Further to the very successful Practice, Reflect and Share day at Rose Bruford, TDPT would like to offer a bespoke call for practitioner-researchers interested in capturing the work of significant practitioners and teachers who have had a demonstrable influence both personally and in the training sector. The urgency to record some of this work we think might profitably be met by considering the section we call Sources in the TDPT journal:

In its Sources section TDPT provides an outlet for the documentation and analysis of primary materials of performer training, whilst the Articles section allows for discursive contributions in a range of critical and creative formats, including visual essays.

Sources are normally between 5500 and 6500 words and are treated in the same way as discursive article with full peer view by two experts. Our full submission directions are here:

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rtdp (click on the ‘submit an article’):

Submissions are through our peer review portal, Scholar 1:

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rtdp

You may also of course want to consider publishing to this blog space for the journal  – either in association with a Source or separately. We also offer a platform for video materials on this blog if you have appropriate materials:

https://theatredanceperformancetraining.org

Help and support in the development of these papers is available and we are keen to offer a mentoring service for those new to academic publishing. For further details please contact David Shirley ([email protected]) or speak to any of us below.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Jonathan Pitches, Libby Worth, David Shirley  and Paul Allain

I am delighted to announce that, after five years of work,  Stanislavsky in the World: The System and its Transformation across Continents, has just been published, co-edited with Dr Stefan Aquilina of the University of Malta.

More information can be found by following this link: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/stanislavsky-in-the-world-9781472587886

The book maps the movement of Stanislavsky’s system across five continents, revealing undiscovered paths of transmission and examining wider questions of embodied history and tradition building. To make its point, it focuses on practices beyond Russia and the US – for too long accepted blindly as the two most-developed seats of Stanislavskian practice – and introduces readers and practitioners to new routes in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and South (Latin) America. We were joined by an internationally broad network of 18 scholars and practitioners to take on some knotty and current questions – of transformation, translation, appropriation and resistance. The book will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to Stanislavsky studies but recent research on theatre and interculturalism, globalisation, and postcolonialism will also be boosted by these findings.

Contributions include:

• Marie-ChristineAutant-Mathieu’s discussion of selected affinities between Stanislavsky and the French Theatre Tradition;
• Franco Ruffini’s detailed account of the 1960 court case in Bari that questioned the reach of Elizabeth Reynolds’ copyright claims on Stanislavsky’s books;
• Stefan Aquilina’s exposition of how the System was processed in the amateur theatre context of Malta;
• Ina Pukelytė’s discussion on a heavily institutionalised reading of Stanislavsky in Lithuania;
• Maria Gaitanidi’s elaboration of Stanislavsky’s impact on both modern theatre and contemporary actor training in Greece;
• Siyuan Liu’s analysis of Stanislavsky’s impact on a Chinese School of Performance and Directing;
• Raúl Serrano’s teacher-perspective on current Stanislavskian teaching at the Escuela de Teatro de Buenos Aires inArgentina;
• Kene Igweonu’s exposition on Stanislavsky’s interaction with the Nigerian cultural environment as a series of convergences and counterpoints;
• Hilary Halba’s account on the System experienced through the Maori World in New Zealand;
• Syed Jamil Ahmed’s articulation of the System as postcolonial appropriation and assimilation in Bangladesh.

The book’s official launch will be held as follows:

Date:                5^th June 2017

Time:               17:00

Venue:             Alec Clegg Studio, stage@leeds building, University of Leeds

For more information please contact us on [email protected] or [email protected]

Remembering Edward Braun

(1936-2017)

Terence Mann

Whilst at Drama School in 1994, during rehearsals for Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide, I read Meyerhold on Theatre. At that point in time I had never heard of Vsevelod Meyerhold or Theatrical Biomechanics but that book was to be the start of a fascination with Russian Theatre, Meyerhold and in particular his actor training system Biomechanics, which has continued to this day. Little did I know back then, that some 20 years later I would be delivering a workshop and a paper on Meyerhold’s Biomechanics at Hull University in the presence of the book’s author Edward Braun.

I was a little nervous when I heard that Edward Braun would be there. After the presentation I was introduced to Edward (Ted) and much to my relief, he had some very kind things to say about the workshop. He talked about the time he spent in Russia in the 1960’s and how he had met Meyerhold’s daughter. Some weeks later we were hosting a series of workshops at the University of Central Lancashire with the world’s leading exponent in Theatrical Biomechanics, Gennady Bogdanov. I asked Ted if he would like to meet Gennady and he accepted the invitation.

Ted sat for several hours totally absorbed in the work. As he watched, I was acutely aware it was highly likely that he had seen Meyerhold’s daughter perform the same exercises some forty years earlier. We spent the evening in an Italian restaurant talking about Russia, Communism, Meyerhold, Biomechanics and….life. So, for a brief moment in our lives serendipity had brought us together; Gennady my teacher, his interpreter Svetlana, Edward Braun and I. I felt very privileged and quite humbled just being there. As the evening drew to a close and we walked Ted back to his hotel, I was struck by the fact that, had it not been for him, the four of us would never have met and I for one would certainly not be doing what I do today.

On hearing the sad news that Ted had died, I recalled the time I had spent in his company in 2015. He was extremely generous, courteous, erudite, enthusiastic, warm, and witty.

Listening to Jonathan Pitches last interview with Ted, as he talked about Biomechanics, I was quite surprised and rather moved to hear Ted talk about “being in Preston with Terence and Gennady.” It was as if he had known us for years and in a way, via Mr. Meyerhold……. I suppose he had. Although I only met Ted briefly; I will always remember him. RIP Ted.

Terence Mann (Chapman) is Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for BA Acting at UCLAN.  He has worked with some of the most innovative theatre companies and directors in Europe and is regarded as one of the country’s leading practitioners in Meyerhold’s Theatrical Biomechanics.

Dear all,

We’ve extended the deadline to Friday 7 April for proposals for the TaPRA Performer Training Working Group Interim Event. Please send your abstract through if this area is of interest to your research. You are also very welcome to attend, without presenting a paper. The event is free, but you need to be a TaPRA member.

TaPRA Performer Training Working Group

Interim Event

Monday 22 May 2017, 11am – 6pm

University of York

Performer Training and Media Ecologies

Continue reading →

Please find all the details of this exciting call for TDPT Vol 10.2 (2019) as a PDF in the link below

Digital Training cfp

To signal your interest and intention to make a contribution to this special issue please contact Paul Allain for an initial exchange of ideas/thoughts or email an abstract or proposal (max 300 words) to Paul Allain: [email protected]. Questions about purely digital propositions can be sent to Stacie Lee Bennett: [email protected]. Ideas for the blog and/or Training Grounds can be sent to James McLaughlin: [email protected].  Firm proposals across all areas must be received by Paul Allain by 30 November 2017 at the latest.

You are warmly invited to the next School of Performance and Cultural Industries research seminar –

Tools and Material(itie)s      
Dr Scott McLaughlin (School of Music), Dr Maria Kapsali (School of PCI), Dr Joslin Mckinney (School of PCI)

Tuesday 7th March 5pm-7pm
Lecture Theatre 2, School of Music, University of Leeds
Please book a place with Linda Watson [email protected] – All Welcome

The three papers in this seminar aim at highlighting the way in which theories and discourses on tools and material(itie)s inform practice and thinking in music, somatic work and scenography. Apart from positioning the overall enquiry in relation to specific disciplines, this research seminar also aims to put forward a set of questions that deal with wider, cross-disciplinary themes: In what ways do theories of materiality shed light on artistic processes?  What is the relationship between tool and tool user? How does a non-anthropocentric view inform understanding of experience and perception?

Continue reading →

CfP for Dartington Special Issue

We are very pleased to announce the following call for contributions for a special issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, focusing on Dartington College of Arts.

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT) 

Special issue on Training Places: Dartington College of Arts to be published October 2018. Call for contributions, ideas, proposals and dialogue with the editors.

Guest editors: Dr Bryan Brown, University of Exeter, Dr Libby Worth, Royal Holloway, University of London, and Editorial Consultant Professor Ric Allsopp, Joint Editor Performance Research

The Training Grounds section of the issue (see below) will be guest edited by Dr Simon Murray, University of Glasgow and Dr Dick McCaw, Royal Holloway, University of London

Background and context

This will be the ninth Special Issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT) following issues on sport, Michael Chekhov, politics, Feldenkrais, showing/writing training, interculturalism, popular performance and immersive, interactive and participatory performance. 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).

Dartington College of Arts: pedagogies, contexts, people, performances and experimentations.

This is the first time that a place of performance training has been taken as the subject of a TDPT special issue and although it and other centres of performance training have been addressed in specific articles, this singular focus for a whole issue calls for some explanation.

Why Dartington and why now?

Over the near 5 decades of its history, Dartington College of Arts, established an international reputation for innovation in performance making, spawning new directions in dance, theatre, devising, music and visual performance that continue to influence current artists and scholars. Based on an 800-acre estate on the River Dart near Totnes in rural Devon, its staff and students explored ways of working that emphasised learning through doing and questioning, working across arts disciplines, paying attention to the social impact and context of their artistic output and encouraging robust and engaging international contacts and exchanges.

The publication date for this special issue (2018), marks ten years since the college merged with Falmouth University, resulting eventually in a controversial move from the Dartington Hall estate to a purpose built complex at what was then University College Falmouth in 2010. This, perhaps, is a good time therefore to re-examine Dartington’s ecology, its people, its sites and its continuing influence within the arts world. In the current national and international climate with political uncertainties, the rise of nationalism and the new right, and the steady undermining of the arts in UK educational curriculum, it could be the appropriate moment to re-assess what Dartington College offered and its legacy continues to offer. Those who participated in the life of Dartington College of Arts are active internationally and continue to develop new working practices inspired and influenced by the “Dartington ethos”. Articulating how places inform training (pedagogy, practice, conversations, ways of being) through the fostering of a complex ecology and ethos is what this special issue aims to attempt.

Echoing Dartington’s fluid approach to training that positively encouraged experimentation in form/structure to better reflect artistic concepts and practices, this issue welcomes a variety of ways of responding to the call and actively encourages co-authoring, embedding of images, diagrams, drawings within critical articles. These could include offering additional visual/audio media on the TDPT blog or directly linked to an article. The issue aims to include writing/images representative of all the College’s training disciplines (theatre, dance/choreography, music, performance writing and visual performance) and of its different eras.

We are particularly interested in (but not limited by) responses to the following set of questions:

• How did the social/political context of each of the College’s eras contribute to the training ethos?
• In what ways did the college ascribe to a form of ‘un-training’ or ‘de-training’ and how was this structured? What did it generate?
• How might have the environment of diverse buildings and countryside influenced the type of training that happened at Dartington College of Arts? And how did this geographically isolated experience sit with student international placements and commitment to international artists’ residencies?
• What were significant strands in Dartington Hall’s history that contributed to the philosophy and practical components of the College programmes?
• What was left out in the training offered at the College and why?
• What remains important of the mystiques, fantasies, hauntings and residues triggered over the life of the college?
• What was shared within the training processes but not articulated?
• What has gone missing that matters outside of this community?
• If Dartington College is seen as an ecology and not merely a place, how is this still growing?
• What roles did Dartington College take in nurturing innovative practices – New Dance for instance?
• What sources from the college’s history might be timely to reprint in order to generate contemporary responses?
• What were the cultural, economic, pedagogical, political and psychological circumstances of the College’s closure in Devon and the merger with University College Falmouth in Cornwall?
• What are the legacies and implications of the DCA educational experience for other performance training ecologies?

We welcome submissions from potential contributors, both inside and outside academic institutions, who may have been students, academic and non-academic staff, and visiting artists/tutors at the College over its 50 year history in Devon. Equally, we welcome potential contributions from anyone associated with Dartington or who has been influenced by its history in one way or another.

To signal your interest and intention to make a contribution to this special issue in any one of the ways identified above please contact Bryan and Libby for an initial exchange of ideas/thoughts, or email an abstract (max 250 words) to: Bryan Brown at [email protected] and Libby Worth at [email protected] Our first deadline for these is 20^th April 2017.

Training Grounds sections for Dartington College of Arts special issue.

Training Grounds (TG) is, and has always been, an alternative space within the journal to encourage contributors to use the kind of languages and forms that seem most appropriate to their own practice. It is a space for shorter contributions which may experiment with different writing registers, and be passionate, provocative, poetic or rhetorical. A space for lists, for saying awkward things and offering up difficult and perhaps unfashionable ideas. A place, nonetheless, for generosity and big-heartedness. TG editors for this special issue are Simon Murray ([email protected]) and Dick McCaw ([email protected]).

For this special issue we are looking for contributions to cover all the Dartington fields (Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Performance Writing, Choreography/Dance, and Cultural Management) within each of the following categories:

1/ POSTCARDS 1: A description of a startling/challenging/rewarding moment of teaching or learning from your Dartington experience. Possibly, a Eureka type moment, or one of clarity, astonishment, insight or understanding. A sense perhaps of the feelings generated by the experience. 125 words or image/graphics to fit into a postcard size space.

2/ POSTCARDS 2: A contribution which succinctly describes (without comment, analysis or evaluation) a particular teaching exercise you used or experienced. 125 words or image/graphics to fit into a postcard size space.

3/ ANSWER THE QUESTION (ATQ): For this area we are suggesting either of two (inter-related) questions.

Question 1 (for ex-Dartington teachers and other staff):  What was Dartington training or educating for?

Question 2: (for ex-students of Dartington): What in retrospect do you feel the Dartington experience trained you for and what did it leave out?

With these two ATQs we would aim to carry 4 or 5 examples for each question and as far as possible these would reflect the different subject areas and timelines over the College’s history. You could either send us a draft of your response to one of these questions, or arrange for a conversation with either Dick McCaw or Simon Murray. This might be in person or via Skype or phone. We would transcribe and edit your responses and agree any text with you before publishing. Responses to ATQs should be between 500 and 750 words (max).

4/ IMAGES: We are planning to carry at least one photo-essay and will be commissioning this for Training Grounds. However, we would welcome other photo images, sketches, paintings and drawings from contributors. In the first instance please contact either Simon or Dick, briefly describing the image(s) you are proposing. If you have enough to constitute an interesting and revealing photo essay please do write to us and we will have a conversation with you. All images must be at the appropriate resolution: 1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for colour.

Please contact Simon Murray ([email protected]) and Dick McCaw ([email protected]) if you wish to contribute to this section or have other ideas and suggestions. Either of us will then discuss your possible contribution as we begin to curate Training Grounds. The final deadline for this initial conversation is August 30^th 2017, but let’s start the exchange going as soon as possible please. Some materials and contributions may be more appropriate for the TDPT blog and we will encourage these to be developed for the lead up to the special issue as well. The deadline for final delivery of all TG materials is January 31 2018.

Approximate timelines for this issue

January 2017: Call for papers published

20th April 2017: Abstracts and proposals sent to Bryan Brown and Libby Worth

End June 2017: Response from editor and, if successful, invitation to submit contribution

July to mid December 2017: writing/preparation period for writers, artists etc.

August 30^th 2017 – deadline for discussing TG contributions with Dick and Simon

Early December to Early Feb 2017: peer review period

January 31 2018 – deadline for submission of all TG material to Simon and Dick

Mid Feb  –  end April 2018: author revisions post peer review

End April to June 2018: All main articles into production with Routledge

Early July 2018: Training Grounds articles into production

July to September 2018: typesetting, proofing, revises, editorial etc.

October 2018: publication as Issue 9.3.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Ric Allsopp, Bryan Brown, Dick McCaw, Simon Murray & Libby Worth

A pilot has been launched by Profs Paul Allain and Frank Camilleri which promises to be a rich resource of training with a nice balance of student, teacher, trainee voices. To feedback on its development go to:

https://thedigitalperformer.co.uk/2016/10/04/test/

Their full message is below:

The editors of TDPT and of this special issue on intercultural training (7.3) are delighted to announce that it is now available online. Check it out here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rtdp20/current

If you don’t have institutional access the articles by Electa Behrens and Tara McAlister-Viel will be free-to-access very soon. In the meantime, the editorial by Phillip Zarrilli, T Sasitharan and Anuradha Kapur and the Training Grounds editorial by Royona Mitra are free-to-access permanently.

Please do let us know what you think.

http://store.bruford.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=1&deptid=10&catid=115&prodvarid=229

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT)

Special issue entitled Training for Immersive, Interactive and Participatory Performance to be published July 2018

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

Guest editor: Dr Campbell Edinborough, University of Hull ([email protected])

Background and context

This will be the eighth Special Issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT) following issues on sport, Michael Chekhov, politics, Feldenkrais, writing training, interculturalism and popular theatre. 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).

Training for Immersive, Interactive and Participatory Performance

The twenty-first century has seen a significant growth in the popularity of theatre forms that invite audiences to interact and participate with performers – often in unconventional performance contexts.  This diversification within the landscape of contemporary performance has been accompanied by a blurring of traditional boundaries between theatre, cabaret, live art, installation and dance. This special issue of TDPT will question the impact of immersive, interactive and participatory forms of performance on training.

The special issue will:

• analyse innovations in the field of performance training with reference to the growing need for performers to work in immersive, interactive and participatory contexts.
• question how (and whether) historical training methods might be used and adapted within one-to-one performance, immersive theatre and participatory contexts.
• explore the value of ‘cross-training’ in different performance modalities.
• question whether existing training programmes should be developed to meet the evolving needs of contemporary performance culture.

Expressions of interest

We are particularly interested in (but are not limited to) submissions in the following areas:

• Articles that analyse and contextualise approaches to training developed by companies and practitioners working in immersive, interactive and participatory contexts.
• Articles that question how audience participation and interactivity reframe the performer’s role and, therefore, the training s/he requires.
• Analyses of existing and historical models of performance training in the light of the performer’s need to function in participatory/interactive/immersive contexts.
• Articles that reflect on how the creative and critical dialogue surrounding participatory aesthetics (seen in the critical writings of Rancière, Bourriaud, Bishop, White etc.) have led (or might lead) to new ways of thinking about performer training.
• Articles that explore training for one-to-one performance.
• Articles that explore training for improvisation in participatory/interactive/immersive theatre.
• Reflections on acquiring training/skills during the development of participatory/interactive/immersive performance.
• Analyses of primary source documents related to training in participatory, immersive and interactive contexts: manifestos, training regimes, archival gems, appropriately contextualised and analysed.
• Essays which use photos and video materials to examine participatory/ interactive/immersive theatre training, in tandem with the TDPT blog.

We welcome submissions from authors both inside and outside academic institutions and from those who are currently undergoing training or who have experiences to tell from their training histories. To signal your interest and intention to make a contribution to this special issue in any one of the ways identified above please email an abstract (max 250 words) to Campbell Edinborough at: [email protected]  

Our first deadline for these is 30th November 2016.

Training Grounds: we will also be seeking contributions for the Training Grounds section of this special issue edited by this Special Issue’s Training Grounds editor, Thomas Wilson. Within TDPT, Training Grounds represents a playful space for shorter and perhaps more provocative and rhetorical contributions. Thus in our generic issues we have postcards (Training and …), responses to an ‘answer the question’, essais and reviews of events, workshops, conferences as well as books. Our Training Grounds section in special issues does not always follow this model so please contact Thomas Wilson ([email protected]) and Campbell Edinborough if you have ideas and suggestions.

Approximate timelines for this issue

Mid-September 2016: Call for papers published

30th November 2016: abstracts and proposals sent to Campbell Edinborough

February 2017: Response from editor and, if successful, invitation to submit contribution

March to mid September 2017: writing/preparation period for writers, artists etc.

Mid Sept to end October: peer review period

November 2017 – end January 2018: author revisions post peer review

End March 2018: All main articles into production with Routledge

Mid April 2018: Training Grounds articles into production

April- June 2018: typesetting, proofing, revises, editorial etc.

July 2018: publication as Issue 9.2.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The S Word: Merging Methodologies

Co-conveners: Prof Paul Fryer (Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance),
and Jakub Korčák (DAMU).
Creative Adviser: Prof Bella Merlin (University of California Riverside).

at DAMU Theatre Academy, Prague – 24^th, 25^th and 26^th March, 2017

Keynote speakers – Professor Anatoly Smeliansky (Moscow Art Theatre School), Professor Jan Burian (General Director, Czech National Theatre).

Following on from our first international symposium (The S Word: Stanislavski and the Future of Acting) we are very pleased to announce the first Call for Papers/Presentations for the second major event which will take place in Prague, Czech Republic in March 2017.

Merging Methodologies invites you to explore how Stanislavski’s work and teaching has been adopted, adapted, developed and re-invented since his death in 1938.
How did Stanislavski’s disciples use his approach to theatre, and how did they make it their own; how has this approach been translated into other methods and how much have we lost in translation; who carries the torch for Stanislavski today and why; how do other (newer) methodologies compare and how much do they owe to what has gone before?

We invite written proposals for contributions in the following formats:
individual papers (20 minutes’ duration), practical/workshop sessions (45 minutes’ duration) and panel presentations (60 minutes’ duration).

In the first instance please send a short written proposal (no more than 300 words) to Prof. Paul Fryer: [email protected]

Registration for this event is now available online, please visit:

http://store.bruford.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=1&deptid=10&catid=115&prodvarid=229

There is an early-bird booking rate (saving 30% on the Full fee) available until 1st December.

Details are below of an event in September looking at wider applications of the Chekhov technique.

Contact Tom Cornford or Cass Fleming directly for more information

NEW PATHWAYS LEAFLET

Call for Editorial Assistant (s)

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

 The editorial team of the international journal, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training is seeking to recruit at least one Editorial Assistant to work closely with our two Editors, Professor Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds) and Dr Libby Worth (Royal Holloway, University of London) on this very successful journal, published by Routledge. Now in its seventh year, the journal runs to 3 issues annually and attracts contributions from scholars and practitioners across the globe.

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 discussions about the content and continued development of the journal. It will offer you good grounding for editorial projects you might want to take on in the future and help demystify the process of journal publication.

You should be:

• A UK-based PGR student or Early Career researcher working in a relevant discipline.
• Interested in contemporary debates concerning training and performance and committed to the principles of ethical research
• Highly organised, efficient with excellent communication skills

Editorial Assistants’ responsibilities include:

• Acting as an advocate for the journal at conferences and symposia
• Liaising with Editors to provide regular updates on the status and content of submitted manuscripts, forthcoming articles and enquiries from authors
• Liaising with authors during the publication process and directing enquiries to Editors as necessary
• Managing the submission of manuscripts through the web-based peer review tool ScholarOne and helping to source peer reviewers.
• Compiling the Notes on Contributors section for publication in each Volume issue
• Assisting with the organisation and administration of the Assistant Editors’ AGM and annual Training Grounds team meetings
• Attending and recording the Associate Editors’ AGM and annual Training Grounds team meetings and disseminating these amongst participants and the Editorial Board
• Maintaining accurate records of contact details for Associate Editors and the Editorial Board members
• Liaising with publishing staff at Routledge Taylor and Francis as required

Candidates with appropriate skills and interests may also offer assistance to the journal’s blog team led by Dr Laura Bissell (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

The post is unpaid but all travel and expenses will be paid.

To apply please send a one-page statement of your relevant skills, interests and aspirations for the journal with an accompanying CV to [email protected].

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

Deadline is 8^th September 2016.

The Stanislavski Centre and The University of California Riverside
in collaboration with The University of Westminster present

The S Word: Translating the Art/The Art of Translation

Wednesday 13th July, 10.00 to 16.00
@ Pushkin House, 5A Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2TA.

Guest speakers:
Geraldine Brodie (University College London) is a Lecturer in Translation Theory and Theatre Translation at University College London.
Mark Stevenson (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), actor, director and teacher.
Noah Birksted-Breen (Sputnik Theatre) is Artistic Director of Sputnik the only British theatre company dedicated to staging contemporary Russian plays for British audiences.
Alexa Alfer (University of Westminster) is Senior Lecturer in Translation at the University of Westminster, where she is Course leader for the MA in Specialised Translation, MA Translation and Interpreting, and MRes Translating Cultures.
Anna Shulgat is a theatre scholar and translator, and Research Associate at The Stanislavski Centre.

Morning session: presentations from three guest speakers who each have a different perspective on the task of translation. They will share their experiences and take questions on their work.
Afternoon session: an open forum/debate will address the many issues that face both the translators and those who use their translations: how has the role of translator changed in the digital age? Translator or co-author? How do we maintain the author’s original voice? Should the translator act as a kind of editor/censor when dealing with sensitive material?

Places for this event are limited: £30 (full), £25 (concessions – student, unwaged, retired), which includes tea, coffee and a sandwich lunch.

on-line booking is now available at:

http://www.pushkinhouse.org/events/2016/7/13/the-stanislavski-centre-and-university-of-california-riverside-the-s-word-translating-the-artthe-art-of-translation

For further details, please contact Prof. Paul Fryer ([email protected])

9 days. 11 workshops and training sessions. 13 work demonstrations and screenings. 3 lectures. 4 discussions. 3 performances. 2 exhibitions.

This year’s BodyConstitution seminar, held in Wrocław on the 2^nd-10^th April, was the final event of the Grotowski Institute’s BodyConstitution project, which began in January 2014. The project brought together teachers, students, artists, and masters of movement techniques to explore the interaction of body practices and physical actor training, both in practical work and theoretical discussion. These included martial arts such as aikido, Capoeira, and kalarippayattu, theatrical techniques such as butoh and Body-Energy, and movement techniques such as l’Art Du Déplacement and somaesthetics. As befitting of the final event of the project, this year’s seminar was bigger than those held in 2014 and 2015, bringing together contributors from the previous years and new contributors, as well as students and artists who came to participate in the training available.

Continue reading →

The 12th Annual TaPRA Conference will be co-hosted by University of Bristol, UK from 5^th to 7^th September 2016 (see: http://www.tapra.org/ )

The Performer Training Working Group has been meeting for eleven years and has produced several collaborative outputs, including a variety of contributions to the thrice-yearly journal, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, dedicated to training in all its manifestations, and the associated bloghttps://theatredanceperformancetraining.org.

Konstantinos, Maria and Tom, the working group co-convenors, are delighted to issue a call for contributions for the forthcoming 2016 TaPRA conference on the theme Speech and Text in Performer Training.

We are interested in a range of presentation formats including the following:

• formal papers (max 20 minutes)
• provocations or position statements (max 10 minutes)
• instances of practice as research or short workshops/demonstrations (1 hour)

Continue reading →

TaPRA Interim Event, Wednesday 11^th May 2016, Northumbria University Newcastle, 11am  – 6pm

20th/21st Century Performer Training Working Group

Training to give evidence: Performer training for verbatim, documentary, biographical and autobiographical performance practices

Verbatim, documentary, biographical and autobiographical performance practices are prolific forms of theatre in the 21st Century. Hosted by Northumbria Performing Arts, Training to give evidence is a one day event that seeks to explore the specific performer training processes that these various forms might require, and to map out commonalities and differences in diverse approaches. The event will bring together practitioners with researchers and will combine scholarly papers with workshops, provocations, performances and demonstrations of practice.

Confirmed contributors include Alexander Kelly (Leeds Beckett University and Third Angel), Alison Forsyth (University of Aberystwyth), Lazlo Pearlman (Northumbria University) Tom Cantrell (University of York), Richard Gregory (Quarantine), and Steve Gilroy (Northumbria University) as well as panels of performers, directors and writers working in these forms.

Some of the questions we will be exploring on the day include:

– Is there a specific training methodology for verbatim, documentary, biographical or autobiographical theatre? If so, what does it/do they look like? What are the characteristics of these forms that call for a specific performer training?

– What are the ethical implications/considerations for a performer in training for one of these forms?

– What role does the ‘document’ play in training the performer? How much does the process of making, (e.g. archival research, interviewing, the interviewee themselves) influence a performer in training for verbatim, biographical or documentary theatre?

– In verbatim theatre, where does the interviewee end and the performer begin?

– What is the role of technology in the process of performer training for these forms?

Registration

If you would like to attend the event, please send an email off list directly to Kate Craddock by Friday 18^th March at [email protected]

This event is open to TaPRA members only, and has a limited number of places available. If you would like to attend and are not a TaPRA member you can renew or buy a new membership here: http://tapra.org/membership/

Call for Bloggers

This event is being planned to work closely in conjunction with the blog.

We are keen to hear from delegates who are interested in contributing to the event by creating a series of short blog posts throughout the day, helping to give the event an immediate online presence, by taking on the role of ‘live blogger’.

Likewise, we are interested in hearing expressions of interest from delegates interested in producing writing for the blog that responds to the questions and ideas raised as a follow up to the event.

If you are interested in taking on the role of live blogger for the event, or would like to pitch an idea for a subsequent blog contribution, please send a short expression of interest off list directly to Kate Craddock by Friday 18^th March at [email protected]

Postgraduate Support:

There are funds available for Postgraduate Working Group Members to apply for support towards the cost of travel in order to attend this event. If you are interested in applying for this support, please contact Kate Craddock at [email protected]

Many thanks, and look forward to welcoming you to Northumbria in May,

Kate (as host) and Working Group Convenors: Maria Kapsali, Tom Cantrell and Konstantinos Thomaidis

We launched the TDPT blog two months ago and are keen to know what you think!

* What do you think of the overall look of the blog?

* What do you think of the content available?

* Would you use this as a teaching resource?

* What else would you like to see on the site?

* Any other feedback?

Reply to this post with feedback or contact the editors via our “Get in Touch” page. Many thanks.