After a break for awhile, we hit the road again, traveling to California to teach at CIIS and Tamalpa Institute.  At CIIS, we taught a 4-day Intermodal Expressive Arts course to second year students in the three-year Masters Program in Expressive Arts Therapy.  At Tamalpa, we taught public workshops in Neutral Mask for one day and in Clown for another day. 

              A flyer from these workshops:

Stay tuned for more adventures....we are off now until September, spending our usual two months in Switzerland at EGS.  Coming up in 2012 and 2013 are more trips:  Vancouver, Istanbul, Moscow and more.....we will keep you posted!!

Have a great summer!!

Right after returning from Switzerland, we went back to the airport and were on our way to the IEATA Conference in Lima!

I (Ellen) led a pre-conference workshop with 50 participants.  We went to a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the city and spent the day with a street theatre company that makes giant puppets and performances.  They are called “The Great March of the Giant Puppets”  They also run a theatre school for children where they teach stilt-walking, dance/movement, and involve the children in creating their own productions. Here is more information about them:

The Great March of the Giant Puppets (La Gran Marcha de los Muñecones)
The Center for Research Broadcast and Training, La Gran Marcha de los Muñecones (The Great March of the Giant Puppets) is an association that works in Comas, one of the most dynamic districts in Lima, despite high poverty rates. The group presents characters and theatre in open spaces, such as parades, turning the streets into theatres. They use giant puppets (muñecones), dance, music and circus modalities, cultivating the imagination and fantasy of the people in the street. They believe in art as a means of communication and cultural literacy of the people. For them, art is a part of the education of citizens and a means of social and individual transformation. They are key organizers, for the last nine years, of the International Festival of Open Street Theatre (FITECA).

It was amazing to see what they were doing and to experience their commitment to bringing the arts into their own community.  We could really see art in action, bringing out resources.

Steve gave several lectures at the conference, one together with GONZALO PORTOCARRERO, Ph.D who is a professor of anthropology in Lima and another with a woman from the organization, Chirapaq, who works with empowering indigenous groups.  CHIRAPAQ is a civil association formed by Indian citizens working in Peru to build a pluralistic and equitable society. CHIRAPAQ aims to live in a society where the rights, dreams and aspirations of indigenous peoples are respected. They have a special commitment to the Indian woman, as bearer and holder of cultural heritage. CHIRAPAQ is part of national and international indigenous movement, actively participating in different networks that seek the social, cultural and economic development of indigenous people.

As usual, we left Toronto in May last year and in June, we traveled to Switzerland for the 16th summer!  

In the beauty of the Swiss alps, we teach, give performances and connect with students from all over the world.  Steve and I teach the doctoral students together in the core sessions and we also teach separate courses in both the doctoral and the masters programs.  

The first period is usually rather small and intimate and the second period is much larger.

A highlight of the summer is an original clown show which we write and direct together, involving students as well.  We always perform the show after the graduation ceremony.  This summer, as usual, Max and Sadie returned to Saas Fee and created a bit of chaos and confusion!

Just a year ago, we were teachers in the Spring Symposium again.  The Symposium is a yearly, international gathering of teachers, trainers, students and participants who are involved in expressive arts.  There are four studios taught by leaders in the field.  This year, the teachers included:  Steve Levine and Isabelle Schenkel (Geneva) teaching clown opera, Ellen Levine and Jacques Stitlemann (installation),  Markus Alexander and Margo Fuchs-Knill (poetry), Greer Essex and Andreas Meyer (dance).  Participants spend one full day working with the teachers in each of the studios. 

This year we were hosted in Lisbon by Carla Ferreira ( an expressive arts coach and trainer) who arranged for our workshops to take place in the Gulbenkian Museum in the center of Lisbon.  Part of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, it houses a magnificent collection of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Islamic, Asian, and European art.  

The theme of this Symposium was taken from Fellini’s film, E La Nave Va (And the Ship Sails On).  In the film, a luxury liner leaves Italy in 1914 with the ashes of the famous opera singer Tetua. The boat is filled with her friends, opera singers, actors and all kinds of exotic people.  There also happens to be a sick rhinoceros in the bottom of the ship!  All kinds of crazy things happen. 

One of the great features of the museum was the large garden surrounding it.  In the workshop led by myself and Jacques Stitlemann (leader of L’Atelier, training in arts therapies, in Geneva), participants made small group structures with rope and fabric and materials in the garden.  After constructing their “homes,” they used the structures as sites for performances involving theatre, sound and movement. 

The community art sessions, led by Paolo Knill, involved ships and a rhino.....


As a finale, Carla arranged for us to travel around Lisbon harbor on the Principe Perfeito, a tall ship.  On the ship, we had our rhino and we danced and sang in the ballroom.

Next year, the Symposium will take place in Istanbul!!  The dates are:  
April 2-7, 2013.  Steve and I will be teaching Clown together there.  Here is the poster.