 International Festival
THEATRE METHODS 05
Between Tradition and Contemporaneity
Judith Chaffee (USA)
 Judith Chaffee - a teacher, choreographer, performer, the Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Boston University, USA -
will present two workshops during the festival:
1. Exercises from Commedia dell’Arte for Developing Contemporary Characters
A Workshop exploring the physical qualities of stock characters from Traditional Commedia dell’Arte and their relevance to contemporary theatre. Participants will have a brief warm-up, followed by explorations of physical, vocal, and social characteristics of the four main types of stock Commedia dell’Arte: the old men, the lovers, the warriors, and the servants. The explorations include character walks, runs, gestures, stances, and particularities about their relationships with one another, using  exercises of body centers, rhythms, shapes, and gestures. The group will explore physical qualities of current world leaders and social “types”, applying Commedia emphasis and exaggeration for clarification.
2. Centering Exercises for Actors and Dancers
What does it mean to mean to move from your “center”? This will be a workshop on exercises to discover and reinforce moving from one’s physical place of balance and impulse. The warm-up and exercises are from modern dance, Peking Opera  training, T’ai Chi Chuan, Yoga, and Suzuki, all focusing on strengthening and using the pelvis and lower body to support movement and intention.
BIOGRAPHY
Judith Chaffee is a dancer, choreographer, actor and theatre movement specialist, having studied with Wendy Perron,
Mark Morris, Anne Bogart, Ruth Zaporah, Antonio Fava,
Gennadi Bogdanov, Avner Eisenberg, and Bow Sim Mark, among others.
She danced and choreographed with Boston Dance Collective for twenty years, and has returned to acting, her most recent role being Mrs. Barker in Miller's "The American Dream".
As Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Boston University,
and movement coordinator for the Boston University Opera Institute,
she is a specialist in period movement, release work, alignment,
and centering for actors and singers, Commedia dell'Arte, choreography, viewpoints, and contact improvisation.
She has taught in England, Denmark, Korea, Italy, and extensively
in the US.
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