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Acting & Drama Classes

Fear as a Source of Creativity

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Albert Einstein.

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Fear is commonly understood as something negative, diminishing, constricting, even pathological, according to some medical and psychological approaches.

 

In this webinar, we will tackle a new and innovative approach to fear that will help us understand the intertwined relationship between our physical, emotional, psychological, and creative body.

 

We will understand fear as a natural, bodily response to an extraordinary situation that demands the best of us. We will embrace fear as the powerful energy that will allow us to think, feel, perceive and perform beyond our usual, standard potential.

 

We will experience fear as a tangible flow of energy very connected to homeostasis that will allow us to heal from past traumas or access a new level of insight and creativity in our work probably unbeknown to us until then.

Singing & Dance
Contents

Creativity is a phenomenon that emerges out of a mysterious connection between body, mind, and reality.

 

The creative flow is usually described by successful artists as the body taking the lead, delivering without the interference of the mind, connected to something beyond itself, unaware of space and time, somewhat uncontrolled and propelled by a strong thrust of energy. To engage this creative flow, a deep connection and control over our physical, emotional, and energetic body seems essential — as well as being able to ride this somatic intensity!

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Creation encompasses the exposition of our deeper self, our ideas, feelings, history and self, using our voice, our body, our instrument. It is a very intimate and powerful act — for that, it is also scary.

 

Creation and creativity are essential experiences for anyone who wishes to attain a high level of self-understanding, development, and fulfillment in their life. When done with full awareness, acknowledging and allowing the fear and intensity they naturally encompass, creative expression lifts us beyond our personal limits, connecting us to our environment and bringing back in return greater self-confidence, a sense of meaning and worthiness.

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In this introductory course, we will explore the close and highly intertwined relationship between our physical body, our emotions, our thoughts, and our ideas. We will also learn how to enhance this connection by relaxing our body, allowing the free flow of emotions (also those we dislike), and expanding our attention and perception. This will lead us to achieve a highly embodied state of creation and self-confidence.

 

But before throwing ourselves into the rewarding act of creative creation, we will need to understand that everything that is truly new, ingenious, bold, and creative stands —by definition— beyond our daily world... in the field of the unknown. And to enter this field we must first acknowledge and allow the free flow of fear in the body.

Ivan is a Somatic Trainer, Stage and Movement Director, and playwright originally from Barcelona, who has lived and worked around the world. Graduated as a Microelectronics Engineer (UAB, 2000), he shifts his career into the field of arts and therapy at 22 years old, graduating in Acting at the ESAD EOLIA (Barcelona, 2004), as a Somatic Trainer at the International School of The Grinberg Method (Switzerland, 2010), and attaining a Master Degree in Playwriting and Direction from the Royal Holloway University (London, 2015).

 

As a director, Ivan was awarded in 2014 a scholarship by the Spanish Fundació SGAE to develop his work internationally. Since then, his productions have premiered in Catalonia, France, the UK, and Taiwan. As a Somatic Trainer, Ivan leads ongoing research in the field of embodiment, presence, and creativity that draws on his many years of experience working as a Grinberg Method Practitioner and as a Vipassana meditator. 

 

The Conscious Body is a training program that addresses how to turn fear into a source of energy to attain a highly embodied and creative state of delivery. Developed since 2011 through workshops and classes, Ivan has presented this unique approach to fear, embodiment, and creativity around the world (Barcelona, London, Turkey, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada) to audiences of all kinds, from young professional companies to long-career experienced artists, as well as people from other backgrounds interested in living a healthier and more creative life.

 

After working as an actor for more than 15 years, Ivan founded The Amateurs Company, the platform through which he produces and directs his own creative work applying the tools and context developed in The Conscious Body to the real process of rehearsing and staging a play.

 

As a playwright, his show Big Bang! won the Entreactum Award (2014), the Arsènic-Roca Umbert Award (2015), and is currently on tour. His last production, Partícules Paral·leles, won the Best Show Award at the 25th Festival de Teatre de Barcelona (2021) and is also currently on tour. His play Elysium was longlisted for the Bruntwood Award (2018) and shortlisted for the Emerge Theatre Award (2019), both in the UK, and is currently in the stage of pre-production.

 

Ivan has been a commissioned artist of the Konvent Zero Artist Residency (2020), Cal Gras Artist Residency (2020), Helen Mitchell’s Foundation (Ireland, 2019), Tsung-Yeh Arts & Cultural Center (Tainan, 2018), and Can Serrat Artist Residency (Barcelona, 2017). 

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Ivan Andrade
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Logistics

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You can attend this event physically or online. Please, specify in the registration form.

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The event will take place in Barcelona on the 26th and 27th of November.

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For more information and inquiries, email us at clara@theamateurscompany.com.

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This workshop is organized by The Amateurs Company with the support of OSIC (Catalonian Office for the Support of Cultural Entrepreneurship).

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In depth

This event will introduce new research in the fields of embodiment, fear, and creativity: The Conscious Body Project.

 

TCB is a new methodology that aims at providing practical knowledge about the phenomena of flow and creativity as an embodied state of perception that we can engage only if we agree to not know what is going to happen. For that reason, it is essential to understand a new, different approach to our natural bodily response in front of uncertainty. 

 

Fear is a natural flow of energy that arouses in the body every time we are confronted with a new, challenging situation that demands the best of us (such as the act of creation). Acknowledging and allowing this somatic experience will allow us to turn this powerful somatic response into our source of energy and drive. 

 

To achieve that, a deep and conscious exploration of our somatic body is essential. Developing further our bodily attention will help us find a silent and conscious body that is flexible, present, alive, full of energy, and ready to embrace the free flow of fear. This enhanced state of perception will come with unrestricted access to the full extent of our ideas, insights, emotions... the truth within ourselves: the raw and precious materials of our creations. 

 

This work was originally developed with the commitment of professional performers who wanted to transcend the aesthetics of a specific technique and find paths into a work that is new, uncanny, and creative each time. Today, participants from different backgrounds interested in understanding the potential of our body for self-healing or the importance of creativity for self-development are most welcome. 

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