Embodied Poetics

Announcing GEODRAMATICS - THE SECOND VOYAGE OF EMBODIED POETICS
Padua, Italy
June 2 – August 22, 2025.

In a city of historical importance to the Commedia dell’Arte, and centuries later, to Jacques Lecoq’s own voyage into half-masked comedy, Embodied Poetics offers a 12-week intensive course in what Lecoq later referred to as the “Geodramatic Territories”. These six territories form a landscape of theatrical creation characterized by shifting viewpoints of time and space as well as different dramatic “motors of play” and diverse formal devices. From the play of half-masks to that of the bouffons’ full-body masks, to the organic choreography and embodied approach to text of the tragic chorus, to the smallest mask, the red nose, these Territories offer actor-creators – performers, directors, writers and pedagogues - the skills, inspiration and opportunity to reinvent and reimagine powerful forms of theatre.

Our 12-week Voyage will include intensive weeks devoted to the study of movements under the tutelage of Norman Taylor, the École Lecoq’s longstanding teacher of movement analysis. Geodramatic improvisation and theatrical writing will be guided by Amy Russell, pedagogic co-founder of LISPA and founder of Embodied Poetics, as well as four young international guides who will bring novel approaches and fresh inspiration. Aurelian Koch, who carries the pedagogy of Lecoq’s own experiments with “portable architecture”, will guide theatre creators in connecting movement to constructed spatial dynamics, through the experiential pedagogy of the Laboratory of Embodied Space.

The Second Voyage welcomes initiates as well as those seeking a pedagogic training in this curriculum. The Voyage is accompanied by weekly pedagogic seminars and practicums.

Our SECOND VOYAGE brochure is now available! Visit our website at: www.embodiedpoetics.org

Or contact [email protected]

Announcing a delightful winter workshop in Falun, Sweden in collaboration with the inimitable Norman Taylor and with the extraordinary hospitality and hosting of Kjersti Webb!

SPECIAL SESSION OF UNREHEARSED FUTURES - UKRAINE/RUSSIA - This week, we have assembled Russian and Ukrainian theatre correspondents abroad and on location to hold an open conversation about the invasion of Ukraine, how they are living this experience and what they want to communicate to each other and to us.
*Dima Filipov* is a Russian director, performer, actor and teacher. He studied theatre and art at the Moscow State University and later went on to study at the London International School of Performing Arts in 2009. He also went on to study biomechanics with expert practitioner Alexey Levinsky.
Dima has directed plays such as ‘Forest’, ‘Prize of Idleness’ among others. He was a teacher director of the Moscow Art Theater School from 2017 to 2019. Founder of the LOW TECH Studio, he is also a Golden Mask prize winner (2009).
Dima is an author and participant of several site-specific projects in Russia and abroad.
*Lana Biba* is an award-winning actress, director and educator, working with physical theatre, ensemble, mask, mime, dance, puppetry, and the Meisner technique. She is a Kundalini Yoga teacher and psychology consultant as well. She is the co-founder of 2theatre international company, London Physical Theatre School and the Art of Spirit program.
Educated with Marcel Marceau in Paris, Lana is a graduate of London International School of Performing Arts as well as accredited yogic teacher-training at Quinta do Rajo ashram (Portugal). She is also Meisner-trained in psychological acting by Tom Radcliffe (UK).
*Ivan Doan* is a Ukrainian Vietnamese actor. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1986. He attended the National University of Theatre, Film, and Television in Kiev from 2003 to 2007 where he trained in the Stanislavski Method of acting. Upon graduation from 2007 to 2008 he worked with renowned stage director Roman Viktyuk in Moscow. Currently Ivan lives in Berlin and works internationally, mostly in front of the camera, but occasionally
doing stage work. He is multilingual and speaks English, French, German, Russian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. He is also a lifelong practitioner of martial arts.
This conversation will be anchored by co-curator *Amy Russell,* Founder and Pedagogic Director of Embodied Poetics.
*Unrehearsed Futures, S3, Ep #2 From Our Correspondents: A Conversation Between Ukrainian and Russian Theatre Artists*
*Date: *Thursday | 10 March, 2021
*Time:* 09:00 UTC | 11:00 - Cape Town | 14:30 - Mumbai | 09:00 - London |
03:00 - Chicago | 20:00 - Hobart
Or find a timezone that's more convenient to you.

*JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
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*JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
*
Regards,
The Drama School Mumbai, Embodied Poetics, and the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies - University of Cape Town

We now have a brochure available for our 2022 programmes, the First Voyage and the Movement Analysis Series with Norman Taylor!
https://www.embodiedpoetics.org/request-brochure

Setting sail once again in the summer of 2022 - the First Voyage of Embodied Poetics! On the deep waters of play and somatic imagination... in the hands of an experienced crew sailing a... gorgeous, carefully crafted pedagogic ship 🙂
Also announcing two Movement Analysis Series with Norman Taylor, June and August: The 20 Movements and The Language of Movement.
For those with an interest in pedagogy, the immersive Pedagogic Course runs parallel, including Norman's Movement Analysis Series and seminars with the guides.
Check it out at
https://www.embodiedpoetics.org
Contact
[email protected]

Inviting you to a discussion with Norman Taylor, Ellie Nixon and me, of what the differences might be between theatre pedagogy and training, between a technique and a method, a system and a curriculum? And what is it to guide another person's creative process or to serve as an instructor? Join us and share your thoughts, this Thursday at 9:00 am BST, 10 am CET, 13:30 IST, 18:00 AEST

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86370021318?pwd=emR0YXJpUVdCempLYXBEV09UQ2liUT09

If you teach or practice anything you think of as performative "neutrality" - this discussion is for you! Please join Franc Chamberlain on behalf of Embodied Poetics, Madhu Natraj, Dr. Ellie Nixon and me in this session of informative and reflective brainstorming!

Thursday July 22, 8:00 UTC, 10:00 Cape Town, 13:30 Mumbai, 9:00 London, 10:00 Berlin, 18:00 Hobart, 03:00 Chicago
Register at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvduuqqTwrG9als8TE6l0QLRMON9UISG73

Looking forward to tomorrow's discussion with Mwenya and Lebo! Please join us - link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkfuqtqD4oG9NZl2DMceEbnR2Ouhrb4nq6