The theoretical part of the seminar will engage with various aspects of acting in the three genres of the Japanese classical theatre (the aristocratic Noh and Kyogen, and the popular Kabuki), through exposing the depth, complexity, and universal applicability of this acting in our contemporary world. We will also explore the cultural, philosophical, historical, social, and artistic contexts in which these acting styles were consolidated. We will then examine the influence of this theatrical language on the Japanese avant-garde theatre, and on Western artists since the beginning of the twentieth century, such as Brecht, Mnouchkine and Wilson. 

The practical part of the seminar will combine several components: 

a. Movement training based on the Chinese T’ai Chi Ch’uan and the Japanese Suzuki Method. These techniques improve correlation, relaxation, and concentration, creating a connection between inner image and outer form, and help to lower the body’s center and strengthen the lower part of the body.

b. Practice of various vocal techniques of Kabuki, Noh and Kyogen that contributeto strengthening the voice and increasing its range.

c. A new Western-oriented acting approach in which the acting results emerge from various images, imagination-guided impulses, and not necessarily from a psychological processing of character and situation. Through this approach, which is based upon organic inner/outer expressiveness of a performer, the student will work on the text of a classical Western character in which all the preparatory components are interwoven.