Workshops 2014
WORKSHOPS 2014
At this year's festival we are offering seven12-hour-workshops from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. We have great international improvisers coming with a good variety of workshop themes. We hope everyboy will find something they like!
The registration process
Last year the registration process has worked quite well, so we have decided to do it the same way again. You will have two weeks between April 25th and the May 8th to fill out the application form for the workshops. Afterwards we will put all applications into a lottery and draw the names of the poeple who will get a workshop spot. Therefore everybody who has applied by that time will have a fair chance!
Festival-Workshops (Levels 1-5)
The division into different levels is meant to help forming homogenous workshop groups to allow particpants to work on a similar level. Please be fair and rate yourself realistically to prevent frustration during the workshop.
Attention: NEW LEVELS!
Level 1:
I am relatively new to improvisation, I rehearse on a regular base, but haven't been on stage or only a few times.
Level 2:
I have been improvising for at least two years, have already performed on stage fairly often and I rehearse on a regular base.
Level 3:
I have been improvising for at least four years, I perform regularly on stage and I rehearse on a regular base with a fixed ensemble.
Level 4:
I have been improvising for at least six years, I perform regularly on stage and I rehearse on a regular base with a fixed ensemble.
Level 5:
I have been improvising for at least eight years, I perform regularly on stage and I rehearse on a regular base with a fixed ensemble. I have a professional approach to me as an improviser.
1. Faster than your brain! - Nathalie van Renterghem
Participants: Level 1 and higher
Instructor: Nathalie van Renterghem from Leuven / Belgium
The workshop will be taught in English
Do you know the feeling when a friend comes over and you know by the look on his face that you've done something wrong? Or when you've been waiting to hear back after a job interview and you finally get the call? No matter the outcome, your first response is going to be a physical one. You might start pacing the room. You might start clenching your fists. You might start jumping up and down... In any case your body responds faster than your brain! In improv, however, we often react to our partners' offers with words only. We process the information intellectually, forgetting that our bodies have memories, too. A memory that provides a much more impulsive and adequate response to any offer.
In this workshop we will attend to the question: How can we let our bodies really absorb the offers and respond from there? We will find answers through dance and movement improvisation which will bring us closer to really understanding impulse and response. By doing big group improvisations we will get a better understanding of leading and following and finding the balance between these two. No specific dance experience is required... only fun in exploring!
Nathalie Van Renterghem is the co-founder of Inspinazie Tout-Court in Leuven/Belgium and has been performing with this company for 20 years. Their regular shows include Keith Johnstone's formats Maestro Impro™, Gorilla Theatre™ as well as many self-created longforms. Inspinazie also develops improv performances dealing with themes such as diversity, change, feedback, dementia, etc. for companies and other clients. Nathalie applies improv in her work with companies and in the field of communication, creativity and personal development.
For more info on Nathalie and Inspinazie Tout-Court, visit: www.inspinazie.com
2. Back on track – Lisa Rowland
Participants: Level 2 and higher
Instructor: Lisa Rowland from San Francisco / USA
The workshop will be taught in English
We all know how much fun improv is when the show is GREAT. Everything is easy, anything seems possible, everyone is having a good time... and our partners have never looked better in their lives! But what about when it gets a bit shaky? When suddenly communication doesn't seem so easy anymore? A moment ago we felt happy, healthy and sexy, now we find ourselves in a state of insecurity and doubt. Moving the story forward doesn't seem to come naturally anymore – it seems like work. As we feel ourselves disconnecting from our partners and the audience, we start wondering: how can we keep having a good time even when things aren’t going as great as we’d hoped they would?
In this workshop, Lisa Rowland will give you specific tricks and techniques to keep the energy up, even in trying times. She will show you how keeping the fun will move the story forward by itself, how struggling can be a chance for something amazing, and how committing one hundred percent will captivate the audience and get you back on track.
Lisa Rowland is a San Francisco based improvisor. She has been improvising, teaching and training for more than 15 years. After graduating from Stanford University, she joined the performing company of BATS Improv, Northern California's most renowned improv performing and training center, and has been teaching and performing improvisation across the country and world ever since. Lisa is a member of Improv Playhouse of San Francisco with which she has headlined for several national improv festivals. In 2012, Lisa was voted Best Actress in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
For more info on Lisa, visit www.lisarowland.net
3. Acting for Improvisers – Kirsten Sprick
Participants: Level 3 and higher
Instructor: Kirsten Sprick from Hamburg / Germany
The workshop will be taught in English
Performing improvised theatre has many facettes. We try to be obvious and positive, playful and connected. As directors, we tell the story within a scene; as authors, we drive it forward. And finally, as actors, we try to create believable characters the audience can relate to... easier said than done, right? Focussing on so many different things at once keeps our brains rather busy. There is so much going on that we tend to get caught up in our own thinking - and this makes it hard to actually be a character instead of just pretending to be. After all, acting is only part of our job as improvisers. But if we want the audience to care about our characters and to feel what they feel, we must feel it first.
In this workshop, Kirsten Sprick will give you an introduction to basic acting techniques and show you ways to finetune your skills. Acting is a craft and you can improve it by learning about stage presence, your voice, body tension and most importantly: to be the character you play.
Kirsten Sprick is a founding member of the improv ensemble hidden shakespeare in Hamburg which won the Max-Ophüls audience award for their improvised film Heiligabend mit Hase in Hamburg in 2012. She is also a member of the international troupe Orca Islands. Kirsten has been an actress and improviser for 20 years and started teaching theatre at the Joop van der Ende Academy in Hamburg in 2004.
For more info on Kirsten and hidden shakespeare, visit www.hiddenshakespeare.de
4. Time to get uncomfortable – Glenn Hall
Participants: Level 3 and higher
Instructor: Glenn Hall from Perth / Australia
The workshop will be taught in English
Improvisation is everything we have been, everything we are and everything we hope to be. Every time we climb on stage we should risk revealing something of ourselves, and this should not always feel comfortable. When we first learn improv we seek comfort on stage, to do things that seem familiar and feel right. But as we grow as improvisers we need to continually re-invent ourselves, push the boundaries of what is possible for improv and for ourselves.
Whether it’s comedy or tragedy or anything in between, Glenn Hall will explode your comfort zone and push you to explore your limits and beyond. This workshop will provoke you into feeling and emotion before thought. If you’re too much in head, Glenn will get you in your body, your voice, your gut. He will get you showing, not telling; feeling then revealing.
Glenn Hall, the Artistic Director of Just Improvise in Perth/Australia, is an actor, improviser, voiceover artist and a radio presenter. He has been learning and performing improvisation for almost 30 years and teaching and producing it for the last 20. He has been teaching Acting and Improvisation to up-and-coming Acting and Music Theatre students at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, one of the most prestigious drama schools in the world, for more than a decade. He has also been teaching and performing in all Australian capital cities, Brazil and Germany.
For more info on Glenn and Just Improvise, visit www.justimprovise.com.au
5. Poetic Improv - Derek Flores
Participants: Level 4 and higher
Instructor: Derek Flores from Christchurch / New Zealand
The workshop will be taught in English
“Don't talk so much” is a phrase we have heard more than just once in an improv class. And yes, many of us have a tendency to babble on even though everything has already been said... but the use of words doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. If we consciously use our language to create more literary stories, if we create powerful images in the minds of our audience, if our words aren't random, but fine and distinct, we will put our improv to a new level.
In this workshop we will use short story elements to create a more literary and poetic improv scene. By describing a moment and a moment's history, by layering a character with an outside eye, by detailing the history of something not occurring on stage, we can create a fascinating world inspiring to our partners, the audience and ourselves. We will find ways to enrich the world outside of our stories, see how that affects the here and now and how it colours the characters we play... and within all that, we will rediscover the impish grin to play and fool our partners!
You don't need to be a native speaker to participate in this workshop. Derek will tailor the workshop to accommodate the needs of a mixed language group.
With over 20 years of improvisation experience in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and in some corners of Europe (1/3 of the 2006 FIFI world cup of improv championship team) Derek Flores brings a playful sense of danger, and a passion for unique stories. He is an unpredictable player and an energetic teacher. Trained by Keith Johnstone, Dennis Cahill, and an alumnus of Toronto's Second City mainstage he has also been the artistic director of the New Zealand Improv Festival, a sought after instructor in Australia, and is now a member of the Court Jesters in Christchurch.
For more info on Derek and The Court Jesters, visit www.courtjesters.co.nz
6. Close to you ... - Rama Nicholas
Participants: Level 4 and higher
Instructor: Rama Nicholas from Melbourne / Australia
The workshop will be taught in English
Romantic relationships, love, sex and intimacy are universal themes. We see them in film, theatre and music all the time. In improv, however, it seems to be different. We rarely see truly romantic love scenes and we almost never hear honest conversations about sex. The idea of entering such personal territory easily freaks us out. It's vulnerability at its purest... And yet, opening up to these themes can make our scene work much richer.
How do we electrify the audience with our sexual energy without being explicit? How do we touch their hearts as Shakespeare did in Romeo and Juliet? In this workshop, Rama Nicholas creates a relaxed and safe environment where you can get to the bottom of these questions, explore your fears around intimacy on stage, build trust and break down barriers.
Performing love scenes is a skill like any other and it can be learned. It just takes trust, bravery, honesty, and a willingness to take risks you might have never taken before.
Rama Nicholas is an actor and improviser and has been a member of Impro Melbourne’s Ensemble cast for over 13 years. During this time she has performed, produced and directed many productions. Recent theatre credits include her award winning one-woman Grimm fairy-tale musical ‘After Ever After’ performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Gypsyprov at Impulse Festival Toronto and Amsterdam improvisation festival 2013. Rama teaches improvisation in public workshops, in schools and the corporate sector. She has performed and taught improvisation across the globe in many festivals.
For more info on Rama, visit www.ramanicholas.com.au
7. Share your flop – Aitor Basauri
Participants: Level 5
Instructor: Aitor Basauri from London / UK
The workshop will be taught in English
Failure is essential to our work – we have heard it many times. And yet, failure is often referred to as something necessary, as something that just has to be accepted as there is no way around it. In fact, failure is more than the unpleasant part of a bigger picture. It is the very thing that makes our work beautiful.
Clown teacher Aitor Basauri, a student of Philippe Gaulier's, will make you fail time and again. While maintaining a light and playful environment he will provoke you and push your boundaries until you allow yourself to be seen while failing... and celebrate it! Sharing your flop with the audience is the birthplace of authenticity. It will make you find that comedy doesn't have to be created... it is already there as soon as you stop judging and start sharing. To put it in Philippe Gaulier’s words: “Once you stop taking yourself so damn seriously, you are free to act with pleasure.”
If you trust and fully commit to Aitor’s process in this workshop he will help you find the true comedic voice that is yours and yours only.
Aitor Basauri, artistic director and performer at Spymonkey, Brighton UK, has studied at the Centro Andaluz de Teatro in Seville and at the Philippe Gaulier School in London. He is a regular teacher of Spymonkey masterclasses, at the Philippe Gaulier School in Paris, and for clown doctors all over Europe. Over the years, he has performed in many productions, one of which was Zumanity (The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil) at the New York New York Hotel Casino in Las Vegas from 2003 to 2005.
For more info on Aitor and Spymonkey, visit www.spymonkey.co.uk