Training Programme
Gary Gordon
First Physical’s approach to training has its foundation in Gary Gordon’s manifesto outlined in 1993. “Physical Theatre is a THEATRE OF IDEAS and a THEATRE OF ACTION”. At the core of the company’s training programme is the notion of the imaginative, thinking and articulate performer. The performer therefore contributes to, and collaborates in, the making of movement material and a dance language.
Choreographic investigations – including conceptual, experiential and creative processes – and technique classes inform the personal development of the performers. This requires the integration of the physical, vocal, mental and emotional resources of the performer and demands a varied training programme. Acting and voice training, creative improvisation, and mime augment Gordon’s own contemporary and classical dance training.
Company classes have included technical training in Ballet, Horton, and Graham, and are currently complemented by classes in Ashtanga Yoga, Pilates, Mime and contact work to strengthen and extend the performers’ physicality.
Current classes include:
Ashtanga Yoga: Alan Parker
Creative and Performance Workshops: Juanita Finestone-Praeg and Gary Gordon
Contemporary: Gary Gordon and Company
The Company has also hosted guest teachers who have fed into the training programme periodically.
Additional Company Training:
Contact Improvisation – Jori Snell (Baba Yaga Theatre Company - Denmark)
First Physical Theatre Company performers
22 March 2011
Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Dance Improvisation and ensemble – Athina Vahla (UK)
First Physical Performers
March – September 2011
Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Karate – Dion Van Niekerk
First Physical Theatre Company performers
May - July 2011
Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Vocal training – Dion Van Niekerk
First Physical Theatre Company performers
May - July 2011
Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Confluences 6 – Performance and Presence conference
Juanita Finestone-Praeg, Alan Parker and Thalia Laric
21-23 July 2011
UCT School of Dance, Cape Town
Forsythe Improvisation Technologies - Kathrina Farrugia (UK)
First Physical Theatre Company performers
25 – 29 July 2011
Rhodes University, Grahamstown
The Movement of cloth in Dance – Maran Coates
First Physical Theatre Company performers
7 September 2011
Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Past classes and workshops included:
Afro-Contemporary Dance: Magosi (Sweden)
Contemporary Dance: John Allen (New Orleans)
Creative and Performance Workshops: Andrew Buckland
Horton Technique: Brigit Reeve (Cape Town)
Mime and Acting: Sylvaine Strike (Johannesburg)
Musical Composition: Francois le Roux(aka the Ha!Man), John Edwards (Rhodes Music Dept.)
Acting: Lindsay Reardon (Grahamstown)
Pilates: Tammy Pelser
