Workshops

Preregistration is recommended for each workshop as space may be limited. Register by emailing Andrea Siemens at a.siemens@uwinnipeg.ca until April 30 and Claire Borody at c.borody@uwinnipeg.ca after that date.


Workshop 1:  Saturday, May 29 17:15 - 18:45

Tom Stroud: Movement of text; text in movement

Tom Stroud states that the written word has often been a source of inspiration for his choreography.  Particularly drawn to the work of Shakespeare, he has choreographed several large scale works for Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers (WCD) using this text as a departure point for the exploration of visual metaphor, idea, emotion and character perspective.  These works include Romeo and Juliet and more recently The Garden inspired by Hamlet.  In this workshop he will discuss  the collaborative process involved in this work, as well as his work with actors  on text and movement.  The workshop will also offer a demonstration/application of the basic components of this text in movement, movement of text work.

Tom Stroud has been the Artistic Director of WCD since 1991.  He has danced with the Karen Jamieson Dance Company, Toronto Independent Dance Enterprise, Le Groupe de la Place Royale and Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault. He has created a number of works as an independent choreographer and has been commissioned to create works for Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Montreal Danse, Dancemakers, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival and the Canada Dance Festival.

Workshop 2: Sunday, May 30   10:45 - 12:15

Shawna Dempsey:  Process, Collaboration and Conceptual Inquiry

Shawna Dempsey will present excerpts form her considerable body of performance, installation, and video work, created in partnership with Lorri Millan.  She will also discuss the process, collaboration and conceptual inquiry that has driven work such as Lesbian National Parks and Services, A Day in the Life of A Bull-Dyke, and We're Talking Vulva.
 
Shawna Dempsey began writing and performing while at York University (1982-1986), during which time she spent four months apprenticing with Meredith Monk.  She began a collaboration with Lorri Millan in 1989 that continues, full-time, into the present.  The duo creates feminist, costume-based performance, video, film and print projects.  Their body of work includes: the rap performance We're Talking Vulva, the mock video documentary Lesbian National Parks and Services, the video A Day in the Life of a Bull-Dyke and a series of performances using "the dress” as a central metaphor.  


Workshop 3:  Monday, May 31 3:45 - 5:15

Judith Rudakoff:  The Four Elements: New Methods for a Subversive Dramaturgy

For the past decade, I have been evolving a non-prescriptive transcultural method for initiating and evolving artistic work across disciplines that may or may not be text-based.  This method has also proven to be useful as an alternative to conventional play analysis techniques.  I have developed this process through field work with actors and directors in a remote mountain colony in the Sierra Escambray; emerging playwrights and dramaturgs in urban centres such as Montreal, Quebec, London, England, and Cape Town, South Africa; visual artists and puppeteers in a bustling city in Central Cuba; and a dancer/choreographer out of Sampradaya Dance Creations in Toronto, Ontario. The workshop will introduce the methodology, using specific examples from developmental dramaturgy field work as well as by applying it to plays from the established contemporary Western canon.

Judith Rudakoff is an Associate Professor of Theatre in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University where she co-ordinates the undergraduate and graduate playwriting and new play dramaturgy classes. For almost two decades she has worked with professional theatre companies from Whitehorse, Yukon to Charlottetown P.E.I and points in between. She has also served as Literary Manager/Resident Dramaturg for Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto Free Theatre and the Canadian Stage Company. She is currently a member of Playwrights Union of Canada and a Fellow at the Centre of Research in Latin America and the Caribbean.