WORKSHOP 2_Bodecker and Neander (F, DE): Pantomime – Marceau technique

Wolfram Bodecker and Alexander Neander were students and assistants of the legendary mime Marcel Marceau, with whom they worked up to the end of his career. They have become the torchbearers of his style, which they have maintained at a high level thanks to their artistry and elegance. They have performed their pantomime art and spread the legacy of their teacher in more than thirty countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America. In the workshop, these two close collaborators of Marcel Marceau will introduce the spirit, dramaturgy and techniques of Marceau pantomime.The workshop will help participants develop their stage expression, expand their horizons with additional tools and will involve individual and group improvisation on contemporary topics. The art of pantomime embodies the essence of theater. Each movement arises based on a thought that must be comprehensible for the viewer to evoke emotions and images in his or her mind. Simplicity and purity are the source of this art that speaks without words. “Even in everyday life we communicate through our stance, our gaze, the rhythm of our movements and breathing. Recognizing and becoming sensitive to these signals is one aspect of our workshop. In our etudes and scenes we aim to complement movement with breathing, and thus also spirit and content.“(Bodecker& Neander) http://mimefest.cz/en/event/2-bodecker-neander-d_f-marceau-pantomime/

WORKSHOP 3_Bartłomiej Ostapczuk (PL): Mime Actor

Bartłomiej Ostapczuk is a leading Polish mime, choreographer, screenwriter and director in the field of mime theater. Since 2005 he has been the artistic director of theInternational Mime Art Festival in Warsaw. He is the founder of the Mimo Mime Theatre Company and the Warsaw Mime Center at Divadlo Na Woli in Warsaw. Since 2005 he has run his own teaching studio in Warsaw,Mime Studio.He has performed in Japan, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, China, South Korea and New Zealand. He also teaches abroad. His course encompasses a broad spectrum of techniques ranging from basic body expression to specific forms of recent decades and current trends in modern mime. The Actor in Mime Theater workshop is built on the assumption that the basic principle of mime theater is the accomplished combination of thoughts, emotions and actions. Through various exercises, participants are led to feel and understand analysis of movement, emotional states and the ways in which they are demonstrated. Bartłomiej Ostapczuk offers a method of modern pantomime acting that enables actors to clearly present the flow of ideasin monologues, dialogues or messages, which is then used in the creative process. http://mimefest.cz/event/4-bartolomiej-ostapczuk-pl-herec-v-mimickem-divadle/

WORKSHOP 1_Carlos Diaz Leon (RCH): Neutral Mask expressions

Carlos Diaz Leon is a Chilean actor, director and educator. He has taught acting since 2000, is a professor at the University ofDesarrolo in Santiago and for the past three years has headed the largest drama institute in Chile. He has also worked on several stagings at the Chilean National Theater and is a famous film actor in his homeland. Internationally, he has worked as a director and his credits include “Fuente Ovejuna” or “Women Riding in the Sand” at the NYU Arts Center in Abu Dhabi. He studied the Lecoque method in Barcelona and later in Paris, where he worked with Christoph Marchand. Carlos Diaz Leon has devoted over 15 years to Neutral Mask. His workshops have been given at Binghamton University or New York University inManhattan and in Abu Dhabi. The goal of the workshop is to help students develop new manners of dramatic expression through movement and the human form by using a neutral mask as a way of expressing the inner values of the character. The course includes physical training, movement improvisation, and ways torecognize masks and their means of expression. At the conclusion of the workshop each participant should be able to use physical means to create the personality of a character. “Neutral mask trains one to act with self-confidence on stage and helps us understand life around us.”(Carlos Diaz Leon) http://mimefest.cz/en/event/3-carlos-diazleon-rch-neutral-mask-expressions/