The Improvisation of Presence
Registration just opened for 2011
2011: April 13-17th (5 day Improvisation reTREAT).
WORKSHOP: A SPLENDID MOMENT with Ruth Zaporah
Ruth is bringing her improvisation physical theater 
practice, Action Theater, to Madrona MindBody Institute and Port Townsend. Through action the practitioner learns about the present moment, how to be HERE, unveiling themselves to themselves, one moment at a time, one moment leading to the next. Ruth's exercises, physical, vocal and verbal, invite the practitoner into unknown yet uncannily familiar territories, territories of the embodied imagination. By examining awareness, play, relationship, stillness and silence, actions become enlightened, become fresh. The capacity for feeling is strengthened as are the roots and tools of expression. Participants experience fresh views of themselves, who they are, how they perceive and respond to the ordinary and how vast is their potential. The conceptual mind that insists on defining content learns to share with more spontaneous embodied and imaginative resources. The lights turn on exposing every moment as a splendid moment.This workshop is for the novice as well as the experienced, all those who relish living in a human body and like to move.
This awareness in action invites the possibilities of freshness intrinsic to improvisational action. These 4-days of method offers a map, a way to proceed. The workshop is appropriate for the novice, the explorer and the professional.
"Ruth Zaporah is a movement artist who has internalized a kinetic vocabulary to such an extent that she can listen to it and follow it wherever it takes her at any moment."
--Rita Felciano, SF Bay Guardian"
Workshop space is limited to 25.
RUTH ZAPORAH PROJECT VIDEO LINK- click here.
Limited work-trade scholarships available - please email Aletia@MadronaMindBody.com for information.
Tuition includes all five days of the Playshop, plus additional open PRACTICE time in one of the Madrona movement studios. Tuition only: $455.
Early bird registration: $399 (limited time only)
On-Campus private waterfront rooms with local organic food options available.
Peacefully nestled within a 434 acre park surrounded by water and wooded hiking trails. Madrona's beautiful campus is located a scenic drive from Seattle in the "City of Dreams,"Port Townsend, WA.
On-Campus Package includes workshop tuition plus your own single occupancy private guestroom for 4 nights, organic local meals for Thursday morning through Sunday lunch, linens, bedding, pillows. (Does not include 10% room occupancy tax)
Camping options also available
On Campus Package (4 nights and meals) plus Tuition - Early Bird: $779
On Campus Package (4 nights and meals) plus Tuition - Early Bird: $835
Occupancy tax is $32
For more information about housing, please visit our Workshop Accommodations and Information page.
Don't miss the opportunity to study with this talented Master of Improvisation and Presence. Join us at the playground of all playgrounds - the unexplored moment.
Limited scholarships available based on need. Please email info@MadronaMindBody.com for scholarship policy.
About Ruth Zaporah:
Ruth Zaporah is a New Mexico based performance artist, director and teacher. She is internationally known for her innovative work in the field of physical theater improvisation called Action Theater..
Zaporah spends much of her time on tour, performing and leading trainings in the U.S. Europe, Australia, Israel, and Asia. In 1994 she performed in theaters and refugee camps in Serbia and Croatia. In the spring 2000, she added Kosovo and Sarajevo to that itinerary.
Zaporah is a two time recipient of National Endowment Choreography Fellowships. In 1994 she was honored with a Sustained Achievement award by the San Francisco Bay Area Dance Association and most recently selected to be a U.S. Cultural Envoy..
Ruth's articles on improvisation have been regularly published in Contact Quarterly, a magazine for new dance forms. Her book, ACTION THEATER: THE IMPROVISATION OF PRESENCE, published by North Atlantic Books, is in its fifth printing.Several films about her and her work have recently been released. Go to www.ActionTheater.com for information.
Ruth's passion is reflected in her work, that we are each an expression of the natural world, a breath of the larger ecological system, that the lift of the hand and the anguished scream are perfect.
SCHEDULE: Full Schedule to be announced. Please plan to arrive on Wednesday Evening for program start by 6:30 pm and plan workshop end time on Sunday to be 4:00 p.m.
SeaTac Shuttle leaves(Seattle Airport) Thursday afternoon for Port Townsend at 12:50 pm, arrives 3:50pm - call 1.800.457.4492