SpaceLab Gathering Prague: Zlomvaz

Zlomvaz 2014
May 7 – 10, 2014, Prague

This year's Zlomvaz has come and passed and was very successful! For the 3^rd time, Students from Theatre Faculty of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU) joined forces with the Prague Quadrennial and aside the presentation of 36 performances prepared workshops with first class foreign lectors.

Apart from the students from the participating schools from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Netherlands and Great Britain, the lectors also attracted the festival visitors from the outside. What turned out to be a unique experience for the participants was the workshop of Boris Bakal, focused on the inner dramaturgy of a performer, as it sent out the participants on personally tailored missions in the centre of Prague. The light-design workshop led by Nick Moran offered an interesting point of view on an area oscillating between a profession and art. Due to the orientation of the participants across all theatre professions (including actors and directors), one of the most valuable Moran's insights was his analysis of different approaches to lighting actors depending on their different acting schools. The simultaneously running seminar Organization and management of live music events was most appreciated in high numbers by students of the Production department at DAMU.

The special guest of this year's festival, Frank Totino, who led an improvisation workshop, attracted – apart from the students – also a significant attention from the outside visitors. During his two day workshop he set the record straight on some of the myths surrounding improvisation theatre and put the typical improvisation games into context, demonstrating their original purpose. Hungarian lector Gábor Takács led a workshop focused on educational theatre gathered a similar enthusiastic response from the out of school public as well as from the students. Similarly to Boris Bakal, the artistic duo Esteve Soler and Jordi Queralt from Barcelona presented a workshop tailored especially to Prague. Their programme Against the City will continue in June in Holešovice in collaboration with the DOX gallery and Divadlo Letí. The overall great interest in workshops was affirmed by the voice relaxing workshop at the end of the festival led by DAMU teacher Ivana Vostárková, which apart from a very high attendance scored also the interest of the London students and ran with a simultaneous translation into English. The 21^st Zlomvaz therefore showed the great meaning and response to the student collaboration with the Prague Quadrennial and the foreign lectors.

Zlomvaz festival took place between May 7 and 10, 2014 at Theatre Faculty of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.