Università Roma Tre

PERFORMING ARTS LABORATORY 3
Academic Year 2020-21 II Semester
Teacher: Mara Camelin

Program

The work on one's own body leads to the knowledge of oneself, of space and of others; daily use
of gestures, expressions, movements without a "listening" of the body let the vital rhythm be
ignored which is in the breath, in the heart, in the "perception" of one's own structure. When
you communicate through movement, those inner energies are activated, that emotional
universe, imaginary, which through the body relate to the world.
The laboratory proposes the study of the basic principles of movement such as alignment of the
body, breathing, energy, contact, field of vision, rhythm, with the aim of allowing students to
achieve the elaboration of a comparative analysis, knowing and experimenting with fundamental
elements of techniques and practices related to:

● contemporary dance, with particular reference to Lìmon techniques, a fluid technique where
the search for the principle of balance is constant and it’s fundamental the concept of impulse,
Contact-improvisation and Floor-work which through the study of weight, contact and energy
explore the relationship between body and space, individual and in relation to others;

● the research on movement developed by the European avant-garde theater (Biomechanics,
Grotowski, Odin Theater) which explores the organic nature of movement;

● the ancient traditional oriental arts of Tai Ji Quan and Qi Gong whose fulcrum is represented
by the study of posture, breathing, concentration and proprioception.

Practical part
a) Warm-up on the floor - breathing exercises and proprioception; the different levels of the
structure: osteo-articular, muscular, internal organs; ground alignment, muscle and joint
loosening exercises; contraction and expansion of movement in harmony with breathing; center
and periphery of the body: engine of movement in the exploration of space; the relationship
with the other: balance, weight and dynamics. Plastic exercises: experimentation of the
possibilities of movement of the single parts of the body and their interaction and relationship;

b) In space - plastic exercises in an upright position: experimentation of the possibilities of
movement of the individual parts of the body and their interaction and relationship; paths in
space: rhythm, field of view, levels, quality of energy. The relationship with the other: physical
contact, eye contact, sound contact.
c) Center: alignment exercises, center of gravity awareness, pivot and off-axis concept,
directions of movement, rotation and spiral, weight work, dynamics and quality of energy and
sequences in space (referring to the different techniques).

d) Individual and collective assembly or composition: realization of a sequence of movements
as an elaboration of the experimented techniques, starting from a perception, sensation or an
internal stimulus (listening to the internal rhythm of the heart and breath, emotion, desire or
will), working on variety, alternation and contrast with respect to every
stimulus and association, on the rhythm and quality of energy.
In carrying out the workshop, as regards the warm-up phase, the synergy criterion will be used,
that is, exercises belonging to the different techniques that integrate and harmoniously flow into
the work of listening, perception and preparation of the body for movement will be proposed.
Instead, to allow students to develop a comparison and discovery of points of contact between
the different techniques and practices, they will be dedicated, with reference to section c) more
consecutive matches for each technique.
The body-mind relationship is of fundamental importance in this work, meaning by this a
dimension of interaction between the physiological sphere, the emotional sphere and the logical
one, capable of activating those inner energies that are able to express our body.