Voice Tale. Speaking Song with Ditte Berkley
Time: 10:30-2:30pm, 8th & 9th Jan
Tickets: Please email dittevoicetale@gmail.com
Every voice has a tale to tell. In fact, the voice has a million tales to tell, depending on the song it’s singing, the experiences it goes through, the person who is listening, the sounds surrounding it, the state I, who am singing, am in.
As an actress I enter into a dialogue with my voice every time I sing a song. I ask: How are we going to sing this today? What about this sound? How does it feel? What does it say? What tale does it tell? The exploration takes me further and brings more questions. This is the work of the performer that wishes to make the song a tool for a very deep exchange of experience between the singer and the listener. The voice is naked, and allows us to share on a level that we are not used to and often feel unsure of. The exploration of its borders and its connections through a deep physical experience, with images, with associations, makes our tools richer for communication and allows for a space of discovery.
The work session focuses on an exploration into our own voices and our voices reflected and fused in the voices of others; on the strength of standing confident with the sound of our own voice, exploring its richness and building the foundation to support it, through breath, physical support, imagination. Discovering its strength when appearing singly, and power when it adds to the richness of a common sound created by other voices.
More and more, the performing arts are blending in with each other, requiring dancers to be actors as well as singers, or actors and singers to be movers.
This work session is directed specifically to performers and students of performance arts, including dance, theatre and music and those specifically interested in the process of performing through song. It builds on the support of the ensemble, helping us to work as a team as we grow as individuals. A work much needed in today’s world based on individuality and, very often, competitiveness. Polyphonic singing tradition brings people together in the joy of creating beautiful sounding music together and teaches us endless lessons on how to exist and work together.
About your workshop instructor
Ditte Berkeley is a co- founder and actress in Teatr ZAR, the resident theatre company at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland. She is an active independent performer and well respected theatre pedagogue teaching widely around the globe both in higher education and theatre festivals and events, as well as at the Grotowski Institute. Amongst others, she has shared her work at CALARTS, the University of Exeter, Kent University, Loughborough University, Rose Bruford College, National School of Drama in New Delhi, UCLA, RESAD in Madrid, the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona, Norwegian Theatre Academy as well as theatre academies in Poland (Warsaw, Wroclaw, Krakow).
“Teatr Zar are expert trainers and teachers, drawing on years of extraordinary performances. Their vocal training is exceptional. Zar is consummate ensemble with extensive international practical experience. As someone who knows their practice well, I affirm that they always operate with the highest pedagogical standards, bringing out students’ creativity in a tight and precise technical framework.”
– Paul Allain, Professor of Theatre and Performance University of Kent
“Ditte’s workshop was the one I had been longing for for a long time. It was very strong and powerful. It helped me reconnect my inner body to my inner thoughts. Ditte managed to create a land of freedom and confidence. A space that became very quickly very vivid and sensitive. The techniques and tools she taught us will now be included in my routine and I will pass them on to my fellows.”
– Eloïse Mourot (workshop participant)
For more info about Ditte’s work visit www.ditteberkeley.com
