News: Dynamix Performance as Action Workshops

https://www.facebook.com/carliolphotography/

Follow North East Theatre Guide on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NETheatreGuide and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NETheatreGuide. 

Dynamix Performance as Action Workshops: A Butterfly in the Head Project

On Wednesday evenings Gateshead’s Dynamix Skatepark & Performance Centre is opening up their space to host a skills development, ideas testing and creation session. 

These sessions will develop theatre performance skills with a physical emphasis, skills in physical disciplines such as aerial circus, wall-trampoline, ground-based acrobatics & balance, dance, as well as music and song skills, digital art/film, and develop a performance language which is the voice of an activist mind-set.

The 2 main aims of the sessions are;

·      To bridge the gap between theatre/music performers and people coming from intensely physical practices like circus skills, dance, parkour, skate/bmx and dance, so that we can create a performance language which combines physical skills with story and meaning.  There are actors who have not had the opportunity to develop their physical skills and the opportunities for performance that they offer.  There are people who practice physical skills who might not have considered how these could be used in a performance setting, and might not have the performance skills or experience.

·      To develop a performance language which emerges out of consciousness and understanding of some of the issues which face us today, inspired social justice, activism, and telling the stories and amplifying the voices which often go unheard.

Engaging with audiences who are not ‘typical’ theatre goers.

Who is it for?

·         

     People with some training, background, and experience of performance           OR

·        People who have dedicated themselves to developing physical skills such as Aerial Circus, acrobatics, breakdance, parkour, capoeira, dance, martial arts, skate, bmx etc  OR

·        People who are from a music, digital art or film background

·        People who are curious about how theatre and performance can be used as a tool in social justice, challenging, questioning, proposing, inspiring, creating change..

The details: Sessions run from 6-9pm on Wednesdays 3 times a month.  The venue is Dynamix Indoor Skatepark and Performance Centre, Albany Rd Junction, A184, Gateshead, NE8 3AT (watch out, the post code often sends people past our building into the industrial estate when put into a sat nav).  Sessions cost £10 per person, (people who are unwaged, or might otherwise have difficulty paying this can pay £3 or what they can afford to contribute). 

Contact: Rosa Stourac McCreery on Tel: 07964212929 rosa@dynamixskatepark.com

You can see more details on the following facebook pages:

Dynamix skate park (Gateshead)   https://www.facebook.com/dynamixgateshead/?fref=ts

The New Tools or Art as a Weapon of Mass Construction https://www.facebook.com/groups/445042519003955/

What do you get? Professional Development Training in Performance skills with a physical approach.  This is drawn from influences such as: the teaching of Jacques Lecoq, neutral mask, mime, ensemble working, Commedia dell’arte, theatrical-clown, buffon, forum theatre and theatre of the oppressed techniques.

Skills training in the following areas:

·      Aerial Circus

·      Wall Trampoline

·      Ground-based balance, movement and acrobatics

·      Dance

·      Music, rhythm and song-writing

You can choose to specialise in one or a few of these various skills, or try all of them.

The session will usually follow this structure:

1 hour of performance skills training

1 hour of skills training (from the list above)

1 hour of inspiration and development: drawing on the research and inspiration of other examples of art as activism, resistance movements, people’s champions, freedom fighters.  An opportunity to start developing material and performance ideas, collaborate with others, test out ideas and work that you are developing with an audience of ‘critical friends’.

Who is involved?

The process has been conceived by, and will be facilitated by Rosa Stourac McCreery.  Rosa is a performer, facilitator and director, clown doctor, and co-director of Dynamix Extreme CIC.  She studied theatre at Jacques Lecoq International Theatre school, Paris, and has studied forum theatre in Paris and with Cardboard Citizens in London.  She has worked in Spain, Italy, France, Tunisia, South Africa, Malawi, Ghana, Senegal, Canada, Zimbabwe, Ireland, and around the UK.  She has used theatre and performance skills to work with some of the most marginalised people, from Street Children in Ghana, Senegal and Zimbabwe, to some of the most deprived communities in the UK.  She has been involved in developing Dynamix alongside Rico Jakk, since 2007: working without funding, with a social enterprise model, to involve local people in the transformation of derelict buildings and wasted resources, to create facilities and services which are not available elsewhere, and which serve to develop and support people who are under-represented and lacking in opportunities.

A number of other artists and practitioners will also contribute to the process, from musicians and song-writers, to aerialists and digital/film artists.

This is currently an un-funded project, supported by Dynamix Extreme CIC.  The first phase will serve as a pilot with the potential to seek further support and resources to enable the project to continue and develop.