Reboot Yourself: More Zoom Workshops with Pig Iron
Hello friends out in the big wide world! In 2020, on lockdown, Pig Iron offered its first slate of virtual workshops via Zoom. We had no idea how this would go. We’ve spent the past two decades as fiercely analog artists devoted to breath and space. But we do thrive within limitations, so…we gave it a go.
We were thrilled by the response to our offerings. Great work was made, tears were shed, chills were felt–and several classes were sold out, with students Zooming in from London to Philly to Mexico City to Singapore. The feedback was overwhelming. 100% of students agreed, “I would recommend this class” and “I would study with this teacher again,” in our post-workshop survey. So it looks like this meets a need!
This spring, we’re bringing you another round of virtual workshops: REBOOT YOURSELF.
Each workshop is approximately 12-15 hours of class time. Class size is limited to 10-15 students. Our goals remain: to give you new vocabulary to make your own work, share our artistic obsessions with hungry theatremakers, and to create virtual ensembles of artists who want to reach new frontiers.
Students participating in more than one workshop receive a 15% discount on each workshop after the first one. Students who participated in an 'Unmute Yourself' workshop in Fall 2020 are also eligible for this discount. More information on the workshops and how to apply is below.
Note: Times for workshops before March 14 are listed in US Eastern Standard Time. Times for workshops on or after March 14 are listed in US Eastern Daylight Time.
Workshops | February 2021 - May 2021
Performance for Video: Manners and Techniques for Work on Camera | Jonathan VanDyke
5 sessions: Mondays 6:30-9:30pm, February 22-March 22
Back again by popular demand! Visual artist and Pig Iron faculty member Jonathan VanDyke guides students through the history, creative possibilities, and problematics of performing on camera. With just a smartphone camera, students will create short works and experiment with video, followed by in-depth class discussion and guided crit.
Red-Nose Clown | Emmanuelle Delpech
6 sessions: Saturdays & Sundays 11:00am-1:00pm, March 6-21
With little more than a red nose and the body that each performer has inherited, this workshop will uncover each student's unique way of encountering the world. Master clown teacher and longtime Pig Iron faculty Emmanuelle Delpech explores the life-affirming absurdity of the human condition on this planet. Take a leap into the unknown territory of your own lunacy.
Creative Producing 101 | J.J. El-Far, with guests Dan Rothenberg, Amy Smith, and Meiyin Wang
7 sessions: Tuesdays 6:00-8:00pm, March 16-April 27
A course introducing the most essential skills young artists need to produce their own work and identify as a creative producer. Pig Iron Director of Development and Communications, as well as independent creative producer/fundraiser/strategist, J.J. El-Far will provide an overview of the different institutions and structures that define the current art-making landscape, to help students understand the ecosystem of arts organizations, funders, and service organizations. Course topics will include fundamentals of development and fundraising, marketing and communication, outreach and partnerships, and arts administration. If you've been sitting on a creative project for too long because you’re daunted by the logistics of management and fundraising, then this workshop is for you.
Following the Expressive Voice | Audrey Pernell
6 sessions: Mondays & Wednesday 7:00-9:00pm, March 22-April 7
Audrey Pernell, Pig Iron School Faculty, Roy Hart Centre Voice Teacher, and Co-Director of Rumbos Voice Studio in Santiago, Chile, will lead students on a personal journey of vocal discovery and improvisation. Students will be guided to follow their voice past expected and habitual territories, toward a fuller embodiment of their vocal instrument and a greater expressive capacity. Singing, sounding, growling and humming are incorporated into an expansive repertoire of exploration that can become the groundwork for creation.
Advanced Video Critique and Creation | Jonathan VanDyke
4 sessions: Wednesdays 6:30-9:30pm, April 7-28
Designed for performer-creators and video art makers, this advanced class offers an opportunity for in-depth, focused making and critique with fellow artists. Through in-class exercises, participants explore collaborative tactics while tackling a full range of formal, technical, and conceptual issues involved in video production. Participants will view a weekly series of curated video art works–including rarities and groundbreaking contemporary examples made by artists from across the globe–as we dig deep into the history and politics of performance.
Something from Nothing | Emmanuelle Delpech, Mieke D, and Nathan Alford-Tate
10 sessions: Tuesdays-Saturdays 1:00-4:00pm, June 8-19
One of Pig Iron’s signature intensives–a space to begin, a space to create. Something from Nothing is a workshop on devising, tracing the journey from a single impulse to a full performance. Learn the process of launching an original work through Pig Iron's tried-and-true creation processes.