Paper Meditation Workshops in Cape Town

Workshops created especially for performers, teachers, therapists, business people, health workers and communicators from every walk of life…

In our everyday environment, surrounded by objects, we forget their primitive magical functions. We are often not able to gain a deeper insight into the world of matter, nor appreciate its inherent beauty. In the same way, we are often not able to find the beauty and magic inside ourselves.

These workshops are for everyone searching for their lost childhood creativity. The methods of work will help discover freedom, joy and spontaneity using individual and group creative processes. This introduction into the world of paper and objects is aimed at all those who feel that they have unrealized creative potential, having barriers obstructing their creative journey.

What is the process of this type of animation?
This is breathing life into objects, which we thought were without life. It is like the taming of matter – like putting new significance into it. One doesn’t have to be a puppeteer to be able to “give life” to objects! To have a real meeting with the objects, we need silence, deep interior listening to ourselves and the matter and we don’t need any special skills.
What is the language of object motion?

In the exercises, we start with the sense of touch - in feeling the object and the space surrounding it and demonstrating the meaning of “thinking with hands”. The participants of the workshop will learn to extract the rhythm, energy and breath from the object; discovering its structure, sound and motion.

Paper Meditation
The discovery of the brown paper and its movement potential. Paper is a mystery – it’s a medium which we can shape freely, without restriction and it can contain everything. Individual work in the darkness that gives individual intimacy, will develop into group work creating short theatrical pieces animating the brown paper.

Theatre of Objects
The discovery of animation possibilities using everyday, unusual and recycled objects will be used to create short scenarios. The poetry of object theatre is the poetry of the metaphor: where all characters are performed by the object.

Exercises with Animation (manipulation)
Together we will learn the secrets of animation and manipulation in a theatrical context. Together with the techniques that were explored before: theatre of paper and the theatre of objects – the aim of the work will be to create longer pieces of theatre using the other elements of theatre magic – lights, sound, voice and breath work.

The first workshop in Cape Town take place on Sunday 26 February at the SA Jewish Museum. For bookings contact Natacha on telephone : 021- 465 1546 and the second workshop will take place in association with the Bonfire Theatre Company at the Distix Cafe in District Six (Cape Town) on Sunday 12 March. For more information, contact Lesley on 082-828.5917