Category Archives: Training

Final Reminder CfP TaPRA Performer Training WG

The 12th Annual TaPRA Conference will be co-hosted by University of Bristol, UK from 5th to 7th September 2016 (see:  )

The Performer Training Working Group has been meeting for eleven years and has produced several collaborative outputs, including a variety of contributions to the thrice-yearly journal, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, dedicated to training in all its manifestations, and the associated blog.

Konstantinos, Maria, and Tom, the working group co-convenors, are delighted to issue a call for contributions for the forthcoming 2016 TaPRA conference.

We are interested in a range of presentation formats including the following:

  • formal papers (max 20 minutes)
  • provocations or position statements (max 10 minutes)
  • instances of practice as research or short workshops/demonstrations (1 hour)

 

2016 Theme: Speech and Text in Performer Training

This year’s focus acknowledges the role that text and speech play in performer training. In the context of the rich variety of training practices and research in the working group, ‘text’ is not meant to refer only to words in a printed play-text, but rather to the expansive range of sources in our work. In particular, we would like to consider the link between the different notions of text and speech in this year’s conference. What are the key interventions that are being made in these areas? How do we, from our different and overlapping disciplines, teach, train, and theoretically engage with text and speech in our work?

Within this broad area, there are particular themes which we invite contributions on:

The actor and the text

What are the current developments and new practices in actor training on text? What are the dominant trends in work on verse, and on early-modern texts? How does actortraining bridge vocal studies and textual studies, and how does ‘speech’ relate to these two areas? How have training practices evolved within professional theatre companies? What are the emerging practices for textual analysis within actor training? What have been the developments in speech training for radio drama, and voice-over? How do we train actors to work on found texts such as documentary or testimonial sources?

Dance and movement: the physical and verbal body

How do training pedagogies based on dance integrate text? How do performers/trainers work with notions of text as soundscape or score? How does the physical body relate to silence or to the verbal? How do we understand and frame speech and verbalisation as a physical act? Where are the intersections between somatic practices and speechtraining? To what extent is this distinct from physicalisation in dance? What are the current approaches to physiovocal training?

Text and Aurality

How do we train the sonic and aural aspects of speech? How do we work on text in opera and musical theatre training? How do we see speech and voice as distinct or overlapping? How do we tailor our training towards these different forms? What are the new interventions with regard to speech within vocal studies? How much of this work takes place in formalised training or rehearsal contexts, and how much in the performer’s own, private work? How does language function in relation to text and speech?

Intersections between text, speech, and technology

What are the functions of speech in our work with digital and emergent technologies? What constitutes the ‘text’ and are there additional or alternative understandings of speech and text that technology can offer within a training context? How do we understand speech and the post-human? How might we explore synthesised or mediated speech in performer training?

If you have proposals that do not fit into this list, please do contact the Performer TrainingWorking Group convenors for a conversation:

Tom Cantrell ()

Maria Kapsali ()

Konstantinos Thomaidis ()

 

Submitting a Proposal

Please send 250 word (max) proposals/abstracts with brief biography (100 words) and a list of resource needs to all of the three convenors by 18th April 2016 at the latest.  You will hear back from us within 2-3 weeks. We welcome questions and conversations prior to this date if any colleagues need advice and/or clarification on any aspect of the above.

Circulation of paper-based presentations in advance of the conference

Papers are circulated in advance of the conference, so paper contributors should be prepared to have a full paper by early/mid August.

Please note that our group also welcomes participation from colleagues who do not wish to submit papers or other presentations. However, if you do wish to participate in ourworking group, but are not delivering a paper, please email us your name and details so we can ensure you receive papers in advance.

Joint working group sessions at the TaPRA conference

Please also note that our working group is currently planning to schedule one joint session. More details will be announced on this in due course.

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training journal (TDPT)

TaPRA Papers may be considered for further development and publication in the Routledge Journal TDPT, 

Embodied Dancer Pro 60 Dance-specific yoga teacher training – ​2016 entry now accepting applications

The UK’s only dance specific yoga teacher training. Embodied Dancer Pro 60 is  aimed at those yoga teachers already qualified who would like to work with dancers, or dancers and movement professionals who would like to use yoga in their rehearsal, performance or training environments.

It will not qualify you to be a yoga teacher but can serve as additional hours for those already training, or just as a way of enhancing your existing skillset.

What the course covers:

  • The relevant anatomy, physiology  and biomechanics of dance and dancers including dance injuries and how to use yoga in both pre-hab and rehab
  • Investigating the nervous system – constructing yoga practices that address issues such as, performance anxiety
  • Restorative yoga practices that can be incorporated into rehearsal, training or performance situations.
  • Navigating the demands of the profession – overtraining, burnout and perfectionism.
  • Disordered eating and negative body image. How the principles of yoga (non-harming, self-study, acceptance and self-care) can be taken into the dance training environment (and beyond).
  • Constructing a safe and effective 6 week plan for use either in educational settings or as part of professional environment

Times and Dates: Jan 30/31. Feb 27/28, May 7/8

Venue: The Monument Studio, Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, Clifton Lodge, St Margaret’s Drive, Twickenham. TW1 1QN

Cost: £540 or £500 if booked and paid for in full by 31st December 2015

Booking via my website  or email me for further details

Suitable for: Qualified yoga teachers, dance teachers, professional dancers. You must have an established yoga practice of at least 2 years to get the most out of this training.

 

About Abby

I’ve  been teaching yoga for 15 years,  and am qualified to teach yoga through Yoga Campus (formerly Life Centre Education). I am registered with the UK Yoga Alliance as a Senior Teacher and with the US Yoga Alliance as an EYT-200 More recently, I have joined the faculty of  as Head of Performer Science delivering webinars and online training in the field of sport/dance performance enhancement.

My PhD investigated the use and benefit of yoga in dancer’s training. For more about me, please visit my website.

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog – Extended Call for Contributions 30th October

Extended Call for Contributions – 30th October

The Theatre, Dance and Performance Training journal is inviting contributions for a new TDTP blog site.

We hope that this online presence will generate debate, conversation, argument, provocation and light, not only around matters presented within the journal itself, but also outside it – issues churning away in the territory of global performer training not yet articulated and presented within the virtual or hard covers of TDPT.

One of our aspirations for the blog is that it should represent a very productive and discursive teaching ‘tool’ – or forum – within all levels of education and training preoccupied with dance, performance and theatre.

Anyone can access the content, so we aim for a wider readership than the print journal.  We are interested in using a mix of different kinds of content and formats including audio and video, as well as opinion pieces, edited discussions, interviews or shorter responses.

Researchers and practitioners at all levels of their career/research are welcome to apply.

If you are interested in contributing for the launch and/or would like to discuss a possible submission further please contact Laura Bissell (blog)  or Maria Kapsali (studio)  by Friday 30th of October 2015.