Julyen Hamilton —teaching

I teach a creativity concerning making performances for the theatre.

I teach the technical skills and sensitivity needed to be both makers of performance and performers.

These include refining technical, compositional and improvisational abilities.

All of the different classes and workshops i have been doing
in the past few years I have placed under the umbrella title of:

This houses all of my interests and skills as a maker and performer.

The theatre is where i fist started performing and has been ever since my reference and inspiration : to place work in the theatre setting, and to stretch and develop what this might mean in terms of dance and text and decor, in both set and improvised domains.

The theatre for me can take on many forms and dimensions but is basically any place where a crowd gathers to witness a performance;
and that crowd not simply witnesses but also confers a sense of wonder and insight and suspension of disbelief towards the show itself.

From my experience different areas of interest and study have been individuated over the years.

They are :

´Working with T I M E´

´The S P A C E Issue´

´Working with O B J E C T S ´

´V O I C E : sound and text making´´

´M U S I C : working with sound, music and live Musicians´

As part of the technical work which precedes these subjects
the workshop day begins with a basic training called

This work opens up and refines the different layers and levels of support harnessed by the dancing body….the most basic being the support the MASS of the body gains from its contact with the ground; it does this through the touch of the surface of the ground with the surface of the body.

Further areas within this work are the support of :

the ANIMAL

the EMOTIONS

the OBSERVATION of the context / outer WORLD

the SPIRIT

Further details of each of these areas of study can be found in the calendar section of the site as descriptions of particular workshops.

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a note about technique…
my way of seeing technique is as follows:

‘how does it works and can i do it?‘ (location and mobility of joints / orientation in space / recognition of the various ways in which we interact with time / participation with the different energies in the different elements of the body / communication with others - colleagues and public audience.

Technique is always in evolution; it is also the ability to update and adapt to changing situations, contexts, age and cultural environments.

Central is a clarity of mind and an experienciality of and in the body and a constant attraction to physical creativity.

A note about the teaching work at present.

I teach a creativity concerning making performances for the theatre.
I teach the technical skills and sensitivity needed to be both makers of performance and performers.
These include refining technical, compositional and improvisational abilities.

a few more notes...

when all is supported then there is SINGULARITY in the totality of the dancers actions;

what has been given - working on what has begun - registering what’s been produced;

when free of judgement, then we can get on with the work of perception;

with words, at one point we go beyond the interest as to whether they are true or false - we go deeply into their inherent ontological power;

in the beginning we have the Vertical…out of which comes the Horizontal;

choreography is a form of listening;

facing the illegality of dancing and speaking : finding the ´belly´which dares to dance and speak.

Action supports Word
and Word supports Action

Space contains / invites / releases / demands / adapts / resounds / accepts…
…it can be sensed as Cartesian or Radial.

Cohesion and Composition :
cohesion - the simple / the single / the one
composition - the plural / the many elements / the many relationships

At one point, the dancer dancing has a consciousness deeper than senses, thoughts, and emotional feelings.
before this, we are busy working on all these elements.

a word is a nest for letters
a sentence is a nest for words
a paragraph is a nest for sentences
a chapter is a nest for paragraphs
a book is a book is a book
…and a story is a place which combines what we know and what we do not.

Every composing performer has the work to do be done which entails listening to and developing the movements and configurations with the body which speak to them; a listening which notices the actions, speeds, tonalities which through their form and energy emit feelings, music, thoughts, emotions. These movements and configurations are not necessarily to be recorded and used as ‘moves which work‘…no, the attention is to notice when a move or a phrase or an arrangement of body has this quality of ‘speaking‘ of transmitting sense and sensuality to the world around them. In this way in the flow and speed of composing instantly the dancer can navigate, allow and invite these arrangements which on the edge of being, to become, to arrive into being…in performance…on the stage. It is a kind of respect of the quality which the material they are making has quality and they are working to respect this and these qualities. Movements have their own quality and power; the dancer trains to focus on these powers which emit from the moves of the choreography - and to let go of any focus on the personal power of being able to produce or perform these moves.

Perception is textural, it is an experience;

The energy of the mind can be lead to produce thoughts or actions;

The biggest joy of the performer is to participate b>….and maybe some of this joy is received by the public;

The overt and the covert b> : as the sub-verbal relates to the verbal so the verbal relates to the sub-text.

To work in the theatre we are asked to attend to at least 5 levels of awareness at the same time

Given Space one imagines : given Space one is invited. b>