THEA 4250 - Fourth Year Mmovement of Actor Training Program

The intent of this course is to explore, in depth, Butoh techniques. Butoh is a movement-based art form that developed in Japan in the late 1950s as a reaction to the Western influences that were pervading Japanese culture and as a reflection of the upheaval that the Japanese people were experiencing as a result of this. Butoh rejects serving one technique, instead encouraging a creative response to what is going on at that moment. In order to be able to effect this the performer has to have a finely tuned body and acute sense concentration and focus. Butoh encourages performers to "emerge from the interior of their own unrevealed spaces", thereby enabling the actor to connect with his/her own energetic impluses and the experession of this energy while developing a character. The course will examine physical manipuations that open and awaken the body's inner energy patterns. It will push the students to find their own physical language of expression and then challenge them to develop that into characterization through improvisation and performance. It examines the symbiotic relationship of mind, body, spirit and emotions and asks the student to bring the integration of these elements to their performance. This course will be a culminations of the ATP movement sequence. It will bring together the honed body and basic movement technique of the second year, the mask work and improvisational playfulness of the third year and require the student to combine these elements to create challenging, provoking, skilled works of art.