In November 2024, the Centre for Humanities Research presents Pro-Vocation: Roots and Wings, in partnership with the UNIMA Professional Training Commission, the UNIMA Africa Commission, and UNIMA SA.
The Pro-Vocation series is made up of international conferences on puppetry training, organized by UNIMA’s Professional Training Commission since 2015. The full event will be hosted at the CHR’s Iyatsiba Lab in Woodstock, with performances and workshops at Theatre Arts in Observatory and Indawo Yobomi in Makhaza Cape Town.
This event, positioned on the African continent for the first time, is dedicated to exploring and celebrating the living traditions and contemporary innovations of African puppetry pedagogies. It emphasizes the innovative and critical aspects of puppetry training across Africa, focusing on continental priorities through African exchange and global perspectives.
Part of the conference will include performances and workshops at Theatre Arts in Observatory, Cape Town, and a series of workshops facilitated by leading international puppeteers and arts practitioners.
Pre-Conference Workshops
Puppet animation in the digital stage: a dynamic interaction between bodies, silhouettes, and video-mapped animations within a micro-stage space
Date: 6th and 7th November
Facilitator: Alessandra Amicarelli
This workshop delves into the interaction between puppets, bodies, and shadows with projected video imagery, creating a “theatre of drawing” on stage. The aim is to construct a multidimensional space where visual animation, physical movement, and technology converge into a cohesive performative narrative. It bridges “low” technologies, such as hand drawing and natural materials, with advanced methods like video mapping and physical interaction. Participants will craft a micro-theatrical installation using silhouettes and puppets, exploring the interplay of light, shadow, and projected video. The main emphasis is on leveraging video mapping to project onto scenic surfaces and integrating body movements with video imagery, pushing the boundaries of visual and performative theatre.
Exploring the Fruitful Relationships Between Text, Puppets, and Objects
Date: 15-18 November
Facilitator: Isabelle Matter
This four-day workshop is kindly supported by Prohelvetia and the Swiss Arts Council. It invites professional performing arts practitioners to delve into the dynamic interplay between text, puppetry, and objects. While visual storytelling is a hallmark of puppetry, the written word plays an equally vital role – even in silence. Participants will experiment with various types of writing and techniques, exploring the rich dramaturgical pathways that unfold when words and objects come together. Through practical exercises, attendees will use textual materials, puppets, and objects to create their own play-spaces, guided by dramaturgical analysis tools that will help uncover new creative avenues.
Physical and Vocal Scores Creation
Date: 19 November 2024
Facilitator: Anna Gromanová
Workshop participants will work on stage physicality of an actor/actress in the connection with rhythm, selected texts and intonations. The goal of the course is the creation of physical and voice actions, reactions on partner, space or text in addition to staying authentic and present. Participants will search for original, individual and collective self-presentation using physical and voice actions in space. They will be introduced to the basic forms of montage and to transforming the collected material or personal experiences to theatrical language. Participants will work on the common group flow, mutual connections and on emphasizing the synchronization and precision of movement depending on the outer and inner rhythm tectonics change. We will dedicate time to the body and voice grounding and to the individual body part movements and intentions quality which are able to create the expression and meaning itself.