Subjects

Acting

Stage Research I and II. The experience of performing on stage. To observe. The theatrical text as a vehicle of communication. Text analysis. Acting through practice on stage. Studying and correcting the rhythm on stage.

Stage Research III. The actor maker. Personal theatre projects from different perspectives. Artistic proposals for acting. Creative practice.

Acting I, II and III. Analysis of the character. Practice on stage. The staging and its interaction with the actor’s practice. Practical work with classic texts. The contemporary character.

Method. Reproaching the Stanislavsky Method. Actor’s training. Sensorial and emotional memory. Improvisation. Improvisation based on a text.

Improvisation Match I and II. Practical work: Improvisation skills (Georges Laferriere. Canadá). The scenic space as the actor’s working space.

Objectives:

  • Using match technic to work with characters.
  • Time and space awareness.
  • Improving self confidence and trust with others. Scenic balance
  • Working with objects.
  • Analysis and evaluation of improvisation.

Clown. Working with different acting methods as clown. Theatrical and pedagogical improvisation. . Discovering the world through this particular character.

The staging practice. Text or set design based practical work on acting. The work of an actor/actress. The experience of the theatrical production.

4ºcurso: Professional production Teachers: Different directors, stenographers and assistants. This last year is focused on the process of making a show that will be premiered around March within the course. Usually, the show is premiered at the Barakaldo Theatre. Those shows have been also programmed in other spaces such as UPV, Cultural Arts Centers around the Basque Country and Spain, as well as in Kosovo, Cracow, Amsterdam and other European cities within the frame of collaboration BAI has with different European entities.

It is the aim of this practice, that actors in training, work with a character put it in practice and experience the adaptation process of the show to the different venues, different stages and audiences. All of this makes the experience unforgettable, very creative and a high standard training experience.

Body and voice area.

Voice I, II and III & Voice I y II. Body and voice are the main tools for the actor’s work. The investigation and development of their own possibilities of expression is a key element in their work. The tight relationship between body and voice will be explored as the base for the creative process of an actor.

 Research on the dynamics of the body

  • Physical and vocal presence of the actor on stage  
  • Body and voice relationship
  • Rhythm, movement and voice
  • The spine as support for the voice
  • Resonant spaces
  • Acting based on text
  • Acting based on songs
  • The actor in the scenic space: working with objects and structures

Dance and movement (I, II, III). The main objective is that the future actors can use their own dance skills and find their personal movement language. This will be explored through ongoing contemporary dance classes, through basic technic skills, improvisation and creation…Bringing attention to the breathing, relaxation, awareness of the weight of the body, time and space, we will deepen in the movement language. Technical classes (1st 4 months) and improvisation and devising (2nd four months) will be combined along the course, to find and develop a personal movement language.

Acting training

  • Physical training of the actor related to voice, movement, acting and warming up.
  • Introductory period: to check and reestablished the general physical shape of the students.
  • Basic period: Improvement and perfection of the personal learning skills as well as knowing one’s own physical abilities.
  • Preparatory period of control: the physical work is combined with showing of theatrical pieces.
  • Acting period: preparing the students for the showings (similar work to that one they will have to do in professional productions)

Acrobatics. Development of different sensations, senses, coordination and necessary movements, so the actor can perform a variety of acrobatics and equilibriums on stage.

  • Stretching and warm up exercises.
  • Awareness of one’s own body attitudes and center of gravity.
  • Individual acrobatics and equilibriums, in couples and in bigger groups.
  • Use of objects in acrobatic exercises.
  • Performance of exercises in scenic contexts.

Fencing

  • Working scenic balance.
  • Physical training
  • Listening and coordination
  • Practice on stage

Area of theory

Creative writing / Dramaturgy. Most of the theatre pieces are based on a written text. Theatre features this double nature: performance and literary genre. It is a hybrid genre, half way between the stage and the written page, what endows it with very unique characteristics.  This is why Alfonso Sastre refers to it as “parlatura”- a crossing between spoken word and literature. In these subjects, we approach the dramatic text and we do it, in one hand, through reading and analyzing texts, observing the resources, the tools, the ingredients used by the dramaturges. On the other hand we also approach the text from creativity itself, this is, writing, putting into practice, as if it were a game, the learning we extract from the consequent reading and theory. Of course, we will put attention to that essential jump, that alchemy, which transforms words in paper into images on the stage

Theatre History. Origins of theatre; Greece and Rome; Medieval theatre; Renaissance theatre; Elizabethan Theatre;  New Spanish Comedy; French Classical Theatre; Restoration; Neoclassicism; Romanticism.

Performance theory of the 20th Century. A survey through the last century’s major events; Influences, movements and avant-gardes in the Performing Arts.  Main directors and theories of the 20th century.