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About Us

History of bodies of knowledge

Future plans for bodies of knowledge

Biographies of those involved in the website

History of A Body of Knowledge

Documentations of A Body of Knowledge

Written Documentions from A Body of Knowledge, and more recent research

History of bodies of knowledge

I realised the need for a directory of international training opportunities when I was director of The International Workshop Festival - an organisation that programmes an annual series of workshops and masterclasses for professionals working in the performing arts. Each week I would receive two or three calls from professional artists of various ages looking for places where they could continue or develop their studies. It may be that they needed to brush up skills that had gone rusty, or address a problem of technique, or simply to work with a teacher or artists whose method or work they admired.

As I began to research the field of continuing training and professional development I soon learned that there was no one place where you could find information about such opportunities. Indeed, there didn't even seem to be a search-field for Continuing Training in the databases of most arts information centres. Thus the research for my first directory had to be very grass-roots: I began by asking all the workshop teachers whom I knew to give me a list of phone numbers and addresses of where they had recently taught. The information wasn't always accurate - I once phoned a garage owner in the Czech Republic  who was very surprised when I asked him what kind of workshops he gave. However, by Autumn 1994 InTO Europe (International Training Opportunities in Europe) was published, and launched at the IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting) at Brussels. It included information, in English and French, about 105 training organisations. The three hundred copies sold out within six months, and we set about researching the second edition. This was published in 1997 and included 195 organisations.

I left IWF in 2001 to pursue my personal researches into theatre and performer training. After a few years my thoughts started turning back to continuing training. Although the World Wide Web had transformed information technology, still there was no comprehensive and accurate online directory of international training opportunities. I was discussing this with Simon Richardson, the photographer who had documented IWF's workshops from 1995 - 2001 and he persauded me to set up such a site. His help has been invaluable.  The Arts Council of England offered a grant of £5,000 to create a pilot website and what you are looking at is the result. There are substantial differences between InTO Europe and bodies of knowledge. The scope of this website is International and not just European, and it will be regularly updated - visitors who organise or lead regular programmes of workshops and masterclasses can simply fill out the online form and register.

I began my research for the present site by Googling the 195 organisations listed in the 1997 InTO Europe. To my surprise over 100 had websites - an indication that there is clearly a continuing need for such organisations. While there still is no identity or visibility for this area of work, it is an international phenomenon and needs to be recognised as such. Visits to these websites and further searches on the net yielded about 300 organisations who looked as if they should be listed on the site. To date (November 10, 2006), 110 have replied.

I took the title bodies of knowledge from my seven-year programme of festivals for IWF which was called A Body of Knowledge. The title A Body of Knowledge had a double significance. On the one hand, I was interested in how much of the performer's knowledge is embodied, and is therefore imparted to others as it were, body to body. On the other hand, I wanted to document this particular form of imparting knowledge and thus invited Peter Hulton of the Arts Documentation Unit to help create a series of video and CD/DVD ROM documentations of the invited teachers. Between 1995 and 2001 we created 30 video documentations and 6 CD or DVD ROMs. These are detailed in the section on A Body of Knowledge.

The Future

The headquarters of the International Theatre Institute (a UNESCO initiative) is keen that the website be available in French and English. Hopefully translation work will start once funds are available in 2007.

Total Theatre, a London-based networking organisation for Physical Theatre and New Circus are keen to develop the site over the next three years. They will begin fund-raising once this pilot site goes online.

The primary development must be to ensure that all the major international organisations and teachers are listed. There could easily be as many as 500 across the world. Hopefully they will be identified through networking via the world wide web.

Other developments will depend on the expressed needs and interests of the service-users and the service providers in the field.

Please do tell us your ideas about how this site could be developed.

Dick McCaw

Biographies

Chris How (Primesolid)~ Website designer

After working for eight years as a system support engineer for several computer consultancies, in 1996 - spurred on by the potential of the internet - I set up Flux, a computer consultancy based in Tottenham Court Road. We provided custom software, software engineering and support expertise to companies in the media and advertising industries. While at Flux, I designedand implemented an automated advertising production system for a world-leadingadvertising agency, handling production of millions of pounds worth of press advertising every year. Other customers included Sony Music Entertainment, Stylorouge and Islandlife Records.

In 1999 I sold Flux and moved to Brighton to set up Primesolid: a one-man business providing custom web-applications. My speciality is building web sites which customers can update themselves. I have also built diary booking and time-management web applications for the film and television industry.

Dick McCaw~ Rsearcher and Compiler of the website

Dick McCaw was a co-founder of the Actors Touring Company (in 1979) and The Medieval Players (in 1981) for whom he produced until they closed in 1992. In 1993 he was appointed Artistic Director of the International Workshop Festival (IWF) for whom he organised 10 major projects. In 1995 he began a series of seven themed festivals under the general title of A Body of Knowledge, each of which addressed one fundamental theme of performance: Energy, Movement, Voice, Dialogue, Rhythm, Character and Space. Some of the workshops were documented and there is a list of video and CD/DVD ROM the documentations below. In September 2001 he left IWF to write up a PhD Thesis on the Russian thinker Mikhail Bakhtin (1895 - 1975) and his influence on Eastern European Theatre. He was awarded a Doctorate in December 2003. In 2001 he began training in movement studies with Geraldine Stephenson, herself a pupil of the legendary pioneer of movement and dance theatre, Rudolf Laban. In 2003 he began training to be a Feldenkrais practitioner, and will qualify in April 2007. He teaches movement and theatre at Royal Holloway College, University London. His book, An Eye For Movement (about Warren Lamb, another of Laban's pupils) was published by Brechin books in 2006, and he has been commissioned by Routledge to edit and introduce a Companion to Rudolf Laban. In 2005 he edited DVD ROM documentations on Phelim McDermott and Clive Barker, with ones on Warren Lamb and Geraldine Stephenson in 2006.

Simon Richardson~ Photographer

Simon Richardson is a professional photographer specialising in dance, theatre and portraiture. He operates from a studio near Bedford, but also spends a lot of time shooting rehearsals, workshops and classes. His interest in dance photography ranges from Ballet to Indian Classical to Parkour. He has worked for numerous dance and theatre companies, produced individual portfolios for dancers, actors and models, exhibited in Bedford, London (Festival Hall, Nehru Centre, Peacock Theatre) and Outer Mongolia and worked extensively round the world. He is also Chairman of Kadam Asian Dance and Music, a Bedfordshire based company which promotes Classical South Asian dance and is active locally and nationally.

A Body of Knowledge

A PROGRAMME OF SEVEN FESTIVALS

1995 - 2001

In 1995 IWF began a projected series of seven festivals exploring fundamental aspects of the performing arts (e.g. rhythm, movement, space, character) under the overall title A Body Of Knowledge. Since it dealt with the essential building blocks in the performing arts, none could be completely isolated. The aim of each individual festival was to see how different performing traditions, disciplines, or artists conceived of the given theme. This demonstrated the variety of approaches there can be to the phenomenon of performance. To use a musical metaphor, each festival consisted of twenty variations on a chosen theme.

In 1995 IWF began a projected series of seven festivals exploring fundamental aspects of the performing arts (e.g. rhythm, movement, space, character) under the overall title A Body Of Knowledge. Since it dealt with the essential building blocks in the performing arts, none could be completely isolated. The aim of each individual festival was to see how different performing traditions, disciplines, or artists conceived of the given theme. This demonstrated the variety of approaches there can be to the phenomenon of performance. To use a musical metaphor, each festival consisted of twenty variations on a chosen theme.

1995 The Performer's Energy	1996 ...and movement
1997 Voice/Dance/ Movement & With the Whole Voice	1998 The Way of the Warrior
1998 A Common Pulse	1999 Between Character and Performer
2000 Passages and Dialogues	2001 The Sense of Space

A Selection of Video Documentations - All Available from The Arts Archive

CD/DVD Documentations

Written Documentations

Over the coming months we intend to post written documentations from discussions that took place as part of a Body of Knowledge , along with more recent research undertaken by Dick McCaw.