SUMMER INTENSIVES
5-day trainings
10am – 5pm daily
$650/1 session; $1200/2 sessions; $1700/all 3 sessions
June 15-19 BOUFFON (Thursday-Monday)
June 21-25 NEUTRAL MASK (Wednesday-Sunday)
June 28-July 2 DYNAMIC STUDIES in space, gesture & structure (Wednesday-Sunday)
Class Descriptions below.
Open to all levels.
BOUFFON LABORATORY
June 15-19
Thursday – Monday
10am – 5pm
Tuition: $650; Deposit: of $100 due with registration
what is bouffon?
Bouffon is a rich dramatic territory evolved by Jacques Lecoq in his enduring pursuit to train the
actor-creator. During the social upheaval in the 60’s, he sensed the collective need to translate
the cruelty of human sociality. Reaching back to Medieval times when people were exiled for
being ‘different’, Lecoq asked his students to deform their bodies, join in clans and mock the
ways of normalized culture and society through the folly of games, lunacy, madness,
distraction, dementia. A bouffon is a creature of mystery, the grotesque and the fantastic.
how does it relate to clown?
A clown is alone, while the bouffon is part of a group.
We make fun of clowns, while the bouffons make fun of us.
what is it about?
Buffoons come from somewhere else.
They belong to the folly necessary for rescuing the truth.
Bouffons are connected to the verticality of mystery. They are part of the relationship between
heaven and earth 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 – the themes of power, science, religion, politics – all organized
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.
what will we do?
Bouffon comes from the Latin “buffare” to puff or to swell to provoke laughter.
Bouffon work involves developing enlarged forms/bodies (using foam, fiberfill, etc.) that are
resonant with the mysterious, the grotesque and the fantastic. The workshop will include
revisiting the stages of childhood, producing games and rituals out of normalcy, endless
ensemble play, and making mockery.
instruments of percussion beat the time
the rhythm and the dance hammer the floor
where ritual reveals mystery
NEUTRAL MASK (Comprehensive 1 Program)
June 21 - 25
Wednesday – Sunday
10am – 5pm
Tuition: $650; Deposit: of $100 due with registration
Generating energy, size and presence, mask work guides us to eliminate habitual patterns,
encouraging clarity of movement and a greater command of stillness.
In neutral mask we learn to play the rhythms of life, to silence the excess noise, to become an
environment upon which we reflect the poetics of the natural world.
The neutral mask is an educational tool tapping the inherent dynamic wisdom of the body as a
vehicle to find freedom, awareness, and expression.
It is a foundation and point of reference for building all character.
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.
Grappling with the properties of spatial awareness, the mask is used to eliminate superfluous
action and to distill movement down to essential rhythms.
It encourages clarity of movement, a greater command of stillness, and provides a clear slate
upon which we inscribe character. Neutral means ready urging you to:
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broaden your play
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heighten your spatial awareness
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free your body to respond without the control of the mind
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support and develop your physical abilities
Pushing us to our growing edge, the mask guides us into a dialogue with our habits arriving at
the truth through essential gesture.
There are 3 masks:
the one we think we are,
the one we really are,
and the one we hold in common.
DYNAMIC STUDIES in space, gesture, and structure
June 28 - July 2
Wednesday – Sunday
10am – 5pm
Tuition: $650; Deposit: of $100 due with registration
This is a class in creativity approaching the dynamic properties of space and rhythm through
structure and movement. The course immerses the student in both plastic and physical
representation.
Each day is divided between hands-on construction projects using basic materials such as
charcoal, paper, string, wood, clay, paint, etc., and explorations in a movement studio relying
on the body to research complimentary themes being investigated with materials.
Work in the movement studio begins from the premise that the body, as microcosm, recognizes
and can represent everything that moves. In the materials studio, concurrent themes and
projects engage a dialogue on the organization of things both inside and outside the body.
In dynamic studies, we enter an abstract dimension, working with universal experiences and
sensations that are common to us all – such as color, light, sound, poetry, and substances.
Through the recognition and identification of these territories, we discover the subtlety of
gestural nuance and encounter how nature informs art.
Open to all levels. It is not necessary to be an artist or an actor.