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Urban Research Theater Newsletter - February, 2008 ------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------ ANNOUNCEMENTS 1) New Website Launched 2) Upcoming Body & Song Workshops 3) Another City: Flame in a Jar 4) Membership Community 5) Grotowski Institute "Atelier" in Poland 6) CPR "Giving Voice" Festival in Wales NOTES FROM THE STUDIO 7) Michele: Going Deeper Into the Song 8) Ben: Selected Fragments ------------------------------------------------------ ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------------------------------ 1) NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED We are very pleased to announce the launch of a fully revised Urban Research Theater website! -- http://www.urbanresearchtheater.com/ On the new website you can find: -- descriptions of our ongoing practices and projects -- a calendar of upcoming and past events -- photos from Another City and First Song Cycle -- archived newsletters from the past two years -- announcement of our recent Rutherford Fellowship award -- links to our "artistic family" across the world, with images -- how to become a member of our supporting community Please visit our new website and see what we have been up to! ------------------------------------------------------ 2) UPCOMING BODY & SONG WORKSHOPS Urban Research Theater offers this three-hour workshop as an introduction to our methods. Body + Song is a rare opportunity to explore the organic intersection of song, movement and action. Every Body + Song workshop is a playful, demanding, and unique event. Participants are invited to make themselves available for physical and vocal explorations ranging from the highly dynamic to the subtle. Every participant receives personal guidance as well as safe and open space for wordless exploration. Beginners and advanced performers alike are welcome. Please come prepared to walk, run, sing, roll, leap, hum, and listen; to lead as well as to follow; and to work with a group, in pairs, and individually. Upcoming Dates: -- Saturday, February 23 -- Saturday, March 29 -- Saturday, April 26 -- Saturday, May 24 Time: 2:00pm-5:00pm Location: Bill Young Studios, 100 Grand Street, Manhattan Fee: $20 per workshop Places are limited. Contact ben@urbanresearchtheater.com to sign up! ------------------------------------------------------ 3) ANOTHER CITY: FLAME IN A JAR Urban Research Theater presents - ANOTHER CITY - - FLAME IN A JAR - In the heat of the New York City summer, experience another way - another city - another self. August 22-24, 2008 New York City Participation Fee: $200 early registration $250 after June 1 The group will be limited to 8 people. Contact ben@urbanresearchtheater.com for details or to register. "Another City: Heart of Winter" is a unique chance to rediscover your world through the techniques of the Urban Research Theater. You will never experience your city or yourself the same way again. Each day begins at sunrise in the most densely wooded area of Central Park. In the serene half-wilderness of the North Woods, you will be able to slow down, breathe deeply, and separate from the busy rhythms of urban life. We walk, sing, and engage in simple physical exercises among the trees and waterfalls. This is a unique bonding experience for the group as well as preparation for concentrated artistic work. For afternoon and evening sessions we shift to a theater studio, where participants learn to work on traditional and original songs as a basis for developing short performance fragments. We also spend time waking our bodies through extended periods of playful and demanding physical work. Much of Another City takes place in silence. To register, email: ben@urbanresearchtheater.com For more details or to read comments from previous participants, visit: www.UrbanResearchTheater.com ------------------------------------------------------ 4) MEMBERSHIP COMMUNITY Urban Research Theater intends to eventually support itself through community-based interactions rather than through ticket sales. In order to do this, we need to build a supportive membership community. If you support the work of Urban Research Theater; if you have participated in one of our workshops or events; if you believe in our philosophy of art and practice; if you enjoy receiving our monthly newsletter... Please become a member of the Urban Research Theater community! You become a member by making a donation of $5 per month to support our continuing work. Five dollars is not very much, the price of a single cheap lunch or an expensive coffee - but it means that you will think of us at least once each month. And, with a big enough membership community, this small amount can add up to a lot: -- If our community had 10 members, we would receive enough income to rent a space for one Body + Song workshop each month. -- If our community had 100 members, we would have enough money to cover all our work expenses for the year and run several week-long or even month-long events. -- If our community had 1000 members, we would be able to dedicate ourselves full-time to Urban Research Theater! Our goal right now is to build a community of 100 members. Please follow the link on our website to become a supporting member of the Urban Research Theater community. ------------------------------------------------------ 5) GROTOWSKI INSTITUTE "ATELIER" IN POLAND The Foundation for THE GROTOWSKI INSTITUTE Wroclaw, Poland invites for ATELIER 2008 SUSPENSION OF EXPRESSION 1-27 July 2008 Directed by: Jaroslaw Fret and Dr. Grzegorz Ziolkowski The Atelier consists of a series of practical and theoretical work sessions for actors, musicians, singers, dancers, and theatre people with the aim to work on the craft in the primary meaning of the word. The craft is a skill of discovering creative motivation in oneself, of using tools, of keeping in order the working spaces (actual spaces and spaces of the body and the voice). These elements build a skeleton of actor's creative preparation for actions, the core of which are re-cognition and dedication. Atelier 2008 will be centered on the problem of suspension of expression as the creative need and force in the actor's art. PROGRAMME The programme of the Atelier consists of: a theatre festival Openings and Courses. Openings are presentations of performances, concerts and demonstrations of work open for wider audiences. Presentations will be made mainly by artists whose projects are realised along the promotional line of the Grotowski Institute. In 2008 following ensembles will share their works: -- Laboratorio Permanente di Ricerca sull'Arte dell'Attore (Torino, Italy) -- Maisternia Pisni (Lviv, Ukraine) -- New World Performance Laboratory (Akron, USA) -- Plavo Pozoriste/The Blue Theatre (Belgrade, Serbia) -- Song In-Between Undertaking (Wroclaw, Poland) -- Theatre ZAR (Wroclaw, Poland) Courses will be carried within 3 five-day units which embrace independent lines of work developed by separate artists (on a whole 200 hours of practices). Apart from them, the programme includes: theoretical classes, meetings with work leaders, and film presentations with introductions. The work of the Atelier will be summarized during the last two days dedicated to individual meetings, presentations of the participants' works, evaluation and summary. SPACES The sessions will take place in the site of the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw - in the historical space of the Laboratory Theatre (Rynek Ratusz 27), as well as in the forest base of the Institute in Brzezinka - the place of realisation of paratheatrical projects of Jerzy Grotowski in the 1970s and his Theatre of Sources in the early 1980s. SESSIONS' LEADERS -- Zygmunt Molik (a long-term member of the Laboratory Theatre) -- Domenico Castaldo and actors from Laboratorio Permanente di Ricerca sull'Arte dell'Attore (Turin, Italy) -- Natalka Polovynka and Sergey Kovalevich of Maisternia Pisni (Lviv, Ukraine) -- Matej Matejka and other actors of Theatre ZAR (Wroclaw, Poland) -- Jaroslaw Fret (Director of the Grotowski Institute, leader of Theatre ZAR) -- Dr. Grzegorz Ziolkowski (Programme Director of the Grotowski Institute) assisted by Agnieszka Pietkiewicz (the Grotowski Institute) -- Monika Blige, Adela Karsznia, and Magdalena Madra (members of the Research Team of the Grotowski Institute), and Duncan Jamieson (Exeter University, UK) SCHEDULE 1 July (Tuesday): arrival, Openings (Wroclaw) 2-4 July (Wednesday-Friday): Openings (Wroclaw) 5-9 July (Saturday-Wednesday): 1st Step (Wroclaw): Domenico Castaldo / Zygmunt Molik 10 July (Thursday): lecture and film presentations, meetings with work leaders, travel to Brzezinka 11-15 July (Friday-Tuesday): 2nd Step (Brzezinka): Matej Matejka with Theatre ZAR / Maisternia Pisni 16 July (Wednesday): lectures, film presentations, meetings with work leaders 17 July (Thursday): free day, possibility to attend conference on Pedro Calderon de la Barca in the Grotowski Institute 18-22 July (Friday-Tuesday): 3rd Step (Brzezinka): Grzegorz Ziolkowski with Agnieszka Pietkiewicz / Jaroslaw Fret with Theatre ZAR 23 July (Wednesday): lecture, film presentations, meetings with work leaders 24-25 July (Thursday-Friday): individual meetings in work 26 July (Saturday): presentations of the participants' works, evaluation, summaries 27 July (Sunday): departure LANGUAGE All courses will be run in English. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS Sixteen. The participants will be selected based on the application forms. COST 1100 Euros. Cost for Central and Eastern European citizens: 800 Euros. This takes form of a donation for the activities of the foundation and covers: entrance fee for performances during Openings, tuition, travel from Wroclaw to Brzezinka and back, accommodation in Wroclaw, accommodation and meals in Brzezinka. The participants arrive to Wroclaw on their own expense. APPLICATIONS Applications should be sent by electronic mail only to Agnieszka Pietkiewicz: agnieszka@grotowski-institute.art.pl DEADLINES -- Sending of application forms: 30th of April 2008. -- Confirmation will be sent to selected participants by 15th of May 2008. -- The fee should be transferred, in euros only, by 1st of June 2008 at the account provided. INFORMATION Detailed information on the Atelier 2008 is provided by Agnieszka Pietkiewicz: ph. (0048) 71 34 45 320 or ph./fax (0048) 71 34 34 267; email: agnieszka@grotowski-institute.art.pl. COORDINATION Coordination: Justyna Rodzinska Collaboration: Agnieszka Pietkiewicz and Karolina Szwed THE GROTOWSKI INSTITUTE Rynek-Ratusz 27, 50-101 Wroclaw, Poland ph./fax /0048/ 71 34 34 267 ph. /00 48/ 71 34 31 711, /00 48/ 71 34 45 320 www.grotowski-institute.art.pl ------------------------------------------------------ 6) CPR "GIVING VOICE" FESTIVAL IN WALES The Centre for Performance Research Presents: GIVING VOICE 10: BREATH INSPIRATION VOICE 27th March - 1 April 2008 Workshops - Performances - Presentations - Talks Join us for an uplifting compendium of voice workshops, performances, talks, seminars and lecture-demonstrations reflecting voices from Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, Wales and Europe and meet with fellow voice enthusiasts and artists from around the world. Breath is fundamental to life but also to giving voice. For the actor and for the singer the breath is a life long focus of attention. There is always something new to learn. The process of life: environment, anxiety, change, aging, illness - all these can affect breathing as well as professional demands of character, vocal range, size of auditorium, and so on. In some cultures the breath is talked of in terms of 'management' and 'control' but in others breath is 'spirit', 'energy', or even God. What can we learn from ancient practices and new understandings that emanate from neuroscience and biology? What can performers gain from considering philosophies that address the deeper relationship of breath to life? Might a cognisance of the latest scientific revelations gained through technological advance empower skill, technique and creativity? -- CHRISTIAN WOLZ (GERMANY): Breath - Sound - Noise, Workshop for Vocal Improvisation -- KRISTIN LINKLATER (USA): The Purpose of Breathing -- ROGER SMART(USA): Fitzmaurice Voicework - An Introduction and Exploration -- LIN SNELLING (CANADA): Performing the Body -- MICHELE GEORGE (CANADA): Octave of Inspiration -- THEATRE ZAR (POLAND): One, Two and Three day workshops -- ASHISH SANKRITYAYAN (INDIA): A Practical Introduction to Dhrupad Singing -- FRANKIE ARMSTRONG (WALES) & JANET B. RODGERS (USA): Breath, Voice, Character and Song -- EVIE MARK & AKINISIE SIVUARAPIK (CANADA): Inuit Throat Singing Workshop -- ANNA DEAVERE SMITH (USA): The Art of Listening -- MAHSA & MARJAN VAHDAT (IRAN): A Blessing of Song in a Persian Garden GIVING VOICE PERFORMANCES & PRESENTATIONS: Fatima Miranda, Theatre Zar, Evie Mark & Akinsie Sivuarapik , Anna Deavere Smith, The Vahdat Ensemble, Ashish Sankrityayan, Christian Wolz, Simon Thorne, Yvon Bonenfant CPR CONTACT DETAILS Centre For Performance Research (CPR) The Foundry, Parry Williams, Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth, Wales UK SY23 3AJ www.thecpr.org.uk The Centre for Performance Research (CPR) is a pioneering and multi-faceted theatre organisation located and rooted in Wales, working nationally and internationally. CPR produces innovative performance work: arranges workshops, conferences, lectures and master classes (for the professional, the amateur and the curious); curates and produces festivals, expositions and exchanges with theatre companies from around the world; publishes and distributes theatre books, as well as the journal Performance Research, and houses a resource centre and library that specializes in world theatre and performance and maintains an archive on contemporary Welsh performance. ------------------------------------------------------ NOTES FROM THE STUDIO ------------------------------------------------------ 7) MICHELE: GOING DEEPER INTO THE SONG What does it mean to enter the song and search within it--the song being vast and me being its traveler? It means, first, that I don't hold my body against the force of the song's current, that eventually, because I repeat it with delicate care over and over again, I become responsive to the small streams within it. It means that I soften to the way the song moves in me and that I keep softening until how I sing is at the mercy of the song. Ben sang one song in the space for almost 40 minutes. The song he sang has only four syllables, but they are four very individual, living syllables, each demanding its own care, and the range Ben craves to sing it at demands that he grow technically and relax at a higher level of skill. To ask that he simply go into the space and sing this little charm over and over again had me worried. Would he have the patience to remain soft, to make nothing happen while singing, and see where the song eventually brought him? I thought, three things can happen: he can fall into a waking asleep, he can harden himself in order to complete the task, or the song can change him. How to best ensure that the third happened? How to keep him paying gentle attention to the song through all moments of his singing? I stayed with him quietly, watching for something, giving him new technical tasks each time a new impulse or sound arose, and each time he appeared to be hardening or growing lethargic. I was worried the tasks would disturb him, but none seemed to disturb the search. None of the tasks were wrong because each renewed his attention, woke him up again to the song. In fact, it was enough of a task for him to remain singing delicately, with care, for 40 minutes. The reward? Yes, a deepening contact with the song. This was visible. But there was something more--an innocent trust came into his way of exploring the song. I felt that the more this childlike quality was evoked, the better able he was to pick up and even abandon anchor, and go farther and farther out. This seemed to be the hardest-won reward. ------------------------------------------------------ 8) BEN: SELECTED FRAGMENTS ... By refusing to let our level of physical dynamism drop below a certain level of athleticism, we cut ourselves off from the possibility of a kind of spontaneous work that is paradoxically lighter, more joyful, and far more difficult. ... Michele said that when she was just 'following' me in the space, there was a disappearance of lethargy. Is it possible to find that same lightness when you are working alone? How to do this? ... Relaxation is the place of deepening. You relax - and the dreamlife comes. ... Attention is a profound, irreducible, spiritual concept. It is not just what you are looking at with your eyes. ... "Relax the attention." Introverted attention is one of the tensions that often arises with a new level of movement or impulse. It should be relaxed along with the others. There is no need to manufacture an external partner or to "force" the attention to be external. It is just a question of relaxing the attention within the impulse. ... Each song should start in relation to where the last one ended. Each song should be a process, taking the quality from one place to another. That's how you know when you are done. I don't like the feeling of trying to enter the line of actions when the song hasn't arrived. I do this because I am impatient to make a show. But the result is just a show. It's necessary to enter the songs first. The current of the songs is what's important. How do I approach the structure, given this? I should not try to fit myself into the theatrical images. No. It must be a real work. Okay if it takes much longer. Yesterday I felt I was straining my voice, pushing to accomplish - to "produce an effect." This may make the theatrical product more intelligible, but it also decreases the quality of attention, the possibility of a sacred attention in the approach to the work. It should be the other way around. That quality should come first. Otherwise it's not a true document of our work. One is often caught trying to be more than one is, especially when a guest is present. The real thing is always less but also more. ... Each song takes you from one place to another. Each song starts where the other left off. It's your location along this path that matters, not which song you are singing. "Transformation of energy." ... Teaching = "Long-term active witnessing" Craft = "Along the seam of conscious and unconscious" Physical Work = "Burn -> Stretch -> Propose" ... 1) enter the space 2) enter the current of the songs 3) relax the attention 4) enter the line of actions ... Two Principles for Art as Vehicle: 1) When a person enters into a precise technical score, you can perceive the difference between mechanical execution and life/play within the score. The difference is very subtle, but it is visible and to some extent objective. 2) Therefore, it is possible to design the score on the principle of making that happen. This is then relative to the individual, rather than on principles related to how the score's composition will be perceived by the audience. We are familiar with this idea in art, to the degree that actors, writers, and choreographers sometimes create roles for specific performers. But it is almost always a secondary concern within the frame of composing for an audience. To actually make this the primary principle of composition is to turn the art-making process on its head. ... Was it Foucault who said provocatively that the 21st century will be Deleuzian? I hope that the 21st century will be a time when the meaning behind Grotowski's work is better understood. Perhaps the 21st century will be Grotowskian. ... Michele: "You're just to go into the space and do the structure. Nothing else." Ben: "Why does it hurt so much?" Michele: "Because it's reality. It's not the fantasy." ... ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ As always, comments and feedback are welcome. Ben Spatz & Michele Farbman Urban Research Theater New York City ben@urbanresearchtheater.com michele@urbanresearchtheater.com