Physiological performing exercises by Jan Fabre: an additional training method for contemporary performers

Acting and performance programs are shifting to respond to the variety of professional areas they serve. In this article, the authors discuss their integrative practice actor training based in ‘groundwork’. While attempting to address a global demand for greater intercultural exchange and new technologies, how do Australian acting institutions move forward and provide students with relevant, contemporary training methods that respond to these demands? While original methods like Frederick Alexander’s technique have found their place internationally during the 20th Century, it is foreign methodologies that dominate Australian actor training institutions. Robert Lewis, Dominique Sweeney and Samantha Dowdeswell embrace Australian voices, bodies, imaginations and creativity in the Charles Sturt University Acting and Performance course. Wiradjuri elders, as advisors in appreciating country, provide the foundation to develop an integrative pedagogy we are developing fusing non-Western practices like the Suzuki Method of Actor Training (SMAT) with original training aesthetics. Traditional Aboriginal theatre practitioners of the northwest of Australia refer to the gut as the connection to country. In actor training gut-like intelligence, centre or core, is regularly used when training performers to be present and responsive to the text, action and acting partners. The pathway to connect to country, through stomping or shuffling feet, is part of Aboriginal and Tadashi Suzuki’s training, where the significance placed on the ‘centre’, and where the core plays an integral part of connecting self to place. The integrative actor training program at Charles Sturt University gives actors power and ownership of their work located in place. In this article, we discuss how our diverse backgrounds use ‘groundwork’ to anchor actors in an ever-changing world. Integrative practices looks to a conversation developing a synergy between the complementary and contradictory ideas in fluctuating and constant traditions; ancient and contemporary systems as we are grounded in country.

Reviewed by: Moving Islands: Contemporary Performance and the Global Pacific by Diana Looser Jenna Gerdsen Moving Islands: Contemporary Performance and the Global Pacific. By Diana Looser, University of Michigan Press, 2021. Cloth: $80.00, e-book: $64.95. 358 pages. In the fields of theatre and performance studies, there is a great disparity between scholarship about the Atlantic and the Pacific worlds. Scholarship on the Atlantic is so pervasive that it has informed much of our discipline. Landmark studies such as Joseph Roach's Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance (1996) and Diana Taylor's The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas (2003) inaugurated the dominant Circum-Atlantic and Hemispheric paradigms. Diana Looser's Moving Islands: Contemporary Performance and the Global Pacific is a response to growing interest in decentering hegemonic, Western epistemologies and adopting Indigenous paradigms. In her introduction, titled "Toward a Transpasifika Performance," Looser outlines how Western hegemony and militarization have informed theorizations of the Pacific world and how Pacific Islander studies scholars have challenged mappings of Oceania. Looser considers how directing attention to the Pacific world might decolonize and advance theatre and performance studies. Moving Islands answers long overdue questions: How can Western, non-Indigenous scholars holistically understand performance from the Pacific world? And what do theatre and performance illuminate about the Pacific world? Moving Islands is a thoughtful and ambitious project that examines art installations, dance dramas, theater production and performance activism of the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The book consists of four case studies that collectively explore topics including real and representational Pacific voyages, Oceanian theatrical aesthetics, climate change activism, migration, diasporic community-building, urbanization and militarization. Looser uses these case studies to showcase the great potential of transpasifika, an Indigenized term that provides a theoretical lens through which to see the Pacific world relationally and that centers Indigenous and Islander perspectives. In an epilogue titled "Pacific Futures," Looser calls for a commitment to increase Pacific Islander scholarship and its presence in university curricula. Positioning herself as a Pakeha, or a white New Zealander, Looser insists that she should not be the only voice on Pacific theater and performance and asserts that a plurality of voices and a relational approach are required to fully account for the Pacific world's cultural, linguistic, political, and geographic diversity. Calling for a "wider transpacific imaginary" (25), Looser rejects continent-based schemas and adopts an island- and Indigenous-centered approach. Situated in transpacific studies and Indigenous studies, and informed by relevant discussions on how migration, hybridity, and diaspora impact constructions of Indigeneity, Moving Islands explains how people who inhabit and travel across the Pacific Ocean use theater and [End Page 97] performance to respond to environmental and economic crises, to resist imperial domination and military occupation, to form distinct ethnic and regional identities, and to create a diasporic and global network. Looser's transpasifika framework traces and illuminates the artistic diversity, coalition-building, migrations, modes of place-making, and identifications that occur across and beyond the Pacific. The book's title conveys Looser's significant scholarly intervention: she moves islands to the forefront of our imaginations of the Pacific and makes them legible in theater and performance studies. She creates a kaleidoscopic lens that allows scholars across multiple disciplines to see an intricate, dynamic, global network of people, cultures, and aesthetics. Looser models what Pacific theatre and performance should look like by supplying readers with objects, methods, and terms rooted in Indigenous cultures for understanding the Pacific world in this current era of globalization. In chapter 2, Looser analyzes stage spectacles, theater productions, dance-dramas, and art installations that represent vaka, meaning "canoe" in many languages spoken across the Pacific, by artists based in Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia, and New Zealand. Looser presents vaka as a "genealogical vehicle that binds the bodies of those in the present to those of their seafaring ancestors" (45) and as a metaphor through which to understand Oceanian identities, cultures, and histories. Demonstrating that corporeal performance initiates and sustains ancestral and global connections, Looser prepares readers to understand the significant role performance plays in activism, community-building, and identity formation. In chapter 3 she examines the...

In her 2012 paper, Marah Gubar coins the term ‘age transvestism’ to discuss the phenomenon of children impersonating adults on the Victorian stage. Gubar employs the term to argue that children dressing and acting as adults signals a ‘category crisis’ and, in doing so, she articulates a position that deviates from the well-established assumption that nineteenth century audiences liked to watch the child performer because their incompetence highlighted the difference between adults and children (Varty 2008: 15). Age transvestism, a term which she inherits from Marjorie Garber’s notion of ‘gender transvestism’, thus becomes ‘a space of possibility’ (Garber 1992: 11) rather than a reinscription of binarised identities between children and adults.Contemporary performance and live art with children has renewed this fascination with children impersonating or being read in relation to adults. As such, contemporary performance practice both intentionally and unintentionally enacts a crisis of the discursive categories of both children and adults. This article examines age transvestism in contemporary performance as a strategy for destabilizing dominant conceptualisations of the child that persist within contemporary discourses of childhood. Focusing on Film with Hope (2016), a collaboration between UK-based artist Grace Surman and her young daughter, the analysis considers how age transvestism challenges historic perceptions of the innocent child, the child in need of protection, and the child as a subject in formation (Kehily 2004). The article proposes that age transvestism – where it is read as a continuum of age-crossing – has the potential to foreground the body of the child in performance as a body that does not necessarily have to be defined by the nostalgic, erotic or judgemental adult gaze. Instead, it proposes that children’s bodies are afforded the poststructural, feminist and queer approaches to reading their bodies that are ordinarily given to adult bodies onstage.

This chapter examines actor training in Ireland over the past half-century, exploring the kinds of training opportunities available, the mission statements of those training programmes, the course content and (where possible) the delivery methods of actor training. The discussion highlights the range of actor-training programmes offered, including dedicated training programmes, training modules that are part of a wider third-level degree and some short-lived training initiatives that were nevertheless impactful for the future of actor training. This chapter acknowledges that while there is no specific manual for training actors, the demands on them have expanded and varied in the age of post-modern, immersive, physical and devised theatre, as well as acting for camera.

The article examines the features of intercultural polylogue of modern acting training; identified and analyzed ways to unleash the potential of cultural diversity of theatrical, physical and spiritual practices, as well as identified strategies for the most effective exchange of methods and techniques of training actors between different cultural groups. It is revealed that modern world theatrical culture is characterized by increasing interest in methods of acting training, which, despite their diversity, combines not only the idea of the importance of the actor's training method and the need to develop his psychophysical apparatus, but also specific principles of training as a unique research method. helps to achieve a harmonious interaction of soul and body. Modern acting training in many countries is becoming increasingly intercultural: crossing borders, intercultural exchange in modern theatrical practice and the growing interculturality of the actor mean that at the present stage acting training is determined by many ways of learning and different worldviews. It is stated that the intercultural polylogue in the globalization period is becoming more intense, due to the rapid development of information technology, and this, in particular, applies to modern acting training. The phenomenon of acting training is that, differing in its unique intercultural principles, it becomes a kind of point of intersection, which marks a qualitatively new era in theatrical culture. It was found that the result of intercultural polylogue of different methods and techniques of acting skills was the formation of a unique approach to training as the most important condition of the creative process in the context of understanding the value system of another culture, the development of universal values

To let the general public,regardless of gender,age,career and education background,understand the core concept of hospice and palliative care,practice in their lives,and then spread to and serve as many people as possible,the hospice and palliative care team of Peking Union Medical College Hospital established the professional hospice and palliative care training platform for volunteers in 2021.This article reviews the training design,content,methods,and results of the platform.It is concluded that the platform has theory-based training design,logical and complete training content,suitable training method for volunteers,and satisfactory training results.The establishment of this hospice and palliative care training platform for volunteers has excellent feasibility.Efforts should be made to further explore the performance and long-term development strategy of the training platform.

John Dewey's aesthetic has been invoked in recent discussions because many have realized that it resists the pull toward conceptualism that characterizes a great deal of aesthetic theory. Further, Art as Experience-Dewey's chief work on the philosophy of art-is rich with ideas that call for development. Richard Shusterman's work does just this as it suggests that Dewey's approach is a practical alternative to those that hinder a comprehensive understanding of art and/or ignore art's capacity to enrich the quality of lived experience. More specifically, Shusterman develops key Deweyan ideas by considering the aesthetic merits of popular music and by exploring Dewey's naturalism, that is, a naturalism that strives to understand the role played by the human body in aesthetic experience. Somaesthetics is the pragmatic discipline that explores somatic practices and ultimately demonstrates how they can lead to the attainment of fulfilling experiences. Shusterman argues that various disciplines can be taken up in order to improve the clarity of somatic functioning, perception, and thought as they help us reconstruct our attitudes or habits of feeling to give us greater flexibility and tolerance to different kinds of feeling and bodily behavior.1 Ultimately, Dewey's emphasis on the everyday origins of aesthetic experience is combined with his rejection of mind-body dualism in order to demonstrate how aesthetic experiences can be cultivated through such practices. One is not limited to going to museums and reading art criticism in order to have meaningful aesthetic experiences because somaesthetics shows how one's body can be transformed into a locus of aesthetic value. This said, we also find that similar techniques are used in the training of actors, dancers, and other performance artists. Performative somaesthetics explores the body disciplines that are instrumental to the performer's craft-that allow him or her to master the body and to enhance its expressive powers. In this article I would like to explore a few elements of this

This study explores training methods to enhance voice blending in non-professional university choirs, aiming to improve overall expressiveness and tonal consistency. As choral art gains global relevance, achieving superior voice blending in non-professional settings becomes crucial. Utilizing literature analysis and educational theory, this research systematically reviews existing vocal training theories, integrating findings from music education, vocal arts, and sociology to propose a scientific training framework for university choirs. Initially, the importance of voice blending is theoretically analyzed, followed by an examination of traditional and modern training methods, especially innovative educational approaches that boost member engagement and creativity. Through interviews with music educators and literature review, specific training recommendations are presented, including mimicry and feedback mechanisms, modern technology for sound analysis, and team collaboration with psychological support. Results indicate that structured training methods significantly enhance voice blending in non-professional university choirs, improving artistic performance and fostering musical skills and teamwork. This study provides theoretical and practical guidance for non-professional choir training, with significant academic and practical implications.

Objective To evaluate the effect of standardized training and management of prenatal ultrasound screening on birth defects. Methods According to the degree of standardized training and management of prenatal ultrasound screening, the period from March 2004 to December 2009 were divided into three different management stages. Detection rate was applied to describe the prenatal ultrasound screening of 5199 birth defects cases delivered during the three different management stages. Accuracy rate was used to describe the ultrasonographic diagnosis made by staffs in 2009. SPSS 11.5 software was used to analyze the information of 707 staffs participated in the training and assessment activities from October 2007 to September 2009. Related factors of prenatal ultrasound operating skills of staffs were analyzed by comparing the distributing discrepancy of the different variables between qualified and unqualified group with Chi-square test. Results The detection rate of prenatal ultrasonographic screening on birth defects increased with the improvement of training and assessment methods, which was 32. 43% from March 2004 to September 2005,44.81% from October 2005 to September 2007 and 60. 71% from October 2007 to December 2009respectively. In 2009, 187 doctors were tested on abnormal ultrasound photographs identification. The accurate rates were 80. 0% for gastroschisis, 78. 8% for cleft clip, 75.8% for omphalocele, 71.8%for neural tube defects, 50. 0% for severe congenital heart diseases, 31.0% for acromicria, which were in similar sequence as the diagnostic rate identified by prenatal ultrasound in 2009. Among the staffs attending the prenatal ultrasound screening assessment, more had education background at least university level (52.8% vs 47.2%), more performed ≥50 ultrasound screenings per month (50. 5%vs 49.5 % ), more had been working on obstetric ultrasound over 3 yrs (52.5 % vs 47.5 %) and more had been trained in higher level of hospitals focused on prenatal diagnosis (64.7% vs 35.3%) in the qualified group than in the unqualified group. Conclusions Standardized training and management of prenatal ultrasonographic screening could effectively improve the diagnosis rate of birth defects.The quality of prenatal ultrasound screening is related to the staff's education background and whether they are engaged in the position. Key words: Ultrasonography,prenatal; Congenital abnormalities; Evaluation studies

In the art of piano performance, the improvement of left-hand playing skills plays a crucial role in overall performance quality. This paper, through extensive literature research, systematically reviews the research results on left-hand piano playing techniques at home and abroad, and deeply analyzes the limitations of existing research in terms of theoretical depth and practical application. Combining piano performance theory with practical performance experience, starting from the core function and unique characteristics of the left hand in piano performance, This paper precisely identifies the deficiencies in the current training systems for left-hand piano technique, highlighting issues such as insufficient flexibility, lack of finger independence, imbalance in force control, and poor coordination. Using theories from multiple disciplines such as anatomy and education, the cause of the problem is explored from dimensions such as physiological structure, drawbacks of traditional training methods, and deviations in practice strategies. A systematic approach was proposed specifically, covering basic skill enhancement training, targeted piece practice strategies, and advanced skill improvement methods, specifically involving finger independence training methods, the scientific application of classic etudes and polyphonic works, and the cultivation of singing quality in the left hand. The proposed strategies were tested in practice by selecting pianists of different basic levels and learning stages as cases, and the effects were evaluated through performance tests, musical expressiveness analysis, etc. The results of this study will not only provide practical guidance for piano teaching to help players improve their left hand performance skills, but also lay the foundation for subsequent innovation in left hand technique training and interdisciplinary research.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the past, present, and prospective future of pantomime art in Turkey through the experiences and insights of Vecihi Ofluoğlu, founder of the Pantomime Art Branch at Istanbul University State Conservatory. Theoretical Framework: Grounded in the history and evolution of pantomime as a universal, nonverbal performance art, the study draws on theoretical discussions concerning bodily communication, artistic expression, and the pedagogical significance of movement-based arts. Method: This research adopts a qualitative descriptive approach, examining published interviews, historical documents, and the personal testimonies of Ofluoğlu. These sources are analyzed to understand the development of pantomime, its academic positioning, and its role in performer training. Results and Discussion: Findings indicate that pantomime, despite its ancient origins and universal communicative potential, remains marginalized due to limited institutional support and misconceptions within actor training. Ofluoğlu’s contributions—including founding Turkey’s first contemporary pantomime troupe and integrating pantomime into university education—have played a central role in revitalizing the art. His emphasis on bodily awareness, creative individuality, and disciplined movement underscores pantomime’s value not only as a performance practice but also as a tool for personal expression and artistic development. Research Implications: Expanding pantomime education could enhance communication skills, bodily awareness, and artistic versatility among students of performing arts. Originality/Value: This study offers the first comprehensive evaluation of pantomime in Turkey based on Ofluoğlu’s experiences, highlighting its educational importance and providing a foundation for further academic and artistic engagement with the discipline.

The Baltic states, as newer members of the European Union (EU), have been involved in the process of developing vocational education and training (VET) that was initiated by the Lisbon Council in 2000 and built upon by the 2002 Copenhagen Declaration. This chapter contributes to a collection of readings that provide information about the reform and development of VET in these countries in light of this European activity. The chapter discusses the following topics: new challenges for VET teachers and VET schools emerging from the shift to a lifelong learning paradigm for education; the current state of qualifications for VET teachers in Lithuania; the main actors in VET teacher education and training; the readiness of VET schools for change; the experiences of organisational development within VET schools gained during a three-year European Training Foundation (ETF) project; and the national strategy for VET teacher education and training. The authors recommend that the acquisition of pedagogical qualifications is the most urgent need for VET teachers in Lithuania as more than 70% of them do not have any pedagogical background. However, many have years of work experience so assessment of prior learning is also a priority. The chapter concludes with a summary of the main points and a series of tables illustrating aspects of the VET teaching workforce, such as age, general educational and pedagogical background, industry field experience, and pedagogical experience.

Methodology and Research Practice in Southeast Asian Studies. Edited by Mikko Huotari, Jurgen Ruland and Judith Schlehe. Houndsmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Hardcover: 334pp. Over the past decade, the discipline of Southeast Asian Studies has grappled with the tension--real or perceived--between universalistic disciplinary and area-specific inter-disciplinary production. What is the function and future of area studies, and Southeast Asian Studies in particular, in the process of accumulation? Is it a coherent research method, research agenda or simply a scholarly identity? Is it still relevant and useful as a field of studies and/or an institutional foundation? If so, how can scholars and students of Southeast Asian Studies come to terms with, and reconcile, this tension in order to make a contribution to accumulation and dissemination that is more broadly relevant? In particular, are there any practical that area experts could deploy to generate context-sensitive practices of social science knowledge? (p. 1) What do these methods look like? This volume, edited by three German scholars, is an effort to answer these pressing questions which are relevant to Southeast Asian scholars around the world. Fourteen chapters (including Mikko Huatari's introduction), contributed by nineteen scholars primarily based or trained in Germany and Southeast Asia, seek to advance and advocate different methodologies, approaches and strategies based on their own research and teaching experiences to generate context-sensitive practices of social science knowledge in Southeast Asian Studies, and possibly to overcome the aforementioned tension between disciplinary and area-studies boundaries. In short, it is a collective enterprise among those who care about the region to reinvigorate and re-emphasize the utility and meaning of Southeast Asian Studies as a field of study, and to search and invent workable to this end. According to Huatari, this volume intends to cultivate and advocate a middle-ground position (p. 11), and what can be characterized as situated methodologies (p. 4) that bridge universalizing and particularizing tendencies within the field of Southeast Asian Studies. Although the overall goal and sentiment is commonly shared among all the contributing authors, differences and disagreements are evident in terms of how to achieve this goal, and what purposes area-specific empirical should serve, depending on their respective disciplinary and pedagogical background, geopolitical position, and probably generational difference. On the whole, anthropologists, including Eric Haanstad, Michaela Haug, Sita Hidayah, Victor T. King and Kathryn Robinson, appear at ease with the tension derived from disciplinary and area-specific production. For them, searching and analysing unique and specific cultural features and practices--gender relations, performance arts, tribes or rituals--are inter alia their research and profession. Methodologies in anthropology, most obviously ethnographic research, are largely established, widely practised and contribute to disciplinary knowledge. Moreover, as exemplified in Haanstad's and Robinson's chapters, local specific practices in Southeast Asia that those scholars have studied--the role of women and dance performances--have contributed not only to the accumulation of local specific empirical knowledge, but more importantly, to the innovation of methodological techniques, conceptual tools and theoretical knowledge. Against the backdrop of such scholarly tradition, a younger generation of scholars from Southeast Asia, such as Deasy Dimandjuntak and Michaela Haug (Indonesia), Paruedee Nguitragool (Thailand) and Sita Hidayah (Indonesia) co-authored with her German colleague, Judith Schlehe, appear comfortable and confident in strategically adopting ethnographic and other social science approaches to tackle their respective research questions. …

For researchers, surface electromyography (EMG) seems a seductive technology because it provides a non-invasive means to acquire in-vivo data about physiological processes that cause muscles to produce movement. It captures muscle activity during any movement of a body by measuring seizure potentials released by the muscles when they are activated. Consequently, measured potentials are typically used to fractionate a body’s response process as well as get timing of neural control and coordination among muscle groups. Such analyses permit assessments of technical skills which, in turn, provide foundational information for biofeedback training and development of new pedagogical methods. Consequently, in high-skill activities such as those of the performing arts, EMG would appear to have significant relevance in terms of skill optimization and learning. On the surface, it is apparent that arts performance shares many characteristics, including health risks, with an area where EMG research has already had a significant disciplinary impact – sports (Chesky, et al., 2002; Lehmann & Davidson, 2002; Wilson, 1986). Pedagogy and training in both sports and performance arts aim to develop physical skills efficiently while avoiding injury for participants. While EMG applications in human sports movements have been an acknowledged aid in improving sport performance for decades (e.g. the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology has a 21-year history in this regard), applications in arts performances are still rare. Further, a review of the literature shows that, EMG applications in the arts tend to fall into only three broad categories: skill analysis descriptions and establishment of norms, training method evaluations, biofeedback in both pedagogy and injury remediation (Kjelland, 2000). This book chapter details selected examples where EMG technology is used in applications pertinent to arts performance. Since almost all EMG studies rely upon initial skill analysis and description in order to establish norms, research in the performance arts is often a multi-stage process. Exemplars for purposes of discussion will be drawn from instrumental and vocal performance, as well as ballet. The goals of the selected research focus on: 1) describing the activity of selected muscles, 2) identifying innate abilities or talents, 3) quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of pedagogical methods, 4) diagnosing technical difficulties, or 5) determining loading intensity during performance and evaluating factors related to pain and injury. Given the small body of existing EMG studies in the arts, the examples below are mainly chosen to elaborate the potential and relevance of EMG research in the performing arts as well as to encourage more research in the area.

Objective To investigate the new nurses ’ knowledge of infusion therapy , and analyze the problems and countermeasures .Methods According to the “infusion therapy nursing practice guideline and implementing rules” written by Chinese Nursing Association , the self-designed questionnaire and convenience sampling method was designed to investigate 79 new nurses in 2013 .Results The new nurses ’ knowledge of nursing of infusion therapy was uneven .The scores of questionnaire were 26-73, with an average of （49.72 ± 7.79）,including one nurse with 70-79, nine nurses with 60-69, sixty-nine nurse with less than 60.The scores of the nurses with medical school level education or college level education or undergraduate course were （45.65 ±4.55）,（48.69 ±6.93）,（60.82 ±5.60）,and the difference was significant （F=21.097,P〈0.05）.The undergraduate nurses were better than the nurses with college level education or medical school level education in terms of infusion therapy .Infection control and nursing safety , transfusion puncture types and application of the auxiliary tool , the maintenance and management of transfusion treatment showed significant differences （ P〈0.05 ）, but the treatment of infusion complications , assessment of puncture vascular and selection of biopsy site showed no difference between different education background （P〉0.05）.These were related to less training and clinical practice .Conclusions For the “weak link” of the infusion knowledge including the treatment of infusion complications , assessment of puncture vascular and selection of biopsy site , effective training and teaching methods for nurses education should be carried out , in order to improve the nurses’ knowledge of infusion therapy to meet the needs of clinical care services . Key words: Questionnaire investigation; Infusion therapy; New nurses