We live in our body every day, but don’t often think of it as being a vehicle for creativity and storytelling, but a new physical theatre program hopes to change perceptions.
Organised by Flying Fruit Fly Circus drama teacher, Kyle Walmsley, the sessions offer a fun and creative way to increase fitness.
Physical theatre for mind, body and soul is just one of a handful of new programs being offered by the circus to engage the community.
“People may have walked past the building, or come to a couple of shows, so this is a great way for people to engage more with us and find out more about what we do here at Fruities,” Kyle said.
Kyle said the class requires no special equipment. People just need to bring their bodies along and be prepared to be open to working with other people in small and large groups, play games and do exercises that aim to create character, and scene and story.
“It doesn’t involve sitting in an art class, or taking a dance class or sitting at a desk and writing a book which are all excellent things to do, but can sometimes be a bit intimidating for the average person,” Kyle said.
“You might not even have a fitness routine, so this is an excellent way of staying active and increasing fitness, as well as bringing more creativity into your life while meeting new people and having fun.”
Kyle said he was introduced to the form when he did some training with the Brisbane physical theatre company, OzFrank.
“They practised the form devised by Japanese theatre director, Tadashi Suzuki, where the actor concentrates on the body and especially the feet and stomping, but that’s just one form.
“I also found when I worked in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory that it works well inter-culturally, across language barriers; many of these kids had English as their second, third or even fourth language and so using strategies that were visual and physical just opened up so many possibilities for communication,” he said.
Kyle said people don’t think about how, through their movement, people perform every day.
“Each of us has our own living story and what we will be able to do is to hold a magnifying glass to those movements and just play and test and experiment. This also enables me to incorporate my love of clowning which I furthered through study with Phillipe Gaulier at the E’cole Phillipe Gaulier in Paris in 2016.
“It’s also about freeing ourselves.
We get stuck in a routine of 9-5 work, or getting to the end of the year and saying ‘I wish I had more time to take for myself or to practise more creativity, or meet new people – this is a really easy way on a weekly basis to get out of your head really – to leave your work behind, to have an hour solely dedicated to yourself and the space and the room you are in,” Kyle said.
Kyle said sometimes people are a little unsure, but very quickly surprise themselves and bring a lot of liberation to their work.
“They feel charged when they return to their routine for the rest of the week having lived these bizarre little melting pots of experience in this class or classes like this.”
Details:
Term 1 begins Monday 5 February 6.30pm – 7.30pm. Full details and enrolment, including casual visits 02 6043 0777 or email [email protected]
