Global Connections: Performance Pedagogy and Practice

About the speaker

Previously the Head of Acting at Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden, Josette Bushell-Mingo is an award-winning actor and director whose career has included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Manchester Royal Exchange. She was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Rafiki in the West End production of The Lion King. She has also starred in the internationally acclaimed production Nina: A Story about Me and Nina Simone. 

As a director, Josette Bushell-Mingo was Founder and Artistic Director of PUSH, a black-led theatre festival with the Young Vic Theatre. Through her work with PUSH, she was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts, a Judy Craymer Award for Innovation, and the Southbank Cultural Diversity Award.   

For 13 years, she was also the Artistic Director for The National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble Tyst Teater, where her work focused on fostering the understanding, respect and potential of sign language arts as well as the artistic, linguistic and cultural rights of the deaf. 

Born in London and based in Sweden since 2005, Josette is an active spokesperson for inclusive arts and politics. She co-founded PUSH’s sister organisation in Sweden, TRYCK, which works to inspire and challenge the artistic and cultural representation of Afro-Swedes and African descent artists on national stages in Sweden. She has served on the board of the Swedish Film Institute as the chairwoman for CinemAfrica, a Swedish non-profit organisation devoted to celebrating African and diaspora film culture, and is Patron of the Unity Theatre, Liverpool. 

As a director and teacher, Josette travels internationally, giving lectures and workshops in the creation of sign language theatre, cultural diversity challenges and inclusion. She has taught in Stockholm, Malmö and Luleå theatre schools, LAMDA, the London College of Fashion, and New York University’s TISCH School of the Arts amongst others. 

About the moderator

Frances Barbe has worked internationally as a performer, director, choreographer and teacher. She is currently Associate Dean of Performance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Her practice draws on a background in both dance and theatre and is informed by her training in Japanese butoh and Tadashi Suzuki’s Method of Actor Training. Her practice-based Ph.D. at the University of Kent examined the application of butoh to contemporary performance and performance training. While based in London from 1996 to 2011, she established Fran Barbe Dance Theatre (2000 – 2010) and founded Theatre Training Initiative (1999 º 2010) for which she curated two international butoh festivals (2005 and 2009). She was a member of Tadashi Endo’s Butoh Mamu Dance Theatre (Germany 1997 – 2008) and taught at London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA), Central School of Speech and Drama, Rose Bruford College, University of Kent and East 15 Acting school. 

About the speaker

Pichet Klunchun bridges the traditional Thai classical dance language of Khon with contemporary sensibility, while keeping the heart and wisdom of the convention. Pichet has earned domestic notoriety for his efforts in contemporising Khon. Since 2002, he has participated in intercultural performing arts programmes as both dancer and choreographer in the US, Asia and Europe. In 2010, Pichet founded Pichet Klunchun Dance Company to create arts performances and train young professional dancers with a strong background in Thai classical dance.
 
Pichet has been awarded the following international recognition: ‘Routes’ ECF Princess Margriet Award for Cultural Diversity from the European Cultural Foundation (2008), Chevalier of the French Arts and Literature Order from the French Ministry of Culture for his contribution to the influence of culture in France, in Thailand and all over the world (2012), and the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award by Asian Cultural Council (2014). 

About the moderator

Professor Leon Rubin joined LASALLE from East 15 Acting School, University of Essex, the internationally distinguished conservatoire in London, UK, where he was Director for 13 years. He transformed E15 from a small, UK-focused institution into an international powerhouse with staff and students from across the globe. In his final year as Director, the school was top of all three major league tables in the UK: The Times and Sunday Times’ Good University Guide, The Guardian University league table and the National Student Survey. 

Leon began his career as Assistant Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company and was soon after Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Before joining E15, he was Head of Performing Arts at Middlesex University and former Artistic Director of two other prominent UK theatre companies: Bristol Old Vic, Watford Palace Theatre and Lyric Theatre, Belfast and the Associate Director at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. 

He has also directed theatre productions for companies worldwide including Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, the USA, Canada, Bali, Chile, Scotland, Ireland, the UK among others. Leon directed Phuket Fantasea a long-standing production that has been running for over 24 years in Phuket, Thailand. He has a passion for creating international partnerships, receiving honours for his teaching from Romania and Russia, and as Visiting Professor in Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea and other countries.

About the speaker

Sanja Krsmanović Tasić, President of IDEA

Sanja is a theatre director, choreographer, actress, teaching artist and producer. An acclaimed international expert in the realm of drama/theatre education, devised theatre and dance, Sanja is the author of an original methodology called 'ecology of the soul', based on developing creative potentials of each individual through an artistic process. Both individually and together with her theatre group, she tours performances and conducts workshops around the globe, also giving lectures and keynotes.

Sanja is a a core member, actress and choreographer of the the first Serbian theatre laboratory DAH Teatar for more than two decades, and the Program Director of Dah Theatre Research Centre (now DAH Theatre Centre for Culture and Social Change). She is one of the founders and artistic director of Hleb teatar, and the umbrella association for performing arts Artistic Utopia as well as founder and director of the Children and Youth Theatre Festival Mater Terra and a dance festival Days of Smiljana Mandukić, dedicated to one of the pioneers of contemorary dance in Yugoslavia. She is the initiator and author of various artistic and education projects, and is developing new forms in theatre, such as an 'essay in movement', and documentary dance.

Sanja is the current president of the Centre for Drama in Education and Art (CEDEUM), as well as the president of the International Association of Drama/Theatre and Education (IDEA).

About the moderator

Dr Romina Boldașu is Assistant Professor of the Master's degree in Theatre Pedagogy and Vice Dean of the Theatre Faculty in UNATC. She is involved in interdisciplinary research projects, activities that promote the importance of theatre in education as well as the training and coaching of theatre instructors. She is also the author and co-author of several books in the field of arts education. 

About the performers

Lindsay Vickery has been active as a composer and performer across Europe, the US and Asia since 1986. His music includes works for acoustic and electronic instruments in interactive-electronic, improvised or fully notated settings, ranging from solo pieces to opera, and has been commissioned by numerous groups for concert, dance and theatre. His music has been described as 'always intriguing' by The Wire, 'truly an original voice and his work is one of sustained intensity that resonates in the mind long after the performance is over' and a 'master of technological wizardry' The Australian.

Lindsay is a highly regarded performer on reed instruments and electronics, touring as a soloist and with ensembles in festivals including Myrkir Músiíkdagar, Audio Art, ISEA, SWR Tage für Neue Musik MATA, NWEAMO, WHATISMUSIC? and the Shanghai, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth International Arts Festivals. He was a founding member of Alea New Music Ensemble (1987–1992), Magnetic Pig (1992–2003), SQUINT (2002–), HEDKIKR (2002–) and Decibel (2009–). He is the recipient of Sounds Australian Award (1989), Churchill Fellowship (1995) to study electronic music at STEIM, CNMAT (1995) and a seeding Grant by the Australian Major Festivals Initiative to conduct research at STEIM, HarvestWorks, and the University of Illinois (Champagne-Urbana) (2001).

Lindsay is active as a lecturer, writer and critic and a regular contributor to journals and conferences including Organised Sound, ICMC, NIME, TENOR, SMC EVAA and ACMC. His research interests are in the fields of screenscores, eye-movement tracking, interactive music, non-linear formal structures, new media, the use of film as a score, poly-tempo music, alternate controllers, music analysis and music culture. He has also worked as a music critic for The West Australian, The Business Times (Singapore) and Soundscapes magazine and written programme notes for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on the work of Arvo Pärt. He was the co-convener of the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2003 and 2016 and the International Computer Music Conference 2013.

Dr Darren Moore (DMA) is an internationally recognised musician and Senior Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. He is active in Southeast Asia, Japan and Europe, in activities reflecting his goal of aligning teaching, professional practice and research interests. He is a drummer, electronic musician and researcher whose output is forward-looking and aims to generate new ideas working on projects that involve improvisation, multidisciplinary collaboration, experimental music practice, popular music studies and Carnatic Indian rhythms. His recent projects include experimental electro-acoustic duo Black Zenith with Brian O’Reilly and free jazz group Big Foot featuring Akira Sakata (sax), Yong Yandsen (sax), Seo Takashi (bass). Additionally, Darren is the musical director for the cellF project which has been exhibited internationally at festivals such as Ars Electronica, CTM music festival and will be shown at the Venice Music Biennale in 2023.

His research interests centre on interdisciplinary work and collaborative improvisation. In 2013 he completed a Doctorate in Musical Arts in Performance at Griffith University, Australia, which explored adapting Carnatic Indian rhythms to the drum set. He has published several book chapters in Embodied Performativity in Southeast Asia (Routledge 2021), The Future of Live Music (Bloombury 2020) and Handbook of Artificial Intelligence for Music (Springer 2021). 

Brian O'Reilly works within the fields of electroacoustic composition, sound installations, moving images and noise music. He is also a contrabassist focusing on uncovering the inaudible textures and hidden acoustic microsounds of his instrument by integrating electronic treatments and extended playing techniques.

He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, focusing on sonic art, kinetic sculpture and analog video synthesis utilising the Sandin Image Processor. He was also at this time engaged in independent studies in music improvisation, composition and synthesis. He relocated to Paris in the late 1990s to research the composition methods of composer and architect Iannis Xenakis. He worked extensively with Xenakis' electronic music system, utilising graphic sonic synthesis of the UPIC. After a time of research at Les Ateliers UPIC, he received an appointment as music assistant for Luc Ferrari on his audio and video installation Cycle Des Souvenirs and Eliane Radigue on her electroacoustic work L'Ile Re-sonante, amongst others.

His research interests focuses on the solo performances of live electroacoustic music and works for moving images, Brian also plays modular analog synthesiser and generates visuals in the duos Black Zenith and Electromagnetic Objects and contributes contrabass and electronics to the noise-jazz group Game of Patience. Currently, he is a lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts' School of Contemporary Music, focusing on electronic music composition, visual music and creative music-making techniques through the use of improvisation. He is finishing up a Masters in Fine Arts at LASALLE in drawing and painting. 

Andreas currently heads LASALLE College of the Art's Media Lab. He is also the co-founder of the art collective syntfarm.org, where many of his collaborative projects are based. He stays active within the international media arts environment and regularly contributes to the open source community ‘processing.org’.

After graduating from Merz Akademie Stuttgart (Germany) with a Diploma in Communication Design, Andreas went on to attain a MA from the University of Portsmouth (United Kingdom) in 2000 and a MSc at the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA) in 2004. 

With a background in Design and Media Arts, his artistic practice focuses on using new technologies to seek new forms of expression. His research explores the potential of computational and generative processes, physical computing and human-computer interactions, i.e. the study of interaction between people and computers, in artistic and everyday life situations.

Andreas has several years of experience in the creative industries in Germany. He is also a practising artist who has exhibited his individual and collaborative works internationally. His works have been shown at ISEA (Nagoya, Japan, 2002), Singapore, (2008), Dislocate (Tokyo, Japan, 2007), ARCO (Madrid, Spain, 2006) and SFMOMA (San Francisco, USA, 2002).