“STORY IN MOVEMENT AND RHYTHM” for students and adults!

TARGET GROUP: High school students and teachers.
HOSTED: As an independent event. Will also be relevant in subjects that deal with
creativity, music or movement.
DURATION: 1.5 h -2.5 h
LOCATION AND REQUIREMENTS: Classroom or auditorium with an option to arrange an open space.
GROUP FEE: 200-300€ depending on the duration (fuel cost will be added to events outside of Tallinn).
CLARIFICATION: It would be beneficial if the participants had knowledge of P. Mérimée’s Carmen. Ideally, they would have read the novella or seen the play Carmen: Unpublished Letters. However, it’s not mandatory to take part in the workshop. We’ll bring some percussion instruments but it would be excellent if the location would provide them.

CONTENTS: The main aim of the workshop is to offer the participants the experience of finding and telling a story through movement. Although the basis for creating the workshop was the play Carmen: Unpublished Letters but it’s possible to participate successfully without seeing the play. The book Carmen is recommended reading for students. In creating the play we utilised dances (flamenco, modern), percussion and guitar music as well as texts. Rhythmics play a big part in the play as well. Each dance has its own rhythm. Each story has its own rhythm. The rhythm will start from the rhythm of your heartbeats. We all breathe and create stories every day. Some of them are meant to be shared with the world. Which will ensure that we create dances and plays. The coordinators of the workshop are Tanel Ruben, the drummer and Mari-Liis Velberg, the director/choreographer/dancer. They tell the story of creating Carmen: Unpublished Letters and explain how they’ve incorporated rhythm into the story. As this is a theatrical workshop, the meeting will begin with a performance of one of the dances in the play. The coordinators will include the participants in trying out various rhythms, share experiences of the kind of thoughts, feelings and stories can be communicated with dance or movement. We’ll try our various rhythmics exercises and figure out what can be expressed with tempo and what with rhythm.
The participants will be included in trying out some of the simpler movement exercises and they’ll tell stories via the movements. The workshop is an excellent opportunity to get up and express yourself in an active and creative way with your friends. Key words to describe the workshop: rhythm, movement, stories. It’s a great opportunity to find new ways to express your thoughts and tell stories.
The workshop Story in Movement and Rhythm gives ample opportunity for follow-up courses: history and basics of Flamenco; dive into the world of rhythmics (tempo, pulse, beats, bar etc); dive into the play Carmen: Unpublished Letters (focus could be on the characters or themes in the novella Carmen); or even try yourself out in a dance-oriented improvisation class.
Workshop can be used in correlation with curriculum topics such as: cultural identity, health and safety, values and morals.
COORDINATORS: Mari-Liis Velberg is the Leader of Educational Activities at VAT Theatre, a freelance choreographer and dancer. For years, she has been active in social work and been a sponsor for young children, while at the same time coordinated several projects for VAT Theatre Forum Group all over Estonia for students as well as adults. Her main aim has been initiating creative methods to activate and bring into effect change in society. A few examples include participating in the forum theatre scenes in a show Rusikas (2000) on Estonian Television channel and being a part of the Interactive Theatre as Informal Education (2004) project. She has also organised projects such as Youth Against Violence! (2004-2005), Freedom of Choice and Alternative Choice – Forum Theatre’s ID! (2004-2007) to prevent school violence. Alongside Piret Soosaar she has taught at the University of Tallinn and Viljandi Culture Academy. During 2012-2016 she studied choreography at Tallinn University. In addition to all that, she has studied flamenco and gypsy dance under Lehti Kostabi.
Tanel Ruben is a freelance musician and a docent at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Additionally, he teaches rhythmics and percussion at Viljandi Culture Academy. He has experience in teaching since 1999. Plays and projects he has participated in as a musician in the last five years: Unified Estonia Assembly (NO99, 2010), The Black Rider (VAT Theatre, 2011), Nisa (VAT Theatre 2011-2013) and Carmen: Unpublished Letters (VAT Theatre, 2016). He has recorded more than 50 CDs, produced and published 5 CDs and created over 120 pieces of music. He has worked as a program manager for Estonian Jazz Union (2006-2017) and as a chairman of the board from 2009-2014. See more at www.tanelruben.com

Tanel Ruben has commented: The workshop will encourage youngsters to create any kinds of stories and stage productions by using text, movement or just rhythm.

Mari-Liis Velberg has said: Dance and theatre are amazingly freeing ways of expressing yourself. The workshop will offer just a small and simple yet gripping experience of movement and rhythm. We’ll introduce participants to flamenco. And the follow-up workshops will give you the opportinity to really delve into certain topics.
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More information about workshops and educational activities:
Mari-Liis Velberg
Leader of Educational Activities / mariliis@vatteater.ee

STUDENT FEEDBACK AFTER THE WORKSHOP

IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ABOUT WORKSHOPS (conditions, contents, recommendations from instructors)
SUPPORTIVE QUESTIONNAIRE that can be implemented after seeing any play