The Poetic Body with Suzy Willson
Over this five week course, Clod Ensemble’s co-artistic director Suzy Willson introduce you to ways of moving, thinking and creating that are fundamental to Clod Ensemble’s performance-making process.
Sessions will occur weekly on Tuesdays between 7th March and 4th April. There will be five sessions in total, each of which will last 2 hours.
This course will be ideal for anyone who loves to move, create and perform as well as dancers looking to build their improvisational skills.
Over the five weeks we will:
- Begin each session with an awareness through movement class designed to heighten sensitivity and enhance non-verbal communication.
- Identify personal habits and movement patterns by using neutral masks (a principal actor training tool used by Jacques Lecoq).
- Explore different points of departure for the beginning of a creative process.
- Create short pieces through guided improvisation inspired by a range of music from Béla Bartók to Beyonce and visual artists such as Frida Kahlo, Alexander Calder, Kira Walker and Hieronymus Bosch.
Suzy Willson is a director and choreographer. Since founding Clod Ensemble in 1995 with composer Paul Clark, she has created an extraordinary body of work which has pushed the boundaries of choreographic practice. Her shows encourage people to see familiar spaces from a new perspective and have been presented by venues and festivals including London’s Sadler’s Wells, Royal Academy and Tate Modern, New York City’s Public Theatre and the Venice Biennale.
For over 20 years, Suzy has pioneered the uses of arts in medical education through Performing Medicine, Clod Ensemble’s programme which encourages healthcare professionals to appreciate the choreographic, non-verbal and spatial dimensions of care. She is Professor of Movement, Arts & Medicine at the School of Medicine, Queen Mary University and is a regular contributor to publications on both performance and medicine.
Reboot
Clod Ensemble’s Reboot programme supports artists through providing a high-quality programme of professional development workshops. We recognise that costs can be a barrier to participation and are committed to making Reboot accessible by offering a range of free, subsidised and full price spaces across our programmes. Generous support from foundations and individual donations helps us to maintain this offer.
We are able to offer fully-subsidised bursary places for five attendees for this workshop. These places are primarily designed to allow people on low incomes to access the Reboot programme. This includes, but is not limited to, low-waged/no-waged attendees and those in receipt of benefits.
If you would like to inquire about taking a Reboot bursary place, please get in touch with us directly by emailing claire@clodensemble.com
Explore other events in the Reboot programme here.
Accessibility
This event is wheelchair accessible. Further information about access to Clod Ensemble’s studios will be emailed to attendees in advance of the event. If you have accessibility requirements that you would like us to be aware of then please email claire@clodensemble.com and we will do our best to help.
Image credit: Hugo Glendinning
