some of his creations include Red Tape and 86: An Autopsy (with Don McKellar and Tracy Wright); The Lorca Play, House, Here Lies Henry, Monster, Cul-de-sac, and most recently, This Is What Happens Next (all with Daniel MacIvor); The Noam Chomsky Lectures and Insomnia (with Guillermo Verdecchia); Bigger Than Jesus and HardSell (with Rick Miller); The Good Life and The Eco Show. His work as a director includes John Mighton's Possible Worlds and Half Life, Goethe's Faust, Beckett's Endgame, Pinter's Betrayal, The Drowsy Chaperone, and most recently a stage adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero. He was the first Baille Fellow at Soulpepper and is currently an associate artist there. He was the first recipient of the Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre for directing. His work has traveled across Canada and around the world.
Leah Cherniak - The Seagull In Jeans
Leah Cherniak was the Co-Founder with Martha Ross of Theatre Columbus in Toronto. The company created over 30 new plays and also has an excellent reputation for innovative productions of classics such as The Cherry Orchard, Twelfth Night and Peer Gynt. Leah's theatrical roots are with École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. For Theatre Columbus she directed most of the company's repertoire, including the multi-award winning published play, The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, which has been produced all over the world, including Labrador, Cuba, Czechoslovakia and Los Angeles. Leah's directing credits include productions for the National Arts Centre, Soulpepper, Tarragon Theatre, Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, and The Blyth Theatre Festival among others.Presently she is an Associate Artist with Soulpepper Theatre Company and is The Academy Liaison. She is presently directing the Academy devised show exploring the theme of Dirt. Leah has taught Clown at the National Theatre School, Ryerson and York University. At UofT, she teaches acting and directing
Katherine Duncanson - Extended Vocal Technique
Katherine Duncanson is an interdisciplinary performer, vocal director, music educator and creative facilitator who has collaborated with a wonderful array of Toronto dance artists, composers, actors, writers, visual artists, performance artists, magicians, musicians and clowns. She has served on the faculties of York University and the School of Toronto Dance Theatre teaching Music for Dancers, and was the vocal director for Volcano's hit show The Four Horsemen Project.
Michael Greyeyes - Introduction to Vocal Viewpoints
Michael Greyeyes is an actor, choreographer, director and educator. In 2008, he directed and choreographed the first Cree language opera, Pimooteewin (The Journey), with music by Melissa Hui and libretto by Tomson Highway for Soundstreams Canada. He has directed Daniel David Moses' Almighty Voice and his Wife for Native Earth Performing Arts and The River, for Nakai Theatre in Whitehorse. His short film Seven Seconds premiered at the 2010 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto and also screened at the Dawson City International Short Film Festival in the Yukon. Prior to his work as a director and choreographer, Michael danced with The National Ballet of Canada and was a soloist for the Feld Ballets in New York City. In 2010, he founded Signal Theatre and produced and directed, from thine eyes, a full-length dance theatre work, which premiered at the Enwave Theatre in Toronto in 2011. He is currently developing a new full-length work for Signal Theatre, co-produced by the National Arts Centre and the Canada Dance Festival. He is an Associate Professor in the Theatre department at York University.
Jeremy James - Body, Space, and Imagination 1: Awakening
Jeremy James worked with Ariane Mnouchkine and her renowned company, the Théâtre du Soleil, for seven years. He performed in the collectively-devised productions of Le Dernier Caravansérail and Les Éphémères, receiving critical acclaim for his work at major theatres and festivals internationally. He trained with leading artists and master-teachers across Europe, and has worked as an actor, artist, director and teacher. He has pursued work across the performing and visual arts for over two decades, fostering interdisciplinary practice and cross-cultural collaboration. He has been a guest director and teacher at leading theatre schools in Australia, Canada and Europe, and his workshops and masterclasses are hosted by theatre companies and performance spaces on four continents, with a cycle of work recently completed in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Spain.
Brenna MacCrimmon - Asymmetry, Drones, and Dissonance
Brenna MacCrimmon has been studying and performing the music of Turkey and the Balkans for over 20 years. She has performed abroad with Turkish musicians Selim Sesler (trad Turkish Gypsy), Muammer Ketencoglu (trad Balkan) and rock group Baba Zula. In the summer of 2011 she toured across Europe with Balkan beat DJ Shantel and the Bucovina Club Orkestra. She has recorded with the above musicians and has appeared as a guest on many albums and film soundtracks in Canada, the US and Europe. Her own albums have received critical acclaim. Her theatre work includes musical director of the award-winning Volcano production of Goodness. In 2010, she found herself in Moscow as a member of the cast of Bobble with Bobby McFerrin. These days Brenna divides her time between Toronto and Berlin with frequent side trips to Turkey. She teaches Turkish and Balkan song at workshops across the USA and Europe.
