Performing Biography: The stand-up way

‘Performing Biography-The stand-up way’ is a method created and taught by Lia Haraki in a series of three independent workshops taking place over three long weekends in February, March and April. During the workshops, participants will have the chance to discover and practice performing in a safe environment. The workshops focus on how autobiography and life experiences can become meaningful sources of material for the stage.

Inspired partly by stand-up comedy principles in combination with Lia’s ‘life map method’, the workshop focuses on how self-referential, self-sarcastic and experiential information becomes relevant to others by bridging the subjective and the objective and the personal to the collective.

The Performing Biography series of workshops is a deep exploration of how one’s history and experiences can be vehicles that connect the performer to the audience by sharing feelings of empathy, fragility and humour.

There are three parts to the workshop. Each part lasts for three days during a weekend (Friday to Sunday) and focuses on a specific topic. February 18-20 at Dance House Lemesos will be the first workshop before it continues on March 18-20 and then again on April 8-10. Participants can join one, two or the whole series of the workshops as they can be experienced independently and can also function as a continuum.

The workshops welcome individuals that are occupied with performance on an amateur or professional level and are open to exploring the body and voice as expressive and creative tools in the form of short informal performances within the group. There are 10 available spaces for the workshops each time and they will be granted on a first come first-served basis.

February’s workshop will focus on The Life Map and will be an introductory workshop where individuals start sharing stories with the use of ‘The life map’ as a source of inspiration for their performance material. They will also familiarise themselves with speaking to the microphone and presenting in front of an audience, in this case, the other participants. This first workshop is also an introduction to working with movement, vocal sound, and the embodiment of situations and experiences.

Performing Biography – The stand-up way

A series of workshops with Lia Haraki. February 18-20. March 18-20. April 8-10. Dance House Lemesos, Limassol. €150 for one workshop, €250 for two and €300 for all. Registrations at [email protected]. www.liaharaki.com