s

News

Grants for Performers Announced

International Performing Art Camp in Tuscany Italy, 24-29 October 2016.

We're pleased to inform you that Art Universe Agency has announced several grants for professional performers: dancers, choreographs, actors of dance, physical theatre, drama, musical theatre, contemporary circus artists, movement directors, physical theatre directors, multidisciplinary artists.

International Performing Art Camp is opening its doors to performers of all continents! The grant supports accommodations and meals during the International Performing Art Camp 2016 in Tuscany, Italy. The camp is based on the territory of the 12th century monastery famous for the name of Dante Alighieri.

Performing Art Camp is the international residential for performing art practitioners from different countries working in various techniques, genres and styles. The program is open to dancers, actors, choreographs and contemporary circus performers with professional stage experience, multidisciplinary artists passionate and inspired by movement, drama and physical theatre interested in practical research of contemporary performance practice together with colleague from all over the world.

The artistic director of the program is the theatre director, choreographer and teacher Sergei Ostrenko. During the program participants will have opportunities to explore Ostrenko method of performer's physical training and rehearsal based on the method of Stanislavsky, M. Chekhov, principals of Meyerhold's Biomechanics, Tai Chi and contact improvisation.

For all information http://www.artuniverse.org/grants

 

London Stories: Made by Migrants Battersea Arts Centre

The Battersea Arts Centre is planning a theatre project called London Stories: Made by Migrants. It is a show that is happening over 3 weeks in November. London Stories: Made by Migrants will be a festival focussed around people from all sorts of backgrounds who live in London telling true stories that are income way related to the theme of migration. The storytellers will take over the building - an old Victorian Town Hall - and will tell stories to small audiences of 4 or 5 people at a time.

The stories might be personal stories of coming to London - from other parts of the UK, from other parts of Europe or other parts of the world - and trying to make a life here. But they are also interested in family stories of migration from previous generations. They want to try and represent a real diversity of stories of migration to London. They are also interested in stories from people who have welcomed migrants and refugees. They want to offer a positive narrative to help counter the negative messages we often get through the mainstream media.

They have launched their call out for stories. Please do have a read. If you know people who have great stories to tell on this theme but might prefer just to chat to them please let them know, they're very happy to meet up with groups and individuals to chat about the project. Here's the link to their website https://www.bac.org.uk/content/42052/to_archive/call_out__london_stories_made_by_migrants

Playing On Theatre Company Hearing Things

Playing On Theatre company presents a moving and provocative drama that opens a window to the closed world of psychiatry. Hearing Things, by Philip Osment, explores the blurred lines between perceptions of mental illness in society and the many different realities from the point of view of patients, relatives and staff.

This event is part of the new season opening at the Wellcome Collection in September: Medicine, What Now? The program includes many events centre around a major free exhibition, Bedlam: the asylum and beyond. The exhibition traces the rise and fall of the mental asylum by following the story of one such institution, Bethel Royal Hospital in London, know in popular slang as Bedlam.

The display focuses on the diverse perspectives and lived experiences of individuals who inhabited the asylum or created alternative to it - their voices have shaped the meaning of mental illness and the current landscape of mental healthcare. Bedlam juxtaposes historical material and medical records with individual testimonies and works by artists such as David Beales, Richard Dadd, Dora Garcia, whose works reflect or reimagine the institution, as both a physical and a virtual space.

Another event of interest for actors will be run by Siobhan Davies Dance: Moving Conversation. Choreographers and scientists explore the connection between mind, body and feeling, through performance and discussion, as part of research for a new work by Siobhan Davies Dance.

Soho Theatre Young Company London

Soho Theatre Young Company offers courses for young people aged from 11 to 30: New writing, comedy and theatre. The classes run from October to June. Soho Theatre Young Company is for young people from all backgrounds and experience and offers genuine pathways from the rehearsal rooms to the stage.

Comedy Lab - Ages 16-30
Want to develop your sketch or stand-up routine? Work with professional comedians and build towards a public sharing. Join the Comedy Lab every Saturday for 10 weeks.

Writer's Lab - Ages 16-26
Thinking about writing a play? This workshop with industry professionals are masterclasses offering tips, feedback and support to write a new play for the Soho Young Writer's Award. 

Theatre Makers - Ages 11-16
Interested in creating work for the stage? Collaborate with professional theatre makers and other young artists to develop a new show.

www.sohotheatre.com/young-people

Unlimited Festival for the World Southbank Centre

Coinciding with the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, September sees the much anticipated return of Southbank Centre's Unlimited festival, which celebrates the artistic vision and originality of disabled artists. Join a festival of dance, music, literature, comedy, visual arts and theatre from around the world that celebrates difference with a spirit of artistic adventure, honesty and humour.

Highlights include the first ever solo stand-up comedy performance by Touretteshero Jess Thom, the world premiere of Assisted Suicide: The Musical by Liz Carr and a dance duet from leading artists Claire Cunningham and Jess Curtis. These artists continue to break boundaries, challenge taboos and drive innovation in imaginative and unexpected ways.

From London, Chickenshed presents Tales from the Shed and invites you to enjoy a vibrantly interactive theatre show designed for young children. Tales from the Shed shows are lively and informal, inviting performers and audience to share the same space. There is no edge of the stage - just a single inclusive space where everyone joins in a dramatic dialogue with everyone else. It couldn't be further removed from watch-and-listen theatre, and the possibilities are as limitless as our imaginations.

For all information and to book tickets, visit southbankcentre.co.uk/unlimited
or phone 020 7960 4200.

 

 

 

A Visit to Angels Costumes in Hendon

Angels costumes main business is making the clothes on the television and the silver screen look picture-perfect and historically accurate. But this world-famous costumiers also runs a fancy-dress shop on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Its purpose-built premises in Hendon has eight miles of clothing rails, all packed with garments in every shape, size, color, style and era. As well as a near-infinite number of coat hangers, the building houses design studios, a tailoring department, offices and a fridge full of fur.

Why not going for a visit? You'll see dresses that were made in the nineteenth century, epaulette designed especially for 'Dad's Army', pretend chainmail, real chainmail, royal wedding replicas and hundred of Santa suits. Try to spot the outfits that appeared in the 35 films that have won the company Best Costume Oscar - among them 'The Grand Budapest Hotel', 'Gladiator' and 'Titanic' - or just enjoy the fact that Leonardo di Caprio wore something that's now hanging in your vicinity.

Its fantastic tours run several times a month on selected weekdays and cost £20. Email tours@angels.uk.com for upcoming dates and to book your place.
Angels Costumes, 1 Garrick Road, NW9 6AA, Hendon, London.

Performance course at the Slade School of Fine Art

Performance in a visual arts context embraces many different activities and approaches to making live work. Artists coming from background as diverse as sculpture, painting, dance, theatre, musics and film converge in this radical, contentious area with its multiple histories and contexts. 

Performance is a vibrant field that draws from and feeds into other disciplines. The Slade School of Fine Art is offering a one week course that will be of value to all and any artists and performers who want a fresh take on their own practice as well as those dedicated to performance, whether working alone or in collaboration.

Each day will begin with a practical workshop conducted by Gary Stevens where the participants work together to develop and explore ideas. The afternoon sessions will begin with short presentations to introduce key themes and issues with examples of performances. Students will then explore ideas of their own with practical and critical support from the group.

This summer course is open to all and runs from Monday 18 July - 22 July.
Course Leader Gary Stevens - Fees £360. For all information and registration http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/shortcourses/summer-school

Chickenshed, Theatre Changing Lives in North London

Started in 1974, Chickenshed is an inclusive theatre company who creates performances for all ages, initiates outreach projects, runs education courses and organisms membership programmes throughout the year. Chickenshed is a registered charity supported by individuals, companies and foundations.

Performance is at the heart of everything they do. Their work uses the stage to celebrate diversity and theatre as a vehicle to communicate with audiences and question social issues. Chickenshed regularly presents original and exciting productions for young children, families and adults, as well as creates new work based on personal and social issues that affect today's society.

Chicken shed changes lives by bringing together young people from all social and economical backgrounds, races and abilities to study creatively alongside each other, many of whom have been marginalized by society and excluded from mainstream education.

This summer, Chickenshed is running a community choir, a Performance workshop for young adult and a family show 'Tales from the Shed' where children are always encourage to make a lot of noise and make the stories happen. A vibrant, interactive theatre show, amazingly engaging as the performers and audience share the same space. 

For all information https://www.chickenshed.org.uk

Theatre performance and Performance Art with Marina Abramovic

One of the most important living artist, Marina Abramovic has been pushing boundaries and pioneering new form of performance art for over 40 years. In a recent interview for The Calvert Journal, she talks about her Method and the transformational power of performance art. 

If the Serbian artist did not invent performance art, she started experimenting with it in the late 1960w and has done more than anyone else to put performance on the art map by endlessly promoting the media over the last 40 years.

The Abramovic Method distills the artist's knowledge about performance. Particularly prevalent in theatre, she sees the very notion of 'method" as purely Slavic, in the tradition of theatre directors Stanislavsky, Grotowski or Kantor. Her method includes series of cleansing practices, carried out in three basic physical positions (lying down, sitting and standing), designed to slow down the activity of the audience and put us in the right mood to fully experience long-duration performance.

In her own words "Long-durational performance is very hard on the performer but the transformation he or she undergoes changes the public and their view on life itself. For a performance you have to be in the present. But during the performance your mind can go to different spaces, times, think about something else. If you have to count every second, how much time have you got for your mind to go somewhere else between one second and another? It requires huge willpower to be in the present constantly. By doing that you change your brain pattern. By changing your brain pattern, you change your intake of oxygen and you can create a completely different state of mind, which can actually affect your life."

Performance, Politics, Pop Culture: LIFT Festival 2016

In June opens the new edition of the LIFT Festival - Performance, Politics, Pop Culture. Led by artistic director Marc Ball, LIFT 2016 runs from June 2nd until July 2nd, 4 weeks of events exploding across the city.

This new edition is their most ambitious festival yet, with work taking place everywhere, from the Barbican and Saddlers Wells to East End graveyards and Historic Music halls.

"We've travelled the world to curate a very special playlist of performances, politics, and pop-culture for London, so go on - Press Play" Marc Ball.

Created in 1981, LIFT has been pioneering new forms of theatre, offering spectacular performances and moments of magic in every corner of London. A year-round program culminates in the world-known biennal festival that transforms the capital into a stage.

This year program includes works by Neil Bartlett,  Krzysztof Warlikowski, Fernando Rubio, Andrew Schneider, Clare Patey, Toco Nikaido, Lola Arias, Inne Goris, Dominique Pauwels, Rosemary Lee, Simon Whitehead, Anthony Hamilton, Alisdair Macindoe and Taylor Mac.

The full programme is available online https://www.liftfestival.com and tickets are selling fast!