Summer School

[Daniel Meyer Dinkgrafe]

Apologies for cross-posting.

Please circulate among colleagues and students

Development of Consciousness through Performance

A Multicultural Summer School

August 1-12, 2000

Aberystwyth, Wales

The summer school forms part of a research project funded by the Arts and
Humanities Research Board. The aim of the research project is to establish
the impact of different approaches to performer training on the development
of the performer's consciousness, both for the abilities of the performer
in performance, and beyond, in daily life. For this reason, two different
workshops will be conducted at the same time, led by renowned practitioners
representing different approaches to performer training, John Martin of Pan
Project, London, and Smt. Hema Rajaram, Bharata Natyam dancer and
choreographer. See biographical sketches below. The two workshops will have
eleven participants each. Dr. Liz Valentine, a reader in psychology from
Royal Holloway, University of London, will test the impact of the workshops
on the development of consciousness.

This laboratory framework of the workshops has several implications: On the
basis of the applications, applicants will be allocated to one of the two
workshops on offer with the aim of creating two groups that are as
comparable as possible regarding the participants' characteristics. In
other words, we will aim at an even distribution of age, gender, ethnic
origin and level of previous training. At the beginning of the Summer
School,  at certain times during the workshops, and at their end, some
testing will be taking place, and follow-up testing is scheduled six months
after the Summer School. At certain times during the workshops, and always
in co-ordination with the two workshop leaders, Dr. Valentine, or her
research assistant, Charlotte Haimerl, or the overall project leader, Dr.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, may sit in on, and observe individual training
sessions.

The Summer School begins in the afternoon of Tuesday 1 August 2000, and
ends after lunch on Saturday 12 August 2000. Participants are expected to
make their own travel arrangements. Aberystwyth is serviced by a 2-hourly
connection to and from Birmingham. Accommodation will be on the campus of
the University of Wales Aberystwyth, in single bedrooms and shared
facilities. Breakfast will be served in the main university restaurant, a
few minutes walk from the accommodation. For lunch and dinner, a local
company will provide catering just for our Summer School, with high
quality, organically grown, vegetarian food.

The project is funded in part by the Arts and Humanities Research Board,
with a small contribution from the University of Wales Aberystwyth Research
Fund. We are therefore able to offer the Summer School  on a non-profit,
costs only basis, covering room and board for £ 265!

The University of Wales Aberystwyth has approved the Summer School as a
10-credit module.

The Workshop Leaders

John Martin is artistic director of Pan Project, London's leading
intercultural performance company. From a background of Lecoq, Grotowski
and LaMama, he has written and directed performances throughout Europe and,
in recent years, has collaborated widely with Indian companies and
performers. He has also initiated a number of courses on non-western
theatre in British universities.

Smt. Hema Rajaram is a graduate in Botany, Zoology and Chemistry, Hema
Rajaram started learning classical music in the Indian Carnatic style and
Bharata Natyam at the age of four. She made her stage debut at the age of
five, and gave her Arangetram (first solo dance performance) at the age of
ten. She also enjoyed training in Veena. She has enjoyed an extensive
career as performer and choreographer in Bharata Natyam, and performer in
Veena.   Since 1981 she has been teaching Carnatic music and Bharata Natyam
in Gaborone, Botswana. In addition, she has an extensive record of
meditation (Buddhist Vipasana, and Shri Shri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living..


How to apply

Please provide the following information:
·       Full name, mailing address, telephone, fax, email;
·       Age;
·       Ethnic background;
·       Performance training;
·       Professional performance activity;
·       Any previous workshops / summer schools you may have attended.

and send this information by email/mail/fax to

Dr. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe. Department of Theatre, Film and Television
Studies. University of Wales Aberystwyth. Parry Williams Building, Penglais
Campus, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3AH. Telephone: 01970 622828; Fax:
01970 622831 OR 01974 298178; email: dam at aber.ac.uk

Deadline for applications is Friday June 23, 2000