End of seven days of glorious work with Barney O’Hanlon and Laura Sheedy. These two are a great team, collaborating continually on the floor to negotiate a premium teaching environment. We have been composing small pieces of performance with text and movement, focusing around the theme of ‘distance’. Some of the exercises that we have engaged in have been simple yet so very effective, enabling 8 plus people to enter an improvisation that has integrity.
http://youtu.be/aDz29CyyPr4 Here is a link to one of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s videos. Body Mind Centering seems to have a profound effect on the actor’s body, preparing them for deep practice. It is worth exploring and i will continue to post references that i find useful.
Being in Voice - Class of 2012
Monday evenings 7 - 9 pm
Starting 6th February
South Brisbane
Actors, singers, teachers, public speakers, lawyers, doctors, tinkers, tailors and all who use their voices to express themselves, and to communicate - join us for 8 sessions as we explore how to keep our voices safe and healthy, while releasing them to carry our thoughts, ideas and feelings joyfully into the wide world.
Click here to express your interest
The Voice Class offers a safe environment to explore and expand your range, and to discover the amazing possibilities for creative expression that your voice can give you. We are a small group, working together to support and encourage each other as we share our vulnerabilities and our strengths.
Your voice is the sound of you. You can sound clear and confident, with pure voice, with text, in conversation or in song. It’s all a matter of practise, and of course, a healthy technique. You may already have that - and you can have more!
I look forward to sounding some great noises with you some time soon!
With kind regards
Flloyd
email: fkennedy@being-in-voice.com
(phone: 0414 749 739)
Cost is $360 for eight 2-hour sessions. Deposit of $100 payable in advance, balance is due at the first session, however I am open to negotiation.
It is very early, Wednesday, 25th January, 2012. It is raining, and I worry about people who were deeply affected by the Queensland floods, for this rain could trigger memories…although it is different this year, memory is not choosey.
Our work continues with Barney and Laura at Brisbane Powerhouse (Time, Space and Body Masterclass) and my interest is piqued. I am collecting some articles connected to Body-Mind Centering for us to read…articles such as "The Practical Application of Body-Mind Centering in dance…" by Martha Eddy and "Moving with Somatic Awareness" by Ninoska Gomez. I will take them to the studio at Metro Arts so we can read them there.
It is pouring today, and we are safely tucked up in the Turbine Room, 21 of us, on the floor, warming up. It has been a full three days, with developmental movement warmups: Body Mind Centering: sAboBody-Mind Centering®
Body-Mind Centering® (BMCtm) is an integrated approach to transformative experience through movement re-education and hands-on repatterning. Developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, it is an experiential study based on the embodiment and application of anatomical, physiological, psychophysical and developmental principles, utilizing movement, touch, voice and mind. This study leads to an understanding of how the mind is expressed through the body and the body through the mind.
The study of Body-Mind Centering is a creative process in which we learn to meet and recognize ourselves and others through the exploration of embodiment. Each person is both the student and the subject matter. Principles and techniques are taught in the context of self-discovery and openness. We learn to engage ourselves and others non-judgementally starting at the place where we are and the place where others are. In this way we seek to find the ease that underlies transformation (cut and paste from website, link above).
http://www.bodymindcentering.com/About/
There is an introduction to Body-Mind Centering on this website too, a decent article to give you an idea of what it is about.
This week 22 independent artists are training with Barney O’Hanlon and Laura Sheedy at Brisbane Powerhouse.
Motherboard Productions and the Brisbane Powerhouse present
TIME, SPACE and THE BODY: A Masterclass for Performing Artists
Performance makers are invited to re-energise their craft with this 7-day intensive from New York theatre specialists Barney O’Hanlon (SITI Company) and Laura Sheedy (The PIT).
Motherboard Productions is thrilled to bring theatre specialists Barney O’Hanlon and Laura Sheedy from New York City to Brisbane for an extraordinary training opportunity for theatre makers, performance artists, dancers, directors and choreographers. This 7-day physical training intensive will focus on the Viewpoints Training and Composition, enabling artists to work together spontaneously and intuitively, to create work quickly and inventively.
Today was closure: what can I take from this week and move forward, or what questions emerge as i reflect on our week together?
Each actor presented their story using different cards (Archetype cards etc) as prompts, weaving their emerging stories of understanding, change, discoveries, confusion and transformation. Some actors found the process challenging, others seemed to blossom with the freedom of their artistic journey: rather than being told exactly what to do the actor was required, throughout the week, to stand within their own understanding of the problem at hand: "how have i interpreted the problem at hand?"
This can be a huge growth in personal agency, and/or can result in confusion, particularly with actors who have a preference for more linear ways of learning, which is, after all, the more dominant modality of acting training. I am thinking that our relational way is perhaps more fluid and circular for many actors, with more room to sit in the ‘unknown’, a very uncomfortable yet crucial place to be.
It is out of the unknown, that creativity flourishes. We journey through the unknown, and then we reflect on what has happened, with the hope that we discover the ‘diamonds’ of the art of acting. This experiential way of learning relies on the actor to be proactive and curious, rather than learning different techniques of acting through being told what to do, and how to do it. Acting is far more than techniques. And is most definitely more than feelings.
Acting requires relationship, impulse, freedom and trust. Relational acting, incorporating ImpulseTraining provides just that: an opportunity to discover ‘who i am becoming’ and in so doing, bring a richer and more vibrant artist into the room. I am hoping the each artist who worked with me now feels more able to bring not only their bodies into the rehearsal room, but also their heart and their brain.
(Image is of the beautiful spiral that Debs, from Wellington, gave me on behalf of her class…I love spirals Debs, thank you so much, I will wear it with joy…)
4change is a coaching organisation that focuses on enhancing creative potential.
nest4change is a therapeutic performance company that works in the community using a narrative collaborative framework.
'nest' is a theatre company that creates new and innovative contemporary performance
