Information

25.4. 10:00 – 15:00
26.4 10:00 – 18:00
27.4. 10:00 – 18:00
28.4. 12:00 – 14:00 / lunch, workshop feedback

“Why the actor should be a dancer and the dancer should be an actor and why it doesn’t matter after all… and that sometimes it’s good not to make titles short especially in the clickbait era! Things are complex…”

Last year saw the premiere of Neboj_ aneb show tanečníka Jiříka (Don’t Be Scared_ or Jiřík the Dancer’s Show). There was no specific aim at the beginning of this project – more of a feeling. The rehearsals were spread out over about six months. Whenever possible, I went to the rehearsal space and fulfilled a single task – “move”. We can understand this in the broadest possible sense – dancing, speaking, singing, jumping, thinking, etc. We can also understand “moving” metaphorically. The import of what I have now written is to create a certain sense of confusion, let’s say complexity and breadth, that cannot be encompassed. Our natural reaction is to create categories “for the sake of clarity”, despite the fact that we’ll end up with a great load of categories that end up being even less clear. In order to deal with the instruction to “move”, I had to create what I call “temporary borders of specificity” – after being established, these can be dissolved, immediately if one so desires. This process brought me to several strategies which I need to verify in collaboration with other people…

If you have read this far and you feel as though all this might appeal to you, you can consider taking part in this research.

In the course of three days, I will offer several impulses:

Day one ► Working with language, whether this means improvised poetry, storytelling, or interpreting a text – we search for a message and a collaboration with the spectator.

Day two ► We continue in this same search, but now with movement – one’s own simple choreography, improvisation, interpretation of external material – we search for a message and a collaboration with the spectator.

Day three ► We combine it all. It doesn’t matter whether we speak, sing, or dance. We are and we create here and now.

We’ll follow that with a topical brainstorming session – “in what context/world do we create/live and how should we create/live.”

All this will be created on the basis of exercises and impulses we have created and put to work in the Ufftenživot group. This workshop will be the inauguration of rehearsals for the ensemble’s new project. The working title is Words of Apology, and the topic is the modes of thought the systems we live in create. The phenomenon of “online hatred” and fake news, for instance – is this pseudo-evil really inside people, or do people simply do what the system they live in programmes them to do? Perhaps we need to create systems which do not produce hatred, do not devastate the planet, and do not contribute to social divides. One of the ways to achieve such systems is through the imagination – in the spirit of Albert Einstein: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

As a research participant, you will receive an intense three-day “complex gym” in which it doesn’t matter whether you are exercising the body or the mind, because the entire time, we can exercise both simultaneously. You will take a peek into Ufftenživot’s process. You’ll be present at the initiation of WoA, and if we’re on the same page, perhaps we can collaborate in the future.

Participation is free, but attendance at all three days is compulsory. The workshop is aimed at experienced dancers and actors and is English friendly. If you are interested, please write five sentences about yourself and your experiences HERE. 

The workshop will be led by Jiří Šimek – www.ufftenzivot.cz/portfolio/jirisimek/