An Impermanent Body
by Raúl Vargas Torres (aka Nene)
About the workshop:
The aim of the workshop is to propose a methodology and devices for composition and creation. It is inspired by the historical form of the carnival and its relation to the grotesque. During the carnival period the usual prohibitions and restrictions that regulate social life are lifted, giving way to a kind of counterculture. In the carnival the body takes agency and expands to incorporate all its physiological, emotional and discursive needs.
By identifying and extrapolating the elements that constitute the carnivalesque and integrating them into our artistic practice, the workshop stimulates and explores the creative potential of our moving body – enabling us to experience the body in an unfinished, provisional state of constant ‘becoming’, oscillating between de- and reconstruction.
We will approach the world of the carnival and the grotesque by way of task-led, thematic exercises focusing on such themes as laughter, the erotic, disharmony, penance, the sacred and the profane et al., employing objects, texts, and above all movement. Within the frame of the workshop’s transversal activity, participants are invited to create little events, either improvised or fixed. Any specific expression, demonstration, cultural manifestation, ritual act, installation may qualify as an ‘event’. We give space to arbitrariness, intuition, uncertainty, causality, conservation of energy, metamorphosis.
We will reflect on the notion of the carnival as counterculture in the 21st century and try to perceive the carnivalesque in contemporary society.
Is there still a social need for subversion? Could the performing arts provide a space for it – or are we just talking about playful activity among friends?
Biography:
Raúl is a performer, teacher and director originally from Colombia, based in Berlin. He works as coach/teacher of movement research at the Master program in Arts of Theater of Accademia Teatro Dimitri in Switzerland, where he leads the physical theater specialization.
In the beginning, his learning was practically all self-taught allowing him for the unorthodox synergy of many disciplines, knowledge and experiences and so, the prioritization of creativity beyond of the needs, concept and aesthetics regulations of the free market of the Performative Arts.
Raúl, as a solo performer has created different kind of performances and events, out-door and in-door, from pure improvisations to set pieces, bringing him to perform in different, garages, bars, streets, alternative spaces and festivals around the world, such as: Zürcher Theater Spektakel (CH), THEALTER 23 (HU), 1st Palestinian Circus Festival, MasQue (Fi), Trakya Kukla Festivali (TK), Festival International de Circo de Bogotá, Festspillene i Nord-Norge, Vårscene Fest (NO, amongst others.
Raúl has collaborated with different companies, directors, and choreographers, like: David Zambrano, Inés Rojas, Muro de Espuma, Gandini Juggling, Davide Giovanzana, Kompanie Wal, amongst others.
Currently, he develops his last performances GROTTO 11-13 and Vati 2-11 and his theoretical research about how philosophy can inform the practice of theater and the staging, taking as a main reference the principles of transcendence vs immanence.
Dates:
Monday till Friday
July 25th-29th
Times:
14:30 to 18:30
Price:
200 €
Registration fee of 80 € required (as part of the 200 €)
Package deal:
In the same week, Youri de Gussem is teaching a workshop in the mornings. If you book both workshops, you pay 285€ instead of 350€. Other discount options 10/20/30% you can find on the page where you book the workshop(s).
Performance:
Thursday 28 July 2022 at 19:00
performances by Raúl Vargas Torres (aka Nene) and Youri de Gussem (20 – 60 min.)
Entrance fee is included in the workshop fee for the participants.
For general public 5 € minimum as contribution.
