École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq is a school of physical theatre located on

Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis The Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis is a street in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. It crosses the arrondissement from north to south, linking the Porte Saint-Denis to La Chapelle Métro station and passing the Gare du Nord. History The Rue du F ...

in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1956 by

Jacques Lecoq Jacques Lecoq (15 December 1921 – 19 January 1999) was a French stage actor and acting movement coach. He was best known for his teaching methods in physical theatre, movement, and mime which he taught at the school he founded in Paris known a ...

, the school offers a professional and intensive two-year course emphasizing the body, movement and space as entry points in theatrical performance and prepares its students to create collaboratively. This method is called mimodynamics. The school's graduate list includes renowned figures of stage such as

Ariane Mnouchkine Ariane Mnouchkine (; born 3 March 1939) is a French stage director. She founded the Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble ''Théâtre du Soleil'' in 1964. She wrote and directed ''1789'' (1974) and ''Molière'' (1978), and directed ''La Nuit Mirac ...

Théâtre du Soleil Le Théâtre du Soleil (, "The Theater of the Sun") is a Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble founded by Ariane Mnouchkine, Philippe Léotard and fellow students of the '' L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq'' in 1964 as a collecti ...

, Steven Berkoff and

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ...

of Théâtre de Complicité, among others.

Program

The Lecoq program lasts for two years. Ninety students from all over the world are accepted in the first year, and out of these, thirty will be accepted into the second year. Classes are conducted in French.

Two year program

:The first year focuses upon observing movement dynamics in the world and in doing so, rediscovering life anew. In the words of Jacques Lecoq: ::''To mime is to literally embody and therefore understand better. A person who handles bricks all day long reaches a point where he no longer knows what he is handling. It has become an automatic part of his physical life. If he is asked to mime the object, he rediscovers the meaning of the object, its weight and volume. This has interesting consequences for our teaching method: miming is a way of rediscovering a thing with renewed freshness…'' Note that his method, called mimodynamics and involving corporal movement, is not miming in the traditional sense, as the spoken word is involved. The focus and the goals of mimodynamics are widely different from those of miming.* :Aside from observing the world anew through the study of natural elements, materials, animals, words, sounds and colours, students also discover themselves anew with the Neutral Mask, an exercise which reveals their habits and tendencies and teaches stage presence. :The second year focuses on exploring major dramatic territories, such as melodrama,

buffoon A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs and ...

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

, Commedia dell'arte

clowning A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in t ...

and so on.

Classes

:In general, each day students have three sessions: #Movement analysis. This includes physical preparation – learning and analysing 20 essential movements, acrobatics,

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object ...

stage combat Stage combat, fight craft or fight choreography is a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet p ...

, etc. #Improvisation. #Autocours. Each Friday, students are asked to work in groups to prepare for a performance upon a certain theme related to their other classwork. The process of collaborative directing is often frustrating at first, but allows students to engage with each other creatively. In this way, students get to know each other extremely well, and also learn to work with others to create a piece of work.

Laboratory of Movement (LEM)

:In addition to the two-year professional course the school also offers LEM, a course which studies space and rhythm through

scenography Scenography (inclusive of scenic design, lighting design, sound design, costume design) is a practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography is the combination of technological and material ...

Notable alumni

* Isaac Alvarez - choreographer, mime, actor, pedagogue, founder of Theatre du Moulinage *

Philippe Avron Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Coun ...

- actor *

- director, writer and founder of ''

'' * Steven Berkoff - playwright and actor * Kate Brooke- screenwriter * Chris Channing- performance artist and theatre maker * Leah Cherniak - Canadian playwright and director * Avner Eisenberg - performer, teacher * Philippe Gaulier - clown, teacher and founder o
L'École Philippe Gaulier
* Chris Harris, English pantomime dame, director and writer *

Sophie Hunter Sophie Irene Hunter (born 16 March 1978) is an English theatre director, playwright and former actress and singer. She made her directorial debut in 2007 co-directing the experimental play ''The Terrific Electric'' at the Barbican Pit after her ...

- director *

Toby Jones Tobias Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. Jones made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama '' Orlando'' in 1992. H ...

- actor *

Joey Batey Joey Batey (born 1989) is an English actor, musician, singer, and songwriter. He is known for portraying the bard Jaskier in the Netflix fantasy series ''The Witcher'', where he sang " Toss a Coin to Your Witcher", as well other songs featured in ...

- actor and musician *

William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...

- artist *

Alex McAvoy Alex McAvoy (10 March 1928 – 16 June 2005) was a Scottish actor known for his roles as Sunny Jim in the BBC Scotland adaptation of Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, ''The Vital Spark'', and as the teacher in Pink Floyd's musical film, ''The W ...

- actor *

- actor, director and founder of '' Théâtre de Complicité'' *

Gates McFadden Cheryl Gates McFadden (born March 2, 1949) is an American actress and choreographer. She is usually credited as Cheryl McFadden when working as a choreographer and Gates McFadden for acting work. She is best known for playing Dr. Beverly Crusher ...

– actor, choreographer *

Adrian Pecknold Adrian Pecknold (1920–1999) was a Canadian mime, director, and author of the book ''Mime: The Step Beyond Words''. He is popularly known for his creation and depiction of Poco the Clown in the popular Canadian children's television program ...

- founder of Canadian Mime Theatre *Giovanni Fusetti - theatre pedagogue, founder of Helikos, Florence, Italy *

Richard Pochinko Richard Pochinko (1946–1989) was a notable Canadian clown trainer who developed a new style of mask/clown performance training, known as the "Pochinko technique". Originally from Selkirk, Manitoba, he was based primarily in Toronto, Ontario a ...

- clown, teacher at the Theatre Resource Centre and creator of the "Canadian Clowning/Pochinko Clowning Technique" *

Yasmina Reza Yasmina Reza (born 1 May 1959) is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter best known for her plays Art and ''God of Carnage''. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues. The 2011 blac ...

- playwright *

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy Award, a Primetime Em ...

- actor * Toby Sedgwick - director/actor (choreographed ''

War Horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot designs ...

'') *

Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King'' debuted in 1997, and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for Best ...

– film and

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

director * Ayse Tashkiran-movement director and author on movement * Dean Gilmour - actor, director *

Isla Fisher Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...

- comedian, actor *

Victoria Legrand Victoria Garance Alixe Legrand (born May 28, 1981) is a French-American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter and keyboardist of the dream pop duo Beach House. Early life Legrand was born in Paris, France, the daughter of painte ...

- singer, musician, member of

Beach House (band) Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals). Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 to ...

* Beejan Land, actor * - actress, writer and producer. Colombia. 1997. *

Kani Kusruti Kani Kusruti (born 12 September 1985) is an Indian actress and model. She first gained recognition in 2009 with the film '' Kerala Cafe'', where her performance was critically acclaimed. Kani won the Best Actress at Kerala State Film Awards in ...

, actress *

Suzy Willson Suzy Willson (born 1970) is a British director and choreographer. Willson is co-artistic director of London-based performance company Clod Ensemble. Early life and education Willson was born in Northwood, Middlesex in 1970. She graduated with a ...

, director and co-founder of Clod Ensemble

References

*Lecoq, Jacques. (2000) ''The Moving Body''. London: Methuen. *Lecoq, Jacques. A comprehensive overview of his pedagogy, originally published as ''Le Corps poétique'' in French

External links

Official website, English version
{{DEFAULTSORT:L'ecole Internationale De Theatre Jacques Lecoq Drama schools in France Education in Paris Educational institutions established in 1956 1956 establishments in France