イントロダクション！！ボディムーブメントの世界へ

I started teaching an Intro to Physical Theater class last Saturday at  ひやみかち学校.  The class went successfully with three Japanese participants (a small showing, but I believe the class enrollment will start to increase).  I was interviewed by NHK.  The journalist stayed the entire 2 hours for my class, videoing and watching the various activities and games we played.  I was really pleased at how open minded and excited the participants in the class were.  They were really fearless.   One of them had never even tried theater but had always wanted to and, like myself, is a Chelfitsch/Toshiki Okada fan, so we have a commonality in our aesthetic choice.

Speaking of language, I taught the majority of the class in English but since most of the games and activities are movement based, we often did not need to rely on spoken language, apart from my instruction (which was sometimes translated, when necessary).  It was really an experiment for me to try to teach adults theater with this massive language barrier.  But as I told them in the class, the aim is to create a common language - a language of theater which combines creative use of space and time.  We did a number of abstract exercises that combined some of the Viewpoints training that I know, with some other devised ensemble approaches to theater, as well as improv.

I'm really excited to see how the next class will go.  I'm hoping we can build the trust and dynamic energy we need that makes theater so fantastic and wonderful to be a part of.  I've missed it so much.  I'm glad I've returned home.

If you live in Okinawa and you're interested in participating in my class, it's open to both Japanese and foreigners living in Okinawa.  Currently, I'm teaching June 16th, July 7th, and July 21st from 3:30-5:00PM The classes cost 2000 yen for 1.5 hours.  You can take them individually, but I recommend attending all of them.

Here's a review/advert that  ひやみかち学校 produced (just in case you read Japanese and you live in Okinawa).  If I get a copy of the NHK interview, I'll re-post it.

みんなが気になってた講座、『イントロダクション！！ボディムーブメントの世界へ』！始まっております～。ゲームの要素をたくさん取り入れながら表現力を高めていきます！講師のAutumnさんはすごい経歴の持ち主なのですがとても気さくで笑顔が絶えません★
ダンスや演劇の経験はまったく必要なし！新しい自分にであえます★

6月16日、7月7日、7月21日
全て15：30～17：00
まだ空きがございますのでどうぞお申込みを～

講師
Autumn Widdoes（オータム・ウィド-ス）
舞台アーティスト、舞台作家
ニューヨーク大学パフォーミング学部にて演劇博士号取得。
専門はフィジカル・シアター系のボディエクスプレッション等。
ロンドン・サンフランシスコ・ニューヨーク各地で公演、指導に携わってきた。

Check out ひやみかち学校 for more information.