‘Concentration’ and Awareness in Psychophysical Training: the Practice of Elsa Gindler

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Loukes
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Performance Practice ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Body Awareness ◽  
Actor Training ◽  
Performance Training ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The University ◽  
Performer Training

In this article Rebecca Loukes explores the practice of German psychophysical awareness practitioner Elsa Gindler (1885–1961), whose work influenced twentieth-century performance in a range of ways, but has not previously been documented in this context. Loukes situates Gindler's training and early work amongst key early twentieth-century Gymnastik practitioners before tracing developments in her life and work, drawing from Gindler's 1926 article, her unpublished class notes, and her students' memories. She discusses what Gindler meant by cultivating a state of ‘concentration’, and how this related to breathing, tension, and relaxation, both in the studio and daily life. She then indicates how this can usefully be applied to contemporary pre-performance training or work on the ‘beginning state of the actor’. Rebecca Loukes is a practitioner, performer, and researcher in the area of actor training and psychophysical awareness. She has been training in practices derived from Gindler's work for over ten years. Her recent writing includes ‘Body Awareness in Performer Training: the Hidden Legacy of Gertrud Falke-Heller (1891–1984)’ for Dance Research Journal (in press). She is Lecturer in Performance Practice at the University of Exeter.

The “Sticky Sediment” of Daily Life: Radical Domesticity, Revolutionary Christianity, and the Problem of Wealth in Britain from the 1880s to the 1930s

2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Koven
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War I ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Justice ◽  
Ethical Imperative ◽  
Early Twentieth Century

This essay examines an early twentieth-century Christian revolutionary habitus—a “technique of Christian living”—based on the conviction that everyday life was an essential site for reconciling the claims of individual and community, the material and the spiritual. The pacifist-feminist members of London’s first “people’s house,” Kingsley Hall, linked their vision of Jesus’s inclusive and unbounded love for humanity to their belief in the ethical imperative that all people take full moral responsibility for cleaning up their own dirt as part of their utopian program to bring social, economic, and political justice to the outcast in London, Britain, and its empire. In imagining what a reconstructed post-World War I Britain might become, Kingsley Hall’s cross-class band of workers used mundane practices to unmake and remake the late-Victorian and Edwardian philanthropic legacy they inherited.

scholarly journals Representing the War. Early Twentieth Century Maps and Models in the Fonds of the Italian War History Museum in Rovereto

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Elena Dai Prà ◽  
Valentina De Santi ◽  
Giannantonio Scaglione
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Three Dimensional Models ◽  
The University ◽  
First World

Abstract. The representation of the areas in which some of the most significant events of the First World War took place has produced a wide range of materials, such as cartography, aerial and terrestrial photos, textual descriptions and field surveys. In addition, war events were also represented through three-dimensional models. Topographic maps and models constitute composite figurations, which are rich in informative data useful for the preservation of the memory of places and for increasing the knowledge of cultural heritage. Hence, these sources need to be studied, described, interpreted and used for future enhancement. The focus of this paper are archival materials from the collections kept at the Italian War History Museum of Rovereto (Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra), in the Trentino-Alto Adige region. Firstly, we will investigate the cartographic fond in order to assess the composition and origin of its materials. Secondly, we will present the Museum’s collection of Early-Twentieth Century models. Such precious heritage is not yet part of an exhibition, and is kept in the Museum’s warehouses. The paper constitutes the occasion to present the initial results of a still ongoing project by the Geo-Cartographic Centre for Study and Documentation (GeCo) of the University of Trento on the study and analysis of two archival complexes preserved in the abovementioned Museum. In particular, the paper focuses on the heuristic value of such representational devices, which enable an analysis of the different methods and languages through which space is planned and designed, emphasizing the complementarity between different types of visualization.

“A Season in Hell”

2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Rees
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The World ◽  
Women Travelers ◽  
The City ◽  
Travel Accounts

Australian women travelers in early twentieth-century New York often recoiled from the frenetic pace of the city, which surpassed anything encountered in either Britain or Australia. This article employs their travel accounts to lend support to the growing recognition that modernity took different forms throughout the world and to contribute to the project of mapping those differences. I argue that “hustle” was a defining feature of the New York modern, comparatively little evident in Australia, and I propose that the southern continent had developed a model of modern life that privileged pleasure-seeking above productivity. At a deeper level, this line of thinking suggests that modernization should not be conflated with the relentless acceleration of daily life; it thus complicates the ingrained assumption that speed and modernity go hand-in-hand.

Konstantin Stanislavsky Michael Chekhov Vsevolod Meyerhold Jacques Lecoq

2006 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-150
Author(s):  
Jerri Daboo
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Actor Training ◽  
Konstantin Stanislavsky ◽  
Four Books ◽  
History Of ◽  
Complete Series ◽  
Performer Training ◽  
Selection Of

The Routledge Performance Practitioners series, edited by Franc Chamberlain, is a new set of introductory guides to a range of key figures in the development of twentieth-century performance practice. Each book focuses on a single practitioner, examining his or her life, historical context, key writings, and productions, and a selection of practical exercises. These concise volumes are intended to offer students an initial introduction to the practitioner and to “provide an inspiring spring-board for future study, unpacking and explaining what can initially seem daunting” (Merlin, ii). The list of practitioners in the complete series include Stanislavsky, Brecht, Boal, Lecoq, Grotowski, Anna Halprin, and Ariane Mnouchkine, thus examining a range of performance styles and practices, creating a valuable overview of the development of performer training through the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries. Such interest in the history of specific approaches to training performers has been addressed in other volumes, such as Twentieth-Century Actor Training, edited by Alison Hodge (New York: Routledge, 2000), and Acting (Re)considered: A Theoretical and Practical Guide, edited by Phillip Zarrilli (London: Routledge 2002). Both those collections contain in-depth chapters focusing on aspects of the selected practitioners' theoretical and practical approaches to the principles and concerns in their work. Where the books in the Routledge Performance Practitioners series differ is that they offer a more general overview of the practitioner in one volume, and in addition to the historical context, they provide a set of practical exercises that can be carried out by the student or teacher, as well as by the actor or director. The books are well presented, divided into clear sections, with relevant photographs and diagrams. There are also sidebars providing definitions and further information on key figures and terms mentioned in the main text. This review covers the first four books in the series, examining the work of Konstantin Stanislavsky, Michael Chekhov, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and Jacques Lecoq.

scholarly journals Granville Barker's Ensemble as a Model of Fabian Theatre

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippa Burt
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Dialogical Relationship ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University ◽  
Fabian Society

While the dialogical relationship between the early twentieth-century British theatre and the rise of socialism is well documented, analysis has tended to focus on the role of the playwright in the dissemination of socialist ideas. As a contrast, in this article Philippa Burt examines the directorial work of Harley Granville Barker, arguing that his plans for a permanent ensemble company were rooted in his position as a member of the Fabian Society. With reference to Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus and Maria Shevtsova's development of it in reference to the theatre, this article identifies a correlation between Barker's political and artistic approaches through extrapolating the central tenets of his theory on ensemble theatre and analyzing them alongside the central tenets of Fabianism. Philippa Burt is currently completing her PhD in the Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. This article is developed from a paper presented at the conference on ‘Politics, Performance, and Popular Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain’ at the University of Lancaster in July 2011.

scholarly journals Punk Rock as Popular Theatre

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Double
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Punk Rock ◽  
Popular Theatre ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Stand Up Comedy ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sex Pistols ◽  
Music Hall ◽  
The University

Punk rock performance consciously draws on popular theatre forms such as music hall and stand-up comedy – as was exemplified on the occasion when Max Wall appeared with Ian Dury at the Hammersmith Odeon. Oliver Double traces the historical and stylistic connections between punk, music hall and stand-up, and argues that punk shows can be considered a form of popular theatre in their own right. He examines a wide range of punk bands and performers – including The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, Devo, Spizz, The Ramones, The Clash, and Dead Kennedys – to consider how they use costume, staging, personae, characterization, and audience–performer relationships, arguing that these are as important and carefully considered as the music they play. Art movements such as Dada and Futurism were important influences on the early punk scene, and Double shows how, as with early twentieth-century cabaret, punk performance manages to include avant-garde elements within popular theatre forms. Oliver Double started his career performing a comedy act alongside anarchist punk bands in Exeter, going on to spend ten years on the alternative comedy circuit. Currently, he lectures in Drama at the University of Kent, and he is the author of Stand-Up! On Being a Comedian (Methuen, 1997) and Getting the Joke: the Inner Workings of Stand-Up Comedy (Methuen, 2005).

Synthesis of the Current Knowledge Concerning the Construction of French Traditional Cob Building for Giving Recommendations

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Bonnet ◽  
Darwish Alzeort ◽  
Philippe Poullain
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Linear Shrinkage ◽  
Dune Sand ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Town

The museum of the “Bourrine du bois Juquaud” is a tourist site located in the town of Saint Hilaire de Riez in France. It presents the daily life of the inhabitants of the marsh in the early twentieth century and their traditional earthen houses called Bourrine. The Bourrine is a cob construction with reed roof. The earth used for walls is soil from marshlands added with dune sand and straw fibres but some part are without fibres like coating applied on walls. By now, the knowledge acquired on the implementation of these mixtures for the lifting of the walls are oral knowledge and it is necessary to ensure the preservation of this traditional heritage. Currently the done reparations present cracks due to shrinkage. This study aims at well defining the mixtures by a scientific approach. The earth and dune sand were analyzed by taking cores from different existing bourrines and also by extracting soil on site. Different mixtures were produced by varying the proportion of earth sand and water. The linear shrinkage were measured. Corrections were done to get the best mixture for manufacturing and repairing the Bourrines.

The Gospel according to Auerbach

PMLA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-473
Author(s):  
Jane O. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Gospel Of Mark ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Literary Realism ◽  
Rudolf Bultmann ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The University ◽  
The Human Condition

Erich Auerbach's Mimesis (1946) can usefully be read in the context of the Christian existentialist thought to which Auerbach was exposed during his years as a professor at the University of Marburg between 1929 and 1935–36. Specifically, placing Auerbach's account of Peter's denial of Christ as related in the Gospel of Mark in conversation with the work of Auerbach's Marburg colleague Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) helps us to understand Auerbach's indebtedness to Bultmann and to see Mimesis in new ways, as a project with a longer collaborative history that concerns not only literary “realism” but also the dargestellte Wirklichkeit (“represented reality”) of the finitude of the human condition. Acknowledging the importance of early-twentieth-century Christian existentialism in Germany for Auerbach's work helps explain the affective hold that Mimesis has had on lay and professional readers alike.

scholarly journals Explanations and Implications of ‘Psychophysical’ Acting

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Whyman
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
Actor Training ◽  
Senior Lecturer ◽  
Theatre Arts ◽  
Konstantin Stanislavsky ◽  
The University ◽  
Performer Training

The term ‘psychophysical’ in relation to acting and performer training is widely used by theatre scholars and practitioners. Konstantin Stanislavsky is considered to have been an innovator in developing an approach to Western acting focused on both psychology and physicality. The discourse encompasses questions of practice, of creativity and emotion, the philosophical problem of mind–body from Western and Eastern perspectives of spirituality. In this article, Rose Whyman attempts to uncover what Stanislavsky meant by his limited use of the term ‘psychophysical’ and suggests that much of the discourse remains prone to a dualist mind–body approach. Clarification of this is needed in order to further understanding of the practice of training performers. Rose Whyman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham. She researches the science of actor training and is the author of The Stanislavsky System of Acting (Cambridge, 2008) and Stanislavsky: the Basics (Routledge, 2013).

Theodore M. Hesburgh, Theologian: Revisiting Land O’Lakes Fifty Years Later

2017 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 930-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward P. Hahnenberg
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Catholic University ◽  
Catholic Universities ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Status ◽  
The University

Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, was the driving force behind the 1967 Land O’Lakes Statement—a watershed document that affirmed both the distinctive identity of Catholic universities and the “true autonomy and academic freedom” they needed to excel. This article explores the prominent role of theology in the Land O’Lakes Statement by means of an examination of Hesburgh’s specifically theological commitments. Attending first to the status of Catholic theology in the early twentieth century, the article considers Hesburgh’s neo-Scholastic formation, his early work on the theology of the laity, and the evolution of his thinking as president of the University of Notre Dame. It concludes that the category of mediation, present in Hesburgh’s earliest work, would come to ground the dialogical role he thought theology had to play to ensure the nature and mission of the contemporary Catholic university.

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