Workshops
Puppetry and Objects in Drama Therapy: Encountering the strange and the unshaped
Performing the world, October 2014, New York
During a 60 minute workshop participants of Performing the World 2014 had the opportunity to explore the therapeutic and performative use of puppets and object theatre. Participants improvise, play, and experiment while creating their own puppet. They have been invited to creatively engage with their personal, collective and mythopoetic imagination, exploring the power of 'telling a story' through the use of Puppetry. There was a QnA of the therapeutic use of puppetry and performance in mental health settings with service users at the stage of recovery.
Choreographic Theatre, Master Class
with Enrique Pardo from Pantheatre April 2013, London
Theatre Workshops
Neutral Masks: The poetic body in Theatre and Life
Anamuh, February 2019, Budapest
During this weekend workshop participants from all walks of life will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the process of embodiment and work with the Neutral Maskof J. Lecoq.
On the first day we will explore the ‘fundamental journey’ diving into personal and collective landscapes of our bodies – from the sea to the desert – and create dialogues between body, imagination, mind, heart and the poetic dimensions of our selves.
We will try to (re) discover the relationship between our physical bodies and our poetic bodies and how these discoveries can live as constructions in the theatrical space.
On the second day, we will work with the Neutral Mask and myths ‘testing’ and ‘tasting’ our capacity for becoming an ‘ensemble’ and create a short piece of devised performance.
Puppetry and Objects in Dramatherapy: Encountering the strange and the unshaped
Performing the world, October 2014, New York
During a 60 minute workshop participants of Performing the World 2014 had the opportunity to explore the therapeutic and performative use of puppets and object theatre. Participants improvise, play, and experiment while creating their own puppet. They have been invited to creatively engage with their personal, collective and mythopoetic imagination, exploring the power of 'telling a story' through the use of Puppetry. There was a QnA of the therapeutic use of puppetry and performance in mental health settings with service users at the stage of recovery.
Choreographic Theatre, Master Class
with Enrique Pardo from Pantheatre April 2013, London
Enrique Pardo led this special Open Workshop / Master Class to introduce his take on choreographic theatre, with the inclusion of texts and voice performance.
The event organized by Vertebra Theatre around a project on the figure of Orpheus. Enrique, a specialist in mythology, presented Orpheus Drenched in Sweat and his dialogues with the late James Hillman.
Puppetry and writing workshop
Migration Matters Festival, June 2016, Sheffield
Vertebra travelled to Sheffield to run a workshop at Theatre Deli North in collaboration with Migration Matters Festival. A 2 hours intergenerational and multicultural workshop part of the Migration Matters Festival. Participants from South America, England, Yemen and Africa had the opportunity to create their own story and make their own Banraku puppets. The theme of the workshop was immigration and participants explored it by making puppets and props from newspapers.
Community Engagement
Participatory Arts
Elders of +80 devised and performed Romeo and Juliet as part of Shakespeare 400 years anniversary from his death, alongside young puppeteers who animated a giant puppet - Juliet and live music performed by residents of the care home.
This was an intergenerational project funded by Jewish Care Creative Arts Development facilitated by Vertebra and performed at an invited audience at Betty and Asher Loftus Centre.
The giant puppet kindly provided by Arcola Theatre.
''Culture Is...'' was a documentary animationproject involving carers, staff and elders to tell stories about culture and identity.
The project lasted for a year and included devised short films from elders at risk of isolation, found and old footage from their families, live animation and impromptu interviews. The aim was to familiarise elders with new technology.
Festivals
Homeland Multidisciplinary Arts Event
Co-produced by Nour Festival, Vertebra and The Drayton Theatre, London 2016
A two-day multi-disciplinary arts event comprising art installations, theatre and music performances, films and workshops. Homeland creates a platform, where artists respond to the current refugee crisis and border changing.
Artists from across the world invited to respond to themes such as the journey towards the unknown, crossing borders, leaving home, reaching the point of arrival and creating a new home. This micro festival aimed to create a space where dialogue emerges within communities - with and without refugee backgrounds - to allow memories to unfold and new stories to be created.
Artists: Sabine Choucaire, Momin Swaitat, Stella Grigovits, Donna Males, Sofia Calmicova, Gregory Emfietzis, Evi Stamatiou, Yaiza Varona, Christos Callow, Angelina Abel
Speakers: Borderline by Psychdelight, Dr. A. Gaitanidis, Sam Holand of Migration Matters