Workshop: The Desert

Led by Ben Spatz

Friday, June 24, 2011
1:00-8:00pm

Eden's Expressway
537 Broadway

This workshop will focus on the integration of song, movement, and text. It will be organized according to a flow between individual and group work. As a group, we will work on the basics of physical and vocal action: impulse, rhythm, and association. Through these elementary structures of embodiment we will search for moments of nondiscursive contact.

Each participant will also develop a short individual score that challenges them to a full engagement of body, voice, and being. These may involve songs and song fragments, precise physical actions, texts and poems, character and narrative. In the time given, we will see how far we can go and how deeply we are able to meet with each and ourselves.

The theme of the workshop is "the desert" in both reality and fantasy. What does the image of the desert evoke for you? Participants should bring a short text or poem (fully memorized) related to this theme. If your text is not in english, please bring a printed translation.

Please wear comfortable clothing that you can move in, with no writing on it, in shades of white and blue.

Professional experience with song and movement is not required, but participants should feel comfortable working with their body and voice. The workshop is designed for performers and performance artists of all kinds: dancers who want to sing; singers who want to move; actors who want a more precise approach to performance and technique.

Additional information:

Please contact Ben with any questions.