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In the Body: Movement for Actors - Symposium
Biographies of participants
- Paul Allain
- Allain is Professor of Theatre and Performance and Head of Drama at the University of Kent, Canterbury. After collaborating with Gardzienice Theatre Association, he worked extensively as Movement Director at the RSC, the RNT and the Royal Court, as well as on the fringe. He has published several books on theatre and actor training as both author and editor. Allain has recently been researching the legacy of Jerzy Grotowski's work through the British Grotowski Project, which culminated in an international conference and a series of publications, and he has also been collaborating with the Moscow Art Theatre School on a two year research project. In 2009 he received an award for services to Polish culture.
- Michael Boyd
- Boyd trained as a director at the Malaya Bronnaya Theatre in Moscow and in 1979 took up his first post as a trainee director at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, graduating to Assistant Director a year later.
In 1982 he joined the Sheffield Crucible as an Associate Director and three years later became founding Artistic Director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow.
Boyd joined the RSC in 1996 as an Associate Director, notably staging the three parts of Henry VI together with Richard III at the Young Vic in London in April 2002, as part of the This England: Histories Cycle, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director. During this time he was also Drama Director of the New Beginnings Festival of Soviet Arts in Glasgow in 1999, and directed Miss Julie in the Frank McGuinness version at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in February 2000.Taking over from Adrian Noble in 2003, Boyd assumed control of the RSC, and slowly rebuilt the company's fortunes and reputation.
In 2007 he launched the long-awaited RSC's Stratford theatre redevelopments. This included construction of the temporary Courtyard Theatre to provide a Stratford venue while work was in progress, designed to house The Histories cycle, before its transfer to the Roundhouse in London in 2008. - Niamh Dowling
- Dowling is Head of School of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University. From a dance background, Niamh has trained with Monika Pagneux and as a teacher of The Alexander Technique and works closely with Piesn Kozla in Poland. She works extensively as a Movement Director including West Yorkshire Playhouse, Manchester Library Theatre, Maly Drama Theatre, Sheffield Crucible, Theatre by The Lake, Liverpool Everyman and Opera North and runs movement workshops both nationally and internationally including with performers in USA, Africa and Asia, nuns and refugees in Central America, singers in Argentina, dancers in Uruguay and an eighteen month movement training programme in Singapore.
- Andrei Droznin
- Andrei Droznin is a Russian theatre director and movement coach. He is perhaps best known for his stage movement technique that has become an essential part of theatre training programs throughout the world
Droznin started his career in theatre in the 1960s. He was among the founding members of the Tabakov Studio in Moscow, the Stanislavsky Summer School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is the founding member of the International Stage Movement Center. He has directed movement in more than 160 theatre productions and films worldwide and has taught, directed and conducted seminars in dozens of countries. Droznin is the only Russian member of the Grotowski Council in Wroclaw, Poland. He is a Master Teacher of Movement at the Vakhtangov Theatre.
In 1998, Droznin received the title Distinguished Artist of Russia. - Natalia Fedorova
- Fedorova is a stage movement teacher at the Moscow Arts Theatre School.
She was a student of AndreiDrozin and worked for several years as his chief assistant, teaching his extraordinary system of movement. As well as her work at the Moscow Arts Theatre School, she has also taught at the Carnegie-Mellon University School of Drama (Pittsburgh, PA), the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard (Boston, MA), Fordham University (New York), the Actor's Studio (New York), Princeton University (New Jersey), Central School of Speech and Drama (London) and the Stanislavsky Summer School (Cambridge, MA). - Jane Gibson
- Gibson is an Associate Director of Cheek by Jowl. Since the late 1980s, she has provided the movement direction for many of the company's productions.
She studied acting at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, and later with Jacques Lecoq in Paris. She also trained as a teacher, focusing on movement-base subjects – improvisation, historical dance, etc. She was a founder-member of Common Stock, one of the first community theatre companies in London.
Gibson moved away from teaching in drama schools when she became Di Trevis' movement director at the National Theatre, under Peter Hall. She was later appointed Head of Movement by Richard Eyre and held the post from 1999 to 2001.
Jane's work outside Cheek by Jowl includes choreography and movement direction for the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne and English National Opera. She has worked on many productions for television, including Pride and Prejudice for the BBC, which was nominated for an Emmy. Her film credits include work for Tri-Star, Miramax and BBC Films. - Struan Leslie
- Leslie is Head of Movement at The Royal Shakespeare Company. He started dancing in the community with Royston Maldoom in Dundee in 1981 and continued his training at London Contemporary Dance School, 1982 – 85 and Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Over twenty-five years, he has developed an artistic practise that is based on his experience of working with movement in the broadest possible range of applications from Urban Design to Ancient Greek plays.
In theatre, his work extends from classical opera and theatre to new plays and devised work for his own ensemble thewatercompany and others. He has collaborated with directors including Katie Mitchell, Neil Bartlett, Philip Howard, John Tiffany, Rachel Kavanaugh, Nick Broadhurst and Calixto Bieito.
Over the last 15 years his work has been presented in the repertoires of companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and Welsh National Opera, American Repertory Theatre, Stadttheater Bielefeld, Chichester Festival, Berkeley Rep California as well as at the Donmar Warehouse, Teatro Piccolo, Milan, and Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. His work on TV and film includes the BBC's highly-acclaimed series, Casanova. - Vyacheslav Rybakov
- Rybakov is an actor, movement director, and teacher. He is currently senior movement teacher in the Stage Movement Department of the Moscow Art Theatre School. He graduated from the State Theatre Institute in Yaroslavl in 1995 as a theatre and film actor, and received his Doctorate at the Vakhtangov Theatre Academy in 1998. He works as a movement and stage combat coach in theatre and film, including at the Moscow Art Theatre (Cyrano), at the Pushkin Moscow Drama theatre (Romeo and Juliet, Presnyakov's Last Summer Day, and Puss in Boots) and the Satiricon (Gozzi's Blue Monster).
He has worked on several films and television series as an actor and stage combat director.