École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq is a school of physical theatre previously 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 d ...

in the

10th arrondissement of Paris The 10th arrondissement of Paris (''Xe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le dixième'' (; "the tenth", formally ''l ...

. In May of 2023 the school announced its departure from Paris and relocation to

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, where its next season training would commence that autumn. 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 of

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 collective ...

Steven Berkoff Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style known as "Be ...

and

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

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…'' His method, called mimodynamics and involving corporeal 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 A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

buffoon A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

Commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...

clowning A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...

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 Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance (ability), balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sports, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most ...

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 o ...

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 pr ...

, 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 is the practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography can be defined as the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of plac ...

Notable alumni

* Isaac Alvarez - choreographer, mime, actor, pedagogue, founder of "Théâtre du Moulinage" * Philippe Avron - actor *

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

- actor and musician *

- playwright and actor * Kate Brooke- screenwriter * Chris Channing- performance artist and theatre maker * Leah Cherniak - Canadian playwright and director * Salim Daw - Palestinian actor * Avner Eisenberg - performer, teacher *

Isla Fisher Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress. Born in Oman to Scottish parents with whom she moved to Australia during her childhood, she began appearing in television commercials and came to prominence for her portrayal o ...

- comedian, actor *Giovanni Fusetti - theatre pedagogue, founder of Helikos, Florence, Italy *

Philippe Gaulier Philippe Gaulier is a French master clown, pedagogue, and professor of theatre. He is the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a French theatre school in Étampes, outside Paris. He studied under Jacques Lecoq in the mid-1960s and was an instr ...

- clown, teacher and founder o
L'École Philippe Gaulier
* Dean Gilmour - actor, director * Chris Harris, English pantomime dame, director and writer *

Charlotte Hope Charlotte Hope (born 15 October 1991) is an English actress. She first achieved recognition for her recurring role as Myranda in the third to fifth seasons of the HBO fantasy series '' Game of Thrones'' (2013–2016). Hope gained further pro ...

- actor * Sophie Hunter - director *

Toby Jones Toby Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. He is known for his extensive character actor roles on stage and screen. From 1989 ...

- actor *

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

- artist * Beejan Land, actor * Victoria Legrand - singer, musician, member of

Beach House (band) Beach House is an American indie band formed in Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is characterized by a hypnotic dream p ...

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 (writer), Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, ''The Vital Spark'', and as the teacher in Pink Floyd's m ...

- actor *

- actor, director and founder of '' Théâtre de Complicité'' * Gates McFadden – actor, choreographer * Adrian Pecknold - founder of Canadian Mime Theatre * Ariane Mnouchkine - director, writer and founder of ''

'' * Richard Pochinko - 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 (play), 'Art and ''God of Carnage''. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues. ...

- playwright *

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. Known for often playing eccentric roles on both stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Geoffrey Rush, numerous accolades, including an Academy Aw ...

- actor * Toby Sedgwick - director/actor (choreographed '' War Horse'') *

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 (musical), The Lion King'' debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Awards, Tony Award nominations, with ...

–

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

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#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

director * Ayse Tashkiran-movement director and author on movement * - actress, writer and producer. Colombia. 1997. *

Kani Kusruti Kani Kusruti is an Indian actress known primarily for her work in Malayalam films. She first gained recognition in 2009 with the film ''Kerala Cafe'', in which her performance was critically acclaimed. Kani won the Kerala State Film Award for Be ...

, actress * Suzy Willson, director and co-founder of Clod Ensemble

References

Sources

*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