Lab Prerequisites
Entry to all ParaTheatrical ReSearch labs is by invitation and/or interview.
E-mail all inquiries to noform@paratheatrical.com or call (510) 464-4640
1) 24 years or older (some exceptions may apply; inquire with director)
2) physically fit and good overall health (no physical or internal injuries)
3) survival needs met (means of income, shelter, friends outside of Lab)
attendance, safety, creativity, and asocial intent
Paratheatre labs occur in an asocial, non-performance climate where the pressure to perform is released and replaced by the freedom and the responsibility for creating your own pressures. This process of self-created pressure begins as each participant takes a silent vow to become accountible for their own safety and creativity. Consistency of attendence is also expected. This vow is taken to support and challenge the autonomy and integrity of each individual.
1) ATTENDANCE.
This work requires consistent attendance to assure the quality and standards we are aiming to achieve. If you forsee missing more than two sessions of any ritual lab, do not bother to apply. Punctuality is also expected; please arrive early and/or on time. The doors are locked 15 minutes after each lab session starts to protect the integrity of a process that has already begun.
2) SAFETY.
Participants
vow to be responsible
for their
personal
safety.
Due to
the
physically, emotionally
and psychologically
challenging
nature
of this
work,
participants are asked to tend to their
own
fears,
needs and limitations
as they come up and find
ways to
restore a
sense
of
safety, well being and equillibrium whenever necessary (even
if
this
means discontinuing
the
work).
This
trial-by-error
process of being responsible for restoring your own sense of your own safety
usually produces
immediate
results.
3) CREATIVITY.
Participants vow to be responsible for exciting
their
own
creative
states.
Nobody in these labs will or can
tell you, or
show
you, how
to create. Creativity involves
discovery
and its pathways are defined
by each participant if they are to be truly creative.
The creative
process
is not always
easy, inspiring
or fun;
sometimes
it's
fraught
with
difficulties.
We encourage self-discipline to meet
your
own frustrations and
boredoms
as they
come up and to summon
the
necessary self-commitment to work with them and through
them.
4) ASOCIAL INTENT.
This
work is not a social process nor does it produce social
rituals.
Though
our social
needs
are
important,
in t this
work they
inhibit creativity
and act as a distraction
from serving
other
sources
beyond
our social needs for approval, belonging, status and friendship. Even though we work in groups, much of the initial training process is solitary in nature with minimal interaction with others.
Interplay with others eventually avails itself as certain basic paratheatre techniques are learned and integrated.
Asocial does not mean anti-social. Ours is not a hostile environment but a rare area sanctioned for creative ritual experimentation. Our aim is to uncover and explore a group unity born from individual sovereignty that, with increasing self commitment, can blossom into a kind of miraculous interaction of self-governing bodies. This asocial intent is neither dogma nor philosophy but a technique to support effective work in this medium.
Each LAB session runs about three hours and starts with 5-phase PHYSICAL WARM UP CYCLE. These five phases are linked to five separate objectives: 1) STILLNESS, 2) FLEXING THE SPINE, 3) CORE, 4) STRETCHING and 5) HEAT. Each phase lasts approx 6 minutes for a 30 minute warm-up. Each objective is met in your own way.
THE PHYSICAL WARM UP CYCLE is approached in solitude; nobody relates with anyone else and everyone remains in their own personal areas. The overall objective of the Physical Warm-Up is accumulating personal presence while meeting the central physical need of feeling the body deeply.
1) STILLNESS
any posture allowing physical inaction and meditation; to empty and engage internal receptivity; to still the mind and connect with vertical source; silent prayer. to be physically still...
2) FLEXING THE SPINE
rendering the spine more flexible; to stimulate and awaken the nervous systems for more direct neurological engagement with ritually invoked energies
3) CORE
working the abdominal region through whatever means (yoga, Pilates, etc) brings heat and energy to the core of our being/body
4) STRETCHING THE MUSCLES
to feel the body deeply by breathing into the muscles while stretching; to locate and stretch into “numb” areas; to keep satisfying the body’s need to be felt deeply
5) GENERATING HEAT
any movements, within one’s personal area, that generate enough body heat to break a sweat; to move in ways to contain the heat and to mark your boundaries with these movements
To find out more about what actually happens in these labs
(short of participating in them) please refer to the links below.
questions,
comments ? e-mail me.
-- Antero Alli,
director
ParaTheatrical ReSearch