ATELIER at the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,Anyone who is interested in the work of Jerzy Grotowski, and in artists who have been touched by his work in different ways and are developing their own related performance techniques and lines of work, should seriously consider participating in the work session described below.The artists involved have a variety of different relationships to Grotowski and his legacy. They include a performer from the original Theater Laboratory; several who trained at the Workcenter in Pontedera, Italy; and the leaders of the Grotowski Institute in Poland (previously the "Centre for Study of Jerzy Grotowski's Work and for Cultural and Theatrical Research").  Many of them also have connections with other branches of European experimental theater, such as Gardzienice in Poland or Les Kurbas in the Ukraine. One is from Singapore.Each of these truly remarkable artists has been working independently for many years, and without exception their work is of the highest quality. This is a remarkable and wonderful opportunity, and an excellent way to spend one month of your summer. The Grotowski Institute itself offers an extensive print and video archive, and Wroclaw is a beautiful city.Ben_____________________________________________________________________________THE GROTOWSKI INSTITUTEWroclaw, Poland  ATELIER SOURCE TECHNIQUES – SOURCES OF TECHNIQUES 20 June – 20 July 2007 Directed by: Jaroslaw Fret and Dr. Grzegorz Ziolkowski  Atelier consists of a series of practical and theoretical work sessions, which are part of an enterprise created for actors, musicians, singers, dancers, and theatre people. The aim of the Atelier is to work on the craft in the primary meaning of the word. The craft is a study of tools, a study of discovering creative motivation in oneself, a study of keeping the working spaces (whether them being actual spaces or the spaces of the body and/or the voice) in order. These elements build a skeleton of performer’s creative preparation for work, the core of which is re-cognition – dedication.  PROGRAMMEThe programme of the Atelier consists of: Openings, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Courses. • Openings are presentations of performances, concerts and demonstrations of work open for wider audiences. Presentations will be made by artists whose projects are realised within the framework of the promotional activities of the Grotowski Institute. • Midsummer Night’s Dream is a time during which we hope to make impossible possible. • Courses will be realised within 4 five-day units of work which embrace three independent artistic lines (on a whole 200 hours of work). Apart from them, the programme includes theoretical classes (14 hours) and 7 film presentations with introductions. • The work at the Atelier will be summarized during the last two days dedicated to individual meetings, presentations of the participants’ works, evaluation and summary.  SPACESThe sessions will take place in the site of the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw – in the historical space of the Laboratory Theatre (Rynek-Ratusz 27), as well as in the forest base of the Institute in Brzezinka – the place of realisation of paratheatrical projects of Jerzy Grotowski. SESSIONS’ LEADERS • Zygmunt Molik (long-term member of the Laboratory Theatre),• Ang Gey Pin (Singapore),• Piotr Borowski from Studium Teatralne (Warsaw), • Natalka Polovynka and Sergiej Kovalevich from Maisternia Pisni (Lviv, Ukraine), • Jaroslaw Fret (Director of the Grotowski Institute),• actors of the ZAR Theatre (Wroclaw), • Dr. Grzegorz Ziolkowski (Programme Director of the Grotowski Institute), as well as• Monika Blige, Adela Karsznia-Karpowicz and Magdalena Madra (members of the Research   Team of the Grotowski Institute). Zygmunt Molik was for 25 years an actor of Jerzy Grotowski’s Teatr Laboratorium (Laboratory Theatre). He played the main role in forming the voice training method iniciated by Jerzy Grotowski. Releasing of the creative energy and the search of the unity and connection between the body and the voice became for him the basis of an actor’s process. The workshop focuses on releasing blocked voice, body and energy. The workshop is addressed to the students of acting schools, young actors and people working with the voice.Ang Gey Pin – creator, actress, theatre instructor. Singapore actress Ang Gey Pin’s professional trajectory is very unique.  Paradoxically, her choice to live and work outside of her home country is strongly based on her interest in recovering her Chinese heritage. Ang’s theatre apprenticeship began in her native Singapore in 1986.  She graduated from the Theatre Department at the University of Hawaii in 1992.  She has researched into ancient Chinese texts, traditional songs, drumming, taichi when she co-founded and was the artistic director of Theatre OX (1995-2006). A former member of the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and s (Italy), Ang was the lead actress in the group’s Project The Bridge: developing theatre arts, One breath left (1998-2002) and Dies Irae:  My Preposterous Theatrum Interioris Show (2003-2006). She has performed and taught internationally. Piotr Borowski and Studium Teatralne Piotr Borowski – actor and Theatre director.  Since 1975 he was engaged in the activity of the Laboratory Theatre of  Jerzy Grotowski. In the years 1977-1983 he was an actor and musician in the theatre company „Gardzienice” led by Wlodzimierz Staniewski. In 1980, together with other members of the company, he created his own performance Juz odchodzimy (We are now leasing). Having left to Italy, in the years 1985-1993, Borowski worked at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and s in Pontedera. In 1996 he founded an independent Theatre group Studium Teatralne, which aspires to an integration and self-education, and also considers self-perfecting and gaining knowledge of the art of the theatre as its calling. Studium Teatralne aims at deepening and spreading the feeling of an artistic truth by the art of the theatre, through reaching the broadest layers of the society - the young generation in particular. Natalka Polovynka and Sergiej Kovalevich, Maisternia PisniNatalka Polovynka – singer, actress, teacher. Born in the area of Winnica, into a family of teachers. She studied at the Lysenko State Conservatory in L'viv (under Prof. Tarnavecka) and was trained at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski in Pontedera, Italy. From 1988 she collaborated with the Les Kurbas Theatre in L'viv. Laureate of international music and theatre festivals. Performer of ancient religious music, folk songs, romances, contemporary music and contemporary improvisation music. From 1996 she collaborates with Serhij Kovalevich from Moscow. Sergey Kovalevich – director and dramaturg of musical-drama theatre, pedagogue, student of the distinguished theatre maker Volodimir Klimenko (Klim). In the years 1988-2002 director of traditional culture at the drama school WORD AND VOICE in Electrostat (Russia). He has fourteen years experience of work: from classical theatre, to laboratory and experimental activities, as well as culture projects based on the orthodox church tradition. Director of a few anthropological documentary films dedicated to N. G. eiovich, one of the founders of the Russian school of methodology.   Jaroslaw Fret – director of the Grotowski Centre and a founder and a leader of Theatre ZAR. Starting from 1999 he organized several expeditions to Caucasus and the Near and Middle East to explore the old Christian churches (Georgian, Armenian, Syrian) and the Mandaeas – the last living, ancient Gnostic group surviving in Iran. One part of this project is Theatre ZAR’s performance, The Gospels of Childhood, which has been presented in Czech Republic, Egypt, Italy, Slovakia and Hungary. He was a co-editor of two special issues of Pamietnik Teatralny dedicated to Jerzy Grotowski (Warsaw 2000–2001).  Theatre ZAR – In the years 1999–2002 the members of the company Theatre ZAR realised four expeditions to Georgia. The fruit of these journeys were practical contacts with people and groups working with traditional music. It was in Tbilisi where their first experiences with learning reconstructed religious songs, including liturgical songs (from Sioni Church) took place. A crucial point was the work and comparison of notations of songs made at the turn of the 19th century, and using them as a bridge in reading some of the oldest songs which are only to be found in neumatic notation form. The participants of the expeditions accompanied the work of the singing teachers, also outside of Tbilisi, where the teachings of the sources of Georgian music are conducted. Throughout their journeys, the most important experience was their stay in Svaneti, in the Higher Caucasus, where they met a tradition of polyphonic songs whose origins date back to the beginning of our era. These two thousand year old songs are performed in a language which is no longer understood by Svans themselves and are the oldest form of polyphonic singing in Georgia and perhaps in the whole world. Work with songs from the Higher Caucasus will be the main theme for the workshop. Monika Blige – graduate in Polish philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznan with the dissertation titled „Wiecej niz teatr. Teatr Wiejski Wegajty – fenomen kulturowy i artystyczny” (More Than Theatre. Village Theatre Wegajty – cultural and artistic phenomenon) supervised by  Prof. Dobrochna Ratajczakowa. In the years 2001-2005 she collaborated with the Field Project of the Wegajty Theatre. Since 2004 she has been a Ph. D. student of the Drama and Theatre Departament at AMU, where, under the supervision of Prof. Ew Guderian-Czaplinska, she is writing her thesis dedicated to Ludwik Flaszen. She runs the Publishing Section at the Grotowski Institute. Adela Karsznia-Karpowicz – graduate in Polish philology at the Wroclaw University with the dissertation dedicated to the activities of Jerzy Grotowski. Under the direction of  Prof. Janusz Dealer, she is preparing her Ph. D. on the subject of the activity of the Laboratory Theatre in the years 1959-1965. She works at the Grotowski Institute as an archivist.  Magdalena Madra – graduate in Polish philology and culture studies at the Wroclaw University. From 2007 she will be a Ph. D. student at the Wroclaw University, preparing her thesis on the theme of the paratheatrical period of the Laboratory Theatre under the supervision of Prof. Janusz Degler. She works in the Administrative Section of the Grotowski Institute.  Dr. Grzegorz Ziolkowski, theatre scholar, editor, translator from and into English (among others of Brook’s The Shifting Point), theatre director and work sessions leader, lecturer at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, author of Teatr Bezposredni a Brooka ([The Immediate Theatre of Brook] Gdansk 2000). In years 1991-2001 artistic director and actor of Biuro Poszukiwan Teatralnych [The Office for Theatrical Research] of Poznan. Member of the Artistic Board of the International Theatre Festival Maski [Masks] in Poznan from 1997 to 2003. The originator and organizer of numerous theatre conferences. He collaborates with Cracow theatre journal Didaskalia and have published in Teatr, Scena, and Poznanskie Studia Polonistyczne. In 2004, with Prof. Allain, he co-edited a special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review devoted to Polish theatre after 1989. In 2005, with Prof. Janusz Degler, he co-edited Essere un uomo totale. Autori polacchi su Grotowski. L’ultimo decennio (Torino, Wroclaw 2005). Since 2004 the Programme Director of the Grotowski Centre.  TYPES OF SESSIONSThe programme of the Atelier Sources Techniques – Techniques of Sources will be realised during:• silentorias – which assume being active in perception: that is when silence is being activated,• performatorias – which assume being active in action: that is when action is being activated,• conversatorias – which assume being active in conversation: that is when word is being activated, and• repetitorias – which assume being active in repetition: that is when memory is being activated. SCHEDULE20 June: arrival,21-23 June: Openings (Wroclaw),24 June: travel to Brzezinka, Midsummer Night’s Dream,25-29 June: 1st Step (Brzezinka), 30 June: lecture and film presentations,1-5 July: 2nd Step (Brzezinka),6 July: free time, travel to Wroclaw,7-11 July: 3rd Step (Wroclaw),12 July: lecture, film presentations and travel to Brzezinka,13-17 July: 4th Step (Brzezinka),18-19 July: individual meetings, presentations of the participants’ works, evaluation, summary20 July: departure. LANGUAGEAll courses will be run in English.  NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS16. The participants will be selected upon the application forms. COST800 Euros. Cost for Central and Eastern European citizens: 600 Euros.This covers: entrance fee for performances and concerts during Openings, fee for work, travel from Wroclaw to Brzezinka and back, accomodation in apartments with cooking facilities, accomodation and meals while in Brzezinka. The participants arrive to Wroclaw on their own expense. APPLICATIONSApplications should be sent by electronic mail only.From 1st of January till 1 of March 2007 applications should be addressed to Magda Madra at: magda@... and magda@....From 2nd of March till 15th of April applications should be addressed to Justyna Rodzinska at: justyna@... and justyna@.... DEADLINES• Description of subjects as well as complete list of leaders will be provided by 31st of January 2007.• Detailed schedule of the Atelier, together with the programme of Openings will be announced by 15th of March 2007. • Sending of application forms: 30th of April 2007.• Confirmation will be sent to selected participants by 15th of May 2007.• The fee should be transfered, in euros only, by 1st of June 2007. INFORMATIONDetailed information on the Atelier is provided by Magdalena Madra: ph. (0048) 71 34 45 320 or ph./fax (0048) 71 34 34 267. COORDINATIONCoordination of the Atelier: Justyna Rodzinska.Collaboration: Magdalena Madra and Agnieszka Pietkiewicz.  THE GROTOWSKI INSTITUTERynek-Ratusz 27, 50-101 Wroclaw, Polandph./fax /0048/ 71 34 34 267 ph. /00 48/ 71 34 31 711, /00 48/ 71 34 45 320www.grotcenter.art.pl, www.grotowski-institute.art.pl___________________________________________________________________APPLICATION FORM  THE ATELIER SOURCE TECHNIQUES – SOURCES OF TECHNIQUES 20 June – 20 July 2007Before 1st of March 2007 to be sent to Magdalena Madra: magda@... and magda@....After 1st of March 2007 to be sent to Justyna Rodzinska at: justyna@... and justyna@... Name:Surname:Date and place of birth:Nationality:Address (country, city, post code, street, no): Telephone:Mobile:E-mail:Profession and occupation and/or department and name of the school: Artistic experience: Motivation to participate in the Atelier: FeeFee: 800 euros. Fee for the Eastern and Middle Europeans: 600 euros. This covers: entrance fee for performances and concerts during Openings, fee for work, travel from Wroclaw to Brzezinka and back, accomodation in apartments with cooking facilities, accomodation and meals while in Brzezinka. The participants arrive to Wroclaw on their own expense.  DeadlinesSending of application forms before 15th of April 2007.Confirmation of participation will be announced before 1st of May 2007.The fee should be paid, in euros only, before 1st of June 2007 (the bank’s name and account number will be provided after the selection process is completed).   THE GROTOWSKI INSTITUTERynek-Ratusz 27, 50-101 Wroclaw, PolandPh./fax /00 48/ 71 34 34 267, ph. /00 48/ 71 34 31 711www.grotcenter.art.pl, www.grotowski-institute.art.plE-mail: magda@..., magda@..., justyna@..., justyna@...