External Projects
Body + Song Workshops
This workshop is a rare opportunity to explore the organic intersection of song, movement and action.
Each session begins with the discovery of active silence, as the group follows its leader through elementary movement explorations in search of the playful, the rigorous, the dynamic, and the subtle. We then move into singing, using fragments of traditional and original vibratory songs to unlock the freedom and vitality of the body-and-song, the body-in-song, the body-of-song...
This workshop touches on all aspects of performance and is designed to serve the inner and outer lives of dancers, actors, singers, martial artists, yoga practitioners, and anyone with an interest in embodied practice. Every participant receives personal attention and guidance, and is invited to encounter the present moment in a safe and open space. Beginners and advanced participants are welcome.
Upcoming Workshops
- 2008 -
February 23
March 29
April 26
May 24
Saturdays, 2:00-5:00pm
Locations TBA
$20 participation fee
details and registration:
ben@urbanresearchtheater.com
Another City
Urban Research Theater's Another City takes place twice each year: at the peak of summer (August) and in the depth of winter (December). Over an intensive period of between two and five days, participants enter into a completely different rhythm and experience of New York City. Previous experience with singing or performance is not required.
Another City: Joyful Days
August 22-24, 2008
New York City
group singing - theater craft
individual work - urban pilgrimage
In the heat of the New York summer,
experience another way - another city - another self.
Registration Fee: $150
Limited to 8 participants.
This event is a unique chance to rediscover your world through the techniques of Urban Research Theater. You will never experience your city or yourself the same way again.
Each full day begins at sunrise in the serene half-wilderness of Central Park's North Woods. Here we will slow down, breathe deeply, and step out of the busy rhythms of urban life as we walk, sing, and explore simple physical exercises among the trees and waterfalls. Afternoon and evening sessions will take place in and around the Chez Bushwick studio, where participants will learn to work with traditional and original songs as a basis for developing short performance fragments.
To register or ask questions, email:
ben@urbanresearchtheater.com
See below for extended participant testimonies from previous Another City events.
Action Lab
Ben Spatz, the leader of Urban Research Theater, offers individual sessions for performers who are seriously committed to the investigation of physical, vocal, and acting craft.
What does it mean to really live onstage? How can technical precision support spontaneity and presence? How do you construct a line of actions that can be repeated without becoming mechanical? We will approach these questions with rigor and patience, skipping no steps, driving straight to your individual limits to increase your skills and self-knowledge.
To participate in Action Lab, you must bring a piece of material to work on. This can be a monologue, a poem, a song, or a short acting proposition. You can choose new material or you can bring part of a role you have played in the past or are currently working on. Together we will take your work to the next level of clarity and quality.
Make an Appointment
Length: 1-3 hours
Fee: $20/hour
Location:
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
Manhattan
Send an email with cover letter, resume, and possible dates/times to:
ben@urbanresearchtheater.com
Practitioner Exchanges
In the fall of 2008, Urban Research Theater will initiate a program of "practitioner exchanges" with groups throughout New York City who practice traditional and other embodied forms. Through these exchanges, we will expand our network of partner organizations beyond the experimental theater community, sharing our techniques with peers in these other forms and learning from them in ways that benefit our work.
We propose to meet with practitioners in the following fields:
- martial arts
- yoga and meditation
- physical fitness and cross-training
- alignment and massage techniques
- classical and opera singing
- traditional religious and folk singing
- contemporary dance
- drama and dance therapy
Every practitioner exchange encounter will be tailored to a specific group. Our initial proposals will be for a single, full-day encounter, but we are also open to exchanges ranging from just a few hours to several days. Time will be reserved for discussion as well as for practical exchange.
This project is part of our ongoing investigation into alternative models for supporting long-term performance research in New York City. By developing lasting relationships with practitioners of these diverse forms, we ultimately hope to build a new urban constituency that brings together the communities of art and practice.
Propose an Exchange
We invite teachers and practitioners of embodied forms to contact us about setting up a practitioner exchange.
ben@urbanresearchtheater.com
Participant Testimonials
There is some very strong evocation of something deep inside my spirit ... I can't put it into the words now, but following your voice I could feel something very archaical, old, essential in myself ... This kind of 'work' is very intimately and it was good for me to experience it in a small group. Michele was such a great 'wave' and invocation to move with freedom and joy. Opening inside - creating inner spaces and sharing its vibrations - that is the image which I have after your workshop...
- Tatyana Sehic, Another City, Winter 2008
I want to thank you again, and this time in a more aware way, for the wonderful workshop that you guys led. It's been such an important time for me as actress and as human being . . . As I mentioned right after the end of the workshop, something happened to me that hardly happens: I felt that I could totally trust you and let you direct my work . . . And again I have to thank you for this. For the working environment that you've been able to create.
- Giorgia Zago, Another City, Winter 2008
Thank you so much for the truly beautiful 'otherness' you sculpted with such grace. It was a tremendous gift. I felt like I was in another city, or even another country. I felt like a foreigner in this city where I have lived for six years . . . I am used to doing street theater that is very political and in-your-face. It's different when you're behind the mask of a message or image, or if you have costumes of any kind. Here we were just ourselves, doing this. I felt vulnerable in the city. Vulnerable in a radical way.
- Monica Hunken, Another City, Summer 2007
It was very liberating for me, truly inspiring and I still feel a surge of energy. Thank you for creating that welcoming and encouraging space that allowed us to explore our voices and bodies and explore some of our boundaries. I amazed myself how quickly I felt comfortable expressing myself in public - both in the studio and in the streets. The use of song really succeeded in creating imaginary spaces and perceptions within the city.
- Eddy Shoeffman, Another City, Summer 2007
From what I experienced, it seemed that what was at the heart of this method was that the actor gets to a place where they are feeling something, experiencing something within themselves that is also not shut off. There is an awareness generated that is apparent from the outside, and this visible internal awareness is what an audience or viewer would be drawn to and be able to connect with, as if they were experiencing the movement, the scene and the mental state of the performer through the performers eyes.
- Christina Spangler, Another City, Summer 2007