The Empty Space: Movement, Dance, and Theatre

REVISED

Fall 2011 and Winter 2012 quarters

Faculty

Walter Grodzik theater , Cynthia Kennedy leadership

Fields of Study

aesthetics, consciousness studies, cultural studies, dance, education, media arts, queer studies, somatic studies and theater

Preparatory for studies or careers in

teaching, theatre, expressive arts, dance and movement theory.

Description

This program will explore the interior spaces where performances begin and the exterior spaces where performances are realized. Students will begin with movement and theatre exercises that center and focus the mind and body in order to open oneself to creative possibilities and performance. Students will also study movement/dance and theatre as a means of physical and psychological focus and flexibility that enables them to more fully utilize their bodies and emotional selves in creating theatrical performance.

Through the understanding and embodiment of somatic concepts such as awareness, intention, centering, authenticity, and the interplay of mind and body, students will have the opportunity to explore creative imagination as it expresses itself from their own life processes, rather than from externally imposed images, standards and expectations. How does imagination respond to the emotional self, the physiology of the body, and the psychology of the mind? How can we become more expressive and responsive to our inner selves? Students will be invited to explore and enjoy the dance already going on inside their bodies, to learn to perceive, interpret and trust the natural intelligence of intrinsic bodily sensations. The class will use experiential techniques derived from several traditions of somatic philosophy.

In seminar, students will read a broad variety of texts about creativity, movement and dance history, and performance, performance history, and Western theatre history and dramatic literature. In particular, students will read Greek tragedy and comedy, the playwrights of the Elizabethan theater, such as Marlowe and Shakespeare, and the feminist comedies of the Restoration. The realism of the Nineteenth century will be seen through the plays of Ibsen and Chekhov and other realists, and students will study, discuss and perform the multicultural theatre of the Twentieth and Twenty-First century, including theatre, drama and performance art as found in the work of Thornton Wilder, David Mamet, Tony Kushner, Caryl Churchill, Henry David Hwang and Anna Devere Smith. The discussion of dramatic literature will be framed from many viewpoints, including structuralist, feminist, Marxist, post colonial and queer.

The program will include weekly seminars, workshops in movement/dance and theatre, and film screenings of various dance and theatre productions. This is an all-level program that welcomes students of all abilities that bring their excitement, commitment, discipline and creativity to the performing arts. Regular on-time attendance is fundamental to students' development and continuance in the program.

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

No Required Online Learning

Books

Greener Store

Required Fees

Fall $11/Winter $25 for tickets to performances.

Offered During

Day

Program Revisions