The center for movement theatre provides training for the ‘actor-creator’. It is appropriate for both the serious beginner and the experienced actor. The work embodies a dynamic and physical approach to acting and is strongly based on the work of master teacher Jacques Lecoq. It is the search for a theatre of creation, exploring the relationship between life and art, for those who wish to gain more insight into their abilities as actors, directors and writers. Using the body to find essential gesture, action and expression, participants discover and develop their own art. The body recognizes and can represent everything that moves...it is the prime element in the journey from life to the theatre.

Classes Instructed by Dody DiSanto.

Dody was trained in Paris, holding an esteemed position as a teaching protégé of the late Jacques Lecoq whose teachings she carries on at the Center for Movement Theatre. She is currently on the faculties of the Academy for Classical Acting for the Shakespeare Theatre at the George Washington University teaching mask and clown, at The Yale School of Drama teaching neutral mask, and at The Catholic University of America teaching neutral mask.

SUMMER 2009

BODY · MOTION · GESTURE
4 WEEKS

JUNE 9 - 30

7pm - 10pm Tuesday nights
Class location: The Center - DC
Tuition - $200

This class will work from the roots of classical pantomime and progress to a fast-paced style of gestural language that develops both micro and macro image building. We will also investigate spatial dynamics through the use of a reduced playing area. Strong ensemble training.

Open to all students. Enrollment minimum of 12.


Register now!

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IN CHICAGO

BUFFOON LABORATORY
Weekend Intensive

JULY 31, AUG 1 & 2

Fri 7pm - 10pm, Sat 10am - 6pm, Sun 2:30pm - 7:30pm
Class location: Links Hall 3435 N Sheffield #207 Chicago IL 60657
Tuition - $275


Buffoons come from somewhere else. They are connected to the verticality of mystery. They are part of the relationship between heaven and earth, of which they reverse their values. They spit on the heavens and invoke the earth. Buffoons are organized hierarchically, and live in a perfect society without conflict, where each person finds their exact place. They exhibit before us, in an anomalous manner - close to a parade, our proper folly. They play our society and its themes of power, science, religion through organized follies according to precise rules, where the most feeble may be in charge of everyone. The buffoons denounce and at the same time propose a tragic space.

The buffoon is a creature come to tell us everything we don't want to know about ourselves, to mock everything we hold most dear. The buffoon is full of rage, of spite, of mal intent.

But most of all, full of fun.

come birth your buffoon - have a romp through the stages of childhood

and discover your grotesque glory!

  • the instruments of percussion beat the time
  • the rhythm and the dance hammer the floor
  • the ritual reveals the mystery

This course is open to individuals of all levels. 


Register at Links Hall!

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FALL 2009

COMPREHENSIVE I PROGRAM

SEPTEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 15

12 WEEKS

Tuesday nights 7 - 10pm
Class location: The Center - DC
Tuition - $600

Due with Registration: $100 deposit

Recommended to all levels of ability, this class is the foundation for all the classes at the center for movement theatre.

The comprehensive program will cover the entire thrust of the Neutral Mask work including all supporting structures:

  • dynamic studies
  • movement analysis
  • element identifications
  • ensemble creation

Utilizing the innate wisdom of the body, the neutral mask enables us to find freedom, awareness and expression. It is a foundation and point of reference for building all character. It pushes us to our growing edge, guides us into a dialogue with our habits and arrives at the truth through essential gesture.

The neutral mask is in fact a full-face mask that you wear through a series of exercises. The mask engages a large space and beckons you to expand your presence. The lines and planes of the mask correspond to universal rhythms in nature. Through “identifying” with nature, we translate into action the sensations aroused through resonating with the “essence of life”: a method encouraging the actor to discover physical movements and to feel the structure and force of spatial dynamics.

It allows us to experience how the great movements of nature correspond to the most intimate movements of human emotion. It is a refining process of separating "self" from "characterization". It provides a clear slate upon which we can inscribe character.

The neutral mask was created by Jacques Lecoq and sculptor Amleto Sartori. Lecoq was inspired by a mask that Jacques Copeau was experimenting with. Copeau called it the “noble mask” and was using it to help actors expand their presence. While assisting Giorgio Strehler in 1947, helping to start the Piccolo Teatro School in Italy, Lecoq met Sartori, a master mask-maker for the company. Together, they embarked on the journey to develop and refine this tool. The neutral mask became the basis of Lecoq’s pedagogy and the formation of an actor training program, pursuing a theatre of creation.

Working with THE NEUTRAL MASK will:

• broaden your play
• heighten your spatial awareness
• free your body to respond without the control of the mind
• support and develop your physical abilities

There are 3 masks:

    the one we think we are,
    the one we really are, and
    the one we hold in common.

This course is open to individuals of all levels. 


Register now!

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To register for classes with
the center for movement theatre
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM HERE (.pdf), (How?)
print it out, fill it in, and mail it with deposit checks made
payable to The Center to:
THE CENTER
4321 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20016

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