Sunday, September 15th, 5:30-8:30pm
SolArt Center, 6 Byers St, Staunton, Virginia
Cover: Pay What You Can, Suggested: $20
Instagram: @perform_lab_workshop
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Welcome to you -- performers of "other" ilks + to ALL performers looking to hone your skills -- to the Performance Lab + Workshop to be held at Sol Art Center, 6 Byers St, Staunton, on Sunday September 15th, 5:30-8:30pm, a monthly series for performers looking to both hone their work and add skills to their toolbox. The Lab + Workshops was conceptualized in response to a lack of spaces for non-traditional performers to show works in progress & sharpen their performances in the Shenandoah Valley.
Each gathering will feature a 60 minute performance workshop followed by 90 minutes of performance works-in-progress presented by folks who reserved a space beforehand through this form. Your patience and email addresses are a wonderful way to stay connected. The Lab is open to performers making new and/or innovative work in performance art, dance, choreography, sound, music, film, drag, performance poetry, and experimental theater. Please sign up to perform for the Lab by Wednesday, September 11th. If we have "too many" performers (how glorious!!), you'll be put on a wait list and prioritized for the next Lab + Workshop. The Workshop offers a space to drop into a practice brought by an experienced teacher or trained performer in the areas of dance, movement, voice, public speaking, comedy, and other skills in order to nurture and strengthen performance presence and awareness. The Workshop will last roughly 60 minutes. We encourage all workshop participants to engage by observing and, if invited, providing feedback on the pieces shared. Your input helps inspire performers to keep refining and nurturing their work. Participation in the Workshop is Pay What You Can via Venmo or in cash dollaz. We suggest you offer $5-$40. 70% of the donations go to the facilitator, 10% for administration of the event, and 20% to SolArt. Performance Lab + Workshop is offered with input from Rachel Austin, Bonner Odell, Steven's Home Services, and SolArt Center. |
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What the Voice Wants
with Rachel Austin How can we connect with our voices in a deeper way, using it to connect body, breath, and emotion?
The voice box sits at the intersection of the body and the brain, a sensitive organ that can communicate both our thoughts and our emotions as well as hold back emotion or sounds. Pre-verbal vocalization is marked by its relationship to emotional expression, think: laughing, crying, sighing, groaning, moaning, etc. In modern society, there are a certain amount of ways we are allowed to communicate verbally, pre-verbal emotion often edited out or seen as “too much.” Even singers limit their expression to what is trendy or just not risky. Whether you’re a singer, actor, dancer, or seeking fuller emotional self-expression, we'll step towards plugging the voice into the body and emotion. Using warmups to explore the body and voice in connection with each other and a series of prompts to notice what else is there, this workshop is open to people with no singing experience. There will be no solos, just a space to play, explore, and commune with your voice. Rachel Austin is an improviser and composer interested in coaxing/blasting away the constraints of modern voice work through intention, physicality, and connection of the singer to themself, fellow musicians, and audiences. They draw on Alfred Wolfsohn voice, Butoh, improvisation, and Qi Gong training. |