The Summer School of Studio Kokyu is 10 days of intense physical and vocal training which will take place in the forest base of the Grotowski Institute, Brzezinka. The work is based on practices present in the daily training of the Studio. Through regular immersion in precise structures, we aim to recognize the action of the actor-performer within a group. Living and working in Brzezinka as a collective provides an opportunity to dive into a process that embraces work within a training room and the natural world outside.
Key elements of the work include:
- Kokyu training – a structure developed by Studio Kokyu which combines individual and chorus training, body work, breath, and voice. The training is inspired by aikido and Theodoros Terzopoulos’ method.
- Contact run – an intensive group practice fostering awareness, mutual listening, and dynamic spatial relationships. Partner training is based on aikido’s specific understanding of contact, emphasizing whole-body listening and readiness to attentively follow and lead.
- Partner work –based on the understanding of contact specific to aikido, focuses on listening with the whole body and the readiness to follow and lead. We treat partner work as a tool for studying the physicality of a dialogical situation.
- Elements of aikido – a Japanese martial art based on the idea of using and redirecting the energy received from the attacker; work with both elements of physical training and weapons (bokken and jō – Japanese wooden sword and stick).
- Global resonator – composed of exercises designed to discover the full vibrational qualities of the performer’s voice within the body.
- Text work – involves deconstructing text, treating it as a living process, breaking interpretive patterns, and focusing on finding the physicality of the text.
By precisely studying these tools and practices, we aim to guide participants through a journey into the inner source of individual energy – the center, exploring relationships with partners, and deepening the quality of collective action as a chorus. Recognizing the structures proposed in the workshop program also has the potential to open up work on improvisation.
The natural environment of the forest forms a unique quality of work and experience by rooting ourselves in the creative process, in the ecosystem that we will create there and the one that we are a part of.
The Summer School of Studio Kokyu is dedicated to professional or experienced performers and demands readiness for intensive training.