SYNOPSIS
Character is more than just what a person says or does. Much about the inner life of a character can be conveyed through physicality: how they move in space, their posture, gait, nervous tics, facial nuances, and other subtle forms of physical expression. What is the difference between conscious movement and physicality that is an accidental manifestation of the inner life? How can the actor’s body be used to express psychological characteristics? Can a simple gesture, conscious or subconscious, further the story? This panel of performers, choreographers, and educators will explore the possibilities of movement to create meaning and metaphor in story, and the ways an actor can more thoroughly embody a character through choreography, physicality, gesture, and movement.
PANELIST BIOS
David Bridel
David Bridel was appointed dean of the USC School of Dramatic Arts on April 15, 2016. An accomplished director, choreographer, playwright, librettist and performer, Bridel’s work in these disciplines has been seen at the Mark Taper Forum, the Odyssey Theater, the Ford Amphitheatre, the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble and the Broad Stage in Los Angeles; the BMI Musical Workshop and the Bound for Broadway series in New York; at Shakespeare & Company and Barrington Stage in Mass.; the Roy Hart Theatre in Malerargues, France; the TEDxUSC conference 2012 and TEDxBeijing 2014; in opera houses in Los Angeles, Paris, Vienna, Munich, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Santiago and Madrid; on screen (PBS’ Great Performances series and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars); and at universities, festivals and theatres in the U.S., U.K., Israel, China, Hong Kong, Australia, Austria and Brazil – including the Beijing Film Academy, the National Theatre of China and at the Stanislavsky Institute in Sao Paulo.
Bridel’s original plays Lunatics and Actors , I Gelosi and Sublimity are published by Original Works Press (Sublimity, Bridel’s solo performance, won the Best Satire Award at the 2013 United Solo Festival in New York). He is also the winner of an ARC Grant from the Center for Cultural Initiatives, a Cultural Engagement Grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs, an Entertainment Weekly Special Events Award, a NYFA Fiction Award, an Anna Sosenko Musical Theater Award, and a Zumberge Award for his research project, Clowns Across Continents. He also co-authored the recent book Clowns: In Conversation With Modern Masters, published by Routledge, and his adaptation of Doctor Faustus, directed by Andre Belgrader, performed at Classic Stage Company in New York in 2015.
Dean Bridel has contributed to American Theatre magazine and he is the Founding and Artistic Director of The Clown School in Los Angeles, the only studio in the city devoted exclusively to the study and practice of clowning, officially partnered with Improv First in Beijing and the Stanislavsky Institute in Brazil.
Sarah Elgart
Sarah Elgart has been on the forefront of dance in Los Angeles as a choreographer, director, and producer for many years. Known most recently for her large scale, site-specific productions as well as her dance films, Elgart’s work engages audiences by transforming and catalyzing bus terminals, airports, museums and more with movement, music, and media, to make magic out of the mundane, allowing viewers to see “old places with new eyes”.
In addition to her live work, Elgart has choreographed extensively for film, commercials, and television, working with noted directors including JJ Abrams, Catherine Hardwicke, Fredrik Bond, David Lynch and others. Sarah worked for years in various capacities with Dance Camera West, where she was pivotal in the production of the AFI and LA premiere of Wim Wender’s Academy Award Nominated film Pina, as well as in introducing live site-specific dance to the organization’s annual film festival. She has directed music videos for recording artists including Mia Doi Todd and Angela Luna and in 2011 directed an Emmy nominated PSA for Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. In 2009, she produced “Put it in a Book”, a short film by award winning director Rodrigo Garcia starring Kerry Washington and Michael Ealy. In addition to her regular choreography and directing work, Elgart currently writes a bi-weekly column called ScreenDance Diaries about the intersections of dance and film for the on-line magazine Cultural Weekly, where Elgart also launched and produced an international on-line, dance film festival, “Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival”.
Vincent Paterson
Vincent Paterson’s career as a director and choreographer includes creations in film, theater Broadway, concert tours, opera, music videos, television and commercials.
As a director and choreographer, Vincent created many works for Madonna and Michael Jackson including Madonna's BLOND AMBITION TOUR (on which the film, TRUTH OR DARE is based), and her legendary Marie Antoinette VOGUE performance for MTV and the choreography for her videos EXPRESS YOURSELF and VOGUE. For Michael Jackson, with whom he worked for over 15 years, Vincent created the BAD TOUR, as well as SMOOTH CRIMINAL and BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR and multiple other Jackson music videos and live performances, from Michael’s Grammy Award appearance to the SUPERBOWL HALFTIME SHOW.
Vincent directed and choreographed the musical sequences in Lars Von Trier's film, DANCER IN THE DARK, winner of the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival. Among the many films he choreographed are THE BIRDCAGE and CLOSER for director Mike Nichols, EVITA for director Alan Parker, HOOK for Steven Spielberg. His short film, THRENODY, a dance-performance perspective on the tragedy of 9/11 has been broadcast nationally and was produced and shot by Joe Pytka.
The TNT Telefilm, IN SEARCH OF DR. SEUSS, which Vincent directed and choreographed, received seven Emmy nominations. Vincent received a Tony nomination for choreographing Hal Prince's KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN.
He has worked with a star-studded list of musicians: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Van Halen, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Lee Ann Rimes, Diana Ross, Lionel Ritchie, David Lee Roth, Slash, Whitney Houston, to name a few.
Jean-Louis Rodrigue
Born in Casablanca, Morocco, Jean-Louis Rodrigue is an internationally recognized acting coach and teacher of the Alexander Technique, and a pioneer in its application to theater and film. His unique style of acting coaching and character movement choreography can be seen on television and in many feature films. He coached Leonardo DiCaprio with his acclaimed performance in J. EDGAR and collaborated with Ang Lee and screenwriter David Magee in the development of the tiger movement for LIFE OF PI. He has worked with many actors and performers including Sir Ian McKellen, Forest Whitaker, Paul Dano, Luke Kirby, Martha Argerich, Herb Alpert, Helena Bonham Carter, Keanu Reeves, Tate Donovan, Julia Sweeney, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Baker, Joely Richardson, Sally Kellerman, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and JoBeth Williams.
He is currently a member of the faculties at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, the Howard Fine Acting Studios in Hollywood and Australia, and teaches regularly for Larry Moss.
Moderator - Tom Bentley-Fisher
Tom Bentley-Fisher has been the artistic director of five professional theatres, has directed over one hundred productions at theatres across Canada, Spain, and the U.S, and has taught his approach to movement and acting in universities, theatre schools, and studios throughout North America and Europe for over 30 years. He began his career as an actor training in New York and London with Sanford Meisner and Yat Malmgren, and then performed in London’s West End with Vanessa Redgrave before moving onto directing and teaching.
Early on Tom developed a reputation for developing and staging physically evocative world premieres for some of Canada’s finest playwrights, as well as the premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel’s The Oldest Profession. His productions have been featured at the acclaimed Festival Grec de Barcelona, including his 2016, multi-lingual international co-production of Burning Vision, incorporating film, dance and original music. He has also been featured at the Festival Teatre Clásico de Mérida in Spain, directing his all female version of The Iliad.
For the past eight years Tom has been the artistic director of Tant per Tant, Theatre in Translation, an international multi-lingual theatre company producing and exchanging work between Canada and Spain. He is currently the co-artistic director of Waterfront Production House & Conservatory in Berkeley, CA. Tom’s approach is based on the work of Yat Malmgren, The Psychology of Movement. Actors trained in Yat’s approach include Sir Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, Sean Connery, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Helen McCrory, and Michael Fassbender.
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