WORKSHOP – Real Time Composition with Claudia Dias

As a part of a residency visit with the Lisbon based choreographer Cláudia Dias we offer an extensive workshop in Real time Composition.
This workshop is intended for dancers, actors, stage directors, choreographers, performers, visual artists, students and all those who are interested in the area of composition.


Dates: 4, 5, 6 November 18:00-21:00 The participants are asked to attend all three sessions
Space: Studio Oskar, Oskarsgatan 6A, Göteborg


 FREE ENTRY
Limited number of participants

NOTE: Sign up by mailing sarah.melin@kultur.gotebog.se before 25 October.

Cláudia Dias words on the workshop:

THE WORKSHOP The workshop is a place where a trade, an art, a profession is undertaken, in other words, it is a place of work. It is a laboratorial space where not only are “objects” produced but more effective ways of producing are rehearsed, so as to create a final product that better meets the needs of those who acquire it. In my view, this principle also applies to the domain of the theatre and of the performing arts in general. As such, this workshop shall be a place of work where a trade, which is performing, is undertaken. I present it as a pre-art space which questions, in practice, ways of performing. It is thus a workshop of theoretical-practical reflection on performing.

 THE TRADE For me, the act of performing is not synonymous with pretending. And it is precisely because one does not pretend that one is in reality, that one is conscious of being in a fictional space. However, the body that occupies that space is real. A body that, being real, creates the necessary distance between what it is and what it does. Let us say that it is a real body conscious that what it produces is fiction. A body that no longer presents the issue in terms of what is true and what is a lie and restricts itself to what is credible. A body that renounces the artifice within the interior of the convention of performing.

THE ARTISANS Renouncing the artifice is renouncing the “creative” gesture, the idea that the function of the actor is to invent. In this way, the challenge for the participants in this workshop is to accept their condition of employees and that their gestures are merely functional. In this sense, they do not produce events. They create the conditions for events to take place. This implies a work of cleansing of impulses and reflex actions. Acting by impulse or limiting ourselves to the action/reaction game is not synonymous with freedom. It simulates freedom and authenticity, as if to think was a condition to be free and authentic. As it so happens, that which we want is contaminated with a lot of information that we have got used to calling “ours”, but which does not belong to us and therefore does not represent us. To be free implies thinking, choosing and being accountable for our choice. Thus, a large part of the work of this workshop will consist
 in providing each participant with the tools that make him/her free so as to be able to choose with confidence. T

THE TOOLS The tools are organised around principles that permit the existence of a platform of understanding and communication, of a common language if you like, necessary for the dialogue among the collective (where I include the figure of the spectator). It is important to note that this method is not aesthetic because both the vocabulary used and the imaginaries created are the responsibility of the participants, who have to strive to find their “signature” and freedom within the confines of the rules.

CLÁUDIA DIAS Was born in Lisbon in 1972. She is a choreographer, performer, and teacher. She is currently completing her Master’s degree in Performing Arts at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She began her dance training at Academia Almadense and received a scholarship to continue her training with Companhia de Dança de Lisboa. She completed the training program for Contemporary Dance performers at Fórum Dança and the Professional Course in Management of Cultural Organizations and Projects organized by Cultideias. She began working as a performer with Grupo de Dança de Almada. She was part of the artists’ collective Ninho de Víboras. She collaborated with Re.Al and was a key performer in João Fiadeiro’s work and in the development, systematization, and transmission of the technique of Real-time Composition. Dias created the following pieces: One Woman Show, Visita Guiada, Das coisas nascem coisas, Vontade De Ter Vontade, and Nem tudo o que dizemos tem de ser feito nem tudo o que fazemos tem de ser dito. She developed the educational project Nesta Parte Esquinada da Península with Azala, Muelle 3, La Fundición, and Festival BAD. Since 2007, she regularly teaches workshops in Choreographic Composition and Real-time Composition. Her work as a choreographer, performer, and teacher has been presented by many organizations, theaters, and festivals in Portugal and abroad.

 The workshop is organised by Göteborgs Dans & Teater Festival with the support of Kultur i Väst. Cláudia Dias is in Gothenburg for three week residency visit through KID – Konstnärsnämndens Internationella Dansprogram, which enables a handful of performing arts platforms in Göteborg to invite international artists to Göteborg to work and to meet the dance and art community i Göteborg. The partners in KID Göteborg are Atalante, Danscentrum Väst, Skogen, Dansbyrån, Göteborgs Dans & Teater Festival and Kultur i Väst.

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