Summer workshop MELODICAL BODY
Summer workshop MELODICAL BODY
25th July - 1st August, Slavonice
led by Smadar EMOR (Israel) and Petra URBANCZYKOVÁ (CZ)
As is now traditional we'll spend the last week of July in the picturesque town of Slavonice, this time with choreographer and singer Smadar Emor. Smadar led a workshop in Prague in December 2013 and we are pleased that she is returning to offer us a deeper insight into her work with the voice and body. The instructor says the workshop will be a place where movement, sound, dance and song will go back to their natural and organic unity.
Each day will consist of three parts:
- We will exercise, which will link breathing, movement and voice and help us realise our natural bodily impulses and rhythms. We develop personal creativity and we’ll also improvise in a group, so that we can strengthen the ability to be part of a whole, though without losing one’s individuality and authentic inner voice.
- We will expand our possibilities for movement and voice as concerns dynamics, colouring, volume and we’ll work with physical resonances, “acoustic images” as well as with motion compositions. This will enrich the range of tools for expression so that we can create small “vocal dance” compositions.
- We will work both singly and in groups on small compositions in which the structure joins with improvisation.
The workshop will strengthen participants’ disposition - the work will result in an intense experience of one’s own body, greater richness of vocal expression, both in singing as well as in speech, opening up new possibilities for creativity. The workshop is suitable for those who work with the voice or body - it is not expected from you that you will have experience with both areas.
More information about the lecturer, can be found HERE.
Working with breath
The second corresponding subject will be working with breath, conducted by Petra Urbanczyková (www.dychat.eu).
Lecturer’s introduction:
“What is beautiful about breath is that it brings us a real inward joy, we can then let this flow out by singing, and so we are able to share it.
I’ve been singing ever since I was small. I learnt the songs from my mother, grandmother and aunt. When grandfather and grandmother moved from our native land, it was songs that helped them keep their roots. I learnt to feel through song. I found myself in those songs. Mine was the sadness in them, the regret, disappointment, fear, anger, jealousy. But they also showed me the path to reconciliation, joy, forgiveness and humour. The fact that I need to follow the VOICE of one’s heart"
A series of workshops playful breathing, movement and voice studies. Come and delve into your breath (rediscovering comfortable and full breathing, relaxation and healing techniques of the Orient - yoga, tai-chi, butoh), see breath as training on the path to unity. We’ll see how breath and our emotions influence each other; we’ll try to give breathing the conditions so that all four phases will be physiologically and emotionally free. You’ll have the opportunity to feel and to know the ratio of elasticity and strength you need to attain in the body and thus also in your life.
WORKSHOP
Slavonice is a small, old-world town, which is one of the few in the Czech Republic that has retained its Renaissance form.
Arrival at Slavonice will be during Saturday 25 July, in the evening we begin with a short meeting. Teaching begins in the morning on Sunday 26 July, there will be 6 teaching days in all. The classes will take place in the beautiful hall on the first floor of the Old School, situated directly on the Renaissance square. Participants will go through three hours of work with the body and voice in the morning, then after lunch there will be a shorter block working with breath, and at the end a block working with voice and body. The exact schedule will be specified later. Training will be conducted in English and interpreted into Czech.
The workshop price is CZK 6,550 and includes tuition fee and breakfast. Breakfast will be taken together and will be in the form of an excellent, varied and healthy buffet.
In the application we also offer the option of accommodation in the Secession Building, see photos, which also has a kitchenette, and accommodation will be in 2, 3 and 4 bedded rooms. It must be said that despite the pleasant environment of the hostels, it is a reconstructed former boarding school, so there is only one shower to each floor, which serves both men and women and which must always be locked when showering. However participants have always made it without injury : -) and price-wise it is unrivalled for Slavonice. The price is CZK 200 per night, in all CZK 1400. Anyone who wants to stay in another place can ensure accommodation separately according to their choice - Slavonice has a wide variety of hotels and pensions, there is also a camp a few kilometres away. Information is available at www.i.slavonice-mesto.cz or we can advise from experience, if you write/call us.
It will also be possible to arrange a joint lunch - if we have at least 15 people, a great specialist in vegetarian cuisine, Monika Šatavová, would cook for us. A meal consisting of soup, a main dish and a salad or dessert would cost CZK 120. From experience we know that her food satisfies even the most die-hard carnivores: -) This option is also advantageous because it will allow you more time to relax during your lunch break.
Important information: accommodation in the Secession House can only be ensured with certainty by applying by 30 June! By this date we have to bindingly announce the number of beds reserved and after this date we cannot guarantee that there will be a place (though it is possible that there may be) - accommodation will be arranged by inquiry.
This year, for those who would like to go with the children, there will be a babysitter for children under five. Babysitting is organised by Slavonická renesanční o.p.s. ,www.zdrojslavonice.cz, Olga Žampová has more information, tel. 602 57 10 87.