Ruth Zaporah and Action Theater

April 15 (Tuesday evening) - April 20 (Sunday afternoon)

Action Theater is a body-based improvisation training that integrates movement, vocalization and speech into congruent, present performance. The improvisers draw from current awareness to create clear, articulate and recognizable imagery. Some exercises explore elements of form (time, space, shape, dynamics) to broaden the palette of expression. Others stimulate the imagination broadening the palette of content.

photo: Lynda Rodolitz

The relationship between speech and movement is examined within the realms of form and content. Perceptions and responses are deconstructed, reconstructed and deconstructed again, always expanding the improvisers' relationship to the moment. All of these skills are stimulated within solo, small group and ensemble frameworks. Action Theater trainings invite freedom within discipline, wildness within control, simplicity within boundlessness and always play . Ruth's passion is the body, the body as an expression of nature, as a breath of the larger ecological system, as the portal into the unknown. She has been exploring pathways and practices that lead to that experience of knowing. Some of these explorations will be introduced at Earthdance. This training is for students with improvisation experience.

Ruth Zaporah is a New Mexico based performance artist, director and teacher. She is internationally known for her innovative work in performance and performance training, particularly in the field of physical theater improvisation. Zaporah spends much of her time on tour, performing and leading trainings both nationally and internationally. She is a two-time recipient of National Endowment Choreography Fellowships. She is currently a Cultural Envoy of the U.S. State Department.

Ruth's articles on improvisation have been regularly published in Contact Quarterly, a magazine for new dance forms. She is a contributor writer in Shambala Publications' currently released book, BEING BODIES edited by Susan Moon and Lenore Freedman. In 1998 Ruth was interviewed by Inquiring Mind, a Buddhist Journal. Her own book, ACTION THEATER: THE IMPROVISATION OF PRESENCE , published by North Atlantic Books, is in its fourth printing.

Total Workshop Fee = Tuition + Room & Board.

Tuition (3 Tiers Available):
   Student Rate: Economically challenged students and the unemployed: $265
   Regular Rate: Employed but struggling (teacher, librarian, lots of kids, etc.): $295
   Professional Rate: Actually contributing to your retirement plan (support the arts!): $325

Standard Room & Board: $210
(For commuting or alternate housing options, click here)
Deposit Required: $75

Arrival Tuesday, 4/15, after 5 p.m.
Last session ends Sunday afternoon 4/20

Partial Scholarships are sometimes available for Earthdance workshops. Please click here for more information.

*You will not be officially registered until we receive your deposit.