CLASS

Eclipse Mill 243 Union Street #107 North Adams MA  https://eclipsemill.com/

Beginning Monday July 31 10 AM—Ending Saturday August 5 5 PM

10-1 & 2-5 Daily Sessions except Wed. half day only (10-1)

Workshop Fee: $600

We will identify and locate selected organs and glands through visualization, breath/sound, and touch/movement--the tools of somatic accessing--and explore their role in creating original movement, psychophysical gesture and presence. 

 

ERIKA BERLAND, a Certified Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering®, is a nationally Registered Movement Therapist and licensed Massage Therapist. She has an extensive background as a dance teacher and performer and has taught workshops in experiential anatomy and dance applications of Body-Mind Centering in numerous studios and schools throughout the US and Europe. A pioneer in the field of somatic education with a long and distinguished career in the fields of movement therapy and re-education for performing artists integrating modern dance, physical theater, massage therapy and contemplative practice. Erika was a founding faculty and co-creator of the unique movement curriculum of the MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Program at Naropa University (2004-2020). She has been in the forefront of creating new techniques and applications of Bonnie Cohen’s groundbreaking work (Body Mind Centering®) and post-modern dance techniques in the service of a new aesthetic--fully integrating psycho-physical sources for the actor, and clarity of form and articulation for the dancer. An early student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the meditation master and founder of Naropa University, Erika is a long time teacher of meditation, and her professional areas of research include the integration of meditation practice and view in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition with performance techniques and holistic support for the performer. Her publications include: SITTING: THE PHYSICAL ART OF MEDITATION (SomaticPerformer Press) 2017, SOMATIC TRAINING FOR ACTORS WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF BODY MIND CENTERING® 2nd ed. Movement for Actors (Allworth Press) 2016, A DRAMATURGY OF EMBODIMENT, ACCESSING THE EXPRESSIVITY OF THE BODY THROUGH THE STUDY AND PRACTICE OF EXPERIENTIAL ANATOMY. Physical Dramaturgy Perspectives from the Field (Routledge) 2017.

WENDELL BEAVERS    
A founding faculty and Director (1985-90) of NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and founder of Naropa University’s innovative MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Program 2004-2020. An early collaborator with Viewpoints originator Mary Overlie creating and teaching Viewpoints curriculum at ETW from its inception in 1978 until moving to Naropa University in 2003. He is currently teaching and mentoring a growing global community of teachers, performing and devising artists, writers and theorists who have been influenced by the Viewpoints work. He is an advisor to The Mary Overlie Legacy Project which is dedicated to the further unfolding of the Viewpoints as a body of work in the service of change and radical transformation. He has also been a long time colleague of Anne Bogart and the SITI CO, collaborating with the company as a teacher and presenter of the Viewpoints in a variety of venues and circumstances since the company’s inception.  He is a principal contributor to On The Horizontal: Mary Overlie and The Viewpoints, edited by Tony Perucci, to be published by Univ. of Michigan Press.  He is currently Emeritus Professor of Performing Arts at Naropa University, and Master Teacher (ret.), Experimental Theater Wing IETW), Tisch School of The Arts, NYU. His company, SomaticPerformer supports his solo performance work, writing, lecturing, and ongoing professional development workshops with his partner Erika Berland combining new somatic research, Buddhist practice and phenomenology, and the Six-Viewpoints work of Mary Overlie.

For more information and to register contact: somaticperformer@gmail.com