Theatre workshops galore at Hifa

Zimbabwe being staged at the Harare International Festival of the
Arts 2011 are a rare exposure to different types of theatre writing, acting and directing – an exhibition of a diverse theatre arts skills, the festival has put on a programme of theatre skills workshops which should be of tremendous interest to theatre practitioners, young and old.
Appearing under the Hifa Sector Engagements is an exciting line-up of 10 performing arts skills workshops,the majority of which are theatre conducted by local and international performing arts educators.
Entrance to six of the performing arts workshops is free of charge to holders of general admission tickets while the other two are by invitation only.
Four of the workshops require an entrance fee even to those who hold the general admission ticket.
The first workshop, which is tomorrow at the National Gallery, is a vocal workshop to be conducted by Alenka Ponjavic.
The workshop aims at raising awareness of the power and quality of one’s voice; improving confidence in public speaking through singing and how to attain vocal energy and focus.
Another workshop in the area of singing is a choral workshop by renowned Finnish conductor Marjukka Riihimaki of the Philomela Choir. This is a two-day workshop with local singers who will attend by special invitation.
Also to be offered in the music category is a workshop “Drums of Peace”, where participants will be involved in “creating sounds that will resonate through the festival, demonstrating the wonderful spirit of Zimbabwean people”.
The workshop, which will be conducted by a group of Zimbabwean drummers, will be held at the Global Quarter on Sunday and will be accessed free of charge by those with general admission tickets.
In the theatre arts category, Giles Ramsay – a British theatre writer and director and founder of Developing Artistes – will conduct two skills workshops.
The first of these workshops which are for theatre practitioners older than 17 years is “Writing for Actors”.
The workshop, which will be accessed free of charge, will be held in Studio 4 today.
On the programme notes the workshop facilitator states: “Writers sometimes forget they are actually writing words that actors have to convincingly say and instead write for themselves.”
The second workshop by Giles Ramsay will be on directing – “Staging for an Audience”.
The workshop will be held in Studio 4 tomorrow. In the workshop programme notes the facilitator states: “Directors forget that their job is to constantly engage audiences through theatrical performances and to communicate clearly.”
The German Comedy Troupe, Familie Floz, will tomorrow conduct a workshop – “Playing with Masks.” The workshop, which requires an entrance fee, will be in Studio 4.
Familie Floz introduces the workshop with a series of questions: “What do I do? I put on a mask – and then what? What can I do to give life to this rigid contraption?
“How can I make the mask act so the illusion is created that my mask and me are fused into a single character.”
Another theatre workshop – “Laugh Your Head Off”, which will be limited to adults only and accessed free of charge, will be held on Sunday in Studio 4.
The workshop, which looks at laughter as exercise, will be held as part of the celebrations to mark World Laughter Day.
As part of the workshops and skills development opportunities programme, Jump Theatre will launch a book, “How to Make a Play” by Kevin Hansen.
Introductory notes to this special event which will be accessed free of charge at the National Gallery Upstairs Space on Saturday state: “Theatre is about telling stories and it takes more than just actors to do that.
“There is a whole team of people needed to make a show a real success. Jump Theatre explains these many roles and processes.
“Hansen has distilled the last 20 years of his theatrical experience into a book that guides the reader through the many varied and wonderful layers of putting together a brilliant play.”
Two workshops are scheduled in the area of dance. The first workshop is where visiting dance companies will host dance professionals in dance workshops conducted by visiting choreographers.
The second dance workshop under the banner “Zumba Dance” will introduce participants to samba, tango, salsa, reggeton, merage and cumbia dances.
The workshop is open to to all ages at a fee and will be held in Studio 4 on Saturday and Sunday.
Theatre Irrwish – a street theatre company
from Austria will be presenting “Mudjumping” – a show exhibiting a wide diversity of performing arts skills.
The company, whose programmes is said to have become a “classic performance at street and city festivals in Europe”, is a small group of performing artistes whose acrobatics have “become poetry as the performers interact with the audience and tell their story”.
The company puts up two shows each day in Global Quarter Platform which is accessed free of charge to those holding general admission tickets.
Running parallel to workshops and performances are networking and dialogue programmes for arts professionals.
These include “Networking Session for Cultural Sector Motivators”, which is scheduled for tomorrow in Studio 4.
This session offers a platform for arts professionals, festival directors, cultural policymakers and funders to dialogue.
Another these programmes is “Harare Conversations”, which is scheduling a series of structured conversations between visiting visual artistes and curators.
The Danish Centre for Cultural Development, Pamberi Trust, African Synergy (South Africa) and Kaay Fecc (Senegal) will host 16 festival directors at the launch of African Music Festivals NETWORK.
The festival directors are from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Swaziland , Tanzania, Kenya, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Entrance to the meeting is by invitation only.
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