Workshop Description
(in alphabetical order by facilitators' name)
"Goddess's Descend to the Underworld "
Anna Alifraghi, literature master, psychic health counselor, Hellas
Self-awareness workshop based on the Sumerian myth of goddess Inana. This is a Sumerian myth which dates to around 3.500BCE. The goddess of fertility Inanna descends to the underworld, where she is killed by her sister Ereshkigal, the queen of the Great Below. But her messenger sends to her the food of life and the water of life in order to revive her. During this workshop the group will listen to the narration of the myth. Then each member of the group will make a work of art which will be presented to the group. The members of the group will have the opportunity to express thoughts and feelings and to share them with the others. The aim of this workshop is to present an active way of the elaboration of a text.
Alice in the wonder-ful world of adolescence
Avra Avdi, Melina Hadjigeorgiou, drama teachers, Hellas
A drama workshop n which "the wonderful world of adolescence" will be explored through the method of Drama in Education. The workshop attempts to utilise the material offered by the L. Carroll's well known "Alice in wonderland", in order to follow the transformations and adventures of an adolescent who is seeking his identity, whilst in the labyrinth of a world full of wonders, a world which excites curiosity, surprise, wonder, thinking. The aim of this workshop is to show adolescence as a creative period of our lives. A period which evokes pain as well as joy and energy, like any creative process of transformation.
"Le Jeu": Playfulness, Theatre and Movement
Lilo Baur, actress, Theatre Complicite teacher, Swiss/UK
Everywhere theatre is performed in a thousand different ways and thousand different places. What makes me engaged and understand one play more than another, especially if I don't speak the language? What is deeper than just the cultural language, what is common, what is permanent? There is a universal language which the body speaks. Children of different cultures are put together and they communicate and play with each other without hesitation. It's spontaneity of movement and word at the same time which we as adults struggle to find again. This is the base for me to approach theatre. Let's find that playfulness again. A teacher of mine used to say "the word is the crown but you have to have the body to carry it".
Choral odes from Aristophanes' "birds" and their dramatic approach through the method of "theatrical synthesis" - Examining drama's identity in Greek contemporary schools
Giorgos Biniaris, actor, director, theatre teacher, Hellas
Smaro Grigoriadou, musician, Hellas
In this workshop choral odes from Aristophanes' "Birds" will be handled both as vehicle for body expression and theatrical action through "theatrical synthesis", a method which will be thoroughly explored, as well as motive of examining drama's identity in Greek contemporary schools. The workshop will search the interrelation between literature and its stage representation. Rhythmic patterns, contact, communication and confidence exercises as well as voice improvisation techniques will encourage the participants to work vividly for the creation of an interesting stage environment as for the composition of a unified dramatic whole, consisting of the basic fundamental elements of speech, music, movement and image. The important role of "theatrical composition" in education will be strongly emphasized and many such cases and their methodology will be exposed for reference purposes.
Seeing Nature from a theatrical point of view
Spyros Boudouris, teacher, Hellas
This workshop addresses teachers of all grades and is an interesting learning process of approaching Nature through Theatre. It is a trip of the senses, through close examination, expression, observation and movement, elements that lead to transformation. Participants, through the group interaction, exercises of the senses and with texts, masks and sounds, will write a literary text in an effort to create a group act using music rules. Finally, participants are encouraged and inspired to utilize this trip of the senses into education during the realization of several environmental programs and the dramatization of literary texts.
Meeting remarkable selves
Andrea Copeliovitch, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Meeting remarkable selves is a practical workshop that presents acting improvisation, dance and movement techniques that have been initially developed for actors, aiming to help them to create their characters with more freedom, and that can be also used by educators working with a group. They are based on studies of the sacred and the profane, associated to myths dramatisation, mainly those related to the Brazilian imaginary. The exercises are presented as a 'round process'. There is no gap between one exercise and the other; there are linking stories that bind them together. They are meant to lead the participants to a " neutral state", a start point in creation: a state of inner silence combined to physical availability, to make them able to lay aside their social character, working on their human truth, reaching dimensions where reason would not allow them to go. Main issues to be developed: a) Acting improvisation, dance and movement, b) Brazilian Dances, c) Body awareness, d) Neutral state: a start point in creation, a state of inner silence combined to physical availability. e) Working with groups, creating characters, developing creativity
TOPENG: Balinese traditional masked dance
Marta Cotrim, performance artist, Brasil
Topeng is a traditional masked dance performed during Temple Festivals everywhere in Bali, Indonesia. One dancer incorporates many different characters: a king, an old man, a coquette, etc. The first to enter the small performing space are the noble full-masked, precisely choreographed characters that make reference to Balinese ancestors. After that the half masked (bondres) the clowns improvise by mixing history with present circumstances of the village. The Topeng Pajegang is a very stylized dance accompanied by an orchestra (gamelan), which punctuates the dancer's every gesture and hesitation. This dance-theatre combines elements of tension, sweetness and comedy and are very popular. The highly praised artists are even invited to perform in other temples as an offering to the goods and usually mark the opening of the festivities. Western theatre director such as Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine and Peter Hall, just to mention a few, have long been interested in other traditional theatre forms, specially Asian, Japanese and African. They have incorporated many aspects of these styles, be it the actor's training, the aesthetics or the presence of live music to their work. Part I: Introduction to Balinese culture and religion. Part II: Dance-theatre class. Small groups in sarongs will experience a Balinese teaching styles through four different dances: Baris (young warrior), Kras (though Prime Minister), Tuah (old man) and Female dance styles. Part III: How can we make use of this tradition into new creations? Improvisation with masks and live music.
Introduction to CAPOEIRA: a Brazilian dance form
Marta Cotrim, performing artist, Brasil
Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that transcends the boundaries of martial art, dance and improvisation. Set to the rhythms of Capoeira music, two players improvise a dance with martial art movements of attack and defense. This fight simulation serves as a stage for the development of one's physical, mental and emotional abilities. Because of the nature of the interaction with the partner, one makes use of all reflexes and develops 360 degrees awareness. By also exploring physically the three levels (floor work, standing and jumping) the muscles are worked in a constant flow of contraction and extension using your own body weight, resulting in a lean and flexible body. Furthermore, the playfulness of Capoeira allows space for the individual to express him or herself in a safe environment. Last but not least, the live music is an important aspect of the game that introduces the student to different kinds of percussion instruments and singing. Basically, Capoeira is a lot of fun in an extraordinary ensemble of fitness and creativity.
A Theatrical Approach of Non-Theatrical Texts
Filia Dendrinou, actor, theatre educator, Hellas
Using the well-known Greek folk song 'Of The Dead Brother' as a starting point, in this workshop we will attempt to shed light on the ways in which we can dramatise a narrative text
The magical "Here and now" !
Eduard Georgiou set designer & "Pandoum" street theatre company
The participants to this workshop will work on "space and image". They will approach a "text" from two different angles and in the end they will conduct a more complete theatrical event. Starting with materials, props and scenography…Taking inspiration from the "text" the group will analyze the scenography and costume possibilities. The group will be encouraged to look behind the first "descriptive" elements. Working with scenography the group will be encouraged to analyze the elements of "space": i.e. the relation between acting/scenical space and spectator's space. Certain materials will be given to the group (simple, cheap but basic materials) and they will be worked on so to make theatrical objects (mask, costume, sources of light). Through this procedure of "attacking" materials, skipping the step of designing (which could not fit our time limits), we wish to point out how valuable experimenting with materials can be and also how can one use a scenical object as a tool to work with in action. Continuing with the human body and motion…The group will be guided to improvise in different places, both indoors and outdoors, starting from the text and using the results of the work with materials. Helping the human body find the desired openness with game and physical exercise we are then capable of acting and most importantly reacting to the surrounding space, to the 'moment' that is born. The goal is to reveal the participant's ability to create in a group having as starting point the magical "here and now"…
Simple acting approaches
Kostis Kapelonis, actor, director, Athens Art Theatre, Hellas
In this workshop we will approach two different acting ways in two different kinds of theatre: the 20th century modern realistic theatre and the tragedy. Participants will get familiar with primary acting exercises of both kinds of theatre. They will act in scenes from modern repertory and in choruses of a tragedy.
Commedia dell' Arte: Renaissance Transformations
Athena Kefala, Actress, Drama School Teacher, Hellas
Commedia dell' Arte is part of the Drama schools' curriculum all over the world. Participants are introduced to performance practices as well as theoretical knowledge pertaining to the tradition of the 16th and 17th century. The workshop comprises movement exercises, the use of the mask and the teaching of plays and improvisation techniques (Lazi). The movement exercises introduce the participants to the Renaissance bodily performance codes. The use of the mask introduces the period characters (Harlequin, Pantalone, Dottore etc). Extracts from plays and improvisations are an inseparable element for the scope of the session.
Dream X Dream = Life
Alkistis Kondoyanni, University of Thessaly, Hellas
The scripts and narratives of each participant's personal dream create a shared dream. The group will work on it through 'brainstorm', 'creative projection', 'thematical moments' and 'machines', in order to achieve a creative theatrical synthesis.
Audio-visual workshop - Project MELINA.
Vassilis Kosmopoulos, director of cinematography, Hellas
George Zafeiriou, photographer, Hellas
In the first part of the workshop, selected photos of well-renowned artists-photographers will be studied. In the construction of a photograph various details will be spotted- points, lines, and levels. In many photos those three elements may co-exist but in others there may be only two or even one of them. Consequently, the final piece of art may be composed by various photos in which there may exist one or three different elements. After that, participants will split into two groups and every one of those teams into two smaller ones. Every attendant should take one or two photos in which there will be one of the three above elements. Then the photographs will be presented and the attendants, all together, will discuss the result and select some photos for the final exhibition.
Transcribing a narration
Yiannis Kourkoumelis, Emilia Papadakou, Hellas
The outset of this seminar is the ability of an ancient myth (Vacches - Dionysus's transformations) to encounter a historical period (from the Enlightenment to the Industrial Revolution) and the possibility of combining the double (industrial - ideological) revolution in England and France with the Greek Revolution and the places where the Greek Language thrives. This workshop will signal the way through which an educator can select specific material from a wide area of knowledge and transcribe it as lived experience in the classroom.
"MIME: from the neutral mask to the theatre of objects".
Andonis Koutroumbis, actor, mime, Hellas
A workshop that specializes on basic techniques of mime with aiming the expressive body. A human body open, creating sensitivity, communicating with others without talking and transforming energetically what surrounds it. Those who take part will try to find, through various exercises, a personal way of theatrical move and expression. Clothes proper for exercises are necessary.
We are creatively transformed
Eleni Lampronikou, theatre educator, Hellas
The art of drama gives us occasion for a workshop that is divided in different cycles, depending on the interests of children and their age, with the aim of cultivating their creativity and imagination. As the art of drama is approached through "doing" and "making", we will go through a stage of collective creative process that will constitute the core for the final metamorphosis, which will be markedly different for each person. The workshop we propose will first focus on brief exercises of familiarization and relaxation. The dynamics of the group will be developed by experimenting and improvising. The group will be offered objects and materials that are seemingly useless and unrelated to each other, such as a hat, a piece of cloth, cardboards, newspapers, pastel colours, rags, paper band, pieces of wood etc., with an initial view to creating a pictorial world which is ….inanimate! The artifacts created by the group, e.g. masks, houses, trees, rivers, makeshift musical instruments or anything else, will then gradually be given movement, later on the objects may acquire speech, music, dance, until eventually a whole new world will be created with a history of its own. Each one will have their proper name, age, family status, qualities and flaws, character and history, always in conjunction with the pictorial outcome and the aesthetics that this creates. Thus, the more the imagination is untied, the more the body and speech will find the means of their expression, therefore finding room for transformation.
"Archetypal Metamorphosis Play"
Anna Lazou Athens University, Sophia Manti dancer, Thodoris Zioutos musician, Hellas
The workshop will be based on material of dramatization of Odyssey through collective creation and elaboration of myths with the use of contemporary expressive tools: free movement/ dance, music/ sound space, art installations. During the the workshop with the activation of the participants to improvisation and liberation of the kinetic sphere of expression it will be shown how ancient myths become part of the contemporary reality of the young people leading to self - knowledge and artistic education. The workshop has as its aim to present the educational aspect of the experimental work of the theatre group "Drys Landscapes" in collaboration with the Theatre Initiative of the Youth 'Drys' of Athens University. This work prepares the performance "Nekyia - Archetypal Metamorphosis Play" for three performers and one musician that has been scheduled next March, while the research aspect will be presented in the Symposium about collective creations in Theatre, organized in Cologne by the International Association of University Theatre, March 24 to 26 (Robert Germay, President).
"Sterna" by G. Seferis in the "Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot: Word secrets - Transformations. Drama through Creative Writing
Myrsini Lenoudia-Sakellaridi, theatre teacher, Hellas
In the process of the workshop the participants will use both techniques / tools of drama education as well as works of literature. Specifically, there will be a combination of these techniques and the literary work of Seferis and Eliot. On this basis the participants will create their own texts and they will perform them. At the end of the workshop the participants will critically reflect upon its process and outcomes. Furthermore, there will be a brief presentation of the "Workshop for Creative Writing" for children and adolescents in Rhodes (objectives, methodology, content, working groups, outcomes).
Elements of Acting
Stathis Livathinos, director, Hellas
Modern but simple exercises with an intense element of spontaneity that can prompt teachers to creative way of improvising and dramatizing, is the main characteristic of this workshop. Any teacher can participate actively in this workshop and expand his/her knowledge on the potentiality of drama teaching. Special skills on acting are not necessary.
Principles and techniques of puppetry.
Konstantina Mara, Igigeneia Tsichla, puppeteers, Hellas
This workshop aims to be an introduction to the major principles and techniques of puppetry. Various procedures and material that are presented lead beginners along the path of creation to this artistic expression, which also helps them to discover their own view of the puppets world. In this course, it is considered a must to include a brief presentation on the history of puppetry, besides the presentations on the various puppet techniques. For, we have decided to demonstrate two of the most popular techniques, namely, the rod puppet and the marionette. Participants have the chance to explore ways that one can bring a puppet to life. It is important to understand that puppets are to live and not just to decorate. Without the potential to move, a puppet is nothing more than a doll, incapable to deliver any credible signs of life.
Shadow Theatre Workshop
Stathis Markopoulos, puppeteer, Hellas
This workshop includes: a) introduction on puppet theatre and its techniques, b) notes on the history of shadow theatre, c) the relation between children and the shadow, d) shadow theatre traditions, e)the Greek traditional Karaghiozis, f) contemporary shadow theatre, g) the elements of shadow theatre, h) experiments with light and the projection of objects, i) different materials and techniques of construction and manipulation (figures, joints, articulations, control rods etc), g) construction of shadow-figures with two basic techniques (carton, zelatine), k) experiments and improvisations on the use of different materials, music and speech l)preparation and presentation of short skits
A workshop in the Suzuki Actor Training Method
Marcos Martinez, California State University, San Marcos USA
The workshop/seminar will consist of intensive physical exercises that require actors to develop a heightened awareness of themselves in motion. This work centres around the usage of the feet, and the relationship of the corporal (physical) centre of the body to the earth (the ground). These exercises develop the actor's voice and scenic presence by building physical stamina, increasing focus, concentration, and building the actor's will. We begin with the basic stomping exercise, stances to assess balance and movement of the centre, and a statues exercise. It is recommended that participants bring a text with which they wish to work, and an English translation.
Freedom for a change
Alex Mavrocordatos, King Alfred's University College UK
This practical workshop explores the use of improvisation to release spontaneity, creativity and the imagination. Spontaneous expression has the power to bypass our conscious mind and all that it suppresses. Take a fresh look at the contradictions in both 'self' and 'other', contradictions that prevent our personal and social transformation. Who controls our world-picture? How can we gain new perspectives, how can we imagine a new or a changed way of life if it is not through our imagination, if it is not by freeing our mind of the picture imposed on us by the collective world around us?
Searching the river of knowledge: How literature and dramatic art transform the Modern Greek language of 2nd year high school
Helen Mintsi, literature and drama teacher, Hellas
The novel 'the river' by Antonis Samarakis which is reading material in the 2nd year in high schools will be used in a practical application of an alternative holistic approach where dramatic art and participatory methods transform the student-receptor to a student co-creator and participant of the educational knowledge. This program has already been tested with proven success in a frontier high school in the prefecture of Pella, as a part of post-graduate studies project, which followed the method of case study research. The aims of the workshop, are: a) The presentation of a working model applied to Greek high schools, b) The possibility for an individual-oriented modified application in similar school environment, c) The active involvement of the workshop participants in certain activities for familiarization purposes, d) The increase of student creativity in today's schools whenever theater and other performing arts are involved the demystification of insurmountable difficulties in the application of an alternative educational method by non-specialized teachers in modern schools, e) The demonstration of how dramatization and its techniques contribute towards transforming a regular course to a tool of personal collective progress and of deeper understanding of the material taught.
'Labyrinth' - A Visual Art Activity, MELINA Project
Helen Moraiti, painter, Hellas
The activities of the visual artists' group of the MELINA project aim at visual learning, and therefore at changing the conditions of learning within the educational process. These activities are based on the principles of pedagogy, aesthetics and psychology. The activity entitled 'Labyrinth' is based on play and narration. It approaches the notion of journey from an aesthetic, pedagogical and psychological point of view and constitutes an introduction to conceptual art. It has a multidiscipline character, since it deals with the transition from the verbal symbolic system to the visual one. The activity consists of four parts: the first one deals with the aesthetic categories of beautiful - ugly, wonderful - cute and includes theatre games. The following parts based on the principles of developmental psychology, attempt an approach of the abstraction process through numbers, lines, shapes, storytelling and art for children aged 6 -7.
'Traveling Paintings', A Visual Art Activity, MELINA project
Helen Moraiti, painter, Hellas
A workshop on the aesthetic, symbolic and scientific dimensions of the image, related to the activity of the MELINA project. The MELINA project' view is that teacher training should be practical, and therefore have an experiential character, and theoretical at the same time. The workshop also proposes a different approach of the notion of museum, through the application of creative activities in the educational process. The paintings used are mid 19th century and early 20th century true copies of the originals, which can be found at the National Gallery of Athens. They are exhibited in spaces where many neighboring schools, thus facilitating the educational activity, can view them. An informative handout and visual art exercises accompany the 'Traveling Paintings'.
The musical education through MELINA project
Kostas Moschos, musician, Hellas
When MELINA project first started musical education was underrated. From the very beginning we tried to make music known not only as a means of cultivation of one's skills but also as the major means of the student's culture and as a tool of the whole learning procedure. Bearing in mind what was the experience so far and what were the pupil's needs, we reevaluated the aims and the educational methodology. We thought it was necessary to render the student sensitive to the art of sounds and musical observation, to make the child become a conscious listener by helping him/her experience many different musical cultures and their "language" and to push him/her develop his/hers creativity. We drove skills from improvisation to performance and multi-artistic expression. We detached the teaching of music from the specialized teachers and we merged music with other classes. So we upgraded the role and the quality of education. We are really glad that after all these years established education has already been engrafted by these aims which are now considered a commonplace. In the workshop we will present the recommended methodology, the approaching procedure and technique through activities and discussion.
Speech as aerodynamic phenomenon: in the light of school drama activities
Telemachos Moudatsakis, University of Crete, Hellas
The workshop will develop the value of voice as an aerodynamic phenomenon mainly based upon breath: technical storing of air in the lungs and release of the same air as living voice. If speech is consider to be the base of performing, the air and its manipulation is the combustible in the production of the speech. The miracle of speech/discourse is predominantly achieved at the momentum when, throughout the dynamics of exhaling, the subglottal area is edged to produce the fundamental sound, upon which articulation will be grounded to be subsequently performed via the mouth. The workshop will be founded upon the principles of speech training and in parallel to the axioms of the field of acting through text reading: delivery or recitation will be in the light of the demands of aerodynamics and movement improvisation. It aims to investigate the dramatized textual meaning inherent in text of any king, and which children can acquire and comprehend either through informal play activities or through structured drama episodes embedded in tasks.
Antigone
Jonothan Neelands, Warwick University, UK
This practical workshop will use a variety of dramatic conventions to explore how drama can bring metamorphosis to the myth so that the past becomes the future as well as being part of our present. The themes of the play rather than the text will be used to help young people to reflect on their role as citizens in the making of future societies. We will consider what young people can learn from the conflict between Antigone and Creon as both try to change their society.
Metamorphosis and Culture
Jonothan Neelands, Warwick University UK
This practical workshop will explore issues of culture, inter-culturalism and multiculturalism. European societies are in metamorphosis as new cultures brought by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers begin to make us look again at who we are and who we are becoming. For some young people these new cultures are welcome and bring change and difference to their lives. For others, these changes are to be feared and fought. This workshop will present practical and effective structures for safely exploring these issues through drama.
"May I feel, as you feel?"
Triantafillia (Fillio) Nikoloudi, infant school & drama teacher, author, Hellas
The basic aim of the workshop is the elaboration of "empathy" (sentimentally placing "ego" in the place of the "other"). We'll work in small groups and in pairs. In the small groups, we'll try to manage our aim using as stimulus, pictures, photos, newspapers. In pairs, we 'll find the similarities, which there are between the persons of each pair. Ôhese similarities will be the reason of our collaboration. We'll try to get into the sentimental place of the other and to feel as him/her, when there is not a common code of communication. We'll be communicated by our body, by our facial expressions, by a common stimulus, as a sound. Continuing, we'll read a part of a book (The Joyful Meadow), which works out the "empathy". Through role playing, we'll try to get into the place of the protagonists of the story and to feel as them. Having the story as a stimulus, we'll leave free our creativity and we'll be radiated towards others sections of the Curriculum (Plastic arts, Language, Literature, Maths e.t.c). We'll see, how we can be set to the learning, by using alternative ways. .
Devising for Transformation
David Pammenter, King Alfred's University College, UK
This workshop will explore creativity and criticality as cultural action through the creation of devised stories, born from the lived experience of the participants. This research will then become the basis of collectively devised Theatre pieces that explore new perspectives on social reality. It will work through notions of identity: identity of 'self' and of 'other; it will explore cultural identity and cultural difference in the pursuit of social transformation. It will raise the question of who owns and controls our notions of truth and what we hold to be significant. Whose representations of the world do we receive and accept? Who controls our perceptions? How can we gain the confidence to accept or reject those representations, to articulate our own perceptions through our own creativity, imagination and dramatic interventions? The workshop will explore the use of different theatre forms in creative decision-making. NB: Participants, please bring with you an object which is in some way important or significant to you. This is important as it will be the starting point of the workshop. This workshop and its sister session with Alex Mavrocordatos relate to the degree in Theatre and Media for Development (Education and Cultural action for Social Transformation) at King Alfred's College.
From text to stage
Maria Panagiotopoulou, Greek Language and Literature teacher, leader of the Municipality of Moschato Amateurs' Drama Group, Hellas
This workshop aims at emphasizing the use of improvisation and group dynamics as indispensable tools for the presentation on stage of any text - dramatic or other. Participants will get acquainted with basics of communication and group dynamics and they will practice on improvising as a means of an actor's approach of the text - even before its first reading - going through the whole journey from the understanding of the underlying ideas up to the text 's final theatrical animation. This experience could result in a presentation of the outcome in front of the whole audience of this conference, provided that participants wish and conditions permit such an ending.
Elements on choreographical synthesis
Apostolia Papadamaki, choreographer, Hellas
In this workshop we will use basic and repetitive physical exercises in order to be able to acquire a sense of our bodies, space, rhythm and time. We will lead towards a synthesis not by ready-made patterns but through ways of thinking and skills.
The Theatrical Play within a Language and a Mathematics Lesson in the Elementary School".
Evangelia Papathanassiou, primary and kindergarten teacher, Hellas
The Theatrical Play concerns by all means a creative event that offers enjoyment to children direct. In the cases, whereby it has been applied, it has convinced the teachers of its dynamic and its usefulness. The teacher who decides to implement it recognises its broader effect on the educational practice as well as on the improvement of the learning and expression difficulties children are faced with during the education procedure. Based on a lesson from the Language Book of the 4th class of the elementary school a theatrical play unfolds, which aims at the comprehension, by means of an experiential approach, of the new grammatical phenomenon. Through the four phases of the Theatrical Play the group understands the formation of the simple past tense as well as the formation of the simple future tense of the verbs that belong to the second conjugation. In addition, based on a mathematical lesson of the 4th class of the elementary school, the group approaches and understands the difference lying between the measuring and the partitive division. This procedure takes place by means of the techniques of the theatrical play, whereby the class becomes a group and the teacher is transformed into an animating spirit. (Comfortable clothes and a second pair of warm socks ).
Theatre by Children - Comprehension of characters and concepts: Development of children and young persons' hypocritical skills
Yannis Poutachidis, Catherine Poutachidou, drama teachers, Hellas
Children and young people desire to communicate their experiences and opinions to others. They want to express themselves, they want to play theatre. Using their experience and creative fantasy, we may work via improvisation individually or in group, towards the apprehension of scene (acting space), sensitisation on partners' needs and desires and eventually contribute to the social development of the person. The workshop aims to record tools, collect techniques of educational quest and comprehension of issues, concepts and characters from theatrical pieces or textbooks and develop the children's hypocritical skills so as to result in the theatrical presentation. The participants will familiarise themselves with creative methods of Drama.
"Scenic objects and pictorial persons: Metamorphoses of Ideas from Renaissance to contemporary world"
Korina Prevedouraki, painter, fine arts teacher
Christine Lanara, French language teacher, "Museum - Education" program at Directorate of Secondary Education of Eastern Attica, Hellas.
During this winter, a significant exhibition in the National Hellenic Gallery on Renaissance Painting reminded us the emotion, which is established on the belief of the "beauty". Were people really perfect at that time or, maybe, art has given an idealization form to their appearance? This is the issue we are going to examine, analyzing some typical works of Renaissance Painting and, through drama, to try understanding their aspect as experience. We'll be based on the essence or the idea, which more than the representations inspirit the illusion of perfection. Bringing together theoretical notes, aesthetic characterizations and objective thoughts, we'll search the relation between the words of the History of Art and the subjective opinion of each participant - spectator. Moreover, attempting to animate the painted persons by our expressions, we'll invent scenographic creations, using the appropriate scenic objects and props.
From Human Beings to Rhinoceroses- Is there a way back? A case of transformation via theatre
Shifra Schonmann, University of Haifa, Israel
The emphasis will be on discovering the essential moments in the text "Rhinoceros" by Eugene Ionesco, juxtaposing the transformation from human being into Rhinoceros. Participants will be involved in struggling with ideological and performing questions of how character, relationship, belief, loyalty and even objectives can all be approached from experiencing moments of transformation. In an effort to understand what makes people lose their humanity, and to ask is there a way back, the participants could imagine themselves in such a situation, and how can we cope with it on stage, the participants will sample a range of acting exercises, playback theatre and a few techniques designed to explore with students concepts of transformation through a process from page to stage. This work should prove helpful to those working with young people and adults at all levels of interest and theatrical ability.
Dance Workshop
Dimitris Sotoriou, dancer, choreographer, Hellas
The keystone in this workshop is the relationship that gets gradually developed among the group members. From immobility and meditation we shall pass to stressful physical exercise and then to creative improvisation.
Pileas towards the transformations of Thetis: When the myth becomes "contemporary…"
Peggy Stefanidou, drama teacher, Hellas
Our motivation for the workshop will be the myth of Thetis and Pileas, who is in love with her. More specifically, it will be the terrifying transformations of Thetis and the behaviour of Pileas towards them, until he finally captivates her. We will deal with the subject of the "inner" metamorphoses and changes, in regard, not only to the one who experiences them, but also to those being close. That is, how someone's close environment may influence or be influenced. The participants will have the opportunity to experience the myth through a contemporary context, to elaborate the meanings and put their own elements and interpretations on it. This will be done with the help of common roles and theatre conventions. The aim of the workshop is to give participants to understand how, through this creative process based on Drama in Education, they can lead children to communicate, to understand and go deeper. To encourage the participants to try this kind of approach not only through this specific lesson plan, but also into any other stimulation from the curriculum or from issues of their interest. The workshop is open to anyone interested and will include both practical activities and theoretical support.
Theatre: craft and art
Fabio Roberto Tolledi, Universtity of Lecce, Italy
The workshop with teachers aims at transmitting the main theoretical and practical elements of theatre work. They will work intensively to be introduced to the physical work, trying to understand the importance of the process in theatre training and the way to activate a process of apprenticeship. A particular stress will be given to contemporary theatre debates and theories and to the work with a text, to the way text and sound are strictly connected to breath, resonators, body movement, the way sound is a physical source. Besides they will be introduced to the first elements of structuring an action, to the process of developing a theatrical action.
Introduction to "devised theatre"
Anna Tsichli, director, Hellas
Devised Theatre can start from anything. A broken telephone, a carnival costume, a razor blade, a piece of music or a photograph can be the starting points to devise and create a piece of theatre. Devising as a process initiates a group of people to work together. Within this shared process participants become physically and creatively involved in the making of a unique and original piece that is based on their ideas, skills, fantasies and personal interpretations of the world we live in. Trust, attention, spontaneity and intuition are prerequisites of this process. Devising theatre can help individuals understand better themselves and the others around them. Performers, theatrologists and theatre teachers may well benefit from devised theatre as a method and a theatre practice that can be applied within a group of people collaboratively working.
Drama and Myths
Takis Tzamargias, Nikos Govas, theatre teachers, Hellas
In this workshop we will explore techniques on how to stage myths, poems and non-theatrical texts. We will develop from group activities to complicite exercises and by using basic impro, dynamic images and music we will try to give theatrical shape to a poem from within the Greek National curriculum for language.
"Drama encouragement" and school's cultural activities
Takis Tzamargias, teacher, director, Hellas
Cultural activities in school are inseparably connected with the educational system. Although they constitute an established and acceptable value, many times their educational role and their contribution to the renewal and enrichment of school - life has strongly been doubled. In the last decades, changes in the main theoretical ideas, as well as a general turning towards the value of aesthetic education, contribute decisively to the improvement, of cultural festivities in school and form a different understanding concerning the way of dealing with them. More and more teachers consult contemporary sources and make use of important texts, in order to make their students participants in the values and the ideas that come out of them. In their effort, however, to incorporate these texts among the schools shows, they fail to turn them to advantage on stage and they are finally led to what they try to avoid, which is the definition of the text and the "school - like" presentation of the show. The subject - matter of this workshop focuses on the forms that "drama encouragement" can take, in order to elevate these literatury texts on stage. It also focuses on the use of a serving the educational purposes in school festivities. Thus students' ability, not only to respond to the text, but also to take part in its recreation with artistic means, will grow and the event itself will rise to something special and unexpected, an event of collective awareness of the participants.
"Playing Through Theater" in Learning Process
Stelios Vgages, Panagiotis Kyritsis, teachers, animators of Playing Through Theater, Hellas
"Playing through theater" approaches the child not only educationally but also artistically. It's a process of ANIMATION that results in the most substantial communication among all the member of school society. It's incorporated in the whole of the learning practice and helps to the child's activation. "Playing through theater" tries to initiate the child to the communicative event that is life itself. It uses theatrical techniques to liberate him/her in multiple ways (imagination, creativity, symbolic thinking, criticism, expression). A) It forms a relationship between the student and the teacher, the spectators and the players, as a communication code develops between them which is based on playing and emotion. B) It transforms the child from a player to a spectator and vice versa all the time. C) It deliberates in the child the emotional excitement that the artist needs in order to 'act'. D) It enables the child to be ready for the 'art of theater' without psychological forcing, enclosure and arbitrary definitions. "Playing through theater" prepares for the art of the theater and forms the sensitive will-be-spectator that everyone calls for. It is the beginning (in the best and 'pedagogical' correct way) of the theatrical education. The theater world (script, roles, scene agreements, symbolism improvisation, acting) is familiar to those children who have taken part in "playing through theater".
Space, time, place: movement and dance workshop -Project MELINA
Yiannis Yiaples, dancer, Hellas
This movement and dance workshop is a set of movement games that form a creative lesson.Their aim is to make us familiar with non-verbal communication and body expression. In the meeting we will work out ways with which our body can narrate a story with simple everyday movements based on technical rules.