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Theatre Academy for Children Under the patronage of the President of the German Bundestag, Dr. Norbert Lammert

When the Theatre Academy for Children was founded in 2005, nobody could yet guess how much resonance and enthusiasm this school of the senses and imagination would trigger. You only need to have experienced the artist-professors of the first academy class close up just once, to have seen the way children are infected by their passions. The discussion is of highly effective exceptional teaching that communicates itself in front of a class or a group of students in the form of a desire to devote oneself to something with dedication, with body and soul. Having completed research into basics, this year’s lectures and workshops centre on pairs and constellations. Dialogue is the nucleus of artistic processes in theatre. What would a conductor be without his orchestra, a choreographer without his dancers or a doll without its puppeteer?

Lectures for the 2nd term

20.08. Solo & Soul / Come cosmonaut and dance with me! The opening lecture will be held by Berlin choreographer Sasha Waltz. She is patron of the tanzZeit project, promoting dance in schools. In her dance works she seeks a dialogue with other arts, with architecture, music and visual arts. That said, she always keeps a keen eye focussed on reality. But, and this is part of her style, she doesn't let it show. It is as though the effortlessness which surrounds her has simply swallowed all earnestness.

27.08. Dream & Machine / When the peaks of our sky come together, myhouse will have a roof – the beginning of a poem by the French poet Paul Eluard. Today the skies open up beneath the roof of the machine hall! Is it true or a dream? Is it Heinrich's hell, Gretchen's chamber or the hut in which the poodle lives? An unusual investigation of locations.

03.09. Mischief & Object / The pact with the things. A telephone on the stage is not just a telephone. It raises many questions. Does the actor who answers the telephone like it? Does it match his part? Is it of the right period? The task of a properties manager doesn't consist of just filling a room with everyday objects but of making the things speak. On the stage, something chosen carefully in the supermarket or well found at a flea market suddenly starts to lead its own life. One could in fact say that a properties manager a director of objects. He directs the life of the filled glasses, secret love letters, photographing mobile telephones and false pistols.

10.09. Opera & Orchestra / I hear with my little ear, something you can't see. German opera audiences are young but nonetheless highly educated! Not the least of those we have to thank for this is the conductor, explainer of music and youth education guru Gerd Albrecht. At the Theatre Academyhe will be showing film scenes which play in the orchestra pit. That is the space between the first row and the stage, where only conductors, musicians and mice are allowed. And you can find out why the baroque period is also sometimes called the age of basso continuo.

17.09. Storm & Battle / You are heroes Figaro's Wedding, The Flying Dutchman, Shakespeare's Tempest – dancing, flying, storming onto the stage all need o be learned. Great world theatre starts out on quiet soles. We are instigating an adventurous and heroic journey. Perhaps you will meet a few enemies! Unforeseen events and battles are not quite ruled out. Barefoot meetings, a hidden secret and darkness in broad daylight are inclusive! And, taking off is definitely permitted!

24.09. Diva & Thrush / A larynx with character Whether Mozart or Madonna – she doesn't shy away from anything. At the Theatre Academyshe will be singing a song by the American George Crumb, one of the most fascinating composers of our time. In it the tone is set by a thrush. What that actually sounds like from the mouth of a singer who on other days is feted in New York or Salzburgas Papagena or as Lulu, is something you shouldn't miss.

01.10. Puppet & Player / Open and shut Have you ever wondered what actually happens to the life played out in a puppet box when the lid is shut? Miss Piggy, the Swedish Chef, Bernd the bread, Hase Cäsar, all the Muppets, puppets and Fraggles – what do they actually do once the show is over and the lights go out? Have you ever noticed that puppeteers have muscles like Superman? Why are they always bathed in sweat at the end of the performance? How does a puppet with a mouth that opens work? And who writes the gags and stories for the puppets?

Maschinenhaus Zeche Carl, Essen
on Sundays at 11.00 am

A RuhrTriennale programme.

 

A RuhrTriennale programme