WORKSHOPS
BROOKLYN, NY
OPEN SIX VIEWPOINTS SESSIONS WITH THE MILLION UNDERSCORES__
Saturdays 11am-1pm on-going and until further notice!
At the Mercury Store
Mary Overlie used to say that to really master the basic practices and exercises, you have to spend 72 cumulative hours in each. These are practice sessions to accumulate some of these hours and find more definition in each material: time to spend in basic practices like walk and stop in space, shape contemplation, kinetic duets, hangouts in time, etc. We'll close with an Open Improvisation in the beautiful studios of Mercury Store. Nicolas Noreña will be there to facilitate this time. All levels of experience are welcome!
Suggested donation $15-$30 (sliding scale / pay what you can) per session.
San Francisco, CA
StoryBody: Workshop of the Six Viewpoints with Debórah Eliezer
Friday Nov 1st, 6-8pm; Saturday Nov 2nd 10:30-1:30pm; Sunday Nov 3rd 10:30-1:30pm
Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco, CA
How do you show up? How do you take up space?
Join Aviva Arts Artistic Director Debórah Eliezer at this 3-Day Viewpoints intensive workshop series! Using the improvisation vocabulary called the “Viewpoints” as a portal to discover greater authenticity and self-confidence, this workshop will create a safe and supportive space for you to bravely take risks. Through ensemble theater exercises, journaling, improvisational singing, and composition tasks, we’ll rewire neural pathways to overcome self-imposed barriers about sharing who we are and the amount of space we take up.
No experience is necessary, and all experience levels are welcome and encouraged.
Please note this is a movement experience for all bodies. Please let us know your access needs when you register.
Bring a water bottle, a snack, and dress comfortably.
Instructor Bio: Debórah Eliezer is a mixed identity white/SWANA theater maker, cultural activist and California fire survivor living and working on the unceded territories of the Ramaytush Ohlone and Southern Pomo. She is the founding Artistic Director of Aviva Arts, an Associate Artist with Golden Thread, an artEquity arts facilitator alumna, and serves on the MENA Alliance of Theatre Makers steering committee (MENATMA) and formerly on the board of the Alliance of Jewish Theatre. Passionate about the power of human transformation, her work focuses on disrupting assumptions about art, human values and society. Formerly the Artistic Director of foolsFURY Theater, she has devised numerous world premieres, working with playwrights Katie Pearl, Kate Tarker, Yussef el Guindi, Denmo Ibrahim, Torange Yeghiazarian, Fabrice Melquiot, Angela Santillo, Sheila Callaghan, Doug Dorst, Ben Yalom and Dan Chumley. Eliezer wrote and performs (dis)Place[d] which toured the FURY Factory Festival of Ensemble Theater, Ko Fest, Olivia Cruises and Limmud UK in 2019 and is featured in Michael Malek Najjar’s book, Middle Eastern American Theatre: Communities, Cultures and Artists. She stars in the short film Wresting Place written and directed by Coral Cohen release date TBD. As a professional voiceover, you may have heard her voice in over 25 Leapfrog Toys, Sims 2, 3 and 4 video games or numerous radio ads. Eliezer teaches throughout the Bay Area and maintains a private coaching practice. She holds a BA Cum Laude from SFSU, a certificate in Sound, Voice Music Healing from CIIS and is a certified yoga instructor.
Cost: There will be a sliding scale ticket range of $195-$350.
for more info: http://www.avivaarts.org/storybody
MontrÉAl
VIEWPOINTS WEEK WITH GABI PETROV
Mon-Friday, December 2-9, 10am-1pm
Studio La Poêle : 5333 Av. Casgrain #307, Montréal, QC H2T 1X3
We will explore Mary Overlie's Six Viewpoints approach with the support of Somatic practices drawing on Body-Mind Centering®. The course will aim to support people with all levels of experience with the Viewpoints approach from beginner to advanced.
Sliding-scale cost: $250-300
To reserve your place, please email Gabi with your interest by clicking here and e-transfer a deposit of $50. The remainder is due Friday, November 29th.
If cost or another aspect of the workshop creates a barrier for you, please reach out. I aim to include as many folks as possible who want to take the course.
Gabriela Petrov has been practicing Mary Overlie's Six Viewpoints for over 13 years. She is nearing certification as a Somatic Movement Educator in Body-Mind Centering® with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. She did her MFA specializing in Viewpoints practice and pedagogy at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado and currently teaches the Viewpoints and other performance practices as an instructor at Concordia University.
Previous workshops
Montréal
Differentiating Systems: Experiential Anatomy Theory and Practice Movement Research & Psychophysical Discovery
With Wendell Beavers and Erika Berland
Saturday and Sunday, October 26th-27th 10am-2pm
Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique
An introduction to the experiential anatomy work of BMC(R) and its application to creating movement vocabulary and extended psychophysical range. We will differentiate muscles, bones, glands, fluids and the nervous system utilizing visualization, breath, sound and movement. Our goal is to extend our range of movement qualities and psychophysical expression. Open to all levels of experience.
Language of instruction: English. Questions can be asked in: French and English
Sliding scale $200 - $240
Wendell Beavers, was a founder and Director of New York University’s Experimental Theater Wing, Naropa University’s MFA in Contemporary Performance and Movement Research (NYC)
&
Erika Berland, is a Certified Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering®, Founding Faculty of Naropa University’s MFA in Contemporary Performance, Massage Therapist, Nationally Registered Movement Therapist (US), Author of Sitting: The Physical Art of Meditation
HOLLYWOOD, CA
NO DANCING: A MONTHLY SIX VIEWPOINTS WORKSHOP WITH VALERIE MCCANN
NO DANCING
Tuesdays June 18, July 16, August 13 6-8 PM
New Theater Hollywood
During this class we will interrogate patterns of embodied conditioning to boost flexibility of response and find new ways of being in relationship to space, time, and others in performance practice. This work is led by YOUR body. There will be opportunities for movement and stillness. All curious bodyminds welcome, no experience necessary.
ACCESSIBILITY: The space is ground floor accessible through a side door. The one bathroom is very small and not fully ADA compliant. There will be opportunities to lay on the floor and work barefoot. However, New Theater Hollywood is not a dance studio with a sprung floor. You are welcome to wear grippy socks, dance shoes or other footwear that will best support your body. I am working on making my classes as inclusive as possible, please message me if you have any questions/concerns/suggestions.
Cost: $20 no one turned away for lack of funds
Find more info here and on Val’s website.
Instructor Bio: Valerie McCann is a performing artist, collaborator, educator and embodied researcher. Her practice is rooted in somatic inquiry, relationality, and the wonder of phenomenology. As a performer and collaborator, she works across traditional theatre, postmodern dance and performance art disciplines. As a movement specialist, she works with individuals, ensembles and institutions of higher education. Her interest lies in the meeting of rigour and reality, where methodology can be reimagined when unique bodyminds come together to create new experiential possibilites.
north adams, ma
SOMATIC PERFORMER WORKSHOPS OF SUMMER ‘24
WITH WENDELL BEAVERS AND ERIKA BERLAND
9th Annual Somatic Performer Intensive
North Adams, MA : July 15-20 at Eclipse Mill
Developmental Movement and Experiential Anatomy: Review and Immersive Practice
Mornings 10:00 –1:00 Developmental Technique(TM)
Identifying the developmental actions of yield, push, reach, grasp and pull as the underlying fundamentals of developmental movement, we will explore the basic patterns of locomotion, from pre-spinal, navel radiated states through crawling to vertical, embodied expressions in space. We will improvise with these materials, individually and in small groups and investigate setting material from these somatic sources.
Afternoons 2:00-5:00—Experiential Anatomy
Differentiating the systems, researching full spectrum expression from pure movement to arousing and channeling psychophysical imagery into movement, sound, story and image.
$650
For Registration and Information please email us here.
Bozeman, Montana
SIX VIEWPOINTS WORKSHOPS LED BY ISABEL SHAIDA
Movement artist and community organizer Isabel Shaida will host free workshops for adults and families exploring the Six Viewpoints by Montana choreographer Mary Overlie, culminating in public performances on September 7 and 14.
Select Sundays, July 14 through August 25 / 4–6pm
Kids workshops July 13 and August 10 / 11am–12pm
Hosted by Tin Works of Bozeman, Montana
Adult Viewpoints Workshop – Six weeks of Sunday workshops from 4-6pm on July 14, 21, 28, and August 4, 18, 25, including a rehearsal on September 4 and public performances on September 7 and 14. Each week, participants will focus on one material and Viewpoints study to be in relationship with themselves, The Lay of the Land exhibition, and fellow participants.
Kids ViewpointS Workshops – Two one-hour Viewpoints workshops for youth: Saturday, July 13 and Saturday, August 10 from 11am-12pm, with an opportunity to participate in the public performances on September 7 and 14. Families welcome.
Condensed Adult Viewpoints Workshop – One condensed workshop to combine all Viewpoints into one session for adults: Saturday, September 14 from 9am-12pm. This is offered to deepen learning for 6-week participants, or as an opportunity to explore the Viewpoints on a shorter timeline.
Public Performances – September 7 and 14, 7-9pm. At the end of the six-week workshop, there will be a rehearsal and public performance on September 7 for all Viewpoints participants. A second public performance will take place on September 14 in the evening after the condensed workshop for adults, also for all Viewpoints participants. During each public performance, Shaida will introduce the practice to the audience, giving them the opportunity to participate in the performance-based artwork.
Workshops and performances are free and open to the public. All bodies and abilities welcome; no prior experience needed.
Prior registration is encouraged and appreciated. Link to register coming soon. In the meantime, check out Tin Works for more information or email Isabel with any questions.
Portals of Perception: unlocking new performance possiblities
with Ria Samartzi & Amy Rushent
London june 8 + 9
What is performance made of? What does it mean to be in dialogue with Space? How can we embody Story? Listen to Shape? Manifest Time?
This workshop will introduce ways of perceiving and interacting with the world of performance through the lenses of six materials, Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement and Story. Over two days we will begin to develop an embodied understanding of these materials through practising deconstruction and fine tuning our awareness.
By examining what is already present before the artist has entered the stage, we will uncover expanded possibilities for performance and creation. Through improvisation we will look for a place where all hierarchies are temporary and we are challenged to discover new perspectives.
What does our art become when we move from such a place?
Throughout the weekend, participants will be given space to reflect on their individual practice and invited to consider what it is they may take for granted in the making of performance.
Venue: Collective Acting Studio, The Laundry, Hornsey Road Baths, 2 Tiltman Place, London, N7 7EE
Dates: June 8th & June 9th
Times: 10:30 - 17:30
Facilitators: Ria Samartzi & Amy Rushent
For more details and to sign up click here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/portals-of-perception-unlocking-new-performance-possibilities-registration-897195524967?aff=oddtdtcreator
Radical Self Autonomy
workshop, practice, laboratory with Reese Johanson
New Orleans Thursdays May 30, June 6, 13, 20 & 27
Radical Self Autonomy is an invitation for you to reclaim your body and your narrative. We have experiential stories:
They are intellectual, psychological, and physical.
Whether the experiences were by choice, force, or happenstance-
everything we have ever lived is attached to us in some way. What stories are held in our bodies? Are they ours, are they others’ that have been put upon us?
Labels or identity, ancestral and/or present day: How are we defined? How do we identify? Do we accept or reject these labels or identi? How are various identifiers a part of us, but not necessarily define us?
If we can balance on trusting ourselves, and if we can trust that deep down we know our own truth, and if we can lean into the summary that most of the stories of how we are supposed to be are made up, then can we also lean into knowing that the narrative about our personal identities are also made up?
Dates: Thursdays, May 30, June 6, 13, 20 & 27
Times: 6-8pm
Sliding scale $100 - $250
Venmo - @artstreet504 / Cash App - $artstreet504 / Cash /
Checks may be made out to reese johanson collective
To register or ask questions, please click here.
Advanced registration required /
Drop in available with previous experience, registration required /
Inquire about asynchronous / zoom option
International Six Viewpoints Workshop
with Isabel M Sanchez Barrena
Madrid May 25 + 26
A workshop on the Six Viewpoints, particularly on the psycho physical aspects of the viewpoints actor’s body and its connection to aspects of transcendental meditation.
We will work with detail in: waiting, effortless perceptual activity, effortless body involvement. We will approach the SSTEMS and improvisation from the emphasis on these parameters.
It will be offered to people related or not related to the theatre arts, who just want to feel good, or better. So it is intended to help people and serve humans in feeling good through these arts sharing.
Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique: OPEN-LEVEL Course
with Deborah Black
ONLINE MAY 20 - July 1 (18 classes)
Building upon the Foundations in Jean Hamilton Floor Barre, this course is customized to address the specific needs of each student. Close attention is given to each participant’s physical process, growth and goals. This is an ongoing course, with the opportunity for students to train year-round within a supportive community.
Synchronous participation in encouraged for the greatest benefit, but recordings are available for asynchronous participation as well.
Enrollment is limited to 12 participants so that Deborah can provide in-depth individual coaching and feedback in real time.
*Previous experience required: To enroll, students must have either taken the Foundations in Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique Course or have trained with another Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique teacher.
Dates and Times: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays : 10am - 11:15am ET on zoom. No class on May 27th (memorial day in US)
Tuition: a sliding scale of $245 - $595***
Email us here to register, and with any questions!
***A note on the sliding scale: As a general rule, the lower end of the scale is for the unemployed and freelance artists whose livelihoods have been disrupted due to the pandemic and BIPOC artists whose livelihoods have been historically and systematically threatened. The higher end of the scale is for those who haven't lost employment and aren't worried about making ends meet. If you receive institutional funding for continuing education purposes, please pay at the higher end of the scale. By paying at the higher end of the sliding scale, you make it possible for us to support our community in this way! You can pay any amount between those two sums that feels right and comfortable to you. No questions asked.
Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints with NICOLAS NOREÑA
April 30 - May 4 at Brooklyn’s Mercury Store: 131 8th Street Brooklyn, NY 11215
Three Workshop Sessions:
Tuesday 4/30 6:30-9pm + Thursday 5/2 6:30-9pm + Saturday 5/4 10-2pm
This three session workshop offers a condensed but complete introduction to Mary’s Overlie's Six Viewpoints physical practices and philosophy. It is good for performers, directors, designers, dancers, choreographers, and any artists who are interested in the medium of performance.
Mary’s Six Viewpoints offer a non-hierarchical field to interrogate the medium of performance through a careful deconstruction of the elemental materials that make up theater and dance. Her postmodern philosophy and physical practices go hand in hand and ultimately train artists to think physically.
Unlike Anne Bogart’s widely known misinterpretation of The viewpoints, Mary’s work is not stiff, it doesn’t push a particular aesthetic forward, and it is aimed to connect every artist with their own individual freedom, curiosity, attention, and artistry.
During two evenings we will work physically with each of the materials independently: Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement and Story/Logic. And during a half-day on Saturday we will explore the relationship of these materials to one another through exercises in perceptual malleability and live composition. The workshop will end with Mary’s Lecture: The Bridge, which contextualizas the work historically and conceptually as it lays out the philosophical and structural foundations of the Six Viewpoints.
Nico has been teaching Six Viewpoints for the past six years at The Experimental Theater Wing at NYU where Mary developed most of her theory. He is interested in sharing this work with working artists from different mediums, different ages and different physical abilities. The wider diversity of perspectives we have in a room the richer the experience will be for all of us involved.
P.S. The work is physical but not necessarily athletic, and everyone attending is free and responsible for their own learning.
Tuition: $85
NICOLAS NOREÑA is a Colombian theater maker and performer based in Brooklyn.
He is the artistic director of THE MILLION UNDERSCORES, an experimental theater company founded in 2013, through which he has developed, produced, directed and designed over fifteen original productions that have been presented at The Museum of Modern Art, The Exponential Festival, Movement Research, The Brick Theater, The Clemente Center, Triskelion Arts, Target Margin Theater, O.D.C San Francisco, as well as galleries and public spaces around New York City.
Nicolás studied, performed and worked with Mary Overlie for twelve years. Under her tutelage he learned how to teach her work. He currently teaches at the Experimental Theater Wing in New York University where Mary taught for 40 years. He has taught at Playwrights Horizons, MIT, TK Studios, and Universidad de Los Andes among others. He is the director of the Mary Overlie Archive.
Six days of six viewpoints workshop with Sophia Treanor and Deborah Black
*This workshop has been cancelled*
May 6 - 11 in Brooklyn, NY
In this week-long workshop, we will investigate the creative process from the basis of a liberated and awakened bodymind. The days will begin with Hamilton Floor Barre*, a guided physical practice to nourish and awaken the moving body, and extend into explorations of the perceptual frames of the Six Viewpoints**. There we will ask – what am I taking for granted about the times, shapes, movements, emotions, story/logics, and spaces? Through these focused awarenesses, we will grapple towards the unknown, and access uncertainty as a portal to an infinite and not-yet defined source.
Naming these sources “raw materials” will become a way to sustain ourselves and find research within the Piano and Reification Laboratories of the Six Viewpoints Theory. These laboratories will guide us in and out of the unknown, help us retrieve findings, and share them with an audience.
Participants will be guided to identify their own artistic questions throughout the week to support their creative process. Sophia and Deborah will offer strategies, coaching, and feedback methods to amplify individual and collaborative inquiries. Wild, subtle, and anarchistic improvisations and compositions will ensue, activating the unlimited possibilities of what art can be and where it comes from. The week will culminate with a public sharing for the surrounding community.
The Schedule: Monday - Saturday 9 - 6pm. We will have an open studios event at 4pm on the final Saturday.
Where: Open Arts Studio : 68 Jay Street 605A Brooklyn, NY
Tuition: $550-$985 sliding scale***
Register: Fill out this form! Feel free to email us with any questions.
conversation with artists,
facilitated by susannah wilson
Two series offered on zoom:
Mondays 6-7pm EST — Feb 12, 19, 26
and Thursdays 1-2pm EST — Feb 15, 22, 29
You may have seen these sessions previously offered by my fabulous friend and mentor, Deborah Black. I learned this technique from her, and she has generously encouraged me to facilitate this new series.
Here’s the deal: you commit to three conversations with two other artists. Each session will be centered around our artistic questions. These questions can be anything that you are working on or are in relationship to.
For instance—What’s my aesthetic? Do I have one? How can I create more space for whimsy in my practice? Is there a place where pottery and performance meet?
These questions do not have to be ‘coherent’. What matters is that they are interesting to you. If you’re worried you don’t have any artistic questions, there’s space for you too. Trust me, the questions will arrive.
My role is to be a facilitator of these conversations. I won’t be providing advice or answers, but rather encouraging you to probe deeper into inquiry.
The series is offered on a sliding scale of $75-$200.
Feel free to reach out to Susannah (susannahmtwilson@gmail.com) with any questions or sign up here!
Susannah is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in performance and ceramics. She was a member of SITI Company’s 2018-19 Conservatory, and is a graduate of Emerson College, where they received a BFA in Acting. Susannah has performed locally with Target Margin Theater, One Year Lease, and Living Room Theatre, as well as regionally with Commonwealth Shakespeare, Central Square Theater and many others. You can find her ceramic work on their website at www.stonewarexsw.com. Susannah lives in Brooklyn with her ancient cat Pussy Willow.
SIX VIEWPOINTS WEEKEND INTENSIVE
WITH RIA SAMARTZI
February 10-11 in London at Omnibus Theatre
A two day intensive workshop for performance makers inspired by the Six Viewpoints theory & practice. Over two days we will spend time practicing within the deconstructed framework/s of space, shape, time, emotion, movement and story and examine their expanded possibilities. Participants will be given space to reflect on their practice and invited to consider what it is they may take for granted in the making of performance. We will introduce working within horizontal hierarchies and explore alternative departure points for creation.
This workshop is for theatre, dance and performance artists of all disciplines, including directors, designers, dramaturgs, stage managers and technicians and anything in between.
No prior Viewpoints experience is necessary.
Please wear comfortable clothes and footwear you can move in.
Times: 10:30 - 17:30
Fee*: £150 (General), £120 (Concession)
Book your ticket here to register.
*If you would like to attend but the above pricing is prohibitive for whatever reason or have specific access needs please get in touch.
Photo by Alex Baker
SHAPE _time… + LoGiCa:
Six Viewpoints Process Weekend with Deborah Black and Sophia Treanor
*This workshop has been cancelled*
February 16 - 19, 2024 in Brooklyn, NY
Open Arts Studio, DUMBO 68 Jay Street, Studio 605A, Brooklyn NY 11201
“From tiny experiences we build cathedrals.”
-Orhan Pamuk
This workshop is for performers and artists who are interested in recovering their love of process. We will aspire to unearth the meaning in the making. We are approaching the question of “Why?” inside out in order to uplift and honor the artistic sensitivities of our lesser-known selves and our audiences.
Originated by dancer/choreographer, Mary Overlie, The Six Viewpoints deconstruct the materials used in performance: space, time, shape, emotion, story, and movement, opening up their infinite possibilities. The study of the Viewpoints introduces performance makers to a clear vocabulary of materials to spark research or new perspectives on their own work.
Entering into the Laboratory of the Matrix through the materials of shape and time, one may stumble into pockets of space, threads of movement, scents of emotion, branches of story. Let’s hang out in these accidents and ask: How might the study of shape and time reveal subtle and surprising stories? Logics we have not met before?
In this weekend-long workshop, we follow the path of deconstruction to depart from closed systems of composition to open ourselves to both aesthetic and meaningful experiences we could not have constructed.
We welcome all dancers, actors, physical theater artists and directors. We welcome makers of all kinds who are interested in what they might glean from the body, our surrounding environment, subconscious, patience, and boredom.
Tuition: a sliding scale of $385 - $685. (True cost: $535)***
To register, please fill out this form. Feel free to email us with any questions!
Weekend Schedule
Friday, February 16 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Welcome, and we begin the research
Saturday, February 17 9:30 am - 6:00 pm
Sunday, February 18 9:30 am - 2:00 pm
…with an optional field trip in the evening. *Field trip ticket not included in tuition. Show TBD*
Monday, February 19 9:30 am - 6:00 pm
***A note on the sliding scale: As a general rule, the lower end of the scale is for the unemployed and freelance artists whose livelihoods have been disrupted due to the pandemic and BIPOC artists whose livelihoods have been historically and systematically threatened. The higher end of the scale is for those who haven't lost employment and aren't worried about making ends meet. If you receive institutional funding for continuing education purposes, please pay at the higher end of the scale. By paying at the higher end of the sliding scale, you make it possible for us to support our community in this way! You can pay any amount between those two sums that feels right and comfortable to you. No questions asked.
The Six Viewpoints: Examining the Materials of Performance
A Weekend Workshop with Roel Swanenberg and Arjan Gebraad
25 & 26 November 2023, Sat & Sun 10 am -17 pm (CET)
DansBrabant – Club Soda, Goudenregenstraat 15-06, 5014 AS Tilburg, The Netherlands
During this two-day workshop we will investigate all Six Viewpoints by exploring the vocabulary of the basic materials that are found in the creation of all art: Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement and Story. Training the Six Viewpoints develops flexibility, articulation, strength in movement and allows a group of performers to function together spontaneously and intuitively. Next to this, spending time in the rehearsal room researching Viewpoints will develop your overall understanding of your own individual practice as a performer. This approach is widely used as a movement training and philosophical practice and we invite all professional performers, actors, dancers, theatre makers, choreographers, visual artists, musicians and art students who wish to cultivate the art of presence and the fundamentals of the art of theatre. We will equip participants with a basic understanding of the principles of the work and how to apply them in contemporary performance.
Instructor Bios:
Arjan Gebraad works as a performer, director, teacher and mentor in several disciplines like theatre, dance and circus. He specializes in site-specific projects and physical theatre. He worked at/with Codarts, Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Toneelacademie Maastricht, Zuidelijk Toneel, Toneelgroep Maastricht and Factorium Tilburg. He is a member of the artist collective Tilburg Cowboys. He has a MA in Cultural Studies and a BA in Theatre and Education.
Roel Swanenberg is a Belgium-based performing artist, director and teacher. Together with Wanda Eyckerman they run their own company ‘kinderenvandevilla’, making theatre for all ages, site-specific plays and facilitating workshops. He has collaborated with many people in TV, Film and Theatre including: Martin Butler, Mary Overlie, Lotte van den Berg, Tuning People, Artemis, Het Zuidelijk Toneel, KETNET and het Nieuwstedelijk. He has a BA in Theatre and a MA in Audiovisual Arts.
Arjan and Roel have collaborated on many occasions: making plays, shooting movies and co-teaching. They have trained extensively in Viewpoints, both with SITI Company and Mary Overlie. They are ambassadors of the Mary Overlie Legacy Project, sharing her work with practitioners across Europe.
Cost: Regular: € 150, - | Early bird: €125, - (deadline 3 November 2023) | Students: €100,-
HOW TO APPLY Send an email to training.ensemble.nederland@gmail.com (RE: weekend workshop), with a short, accurate resume and a short motivation in which you describe why you want to attend the workshop. The training will be held in English when international artists are taking part. For more info: http://www.facebook.com/t.e.n.platform
Six Viewpoints Immersion: Performance Practice and Research
A week-long workshop with Deborah Black and Sophia Treanor
October 9-13, 2023 in Brooklyn, NY
In this week-long workshop, we will investigate the creative process from the basis of a liberated and awakened bodymind. The days will begin with Hamilton Floor Barre*, a guided physical practice to nourish and awaken the moving body, and extend into explorations of the perceptual frames of the Six Viewpoints**. There we will ask – what am I taking for granted about the times, shapes, movements, emotions, story/logics, and spaces? Through these focused awarenesses, we will grapple towards the unknown, and access uncertainty as a portal to an infinite and not-yet defined source.
Naming these sources “raw materials” will become a way to sustain ourselves and find research within the Piano and Reification Laboratories of the Six Viewpoints Theory. These laboratories will guide us in and out of the unknown, help us retrieve findings, and share them with an audience.
Participants will be guided to identify their own artistic questions throughout the week to support their creative process. Sophia and Deborah will offer strategies, coaching, and feedback methods to amplify individual and collaborative inquiries. Wild, subtle, and anarchistic improvisations and compositions will ensue, activating the unlimited possibilities of what art can be and where it comes from. The week will culminate with a public sharing for the surrounding community.
Where: Open Arts Studio
68 Jay Street 605A Brooklyn, NY
When: October 9-13, 2023
Monday - Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 5pm + 7 - 9pm public sharing
Tuition: $400 - $700 sliding scale***
To sign up, please fill out this form. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Deborah and Sophia here.
Photo by AlexBakerPhotoz from the SomaticPerformer ~ Mary Overlie Legacy Project Workshops, Eclipse Mill, North Adams MA
Doing the Unnecessary: Making Connections through Deconstruction
with Valerie McCann
Where: London Performance Studios
When: Mondays 3 July, 5-8 PM / 10 July, 5-8 PM
Doing the Unnecessary: Making Connections through Deconstruction is a new class hosted at London Performance Studios.
Rooted in Mary Overlie's Six Viewpoints Theory and Practice, we will explore the internal landscape in relation to the larger universe of performance using the languages of Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement and Story. Through somatic research and collaborative experimentation, workshop participants will interrogate deconstruction, differentiation and discernment as tools to discover unknown and unexpected capacities in composition and performance practice.
Cost: PWYC
Visit us here more info and feel free to email Valerie here with any questions.
Photo by AlexBakerPhotoz from the SomaticPerformer ~ Mary Overlie Legacy Project Workshops, Eclipse Mill, North Adams MA
SIX VIEWPOINTS : A SATURDAY SCHOOL
with sophia treanor and deborah black
Saturdays March 25th - May 6th * 11am - 1pm
These classes are a foray into the deep deconstruction particle practices of the Six Viewpoints and Jean Hamilton’s Floor Barre. Our efforts will be thrown into minding the gap: what is here that I have not yet consciously perceived?
The days will begin with Hamilton Floor Barre, a guided physical practice to nourish and awaken the moving body, and extend into explorations of the perceptual frames of the Six Viewpoints. Wild, subtle, and anarchistic improvisations and compositions will ensue.
Where: Open Arts Studio : 68 Jay Street 605A Brooklyn, NY
Drop in or sign up for the 5 class series.
Drop in: offered on a sliding scale $15 - $35/class**
Five class series: offered on a sliding scale of $80 - $200
Jean hamilton floor barre: an online introduction
with sophia treanor and deborah black
April 3 - 21, 2023
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 11:30- 12:45 EDT
A synchronous online 3-week course (9 classes)
Gifted by Mary Overlie to many, Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is suitable for all people (of all ages and experience levels) who seek to create more ease, strength, length, and movement possibilities in their bodies.
The classes are each designed to:
-empower the body-mind with awakened body awareness
-discover a greater sense of possibility in movement
-improve mobility and joint health
-regulate the nervous system
-provide long-lasting recovery from injury or strain
-find enjoyment in moving in unexpected ways
Over the years, students have regularly reported a decrease in chronic pain, the ability to perform with more ease and a greater sense of vitality overall.
No previous experience or dance training required to enroll. Enrollment is limited to 12 participants so that Deborah and Sophia can provide in-depth individual coaching and feedback in real time.
Synchronous participation in encouraged for the greatest benefit, but recordings are available for asynchronous participation as well.
*This course is a prerequisite for Sophia and Deborah’s ongoing Open-Level Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique course, also held Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for continuing students.
Fee: $125 - $275 sliding scale
Examining the Materials of Performance | Series 2
With Ria Samartzi
Rosemary Branch Theatre: 2 Shepperton Road, N1 3DT London, UK
March 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th, 2023 from 11:00 - 13:00
Price: Pay What You Can - £5, £10 (recommended), £15
A weekly workshop series for performance makers inspired by the Six Viewpoints theory and practice.
Originated by choreographer Mary Overlie, the Six Viewpoints is a study that establishes and expands the base of performance by inquiring into the vocabulary of the basic materials that are found in the creation of all art: space, shape, time, emotion, movement and story. Following on from the January series, we will continue to (re)discover and explore the materials and practice working within horizontal hierarchies.
These sessions are for theatre, dance and performance artists of all disciplines, including directors, designers, dramaturgs, stage managers and technicians - all welcome.
No movement experience is necessary. Please wear comfortable clothes and footwear you can move in. Participants can attend a single session, entire series or drop in as able.
Six Viewpoints Entrances and Exits
with NICOLÁS NOREÑA
At the Terry Knickerbocker Studio
68 34th Street. 4th Floor
Brooklyn, NYC 11232
February 25 - 26, 2023
Saturday 2-430pm
Sunday 10am- 630pm (with lunch break)
$350
Making your own work from the elements of reality.
In this workshop we will use the framework of Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints as an entryway into making original work. Through basic compositional exercises, collaborative experiments and repurposing of ready-made text and movement, we will explore different ways of approaching creativity, imagination and theater-making. Actors, often denied the ability of being artists, can at times limit their creativity to constraints imposed by directors/ playwrights/ choreographers etc. This training connects the actor directly with theater as a medium, by connecting their bodies with their intelligence, creativity and freedom.
Space Oddity: come back to your experience of reality
A Six Viewpoints Weekend Immersion inspired by David Bowie:
Wake up, then Journey into the Unknown.
Stay a While. It’s a No-Oppressor Zone.
with Deborah Black and Sophia TreanoR
January 14 + 15, 2023
11am-5pm
"I was out of my gourd...it got the song flowing." - David Bowie
In this workshop, we will investigate the creative process from the basis of a liberated and awakened body-mind. Our efforts will be thrown into accessing the unknown, and accessing uncertainty as a portal to an infinite source. Learning to sustain oneself and one’s research beyond the named world germinates work that may, at times, send a ripple through a collective consciousness.
Where: Open Arts Studio : 68 Jay Street 605A Brooklyn, NY
Tuition: $245 - $465 sliding scale***
Are you interested in our work/study program? We are looking for administrative aid, and can offer this workshop and regular floor barre classes in exchange. Reach out if you’d like to start a conversation about this.
Become human. Think for yourself. Make choices. Bring the community back together again.
Entry Points: A Foundations Intensive
With Estela Garcia
Dell’Arte International
January 9th - 20th, 2023
Week 1: Mon-Fri, 6PM - 9:30PM; Saturday 9AM-1PM
Week 2: Tues-Fri 6PM - 9:30PM
The training will serve as provocations to give participants new entry points to strengthen their acting process, get into their bodies and become more present actors and get comfortable generating new material in an ensemble. Students will devise work and present their work for feedback.
Sessions are planned to utilize movement, text and theatrical mask. Instruction styles will vary between master classes, discussions, collaboration time, creative writing, acting practices, and physical improvisation. Techniques used will include Presence Work, Character Mask, the Liz Lerman method, Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints, and Laban movement for text.
A Los Angeles born native, Estela Garcia is a performer, movement coach, deviser, community engagement specialist, mask maker, teacher and tinkerer of materials. In addition to being Movement faculty at CalArts, Garcia is a resident teaching artist for Center Theatre Group. She received her MFA from Dell’Arte in ensemble-based physical theatre. As a teacher Estela strives to create a brave space where students can nurture vulnerability, risk and confidence as storytellers. Estela believes all students come with an innate capacity to tell stories through movement. Through her approach to the work she helps them identify habits, develop new skills and articulate their body’s voice. She is committed to anti-racism and a non-hierarchical teaching style where diverse bodies can thrive.
Deadline to register is Dec. 8. Visit Dell’Arte’s page here for more information and registration instructions.
In person! Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique
With Sophia Treanor and Deborah Black
DUMBO, Brooklyn
Saturdays: 11am - 1pm
November 19, December 3, December 10
Open Level
Drop in: $15 - $30 sliding scale per class
3-part series: $40 - $80 sliding scale
Drop in or sign up for all three!
Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is suitable for all bodies who seek to create more ease, strength, length, and movement possibilities in their bodies. Close attention is given to each participant’s physical process, growth and goals. Students have regularly reported a decrease in chronic pain, the ability to perform with more freedom and a greater sense of vitality overall.
Where: Open Arts Studio at 68 Jay Street 605A. This building is fully accessible. All are welcome!
Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique: Foundations Course
with Sophia Treanor and Deborah Black
November 28 - December 16, 2022
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 11:30- 12:45 ET
A synchronous online 3-week course (9 classes)
Gifted by Mary Overlie to many, Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is suitable for all people (of all ages and experience levels) who seek to create more ease, strength, length, and movement possibilities in their bodies.
The Hamilton Floor Barre is based on variation inside a fixed set of practices. The variation provides the opportunity to explore the elasticity and weight shift in the body within and out of each joint. In the Six Viewpoints curriculum, Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is considered one of the basic practices of noticing News of a Difference. It works on the level of the nervous system, creating connections and organization between muscles, bones, fascia and conscious awareness. Slowly waking up more subtle neural connections with the smaller muscles surrounding the joints of the body can initiate re-patterning and a stabilization of our incredible architecture. Over the years, students have regularly reported a decrease in chronic pain and a greater sense of vitality.
No previous experience or dance training required to enroll. Enrollment is limited to 12 participants so that Deborah and Sophia can provide in-depth individual coaching and feedback in real time.
Synchronous participation in encouraged for the greatest benefit, but recordings are available for asynchronous participation as well.
*This course is a prerequisite for Sophia and Deborah’s ongoing Open-Level Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique course, also held Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for continuing students.
Fee: $125 - $275 sliding scale
Virtual Viewpoints Round Up
LED BY NICOLÁS NOREÑA
postponed but coming soon: a Sunday 1pm - 3pm ET on Zoom
Suggested donation of $10-$30. All are welcome regardless of ability to donate!
This monthly virtual community gathering will include an hour of practice and improvisation led by a community member, followed by open time for reflections, exchange, gabbing, experiments, shout-outs and whatever else is needed!
Each month, a different community member will lead the practice. The donations will first provide a teaching fee for the facilitator, and any extra donations will contribute to the Mary Overlie Legacy Project’s operations costs (like running this website and digitizing Mary’s archive!)
We are very excited to provide an opportunity for exchange across our global community! Questions? Please email us.
Six Viewpoints Intensive
with Gabriela Petrov
IN-PERSON: TORONTO
Intergalactic Arts Collective
Mon-Fri, August 22-26th, 10am-1pm
During this workshop we will explore all Six Viewpoints as originated by Mary Overlie: Space, Time, Shape, Movement, Emotion and Story. You will learn the fundamental tools and vocabulary from this approach and gain a deeper sense of spatial awareness and a more embodied understanding and experience of composition. This approach is widely used by performers as movement training, but can also support the work of directors, designers, visual artists, musicians, architects, animators and anyone else who could benefit from a deeper understanding of composition, embodiment and spatial awareness. No experience necessary!
Early Bird Rate (until July 14th, midnight): $200 Generous Bird Rate: $250
With Gabriela Petrov, who has over 10 years of practice in Mary Overlie's Six Viewpoints and trained with several teachers including Wendell Beavers. She has over 6 years of somatic training in Body-Mind Centering® and is pursuing certification as a Somatic Movement Educator with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. She did her MFA specializing in Viewpoints practice and pedagogy at Naropa Univerity in Boulder, Colorado and currently teaches the Viewpoints and other performance practices as an instructor at Concordia University. She also has a sustained mindfulness/meditation practice which she encountered through the Shambhala lineage. Gabriela first encountered the Viewpoints in 2011 with Leslie Baker, a student of Wendell Beavers. Since then, she deepened her practice by studying with Wendell Beavers and other teachers including Barbara Dilley, an early collaborator of Mary Overlie. Gabi had the joy of connecting with Mary during the celebration of her life and work at Danspace in 2019. Gabi uses the Viewpoints to support her in her everyday life, artistic work and somatic practices.
Six Viewpoints Workshops at Vienna’s ImpulsTanz
With SOPHIA TREANOR
IN-PERSON: VIENNA
July 18 - 22 : Six Viewpoints, Liberating the Materials :
M - F 14:20 - 17:20 | Fee: € 215.00
July 23 + 24 : Six Viewpoints, Horizontal Wilderness :
Sat + Sun 10:30 - 16:30 | Fee: € 140.00
These workshops focus on discovering how to liberate the materials of Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement and Story. We will study how they function on stage and how to create with them. We will briefly focus on locating these materials in a non-hierarchical manner, then move on to performance experiments and compositions.
In entering this work the artist finds that they are anchored in 3-D reality and free to make dance or theatre as it unfolds before them. In this undertaking the artist is challenged to develop self-guidance, the discipline of keeping focused and the ability to shift perspective over and over again. Underlying training such as Contact Improvisation and Jean Hamilton's Floor Barre Technique educates the instrument in depth without culturing patterns of movement. This type of approach develops availability to sense rather than to produce.
Drawing on the work of Mary Overlie, these workshops will introduce a horizontal frame of mind. In the horizontal, we may find a greater sense of creative possibility and nourishment for our relationship with our environment—along with a fluid interchange between internal and external.
For more information and to register for the courses, click here. Any questions? you can email Sophia here.
Four-week Six Viewpoints Course
with Deborah Black
IN-PERSON: NYC
Mondays 6-8pm, July 11, 18, 25, Aug 1
Come together weekly this summer to put into practice how you want to be in the room with others. We will work within the laboratories of the Six Viewpoints including:
—noticing the News of Difference
—deconstructing Shape, Space, Time, Emotion, Movement, and Story
—working with flexible hierarchies
—Doing the unnecessary
—Practicing becoming an Original Anarchist
Each evening will include a full body warm-up, solo and collaborative improvising, tools to connect the Six Viewpoints to your own creative work, and discussions about the complex work of having a body, agency, and being human on this planet.
$145-$265 Sliding Scale (discount available if combined with the Conversations for ARTISTS and/or the online PRACTICE Sessions - please email Deborah to discuss)
Sign-up here!
Limited to 10 fully vaccinated participants. If infections are high in NYC, a rapid day-of test will also be required.
8th Somatic Performer Intensive
with Wendell Beavers and Erika Berland
June 4--10, 2022
North Adams, MA
NEW VENUE: Eclipse Mill Artists Community https://eclipsemill.com/
243 Union Street North Adams, MA (Down the street from MASS MoCA)
For registration information: somaticperformer@gmail.com
Cultivating Potentiality
Vibration, Sponging, Pulsation, Navel Radiation; The Pre-Vertebrate Patterns of Developmental Movement
******
The Pre-Spinal patterns create the ground for enhanced presence, clear expressive action and original movement response.
The workshop will also reference related anatomical systems, their role in creative process and building performance technique.
With Wendell Beavers, Founder of Naropa University's MFA Theater; Contemporary Performance Program Founding Faculty of NYU's Experimental Theater Wing and Erika Berland, founding faculty of Naropa's MFA, Certified Practitioner of Body Mind Centering(R), somatic educator and meditation instructor in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage.
Beginning Sat. June 4 at 1PM—Ending Fri. June 10 at 1PM | 10-1 & 2-5 Daily Sessions
Fee: $450
May’s Virtual Viewpoints Round Up
LED BY Isa Sánchez Barrena
Suggested donation of $10-$30. All are welcome regardless of ability to donate!
This monthly virtual community gathering will include an hour of practice and improvisation led by a community member, followed by open time for reflections, exchange, gabbing, experiments, shout-outs and whatever else is needed!
Each month, a different community member will lead the practice. The donations will first provide a teaching fee for the facilitator, and any extra donations will contribute to the Mary Overlie Legacy Project’s operations costs (like running this website and digitizing Mary’s archive!)
We are very excited to provide an opportunity for exchange across our global community! Questions? Please email us.
An in-person Six Viewpoints workshop
with Deborah Black
May 14 - 15, 2022 1pm - 5pm
Dumbo, Brooklyn
$165-$315 sliding scale
Deborah is so excited to be offering her first in-person workshop (since 2019) this Spring in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and welcoming you into this space with a handful of practitioners to practice playing “pool on an egg-shaped table” with one another.
After years of training on-line, how do we come back into a room together? What can we notice about the space between us? Our emotions, our stories? What movement wants to emerge? What timings are demanded?
Mary Overlie used this metaphor of playing pool on an egg-shaped table to examine our relationships with one another in a space where so much might be happening. Can we honor our own needs and desires while working in the room with others? Can we start to create a dialogue across differences?
Limited to ten (fully vaccinated) participants.
Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique: Foundations Course
with Sophia Treanor and Deborah Black
MAY 9 - May 27th, 2022
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 11:30- 12:45 ET
An online 3-week course (9 classes)
Gifted by Mary Overlie to many, Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is suitable for dancers, actors, and regular folks who seek to create more ease, strength, length, and movement possibilities in their bodies.
In the Six Viewpoints curriculum, Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is considered one of the basic practices of noticing News of a Difference. It works on the level of the nervous system, creating connections and organization between muscles, bones, fascia and conscious awareness. Slowly waking up more subtle neural connections with the smaller muscles surrounding the joints of the body can initiate repatterning and a stabilization of our incredible architecture. Over the years, students have regularly reported a decrease in chronic pain and a greater sense of vitality.
No previous experience or dance training required to enroll. Enrollment is limited to 12 participants so that Deborah and Sophia can provide in-depth individual coaching and feedback in real time.
Fee: $125 - $275 sliding scale
The Perception Lab
With Deborah Black
Online course
Tuesdays 1-3:30PM EST
April 19th - May 24th
Limited to 8 participants
$245-$475 sliding scale
This is a physical and perceptual making and performance SPACE. We will be using the Six Viewpoints and postmodern choreography and scoring techniques to encourage our work from the subconscious. We will learn to go a little deeper in the unknown, find new ways to listen to ourselves and others. We will wake up just a little bit more to what wants and needs to be expressed through us - in this moment - as art.
Each class includes a warm-up based on Jean Hamilton’s Floor Barre Technique and a Six Viewpoints practice plus time for developing your own process. It is suitable for beginner and advanced artist-practitioners. There will also be opportunities to collaborate and share your work.
Apply by April 8th at 11:59pm EST.
May’s Virtual Viewpoints Round Up
LED BY SOPHIA TREANOR
APRIL 10, 2022 : 11am-1pm ET on Zoom
Suggested donation of $10-$30. All are welcome regardless of ability to donate!
This monthly virtual community gathering will include an hour of practice and improvisation led by a community member, followed by open time for reflections, exchange, gabbing, experiments, shout-outs and whatever else is needed!
Each month, a different community member will lead the practice. The donations will first provide a teaching fee for the facilitator, and any extra donations will contribute to the Mary Overlie Legacy Project’s operations costs (like running this website and digitizing Mary’s archive!)
We are very excited to provide an opportunity for exchange across our global community! Questions? Please email us.
FINDINGS AT THE EDGES OF THE MATERIALS
AN IN-PERSON SIX VIEWPOINTS INTENSIVE ON THE SSTEMS
TAUGHT BY: NICOLÁS NOREÑA AND TIMOTHY SCOTT
OCT 30, NOV 6, NOV 13, NOV 20, DEC 4, DEC 11
at STUDIO MAYA
603 Bergen St. Brooklyn, NY
12pm-4pm
Total of 24 hours
fee: $400
In this workshop we will dedicate 4 hours to thoroughly study each Material , or SSTEMS: Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement, Story. We will study each material in relation to the other five by exploring their meeting coordinates: where does Story meet Space? How does Space meet Shape? What is the relationship between Space and Emotion? How does Time affect Space? etc.
By tracing the edges of these materials through their relationships, we will arrive at a complex definition of their territory, have a comprehensive idea of how they have been traditionally organized, and experiment with what new possibilities exist in their composition.
This exploration is rooted in 12 years of work with Mary Overlie and stems out of our own unique curiosity with this philosophy and technique. Through a combination of Mary’s original practices, perceptual exercises, movement scores, improvisational explorations and compositional experiments, we will venture together into a deep interrogation of the far edges of this work.
We will cover some introductory Six Viewpoints training, however this course is designed for those who have had some previous experience with Mary's Six Viewpoints. If you are unsure of whether or not this course is right for you, or an appropriate place for you to start, please reach out to us and we can asses this together.
Attendance for this workshop will be in in person and capped at 10 students. We require students to be vaccinated.
To sign up email: themillionunderscores@gmail.com
Hamilton Floor Barre Technique
3-week course (9 classes)
Taught By: Sophia Treanor and Deborah Black
Where: online
Nov 29 - Dec 17, 2021
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
11:30- 12:45 ET
$125 - $275 sliding scale
Taught and practiced by Mary Overlie and gifted to many, Jean Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is suitable for dancers, actors, and regular folks who seek to create more ease, strength, length, and movement possibilities in their bodies.
In the Six Viewpoints curriculum, Hamilton Floor Barre Technique is considered one of the basic practices of noticing News of a Difference. It works on the level of the nervous system, creating connections and organization between muscles, bones, fascia and conscious awareness. Slowly waking up more subtle neural connections with the smaller muscles surrounding the joints of the body can initiate repatterning and a stabilization of our incredible architecture. Over the years, students have regularly reported a decrease in chronic pain and a greater sense of vitality.
No previous experience or dance training required to enroll. Enrollment is limited to 12 participants so that Deborah and Sophia can provide in-depth individual coaching and feedback in real time.