Physical Text Workshop
International Conference "Theatre Between Tradition and Contemporaneity"
Theatre - Dance - Music - Visual & Multimedia Art - Arts Administration - Performing Arts Training - Stage Design & Technology
Dustin Whitehead is an actor and director from Chicago IL. Dustin can be seen in numerous independent films as well as the nationally televised shows Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, and Your Worst Nightmare. Last year, he was in a production of An Enemy of the People at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Other Chicago theatre credits include Steppenwolf, Chicago Dramatists, American Theatre Company, Redtwist, The Inconvenience, Lakeside Shakespeare, and Congo Square. In addition to his many years un the theatre, Dustin is also a narrative filmmaker. His most recent short film, Somewhere in the Midwest, screened at the Kansas City Film Festival, the Central Florida Film Festival, the New York City Independent Film Festival, and the Charleston International Film Festival. He is currently teaching acting at The University of South Carolina. He received his BFA in Performance from Jacksonville University and MFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. He also studied filmmaking in Singapore at NYU Tisch Asia.
The Physical TextWorkshop by Dustin Whitehead - Assistant Professor of Media Acting, Jennifer Deckert - Professor of Dance, and André Megerdichian - Assistant Professor of Dance from the University of South Carolina (USA).
André Megerdichian has worked with such companies and choreographers as the Limón Dance Company, Dance Kaleidoscope, The Mary Anthony Dance Theatre, Janis Brenner and Dancers, Seán Curran, and Daniel Charon. He has served as a faculty member at The Limón Institute (NYC), the Duncan Center Conservatory in Prague Czech Republic, created choreography and taught master classes and workshops, throughout the United States, Europe, and China. His teaching and choreography seeks to merge the foundational American Modern Dance practices of yesterday with the tensions and curiosities of today, allowing artists to speak in the context of their own time. He holds a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and is currently on Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina.
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
What happens when we move beyond the traditional structure of dance and text, when the impulse to move and speak is driven not by prescribed choreography and script, but by one another?
Through this workshop we will explore what happens when we pair foundational dance practices with the ‘actor to text’ relationship, creating an innovative physical approach to discovering truthful and visceral performance. By utilizing choreographed and improvised dance, physical impulse, written and devised text, and ensemble mind, we will explore the heart of truthful human connection in performance.
Jen, Andre, and Dustin will guide workshop participants through various approaches to bringing text to life through dance culminating in a final piece that includes everyone in the room.
If there are musicians attending the conference, we are interested in incorporating them into the work.
After we share, we will also lead a discussion between the performers/workshop participants and the audience/observers.
Organized by IUGTE in collaboration with "ArtUniverse" and New International Performing Arts Institute
Jennifer Deckert is currently an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of South Carolina, where she teaches ballet technique, dance kinesiology, and pointe technique. She is currently on the board of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS). Her research interests include integrated breath awareness, dynamic alignment, and the incorporation of wellness based training into the classroom. Her choreography credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, Dracula, and an original collaborative physical dance theatre Kiss Romeo, Bang! Juliet, among others. In 2015 she was invited to present work at the 3 rd Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in Beijing, China. She has taught master classes and created works at numerous institutions and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and China.