Deadline: 5th April 2018
Valletta 2018 and the theatre company Azulteatro are offering a free workshop and the opportunity for the participants to be part of the site-specific performance Sentieri that will take place at the Majjistral Park, in the program of Altofest Malta, in the frame of Valletta European Capital of Culture.
SENTIERI (http://www.azulteatro.com/sentieri/) is a multidisciplinary project, aiming to an innovative approach to the scenic research. It devises an original and unique performance for the Majjistral Park, specially conceived and created for that place.
The project is led by Serena Gatti and Raffaele Natale, founders of Azulteatro.
AzulTeatro is a meeting field of artists coming from different disciplines: dance, performance, music, visual art. Art is for us an alive substance, made of breath, flesh, sights, waitings, sudden explosions. We are interested in the process of creation, as a moment of research, and on performance as a dialogue, sharing the fragile and intense moment of alive art. Among all signs, we choose the most necessary and honest. Our muses are wonder, literature, journey. In this embracing Azul is fulfilled.
Info
The workshop is open to:
1) Professionals, students and amateurs of theater, dance and performing arts
2) Professional artists: performers, dancers, musician, singers
3) Costume designer, set designer
4) Assistant director
Participants will be engaged in a research, experimentation and creation period from 9th to 19th April, leading to the performance on 20th, 21st, 22nd of April. Both the devising process as well as the performance will be done outdoors in the Majjistral Park.
Participants should be physically and mentally fit as the “stage” is a big area within the park. They shall have the pleasure to rehearse outdoor for many hours a day (no matter the weather conditions). The ability to adapt quickly to the ongoing process as well as the respect for the natural environment we will be working with is required. Participants must be available during the rehearsal time and for all performances. It is a full-time project, we will take advantage of the two weeks together to work all days (with no stops) from late morning till sunset. The performance will be itinerant and last around one hour. The exact timetable of rehearsal will be given to the accepted candidates.
There is no charge to apply and to participate. There is no contribution for participants.
How to apply
If you want to be part of the project, please send us your contacts to both the emails written below, and we will contact you: [email protected] and altofestmalta@valletta2018.
The creation process
Sentieri is a workshop, a devising process and a performance moment. Participants will go through all these different steps, having the possibility to deepen their artistic research. It is the perfect occasion to come in touch with our composing method for site-specific creations. It is also a way to enlarge the reflection on site-specific performing art and its synergic, multidisciplinary possibilities. The creation will be a co-creation, as we invite participants to make propositions. Working within a group and mixing different arts and abilities will be an interesting challenge. Working in and for nature make us go back to a refined knowledge, the process leading to the “listening” and discovery of the park will at the same time enrich your “inner land”.
Upon arriving at a new place, we draw on our collective backgrounds in performance (music, visual art, dance) while opening ourselves to new exchanges. Our process begins by studying and listening to the space, and meeting with the local community. Our approach is collaborative by nature, and thrives off of new influences; therefore we integrate both professional artists as well as amateurs into our work, devising the different abilities in a common artistic process.
The connection between poetry, music and live performance is a strong element in our work. Our performing patterns will mainly be developed by the presence of the body (physical/visual action, dance) together with voice-music patterns. We like readapting props, using materials in a creative way, making the event unique both for the use of the space and for the tools that can only be found there. Finally, we work open to surprise and response.
The source of inspiration for the performing process is the space and the community we encounter. All local community is involved: it will voluntarily or involuntarily assist to the ongoing creation steps till the final event. In this sense, our project is both a production and formation project aiming to integrate artists and territory. The final event is inspired and created according to the given space and people collaborating with us. Our process begins with this “listening”.
Sentieri aims to revalue the site through performing arts. It means, for instance, the deep contact between participants and the place. As foreigners and as artists we cross the space with new eyes. This is the experience we aim to be done by the audience. Our creation is meant to be a moment of truce: visions arise where normally nothing happens. With a change of perspective, a change of sight, another side appears, a side that we did not perceive before. So we train our sight towards an elsewhere, we let ourselves discover other forms, other ways. This is what art teaches us, to maintain an awaken sight, curious and careful to the present moment. Towards a life asking to become a certain thing, certain rules, certain roles, certain attitudes, certain habits, we discover a splinter, a doubt, a ray. We discover ourselves having more perspectives than what we thought, the possibility to change, to choose, to sense, to transform. The audience will experience the place, which is part of its territory, in a different way, with different eyes.
Images: c. Sentieri