Workshops

Performing the Witness(ed): Controlling the Gaze 

This workshop explores the politics of witnessing in intimate, participatory performances, wth an emphasis on ethics and agency in the performer-spectator dynamic. We will investigate and experiment with one-on-one performance in which the viewer is configured as witness or accomplice. 

Working in pairs, we experiment with opening and closing the social aperture of seeing and being seen (the extreme limits of which might be surveillance vs. lap dances).

This workshop asks:

• How do we configure micro-audiences in relation to performing bodies?

• What do we ask of the viewer?

• How do we elicit participation while negotiating social contracts of mutual dependence?

‘In. To. Me. See.’ one-to-one performance workshop

In this workshop we play with the relationship between performer and audience (witness, participant, co-performer, guest...), and experiment with creating space, through live encounter, for empathy and intimacy (whatever that means to you).  

Individually and in collaboration, students will practice making participatory interdisciplinary work in intimate settings, and create spaces for intimacy within public settings. At the end of each day, we will discuss and practice exercises for energetic restoration and repair ("sealing" or closing the day), to help support a healthy and sustainable long-term practice.

If you are exploring vulnerability or participation in your work; if you're working in public or private spaces, or performing for very small audiences; if open-ended scores that rely on the viewer to complete them tickle your fancy; or if you want to learn about one-to-one performance as a genre, this is the workshop for you.

Designed for up to 12 students or professionals with experience in dance, theater, and/or performance, this workshop may culminate in a public showing, giving us an opportunity to try out the work we have generated in class with actual viewer-participants.

Remote Collaboration: exchange and co-authorship across distance and discipline

For artists interested in working across distances and borders both literal and conceptual; artists collaborating across discipline or cultural affiliation; online border-crossers who envision new creative uses for the transnational highways of the the internet that prioritize dialogue, encounter, and embodiment. 

Suitable for artists working in and across the mediums of performance/live art, theater, dance, music, street art, installation, photography, film, video and new media.

This workshop presents one collaboration structure to explore how we might apply open source principles to collaborative interdisciplinary performance, so that we maintain an equitable balance of authorship as we co-create, present and distribute content. In the spirit of the commons, we will experiment with offering up our existing material, archive, or repertoire for elaboration, (de-/re-)construction, and germination of new works by others.

Part 1: AUTHORSHIP + EXCHANGE

An interdisciplinary experiment in exchanging artistic concepts, objects and ideas in an economy of minimal control of your Intellectual Property (IP), balanced with maximal potential for exchange and re-authorship. Part 1 will focus primarily on creating short live performances and performance scores.

Part 2: EXCHANGE + TECHNOLOGY + THE BODY

Introducing video/technology to the exchange framework, Part 2 will focus on creating short performative videos.