A workshop to catalyze your next creative breakthrough & explode into a space of free flowing ideas and expanded vision!Our Short Workshops (Three hours to two-days)From April to June 2010, Brain Gym® specialist, and Occupational Therapist, Sharon Gelber will once again join forces with master-puppeteer, Gary Friedman, in an international workshop tour of creative performance and play for high schools, universities and the creative public throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East.
In each of the following workshops, Brain Gym® exercises will activate the brain and senses to prime the body for creative processing:1. A World of Paper WorkshopThe workshop takes a practical hands-on and experiential format, where participants express themselves and communicate through the medium of paper. The students are provided with themes to develop improvisational performance pieces in-which the paper becomes the co-performer. We cater for student, adult and corporate groups.
In a full-day workshop, participants have the opportunity to tell stories from their own life experiences which then get 'played-back' to them by their fellow performers using the paper characters. This is based on the genre of "playback theatre".2. Object Improvisation WorkshopThe participants work in groups to explore the hidden possibilities of every day objects. Different suggested themes and topics allow the objects to be brought to life, as they become ‘living - breathing’ characters on the stage.3. Hand and Ball Exercises – Basic Puppet ManipulationThe naked hand forms the basis of the puppet. This soon becomes a basic hand or glove puppet, when a plain white ball is added. The hand and ball exercises are later developed into short scenarios and performed by the participants, both individually, then in groups.
For dates, schedules and more information, stay posted or send us an email here!
Our final one-day 'World of Paper' Workshop will be held in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs on Sunday 2 December. This is a final opportunity this year for Australian participants to experience a unique hands-on experience with Brain Gym Instructor, Sharon Gelber and Master Puppeteer, Gary Friedman, featuring a combination of storytelling, puppetry, object theatre and healing techniques all combined into an intense day of creativity! This workshop has been conducted throughout South Africa, Europe and Canada this year.
You can see a short ad for the workshop here or view a two-minute piece here!If you'd like more information or make a booking, contact me here!
Just launched are our 2007 World of Paper Workshop tour videos. These short pieces encompassing workshops for both Corporate and High Schools took place throughout Europe and Canada. Our workshops combine storytelling, performance with paper and creativity skills. This year I was joined by occupational therapist, Sharon Gelber to bring sustainable science into the mix - leaving participants with specific tools and techniques that are being used in both the classroom and corporate environment, in keeping participants focussed, organised, de-stressed and in a most creative space.
You can watch these short films now (Corporate Promo and film and High School Promo and film) in the new video player on the right of this website. Enjoy!
We are now available for Australian bookings - both Corporate, as well as High School and Universities and international bookings for 2008. If you are interested in organising one of these workshops, or only in more information, you can contact me here!
Our few days in Vancouver ended today with a wonderfully creative Paper Playback Workshop at Steveston Village. The workshop was attended by a group of local artists, puppeteers, educators, singers, directors - an all-round creative group. One of our participants is involved with Joseph Wu, a local Origami Artist who is producing a new theatre production for 2008, The History of Paper. Tomorrow we travel to Seattle for two days of meetings and discovery, before we hit Chicago on Wednesday. Stay tuned!
We are running a special one-day Paper Playback Workshop
in
Van-
couver
on Saturday 16 June. The workshop is open to artists, teachers, therapists, puppeteers, executives and anyone wanting to become more creative. It will take the same format as our recent workshops throughout Europe and will encompass Brain Gym, Paper Meditation and Paper Playback - you can see a short promo here! There are still a few places available! If you are interested, email Daryl here as soon as possible, who will give you all the information!
Imagine an Arts Centre in compassing every art - plastic, visual and performance and combine this with leadership, scientific and aboriginal cultures and what you have is The Banff Centre, here in the Canadian Rockies. It's something we've really only been exposed to this weekend and all of this surrounded by the most extraordinary nature and snow covered mountains on all sides. Our Paper Playback Workshop yesterday was attended by some of the Banff creative leadership and was a powerful experience for all of us, sharing ideas and play together. Last night we attended a Community Leadership debate on whether “communityship” can replace traditional leadership at the local level. And the result of a refreshing and stimulating dialogue, so open and yet so rare in the greater artistic world. This example which we discovered this weekend, truly shows communityship and dedication to the arts globally. Today we leave back to Calgary and up to Lake Louise. The trek west has begun!
We arrived in London on Monday in time to begin an intensive two-days of workshops at the Central School of Speech and Drama. We worked with two groups, each one on Tuesday and Wednesday. The groups were made up of the puppetry students and the drama therapy students and the quality of both groups' work was really impressive. In two days, we did both Paper Meditation and Paper Playback and the final performances made very powerful theatre pieces out of their personal stories. Tomorrow we fly to Montreal!
Another innovative Paper Playback Theatre workshop took place in Prague today. After the usual Brain Gym, warm ups, Paper Meditation, we moved right into stories which members of each group shared with the workshop held at the International School of Prague. Some of the stories told by the participants today, reflected personal incidents from their lives - included being invited by their peers to partake in smoking drugs, drinking at a party and a close escapade with drowning at the beach. These become very powerful theatrical pieces, when played back by their peers using the paper puppets they create during the workshop.
Here we are in the Czech Republic once again! There's nothing like a beautiful spring day in Prague to welcome you to this unique city, in which UNIMA, (our international puppetry organisation) was formed in 1929. We arrived on the train from Vienna to be warmly received by the International School of Prague where we have a workshop on this worker's holiday. We strolled over the famous Charles Bridge into the old town with all its puppet shops, containing carved traditional Czech marionettes. This country is steeped in puppetry tradition, with famous Czech puppets, Speibel and Hurvinek seen everywhere.
It is a rare treat where you can travel anywhere in a country and still see the most extraordinary nature throughout. Slovenia is such a country. A very well kept secret! Slovenia is a coastal Alpine country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy on the west, the Adriatic Sea on the southwest, Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on the northeast, and Austria on the north.
Yesterday late afternoon our workshop coordinator, Stanko Blatnik (in the pic with me below) took us for a walk to the lake, 
just a few minutes outside Velenje. The town was developed from an old coal mine, during former Yugoslavian times. Stanko has an institute for creativity in Velenje, Humanopolis and we are discussing the possibility to extend our work throughout Slovenia in the future. From here we travel up to Vienna to start workshops at the Vienna International School on Thursday. Stay tuned for more!
Our first Slovenian workshop on Monday morning was an extremely creative experience at a local secondary school, where the students created wonderful scenarios with paper, performing for their peers. In the afternoon, Sharon Gelber ran a workshop for pre-school teachers, where she trained them in Brain Gym and sensory motor techniques to enhance learning both in the classroom and at home. Today we ran more workshops at a local high school and the standard of creativity here is extremely impressive!
Last night we travelled by train from Vienna to Celje, the third largest town in Slovenia. We were met by our Slovenian workshop organiser, Stanko Blatnik and taken to Velenje where we are staying and starting our puppetry workshops tomorrow. Today we explored the Alpine beauty of Slovenia and visited Solcava, which reminded me so much of Switzerland with its snow peaked mountain ranges, quaint villages and luscious forests and pastures everywhere.
While still in Jerusalem, we recently conducted a short creativity workshop for a group of Russian Immigrants. Our friends, Elena and Sergei Makarova are working with these students to nurture their creativity, poetry and theatre skills. We also accompanied another of her groups to visit Beit Terezin, the museum on Kibbutz Givat Chayim, dedicated to the Ghetto of Terezin. These students are currently producing the puppet play, 'Looking for a Monster', as their project - the same play I discovered and have been working on since 1999. You can view some of the photos here and here, published on a Russian website from these events!
Yesterday we arrived in London after a five hour flight from Tel Aviv, with delays both on the runway on arrival at Heathrow and once again retrieving our baggage. Then the taxi driver tried to intimidate us into paying double for the long hold-up by BA!
But things do get better. Today we did two great workshops at Depford Green School. Working with a group of year 9 to 11 students with Brain Gym and Paper Meditation workshops, we discovered some passionate paper performances from the students. Tomorrow we are off to Slovenia, via Vienna for more workshops.
