Masks for Dancers
Masks for Dancers, using the Lecoq tradition as its impetus, is an experiential course designed specifically for dancers. This class will compel the student artist to be inspired and moved to act by a reference point (the mask) that exists outside of themselves. Mask, at its core, is an outside-in technique, concealing the familiar persona of the student artist to accentuate the body and engage the imagination and body together in service of the new persona by wearing the mask. An organic, embodied and original character then emerges from the student’s discovery of the mask’s “secrets.” This is a step by step path of discovery that is physically rigorous, emotionally ebullient and creatively liberating. It is distinctly different from clown work, which works from an inner focused reference point, the student artist themselves. Mask work uses a specific vocabulary and process that is unique to mask alone.