THE EMBER IV Summer School
Studio Kokyu’s IV Summer School will be 10 days of intensive physical and vocal training focused on finding/building the presence of a performer in a group and on awakening the inner energy and creative imagination of a performer while working with movement, voice, text and song. The school will be shaped as a time of intensive physical and vocal work.
The training will be led by experienced performers and educators Joanna Kurzyńska, Marie Walker and Przemysław Błaszczak, assisted by Marta Horyza, who are the core of Kokyu Studio and are committed to the continual deepening of their practice. Joanna, Marie and Przemysław will lead workshop participants through a profound work process, at once individual and collective, towards a smouldering ember, the place where the flame of a conscious creative process begins. The place where I am today. Me, my breath, my body, my voice. Drawing flames from an ember – flames which will warm up the house – takes attention, care, focus, effort and time. The Ember will offer the opportunity to focus on this beginning. It will give participants the reason to initiate a movement, take a breath, make a sound.
- Kokyu training – training which allows for concentration on the movement and the breath in its unity, it serves in building the concentration and strengthening the body while preparing it for the voicework.
- The Herd – contact run – it’s used to build the group, the basic level of this practice is called tuning, it awakens the global listening of the entire body, requires attentiveness and being present in the moment.
- Partner training – working both with acrobatics in partnering and building subtle relationships connected to following/leading, communicating through touch and other physical communication channels.
- Aikido elements – Japanese martial art based on the idea of using and redirecting the energy which is received from the opponent. The work will include both, elements of physcial training and the weapons: bokken and jō – japanese wooden sword and stick.
- Voice in Progress – authorial research programme of Joanna Kurzyńska; it combines techniques of freeing the voice through intensive breathwork, body awareness and imagination (the work is rooted in the teachings of Kristin Linklater method, the work of Emma Bonnici and teachers of Roy Heart Theatre).
- Breath–voice–singing – elements in process of reconstructing the correct habits in understanding one’s voice as a tool to communicate, the way it functions and its possibility in daily life as well as on stage.
- Resonators/vibrations – introducing the voice into the resonating spaces of the body, vibrating it in its individual and mutual sound.
- “Harmony of Mutual Singing” – a practice of meeting in a polyphonic song as an opening of the channel of individual expression for improvisation but also experiencing a group existing together in polyphony, a mutual telling of a story, disappearing in harmonic unity.
- Improvisation and creation of the physical and vocal structures which could serve as a material to stage work.
The physical training is designed to awaken the awareness of the physical potential of the participants and their inner seeing and listening – themselves/partners/ensemble. The voice training and working with songs will allow a focus on the voice as a tool to communicate in daily life.
This workshop is for anyone with extensive experience working with movement, singing, dance, acting or other performance-related fields. It is open to actors, dancers, singers, choreographers, interdisciplinary artists and arts school students. Please note that the Summer School delivers intensive training which requires physical and mental preparation.
The workshop is addressed to people advanced in working with movement, singing, dancing, acting or other performative areas. We are welcome actors, dances, vocalists, choreographers and other artists working with interdisciplinary aspects of art and art school students. We would like to emphasize that Studio Kokyu Summer Schools is shaped as intensive training, which requires a right preparation, not only physical but also mental.
The workshop will take place in Brzezinka – a historical rural facility of Grotowski Institute, 40km from Wrocław. The beginnings of this facility date back to 1971 when Jerzy Grotowski along with actors of Theatre Laboratory conducted a renovation of these sites. Some of these renovated outbuildings surrounded by 10 hectares of forest include a theatre space, study room and accommodation. Currently, Brzezinka serves mostly as a workshop space.
SHEDULE
24.07.2022 - 4.08.2022
8:00am – 8:45am breakfast
9:00am – 10:00am Kokyu training
10:15am – 1:00pm work session
1:00pm –3:00pm lunch break
3:00pm – 6:00pm sesja pracy
6:30pm – 7:30pm dinner
7:30pm – 9:00pm „Harmony of collective singing”/discussions/projections/relaxation/free time
- All the excercises are coducted barefoot, in comfrotable clothes (long trousers, no button, belts and zips)
- The arrival to Brzezinka: 24th of July in the late afternoon
- The departuere: 4th of August early morning
- The transportation from the centre of Wrocław to Brzezinka and back is provided.
- The workshop will be led in both Polish and English.
- During the workshop there will be one day off - to rest and have time to digest the work. Leaders will not provide transport to the city on that day. We recommend to stay in the wood.
FEES AND APPLICATIONS
Fee: EARLY BIRD PRICE 600 EUR (when applying and paying the deposit until 15 June 2022)
Fee: 650 EUR (when applying and paying the deposit between 15 June – 15 July 2022)
The price includes full meals and accommodation. The participants collectively prepare breakfasts and dinners, as well as clean the working space.
As at the beginning of September it tends to get colder, it is advised to take warmer clothes for colder and rainy days, as well an insect repellent.
To apply, please send a application form until 15 July 2022 to Przemysław Błaszczak at email address: p.blaszczak@grotowski-institute.pl (Phone number +48 661 927 323).First come first serve basis. The places are limited. To guarantee a place a non-refundable deposit at 50% of the full price must be paid before the deadline.
OUR PREVIOUS SUMMER SCHOOLS
LEADERS
Joanna Kurzyńska lives in Wrocław. She graduated in violin from the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music, Wrocław, and now works as an actress, singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and passionate teacher.
Przemysław Błaszczak is an actor with a degree in philosophy who has been associated with the Grotowski Institute since 1995.
Marie Walker is a British actress and a graduate from Rose Bruford College in London. In 2019 she moved to Poland and began her work in Studio Kokyu.
Marta Horyza graduated from Fontainebleau School of Acting in France. She has been collaborating with Studio Kokyu since 2016.
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