ARTPARK'S DEVISED PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE
A NEW EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR 2022

The Artpark Devised Performance Institute (ADPI) is a summer learning program that brings cutting-edge international performing arts companies together with participants interested in an intensive study of creating physically! 

The program runs from June 8 - August 27, 2022, and includes 26 sessions total. 

Classes throughout the summer will examine how studies of devising with the body offer an alternative language and lens for expanding our imagination, our communication skills, and our decision-making capabilities while providing a supportive atmosphere to nurture artistic development, personal growth, and physical change. The curriculum for this program will vary and develop from month to month, incorporating themes explored in masterclasses and the experiences of each guest artist. Classes are taught in an atmosphere of safety and respect and include The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education® for injury prevention and self-care.  

Participants will come away with the following skills: 

 

ABILITY LEVEL

The classwork has many layers that connect to our sense of self and the world around us. Each intensive master class will expand on a variety of disciplines and support people who are:

• Performers who want to work more physically, deepen their craft, learn new skills, make international connections
• University Students in theatre, dance, voice, or athletic programs who want to expand their performance skills
• Aerialists who want to expand their skills and connect with international cutting edge aerial companies who are creating cutting edge aerial work
• Actors or creators looking for new ways of creating and connecting with pioneering companies who have seeded their mission to align with environmentalism
• Dancers seeking new ways of working and approaching presence and choreography -Artists interested in expanding their sense of movement and want to go beyond their comfort zones
• Activists interested in using art for expression
• Educators interested in gaining more ideas and being in their body

 

STUDENTS WILL ENGAGE IN WORKSHOPS WITH THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES: 

PLASTICIENS VOLANTS

A 40-year old French institution practicing street theater spectacle with their unique inflatable puppetry return to Artpark’s grounds after two breathtaking performances in 2017 (Big Bang) and 2019 (Pearl). Performing on Artpark’s main parking lot in front of Mainstage Theater On August 20th Plasticiens Volants will present Artpark audiences with a new show: Leonardo’s Dreams and Nightmares celebrating the insatiable curiosity and polymathic pursuits of Leonardo Da Vinci. Everything is connected and up in the air in a form of giant inflatable puppets created and manipulated by the unique mastery of Plasticiens Volants' artists. The show at Artpark is scheduled for August 20th, 2022. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23EMlC83oI8 

 

ART MOVE CONCEPT

Cie Art Move Concept, or Art Move Concept Company, is a French dance company that was founded in 2009 by choreographer/dancers Mehdi Ouachek and Soria Rem. They have since performed throughout France and around the world. Ouachek was already skilled in hip-hop before studying Butoh and other dance forms, while Rem was known as a leading French b-girl who performed throughout the commercial industry. Based in La Rochelle, France, the company made its U.S. debut at City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival in 2017, and at Jacob’s Pillow in 2018. They're bringing their Anopas program to our Mainstage Theater on company July 22 and 23: Video: http://artmove-concept.com/en/anopas-3/

 

Cirque Barcode

Returning to Artpark’s Emerald Grove from their 2021 premiere at Artpark, the outdoor acrobatics performance Branché is a collaboration between Cirque Barcode and Acting for Climate. It is a show to address the climate crisis, created in a way to have minimal impact during creation and while touring. Designed to be played in parks or forests and centered on group acrobatics, Branché is a celebration of the strength of community and our relationships to each other and to nature. It is a show to get people outside and inspire them as to what is possible if we work together. Artpark performances dates: July 30th-31st, Emerald Grove, Artpark. https://www.barcodecircuscompany.com/branche

 

 

BATTEMENTS DE CIRQUE MONTREAL

As part of the Fairy House Festival on July 9, BATTEMENTS DE CIRQUE MONTREAL, an internationally acclaimed aerial arts group led by Anouk Vallée-Charest will create and perform a unique Fairy House-specific show for Artpark audiences only. Over 11 years, Anouk created and presented many acts: aerial silk fix and flying, single-point trapeze, aerial hoop, aerial rope, loop, duo aerial rope, duo trapeze, duo hand to hand, duo aerial straps, acrobatic, and juggling. In 2010, she was the artistic director and stage manager for a gala at Place Des Arts in Montreal.http://anoukvallee-charest.com/en/ battementsdecirque/

 

 

Jon Lehrer Dance Company

Jon Lehrer started his company in 2007 in Buffalo, NY, and has received critical acclaim nationally and internationally. Under his artistic direction, the company showcases Jon's unique choreography and embodies his definitive style. His extensive background in both modern and jazz dance fosters choreography that is organic, artistic, accessible, and often humorous, reflecting life experience and the human condition. The company’s expressive style is based on three main elements of movement, circularity, dimensionality, and momentum, which combine to create a form that is best described as “Organically Athletic”. With creativity, athleticism, and the ability to make new and innovative modern and jazz dance accessible to all 

audiences, the company has made quite a name for itself in the dance world. Now based in NYC, the company continues to tour extensively, bringing their trademark artistic, athletic, and accessible style to audiences worldwide. Dance Magazine praised “the company took the house not so much by storm as by quantum physics,” and Galerie Ortenau in Offenburg, Germany declares, “Dynamic, Powerful, Elegant – brings an absolute passion for the dance.” The company toured Europe in 2013, 2016, 2018, and will return in 2022. They toured Russia in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, sponsored by the US State Department in order to, “bring the best in American modern dance to the people of Russia.” They have a residence at Artpark this summer from June 13-23, 2022. https://www.jonlehrerdance.com

 

David Glass

David Glass is an award-winning solo performer, theatre director, writer, designer, lighting designer, filmmaker, teacher and creative thinker. He is one of the UK’s most prominent Theatre Directors and one of the principal founders of the Physical/Visual, Devised, Ensemble and Applied Theatre movements. He trained at the Lecoq School of Physical Theatre and also studied with Decroux, Grotowski, Alvin Ailey, Mike Alfreds, Ed Berman, Peter Brook, Master Lim and Augusto Boal. 

David Glass is a leading international theatre teacher and has taught and influenced three generations of theatre-makers in 73 countries. Past students include Simon McBurney (Complicite), Emma Thompson (Actress), Amit Lehav (Gecko Theatre), Hayley Carmichael and Paul Hunter (Told by An Idiot) Lloyd Newson (DV8), Liam Steele (Physical Director), Tina Ellen Lee (Opera Circus) and Jim Chim Hoi (Theatre Ensemble Hong Kong). He has influenced industry leaders such as Tom Morris (War Horse) and John McGrath (Artistic Director of Manchester International Festival) and has been influential in shaping the creative lives of performers such as Kathrine Hunter, Anna Marie- Duff, Sarah Parrish and Gong Lee. Always a maverick, David is often sighted by theatre leaders as a defining force in world theatre. He has spearheaded collaborative practice that has helped shape the creative approaches of his early collaborators Rae Smith (Designer), Jamie Vartan (Designer) and Paule Constable (Lighting Designer). Whilst many of the artists he has influenced have settled in the mainstream, David has always looked for new creative avenues unconcerned by fashion or commercial success. David is a citizen of the world who resides in London. He is coming to Artpark specifically to meet with the new Artpark Devised Theater Institute and on a creative research residency to devise new ways of collaboration and development at Artpark. More information about David Glass and the David Glass Ensemble: https://davidglassensemble.co.uk/about-us/team/

 

The institute is run by Mara Neimanis

Mara creates theater in the air using mounted and suspended steel sculptures. Her unique brand of theatre which sometimes takes place inches from the ground or atop buildings draws on her training in Mask Performance, Clown, and Commedia dell’Arte in combining aerial arts with physical acting to create stories, text, and characters that explore the rich interplay of imagination between ground and air. Mara has created aerial pedagogy and physical theatre training for universities, theatre, dance, and opera companies in the US and abroad, as well as for Pixar Animation Studios. Mara has created, published, and toured 6 aerial plays, 4 site-specific aerial installations, and served as a coach and collaborator on a variety of international theater projects. Commissions include; Center Stage Endowment for New Works, The Native Cultures Grant of California, The Robert W Deutsch Foundation, Baltimore City, and The Maryland Arts Council. Mara is a guild certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, a graduate of the N.U Theatre Program under Bro Augustine Towey, holds an MFA in Theater from Towson University 2006 and is a graduate of The Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater in Blue Lake California where she served as an instructor and company member from 1993-2000. Aerial training includes The San Francisco School of Circus Arts, and with aerial pioneer, Terry Sendgraff. Mara founded In-Flight Theater in Baltimore in 2006-2017 and has been a resident teaching artist at The Baltimore Theater Project, The Round House Theater DC, Center Stage VA, The New Market Theater, Brighton England, The Tennessee Williams Theater, Key West, Rhodes College, The University of San Jose, Costa Rica, Cal Arts department for Theater and Video CA, University of Missouri Graduate Theater Program Kansas City, Maryland Institute College of Art, The Studios of Key West. Presently, Mara teaches Physical Theatre and Aerial Studies in the Niagara University Theatre Department 

 “Neimanis makes the impossible look supremely easy” –The Washington Post,

 

SCHEDULE

June

Wednesday, June 8

Meet and Greet Introduction for The Artpark Devised Performance Institute in Emerald Grove from 10:30-12:30

Wednesday, June 15
Class: Conservatory Meeting & Introduction
Exploring Sculpture/Architectural realm of play.
Exploring space that is at once vertical and three-dimensional invites a pursuit of fully embodied choices, physical problem solving, trust, confidence, and imaginative play.

Thursday, June 16

Master Class with Jon Lehrer Dance 10:30-1:30

Wednesday, June 22
Master Class with David Glass 10:30-1:30 in the Emerald Grove