Listen to the soundscape above for a sense of this fascinating workshop that took place at the ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering 2019 in Kristiansand. For more information about the session, check out the workshop synopsis below.
Soundpainting is the live composing sign language created in 1974 by New York-based Composer Walter Thompson for Musicians, Dancers, Actors, Poets, and Visual Artists.
Soundpainting is a fascinating tool that may be used to work with children, Art Students, Teachers, Amateur Theatre Groups or Choirs, and children with different cultural backgrounds or with special needs. It helps practice listening, understanding group energy, and improving individual skills of improvising with voice, movement, or with a theatrical character. Its multidisciplinary structure gives every single participant the possibility to perform and to compose during the same workshop or project.
The education system of our time leaves limited space for creativity and innovation whereas Soundpainting offers a new space for creativity by allowing participants to make mistakes. In fact, they are encouraged to see their mistakes as new possibilities. In Soundpainting, the motto for this idea is called, “Wrong and Strong!” The tool lets participants discover new ways of thinking, new areas of personal strengths, and new possibilities for group dynamics. Improvising freely within a given frame and not getting lost in the concepts of specific techniques result in artistic self-realisation and creative fulfilment.
During this Soundpainting workshop, participants practiced basic gestures and their responses with voice, movement, and acting as Performers, as well as how to use gestures as a Soundpainter.
Ceren Oran (born in 1984, Istanbul) moved to Salzburg to study Contemporary Dance at SEAD. After finishing her postgraduate programme, the ICE (International Choreographic Exchange), at SEAD in 2010, she started to work at Toihaus Theatre (Salzburg). Here she began to create Dance Theatre for Young Audiences whilst dancing for countless productions of the company. Since 2014, Ceren has been based in Munich, working as a freelance Choreographer, Dancer and, Soundpainter.
Text adapted from workshop synopsis.
