Auditions for Karl Frost/BODY RESEARCH Davis Lab

Saturday November 21

10AM – 1PM audition workshop

1PM-3PM interviews/conversations

at Hicky Gym 185

The Lab will be an ongoing project for the winter and spring quarters.  There will be a number of possible performances coming out of the lab, including..

• Davis Spring Concert
• Axolotl … an interactive performance work in which the audience is blindfolded for 2 hours (integrated with performers from San Francisco) www.bodyresearch.org/axolotl

The work will be process oriented, emerging out of the ongoing research of Body Research Physical Theater. We will be exploring themes from

• Contact Improvisation

• Release Technique (Alexander technique, Klein technique, principles from Tai Chi, my own release-based contact work)

• Paratheatrical work (Growtowski)

• Image-based dance theater

• States-based performance

• Somatic Psychology (Arne Mindel, Peter Levine, Authentic Movement)

• Audience Interactive Performance work

The work will be a mix of purely physical/kinesthetic and more psychological

I’m looking for 6 to 12 people comfortable with movement and physical interaction who are excited about working creatively with the body and with exploring the psyche through paratheatrical work.  Strong interest in contact improvisation-based work is necessary, high starting skill not necessary, i feel someone can be taught quickly.  I’m mostly looking for people who are personally engaged and  physically available. Rather than one type of person, i'm looking for a group of interesting individuals who I intuitively feel would make for an interesting mix.  Experience with any of the following  is interesting: contact improvisation, dance, theater, martial arts, sports, psychology, yoga, meditation, wilderness backpacking…

Rehearsal commitments will be …

· Weekly Rehearsals – twice a week for 3 hours each

· Weekly Contact Improvisation class -once a week in the winter and twice a week in the spring

· Monthly Weekend rehearsals – these will be integrated with another project with performers from San Francisco

Units – you should be able to get 4 – 6 units a quarter for participation (rehearsal/production credit plus the CI class)

more details below...

My dance theater company, Body Research, does a wide variety of work ranging from pure movement to dance theater based in theories and practices from somatic psychology, from works for the stage to interactive performance work. I’m here for the next two years as a Choreography MFA student with side study in Human Ecology and will be pursuing research around dance, para-theatrical work, and somatic psychology.

More details on the work to be explored in the lab...

Contact Improvisation – exploration of bodies moving through contact primarily focused on the physics of bodies in motion… like a mix of tai chi and circus acrobatics. For info, go to www.bodyresearch.org/contactimprovisation

Image-based dance theater -- using tools of dance and theater to create kinesthetically and/or emotionally provocative image

States based performance – using specific mind-body focuses to generate unique qualities of motion, presence, intention, image

Somatic psychology – explorations of the human mind, emotions, memory and patterns of relationship as they exist in and manifest through the body. We will particulary source from Arne Mindel’s Dreambody work and Peter Levine’s trauma theory as well as Authentic Movement, Hakomi, martial arts, Alexander Technique

Paratheatrical work – inspired by the midcareer and later works of Jerzy Growtowski, we look at theater practices as tools of personal exploration and at theater work as an act of stripping away surface layers to reveal internal dynamics as opposed to an act of “putting on” a character.

Interactive Performance – frameworks for different levels of audience/performer interaction, where audience members are not just receptive consumers and processors of performance work, but where their actions actually help create the flow of the event. For some examples of recent Body Research Interactive performances, go to Axolotl and Proximity . In addition to the spring concert, i will also be working on a Bay Area production of Axolotl, and the Davis Lab will be joining for some of these rehearsals and shows (late Spring).

If You can't make the audition... Let me know if you are interested but can’t make the audition. If I feel we still need some more people after the audition, I can give you a call and we can feel out some other option for auditioning. e-mail me at kjfrost (at) ucdavis.edu

Regards

Karl Frost, director of Body Research

PS. I will be leading a backpacking trip in the spring as part of a long standing project of mine called the Dancing Wilderness Project – “an ongoing exploration into the interrelationships amongst body-based creative process, wilderness experience, and how we choose to live our lives.” The trip will be over spring break and will be a mixture of wilderness backpacking and creative movement and para-theatrical laboratory. Attendance of the trip would not be mandatory, but would be free and encouraged for any in the Davis Lab. For info on the dancing wilderness project, goto Dancing Wilderness Project

P2S just because it is what they were made for, here are some reviews of my work...

... fascinating; awkward, tender, and violent movement combined with snippets of dialog and swiftly built-up characters and relationships, creating social and sexual conflicts with an almost unnerving intimacy... utterly compelling. BRETT FETZER, The Stranger (Seattle April 2004) {about Ashes}

... extremely interesting. I highly recommend it.  ANNIE WAGNER, The Stranger (Seattle October 2004) {about Axolotl}

I left the theater shell-shocked. It was easily the oddest, most surprising performance experience I've ever had. And, against all expectations, one of the most rewarding. BRENDAN KILEY, The Stranger (Seattle October 2005) {about  Axolotl}

...something startling and strangely beautiful to behold. MOLLY RHODES, SF Weekly (August 2007) {about Proximity}