School of Performance and Cultural Industries

Alec Clegg Studio

University of Leeds

Monday February 11th, 5-7pm

Organised by the Performance Training, Preparation and Pedagogy Research Group

Join us for an exciting evening dedicated to Directing including:

a talk by Professor Simon Shepherd (Central School of Speech and Drama) and sharing of work in progress of Phaedra I — by Persona Theatre Company and directed by Dr Avra Sidiropoulou, Open University of Cyprus, followed by a roundtable discussion with the creative team.

The event will conclude with a wine reception and the launch of the series The Great European Stage Directors edited by Simon Shepherd and Directions for Directing by Avra Sidiropoulou (2018). 

Phaedra I — ­is a solo multimedia portrayal of a modern-day Phaedra, bearing all the ambiguities of a restless, contemporary woman who oscillates between the desires of the body and the attraction to the void, suffocating in her socially imposed roles within the ruins of a decaying metropolis. The production’s use of 3-D mapping, video projections and minimalist aesthetics yields a highly poetic visual journey through Phaedra’s stations of personal and public history. Phaedra I—is being realized with the kind support of the J.F.Costopoulos Foundation.

Simon Shepherd will ask ‘What do directors direct?’, building on his previous reflections on the specific role of the director. This, will be argued, is as distinct from the activity of directing.  In answering this question, the talk shall suggest the key things directors need to be able to do, and consequently what they have to learn.

Please RSVP to Linda Watson, Linda Watson, [email protected], by Thursday the 7^th of February. 

An international symposium presented by DAMU and The S Word 

Legacy and the live tradition: acting, directing, thinking…

8^th to 10^th November 2019, @ Theatre Faculty, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU), Prague, Czech Republic.

DAMU and The S Word present a symposium on the theatrical legacy of one of the most influential personalities of 20th century theatre and his relationship to Konstantin Stanislavsky.

Under the auspices of Jan Hančil, rector of AMU and the minister of  Education  of The Czech Republic, the symposium will bring together scholars and theatre practitioners; explore Brecht‘s influence on the work of directors and acting teachers, and the relationship between Brecht and Stanislavsky;  trace the influences  on  the approach  to directing  theatre in various  countries, to playwriting  and consider Brecht‘s  politics and  theatre  as highly social  art. A Comparison with Stanislavsky‘s approach to theatre training, the  development  of modern  theatre  directing, and dramatic, alternative and authorial theatre will also be explored.

Guest speakers, paper presentations, workshops  and panel  debates  will take  place  in three focus areas:

Brecht,  his  legacy and  modern  theatre practice  will  examine Bertolt  Brecht’s  influence in the fields of theatre directing, modern stagecraft, scenography and playwriting and his continuing impact on the modern  theatre.

Brecht, Stanislavski and the actor focusing on comparison and aspects of actor training and the actor’s work as reflected in the brechtian and stanislavskian traditions. We will explore new developments and interpretations in each of these and their influence and impact on contemporary state of the art psychology, neuroscience and theatre studies.

Brecht’s Theatre practice and criticism (historical and theoretical background and new research achievements)

Guest speakers, paper presentations, workshops  and  panel  debates  will  take  place  in  three focus areas:

Brecht,  his  legacy and  modern  theatre practice  will  examine Bertolt  Brecht’s  influence in the fields of theatre directing, modern stagecraft, scenography and playwriting and his continuing impact on the modern  theatre.

Brecht, Stanislavski and the actor focusing on comparison and aspects of actor training and the actor’s work as reflected in the brechtian andstanislavskian traditions. We will explore new developments and interpretations in each of these and their influence and impact on contemporarystate of the art psychology, neuroscience and theatre studies.

Brecht’s Theatre practice and criticism (historical and theoretical background and new research achievements)

Keynote speakers:

Professor Stephen Parker (Honorary Research Fellow, University of Manchester, UK.), author of Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life(Bloomsbury) described by The London Review of Books as a “superb biography of a great iconoclastic writer”.

Professor Jean-Louis Besson (Professor Emeritus, University of Paris-Ouest-Nanterre-La Defense), author of over 100 publications,translations, articles and papers, including “Brecht and the centaurs” and “Brecht in Hollywood”.

Special Guest speaker:

Thomas Ostermeier the distinguished multi-award-winning international theatre director, whose work is often seen at the Schaubühne, Berlin.

Guest speakers/workshop leaders include:

Professor David Barnett (University of York), author of A History of the Berliner Ensemble (Cambridge University Press), and Brecht in Practice(Bloomsbury).

Stephen Unwin, theatre director and author of The Complete Brecht Toolkit (Nick Hern Books), and A Guide to the Plays of Bertolt Brecht(Methuen).

David Zoob (Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, UK.), author of Brecht: A Practical Handbook (Nick Hern Books)

NB. speakers are subject to final confirmation.

We now invite proposals for the following:

paper presentations (20 minutes), workshops (40 minutes) and panel presentations of a minimum of 3 speakers (60 minutes).

Submissions (not more than 300 words) should be accompanied by a short biographical note, and must be received by 14^th June 2019

Please send by email to Prof. Paul Fryer ([email protected]).

Selected papers from this event will be published in a special edition of the journal Stanislavski Studies (Taylor & Francis) in Autumn 2020.

The Stanislavsky Research Centre, and The Department of Theatre Studies (University of Malta) in collaboration with The University of California Riverside.5^th, 6^th, 7^th April 2019 @ The Valletta Campus of the University of Malta, Valletta, Malta.

Please join us for the 4th international S Word symposium.
Programme includes: Keynote speakers, Prof. Laurence Senelick (Tufts University) and Prof. Vicki Ann Cremona (University of Malta), a special presentation by Prof. Sergei Tcherkasski (St. Petersburg Academy), 25 papers and 8 practical workshops covering a wide range of topics including Stanislavsky and Yoga, Active Analysis, Grotowski, Stanislavsky in contemporary teaching and training, Boleslavsky and Scenic Realism.

Our symposium shows a dual ambition.with presentations that reflect on Stanislavsky’s work within the social, cultural, and political milieus in which it developed without however forgetting the ways in which this work was transmitted, adapted, and appropriated within recent and current theatre contexts. The Symposium’s reach, therefore, is both historical as well as contemporary, and participants are encouraged to think of Stanislavsky both as an instigator of modern theatre as well as a paradigm for performance practices within twenty-first-century training and performance scenarios. 

Selected papers and other material from this event will be published in a special edition of the journal, Stanislavski Studies, in March 2020.

Registration for this event is now open online:

https://www.um.edu.mt/events/stanislavski2019/registration

Standard Registration Fee (until 29 March 2019 midnight CET): EUR 225.

Members of SCUDD, ATHE and FDS: EUR 160.

Concessions (including students, unemployed, pensioners): EUR 100.

This event is generously supported by the School of Performing Arts of the University of Malta.

The School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds is currently seeking applicants for 4 Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDA) to begin in October 2019.

We are seeking highly motivated individuals, with academic and professional experience and a willingness to contribute to the research needs of our partners, to undertake fully funded doctoral research, supervised by members of academic staff and industry professionals in the following projects:

Researching Radicalism in the North: Embedding New Modes of Dramaturgical Research at Red Ladder Theatre

Developing audiences for drama: a critical analysis of England’s regional touring strategy

Innovative Approaches to Ballet Audience Development with Young Asian Communities

A new model for large-scale community performance – SlungLow and Leeds Peoples’ Theatre

For more information and deadlines for the applications, please click on the links above or visit: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/performance-research-degrees/doc/scholarships-7/page/1

The Future of Training: Practice and Publication

Wednesday 31^st of October, 15:15-17:15

University of Leeds, School of Performance and Cultural Industries

Alec Clegg Studio

Jane Collins, Jonathan Pitches, Ben Spatz and Kelli Zezulka will talk about recent developments in performer and theatre training practice as well as the publications opportunities in the journals they respectively represent as editors (see below for bios and abstracts).

The event is open to all, particularly suitable for emerging scholars, early career researchers, those interested in practice-based research, and Halloween revellers.

The event is FREE, please RSVP to Linda Watson: [email protected].

Organised by the Performance Training, Preparation and Pedagogy Research Group

Continue reading →

Friday 7th – Sunday 9th September 2018 at Dartington Hall, Devon, UK

http://www.soundartradio.org.uk/projects/stream/

dcastream.eventbrite.com

Eight years after its controversial closure ex-students are planning a celebratory festival to bring the world famous Dartington College of Arts back to life.

Dartington College of Arts is an internationally renowned progressive arts education institution founded in 1961. The Totnes site closed in 2010 following the merger and relocation to Falmouth University.

Festival organiser Sarah Gray, Director of Soundart Radio, who was the last Student Union President at the college said: “The closure of the college was heartbreaking and caused a wound that many feels need healing.

“Since the college left, the local area has changed a lot. The Dartington Hall Estate and even Totnes town at first felt quiet, grey and ghost-like compared to the lively, vibrant atmosphere created by hundreds of young artists and musicians. There has been a lot of anger and sadness among people who went to the college and even those who didn’t.

“Years later, after an organisational change at Dartington Hall Trust, it felt like the right time for this reunion to happen. There’s a sense that the Trust is more permissive and celebratory of its rich educational heritage”.

The festival, which is supported by Dartington Hall Trust, in September is called Stream – an acronym for – a Series of Transdisciplinary Rituals and Experiments in Art and Music.

Amy Bere, Executive Director of Arts says: “The Dartington Hall Trust is thrilled to be supporting Stream and honour the incredible creative legacy of the Dartington College of Arts. Many of the artists and alumni returning for this event were deeply impacted by the closure of the art college, and this is a great way to honour their contribution to the estate and Trust. We are inspired on a daily basis by the history of arts at Dartington – and in particular the Arts College – as we develop our current arts programme. Supporting the Stream initiative is a small way of recognising the sadness of the closure and finding ways to move on. Our hope, with the team now in place at Dartington Hall Trust, is that we can build something new and wonderful in the arts, but never forget the great work that came before.”

This festival will provide a platform for alumni’s voices to be heard and the stories of the college to be shared whilst there is an opportunity for us all to come together, from the earliest attendees to the final intake.

Sarah explains: “This is a chance for social celebration, professional networking and community catharsis. I want the alumni, from the very beginning to the end of the College’s history, to gather together and make positive change. I feel as a graduate and the last Student Union President in those final years of the College that our community has been dispersed and marginalised, even mythologized.”

Following a call out for works, the Stream festival committee has been excited to receive over 100 proposals from ex-staff and students. With an online Facebook group over 1,500 people and fewer than 500 tickets available, Stream is fast selling out, so get your tickets now!

The festival is primarily aimed at ex-students and staff, but the invitation to attend is open to anyone who has had a connection with the College of Arts.

The guest editors of the special issue (SI) of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training on ‘Training Places: Dartington College of Arts’ are delighted to invite you to the symposium and launch event to celebrate the issue’s publication. After three years imagining, planning and curating, the SI devoted to Dartington College of Arts (DCA) will be published in the early autumn of this year and marks the 10th anniversary of the agreement to ‘merge’ the College with University College Falmouth in 2008.

The SI reflects the diversity of art forms, writing registers, pedagogies and images for which Dartington was renowned, and includes contributions on and from: Peter Hulton on context and development of DCA, Chris Crickmay on Arts & Context, Jacky Lansley and Fergus Early on the Dance festival and X6, a roundtable reflection on Music, Gregg Whelan (Lone Twin) on Performance Writing, as well as multiple images and voices included in Donna Shilling’s record of the walk back to Dartington and Kevin & Kate Mount’s timeline photo essay.

The symposium launch will be held on the Dartington Hall Estate on Saturday 3 November from 12.00 – 15.30. The afternoon will include a response to the special issue by Karen Christopher (ex-Goat Island and now of Haranczak/Navarre Performance Projects); Thresholds, a group walk around the Dartington grounds led by Simon Persighetti (Wrights and Sites & DCA lecturer); a critical memory project in and around the Dartington estate; and a presentation by Rhodri Samuel (CEO of Dartington Hall Trust since 2015) on Dartington’s plans for the new Elmhirst Centre. More details will follow.

Details of the special issue, the launch event and booking information (cost £10.00) are all available through the link below to the eflyer.

To register your interest &/or purchase a hard copy of this SI (£5.00 tbc plus p&p), please visit:

https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/media/5920/special-issue-final-flyer.pdf

We hope to see many of you in Dartington!

Bryan Brown, Dick McCaw, Simon Murray and Libby Worth

Guest Editors TDPT SI on DCA

Cultural Transmission of Actor Training Techniques (CTATT) is a Research Project that studies how actor training practices are transmitted across cultures, and in this process appropriated and transformed. Recently launched at the Department of Theatre of the University of Malta, the project is interested in both historical as well as contemporary instances of transmission.

The formal aims of the Project are:
• to create a series of research actions – workshops, residencies, seminars, conferences – that revolve around the transmission across cultures of actor training techniques;
• to reach out to the largest possible international audience that is directly invested in the study and practice of actor training and performance;
• to create and disseminate a body of knowledge related to actor training, such as workshop documentation, recorded interviews, published scholarly material, etc.

In April the Project hosted three actor training workshops with Alessio Bergamo (Accademia di Belle Arti di Frosinone, Italy), Julian Jones (Rose Bruford College, Sidcup, UK), and Jakub Korčák (Academy of Performing Arts, Prague). The practitioners conducted sessions on Stanislavsky’s magic ‘if’ with Theatre Studies students. These workshops were supported by ERASMUS+ funds for Staff Mobility for Teaching and Arts Council Malta – Malta Arts Fund.

The CTATT Project is directed and coordinated by Dr Stefan Aquilina, who can be contacted on [email protected]. For more information about the project, including a series of interviews with visiting practitioners, please visit www.ctatt.org.

 Annual Symposium organised by

The Stanislavski Centre and The Department of Theatre Studies (University of Malta)

in collaboration with The University of California Riverside.

5^th, 6^th, 7^thApril 2019

Venue:                     The Valletta Campus of the University of Malta, Valletta, Malta

Keynote speakers:

Prof. Laurence Senelick (Tufts University)

Prof. Vicki Ann Cremona (University of Malta)

Co-conveners:

Prof. Paul Fryer (The Stanislavski Centre)

Dr Stefan Aquilina (University of Malta)

Creative Adviser:        Prof. Bella Merlin (University of California Riverside)

Following on from the past three successful editions of the Symposium, we are very pleased to announce the Call for Papers/Presentations for the fourth major event of The S Word project.

In choosing ‘Stanislavski in Context’ as its title, the 2019 edition of The S Word Symposium shows a dual ambition. It invites proposals that reflect on Stanislavski’s work within the social, cultural, and political milieus in which it developed without however forgetting the ways in which this work was transmitted, adapted, and appropriated within recent and current theatre contexts. The Symposium’s reach, therefore, is both historical as well as contemporary, and participants are encouraged to think of Stanislavski both as an instigator of modern theatre as well as a paradigm for performance practices within twenty-first-century training and performance scenarios.

We invite proposals for contributions in the following formats:

• an individual conventional paper (20 minutes);
• practical/workshop sessions (40 minutes);
• panel presentations (a minimum of three participants) (60 minutes);
• and, for the first time this year, practice-as-research sessions/practical presentations (20 minutes).

In the first instance please send a short written proposal (no more than 300 words) to Prof. Paul Fryer ([email protected]) and Dr Stefan Aquilina ([email protected]), to arrive no later than 30^thNovember 2018. Please include a short bionote.

Booking for this event will open on 1st September 2018.

This event is generously supported by the School of Performing Arts of the University of Malta, and presented in association with Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance (UK).

Call for Book Reviews Editor (Extended Deadline)

Journal of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT), Routledge

 The co-editors of the international journal, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training,Professor Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds) and Dr Libby Worth (Royal Holloway, University of London) are seeking to recruit a Book Reviews Editor to work closely with them and with the rest of the editorial team, on this very successful journal, published by Routledge.  Now in its 8^thyear, the journal runs to 3 issues annually and attracts contributions from scholars and practitioners across the globe. As part of our tenth birthday celebrations, we are planning to expand to four issues per year and this appointment is a reflection of our expansion both in ambition and audience reach.

We seek a highly creative, motivated, organised and collegiate individual with demonstrable specialism in theatre, dance and / or performer training to oversee a step-change in the review provision the journal offers. We pride ourselves on the diversity of reviews offered within the pages of TDPT and as such we are dividing up the Review Editor role into two – with the review of training events already covered by current editorial expertise.  The new Book Reviews Editor will work closely with the Events Review Editor building up the Books Review section of the journal to provide an appropriately global perspective on publications in the field, offering both critical and celebratory impetus to performer training research. Our book reviews section includes critical evaluation of new books and reviews of classic texts (often by invested practitioners) and it will be part of the Editor’s brief to innovate further within this remit, perhaps to establish dialogic reviews or themed reviews of more than one book.

In addition to the opportunities to shape the book reviews development, working on TDPT will offer you unique insights into academic publication and provide you with opportunities to develop your own networks with scholars and practitioners, as well as to contribute to wider discussions about the content and continued development of the journal.

You should be:

• An active researcher of performer training with a good knowledge base of current published work in the field.
• Networked nationally and/or internationally in performer training circles.
• An individual with some experience of editing and/or peer review in theatre related academic work.
• Interested and embedded in the contemporary debates concerning training and performance and committed to the principles of ethical research.
• Highly organised, efficient with excellent communication skills.

Book Reviewer Editor’s responsibilities include:

• Leading on the development of an internationally ambitious reviews section, with critical insight and imagination.
• Establishing relationships with appropriate publishers and acting as a conduit for review writers.
• Inviting or commissioning book reviews and ‘Re-reviews’ from appropriate people in the field of performer training.
• Working closely with Review writers to ensure a fit with the TDPT ethos and style.
• Liaising with the Journal’s co-editors and Special Issue guest editors to provide regular updates on the status and content of submitted Reviews.
• Acting as an advocate for the journal at conferences and symposia.
• Managing the submission of Review manuscripts through the web-based submission tool ScholarOne.
• Attending if possible the Associate Editors’ AGM (either in person or by Skype).
• Liaising with publishing staff at Routledge, Taylor and Francis as required.

In keeping with the rest of the roles in the TDPT team, the post is unpaid but all travel and expenses will be paid.

To apply please send a CV and a one-page statement of your relevant skills, and interests including your aspirations for building an exceptional profile for the Book Reviews section in TDPT to [email protected]and [email protected]

For more information and an informal discussion please contact: Professor Jonathan Pitches [email protected]and/or Dr Libby Worth [email protected]

Deadline for applications is 5pm(GMT), May 18th 2018.

Call for Book Reviews Editor

Journal of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT), Routledge

The co-editors of the international journal, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, Professor Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds) and Dr Libby Worth (Royal Holloway, University of London) are seeking to recruit a Book Reviews Editor to work closely with them and with the rest of the editorial team, on this very successful journal, published by Routledge.  Now in its 9^th year, the journal runs to 3 issues annually and attracts contributions from scholars and practitioners across the globe. As part of our tenth birthday celebrations, we are planning to expand to four issues per year and this appointment is a reflection of our expansion both in ambition and audience reach.

We seek a highly creative, motivated, organised and collegiate individual with demonstrable specialism in theatre, dance and / or performer training to oversee a step-change in the review provision the journal offers. We pride ourselves on the diversity of reviews offered within the pages of TDPT and as such we are dividing up the Review Editor role into two – with the review of training events already covered by current editorial expertise.  The new Book Reviews Editor will work closely with the Events Review Editor building up the books review section of the journal to provide an appropriately global perspective on publications in the field, offering both critical and celebratory impetus to performer training research. Our book reviews section includes critical evaluation of new books and reviews of classic texts (often by invested practitioners) and it will be part of the Editor’s brief to innovate further within this remit, perhaps to establish dialogic reviews or themed reviews of more than one book.

In addition to the opportunities to shape the book reviews development, working on TDPT will offer you unique insights into academic publication and provide you with opportunities to develop your own networks with scholars and practitioners, as well as to contribute to wider discussions about the content and continued development of the journal.

You should be:

• An active researcher of performer training with a good knowledge base of current published work in the field.
• Networked nationally and/or internationally in performer training circles.
• An individual with some experience of editing and/or peer review in theatre related academic work.
• Interested and embedded in the contemporary debates concerning training and performance and committed to the principles of ethical research.
• Highly organised, efficient with excellent communication skills.

Book Reviewer Editor’s responsibilities include:

• Leading on the development of an internationally ambitious reviews section, with critical insight and imagination.
• Establishing relationships with appropriate publishers and acting as a conduit for review writers.
• Inviting or commissioning book reviews and ‘Re-reviews’ from appropriate people in the field of performer training.
• Working closely with Review writers to ensure a fit with the TDPT ethos and style.
• Liaising with the Journal’s co-editors and Special Issue guest editors to provide regular updates on the status and content of submitted Reviews.
• Acting as an advocate for the journal at conferences and symposia.
• Managing the submission of Review manuscripts through the web-based submission tool ScholarOne.
• Attending if possible the Associate Editors’ AGM (either in person or by Skype).
• Liaising with publishing staff at Routledge, Taylor & Francis as required.

In keeping with the rest of the roles in the TDPT team, the post is unpaid but all travel and expenses will be paid.

To apply please send a CV and a one-page statement of your relevant skills, and interests including your aspirations for building an exceptional profile for the Book Reviews section in TDPT to [email protected] and [email protected]

For more information and an informal discussion please contact: Professor Jonathan Pitches [email protected] and/or Dr Libby Worth[email protected]

Deadline for applications is 5pm (GMT), May 21st 2018.

Saturday 9th June 2018 between 10am and 4pm at Rose Bruford College

On behalf of the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Journal, the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, Manchester School of Theatre and Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, we are delighted to invite you to this FREE event:

Practise, Reflect, Share: Writing for Publication

Building on the success of Practise, Reflect, Share: Ways into Research in June 2017, this follow-up day aimed at colleagues involved in the training of performers, directors, designers and technicians, offers an opportunity to explore ways into writing that draw on teaching, professional practice or practice-as-research. Hosted by Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, the event will offer practical guidance, workshop sessions and discussion about how to begin to write for publications, focusing mainly on articles. What does an abstract look like and what makes a good one? How to develop and structure a longer piece? What does the peer review process involve? How best to use images and supporting material? If you are thinking about working on an article and would like to know more about the route to publication, then this event will prove both informative and stimulating!

Please follow the following link to book for this event:

https://store.bruford.ac.uk/product-catalogue/research-centres/research-events/the-stanislavski-centre/practise-reflect-share

Please feel free to contact David Shirley ([email protected]) directly if you have any questions or require further information.

An online course based on Meyerhold’s biomechanics is running again on the FutureLearn Platform in February 2018

Free registration for the course is here

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/physical-theatre/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=students&utm_campaign=physical-theatre-3

I am really looking forward to having students from all over the world studying this remarkable form with me and my colleagues from the University of Leeds.

 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE

Department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production

in collaboration with The Stanislavski Centre, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance

present

Stanislavski

The S Word: A Practical Acting Laboratory

April 6-8, 2018

University of California, Riverside

Co-convenors: Bella Merlin, UCR and Paul Fryer, RBC

A practice-based research weekend, applying actor training to global questions surrounding empathy, dynamic listening, ceremony, healing, and the power of language.

Featuring three internationally acclaimed acting practitioners:

Sharon M. Carnicke (author of Stanislavsky in Focus)

Tina Packer (founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company)

Kimberly Guerrero (co-founder of the Stylehorse Collective).

A special edition of The Stanislavski Studies journal in 2019 will feature articles on practice-based research arising from the weekend.

Registration Deadline: January 12, 2018

Register online

Learn more

Part of a series of international events featuring Stanislavski and actor-training.

Sponsors: University of California, Riverside, Departments of Theatre, Film and Digital Production; English; Dance; Office of the Dean, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Office of International Affairs; Culver Center of the Arts; City of Riverside and Riverside Arts Council.

Special issue entitled What is New in Voice Training? To be published in TDPT Vol 10.3 (September 2019)

Call for contributions, ideas, proposals and dialogue with the editor

Guest edited by Konstantinos Thomaidis, University of Exeter ([email protected]).

Background and context

This will be the 11th Special Issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT) following issues on a range of topics including sport, politics, Feldenkrais, writing training, interculturalism and digital training. TDPT is an international journal devoted to all aspects of ‘training’ (broadly defined) within the performing arts. The journal was founded in 2010 and launched its own blog in 2015. Our target readership is both academic and the many varieties of professional performers, makers, choreographers, directors, dramaturgs and composers working in theatre, dance and live art who have an interest in and curiosity for reflecting on their practices and their training. TDPT’s co-editors are Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds) and Libby Worth (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Call Outline: What is New in Voice Training?

Voice has returned to academic discourse with renewed force. 20th-century philosophical and critical debates may have generated important questions around speech, vocality and listening (particularly through the works of Lacan, Derrida, Merleau-Ponty, Ihde, Barthes and Kristeva), but the first two decades of the 21st century have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of publications taking voice as their main area of enquiry (see Connor, Cavarero, Dolar, Neumark, among others). In the same period, a similar plurality marked the way voice is practised in performance, particularly in its entanglement with new media, new scenic and everyday architectures as well as new hybrid genres and aesthetics. The emergent field of voice studies situates itself at the juncture of these practical and theoretical advances and advocates for research in and through voice that is markedly praxical, international and interdisciplinary in scope.

In bringing the concerns of this new inter-discipline to bear on performance studies, this issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training proposes a timely re-examination of voice in performer training. The literature on voice and the pedagogy of performance is, of course, vast. In the case of singing, it is largely dominated by paradigms appropriate for operatic and musical theatre performance. In the case of speech training, areas that have been systematically explored include the pedagogies developed by an influential generation of mid-twentieth-century, UK- and US-based speech trainers—and, to a lesser extent, the voice practices pertaining to (post)Grotowskian lineages or integrating first-wave somatics into voice work. While drawing impetus from these significant insights, the purpose of this special issue is to lend an attentive ear to emergent or less widely circulated training methodologies and to chart the rapidly shifting landscape of voice training.

 In other words, it wishes to ask: What is new in voice training? Continue reading →

Annual Conference hosted by

The School of Performing Arts (University of Malta)

7, 8, 9 March 2018

Keynote Speakers:

Sir Jonathan Mills, Programme Director of 2018 Edinburgh International Culture Summit

Prof. Maria Delgado, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

Prof. Ann Cooper Albright, Department of Dance, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Ohio, US

Continue reading →