ICKL Conference

	25th Biennial Conference of ICKL
	Escuela Nacional de Danza Clásica y Contemporánea, Mexico July 29 (Arrival Day) - August 5 (Departure Day) 2007

SESSIONS

Mixed session // Changed for paper

The Poetics in which Verb becomes Flesh: A study of Physical Theatre from a Laban-based choreological perspectiveMOTA, Julio – Brasil

This lecture demonstration gathers in a single session a brief of a doctoral dissertation and a workshop. They are both related to a research on Physical Theatre from a Laban-based choreological perspective. That is, a perspective developed out of and beyond the seminal work of Rudolf Laban. Although this research is methodologically Laban-based, epistemologically its main references derive from the fields of study of the so called systemic thinking (Complexity, Systemic, Cybernetic, Ecology and many others) and from Deconstruction.

The lecture part presents Physical Theatre as a performative theatrical practice that emerged in the beginning of the twentieth century as part of a revolutionary process unleashed by avant gard- a set of aesthetic movements that were responsible, in great part, for promoting the deconstruction of logocentrism. That broke down of logocentrism provoked a re-evaluation of concepts about corporeality and caused the arising of new forms of embodiment in drama. That is the context in which Laban, with the help of his numerous colleagues and collaborators, envisioned and began to develop his System of Movement. Laban’s System is an invaluable achievement because it enables to understand and explore the complex connections that exist between movement and meaning on stage and the process of transaction between stage and audience. Concerning it a method of training and creating in Physical Theatre has been devised. This method associates fundamentally LMA and Choreological Studies.

The second part of the session is devoted to a workshop that will provide some physical experience on the method the author has been developing and applying in his process of devising Physical Theatre through Laban System. These topics are divided into three interconnected sections:

The application of movement principles in the execution of specific exercises, developing physical abilities, body consciousness, imagination and creativity;
The exploration of three basic components in Physical Theatre´s creative process: the training of specific techniques proper to Physical Theatre; the analysis of dramatic situations; the elaboration of bodily outlines for the scene.
The exploration of the two previous sections, integrated in the creative act. That is, the application of movement principles in articulation to basic components, in the composition of small dramatic scenes.

By integrating theory and practice, technique and creativity, participants will experience the gradual building up of a dramatic act, based primarily on bodily means.

Julio Mota is performer and choreographer in G 2 Dance Co. at Teatro Guaíra, (one of the five official dance companies in Brazil). He received a Ph.D. in Performing Arts from Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). He was visiting researcher at LABAN Centre London in 2004/2005. He has performed in Brazil, Uruguay, Portugal and England. His choreographies have been shown in Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Austria and England. One of his choreographies (Hysteria) received the first prize at International Solo Tanz Theater Festival, in Stuttgart, in 2000. He is also director of Yesbody Physical Theatre, a group created in 1990 to research and perform physical