A school that integrates the FELDENKRAIS Method® with the arts
AUTOPOÏÉSIS, école d’art FELDENKRAIS® was founded in 1995 by three professional actors and directors, all certified teachers of the FELDENKRAIS Method®. The main objective of this school, a private non-profit corporation, is to integrate the FELDENKRAIS Method® of somatic education into the training, research and professional development of professional artists.
With purely artistic goals and with no concern for personal profit for its members, AUTOPOÏÉSIS also has as objective to offer professional and structured training in art, in disciplines whose nature relates to either the stage, literature or the visual arts; to offer professional development and support to artists working in one or several of the disciplines in the arts areas; to promote research in art within the various disciplines. This school receives no subsidies and no government aid.
The school offers a complementary or alternative approach to the teaching of the arts. It is directed especially to professional artists, those who have completed their basic training in the artistic field or, at least, are completing their training in a serious and committed way. Moreover, attending the school can be of great profit to experienced artists who will find opportunities for recharging their batteries.
The school is both managed and directed by ODETTE GUIMOND, co-founder of the school, who completed her performance training at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique de Montréal in 1976. She received her Ph.D. in Études françaises from the Université de Montréal in 1987 (thesis topic: L'acteur et le corps apparent in which she established the connections between the main theories and practices of theatre and the world of somatic education). She undertook professional studies in the FELDENKRAIS Method® in New York between 1987 and 1991. Since then, she has maintained a private practice in the FELDENKRAIS Method® for the general public. Nevertheless, the creation of AUTOPOÏÉSIS has provided her with the opportunity to share with other artists the results of her research on the integration of the method into artistic work, with particular emphasis on that of the theatre or stage.
Along the way, Odette Guimond was a founding member and president of Théâtre de la Nouvelle Lune, of the Centre de Recherche de la Nouvelle Lune, of the Association Québécoise des Professeures et des Professeurs de la Méthode Feldenkrais® (now the Association Feldenkrais® Québec) and of the Regroupement pour l’éducation somatique.
Today, Odette Guimond continues to belong to several organizations:
1. l’Association FELDENKRAIS® Québec (affiliated with the Feldenkrais® Guild of North America, the International FELDENKRAIS® Federation and the Regroupement pour l’éducation somatique),
2. The International University Theatre Association,
3. AUTOPOÏÉSIS, école d’art Feldenkrais® (cooperating member of the International Theatre Institute and of the UNESCO Chair of the ITI),
4. la Société Québécoise d’Études Théâtrales,
5. the Somatics Society
6. l’Union des Artistes
Through her association with the Regroupement pour l’éducation somatique, she holds a Certificat d’agrément (certificate of approval) from Emploi Québec through the law to promote the development of training the workforce in the categories of Administration and Commerce, as well as Health.
Ever since she graduated from the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique de Montréal, Odette Guimond has continued to pursue professional development activities. She has always believed that the teaching in public institutions of higher learning, especially in the arts, needed enriching with alternative or complementary approaches to basic professional development. And so, she learned much (1977-1978) in working with Paul Buissonneau at La Roulotte de Montréal (Le Chat Botté), then from her contact with Wolfram Mehring and Janine Grillon at the Centre International de l’Acteur at the Cité Universitaire (Paris) and from the European tour of the Théâtre de la Mandragore (Woyzeck et La Marmite). Other professional development sessions contributed to her own development, whether at the École de mime corporel du Quat’Sous (1979-1980) or the workshop she attended in which Monica Pagneux presented the FELDENKRAIS Method® and Philippe Gaulier presented Jacques Lecocq’s version of mime (1982).
Since then, her research work and creations have been nurtured by the practice of various methods favouring an approach to movement and creation by way of the body felt from within. This is especially true of Gerda Alexander’s Eutonie (between 1979 and 1985) and, more profoundly, of the FELDENKRAIS Method® of somatic education (ever since 1979) and contacts with artist-practitioners of this method.
Both actor and director, she has taught theatre, literature and somatic education in a number of universities ever since 1977, including the Université de Montréal (département d’Études françaises, Faculté de Musique), Concordia University (French Department), Université du Québec à Montréal – UQÀM - (École Supérieure de Théâtre, département de Danse), as well as in institutions specializing in theatre such as the Conservatoire Lassalle and the École de Théâtre du Collège Lionel Groulx. Since 1995, she has been teacher of Dramaturgy and Performance at the École de Théâtre du CÉGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe. In 2005, she entered into collaboration with the theatre department of the University of Arts “George Enescu”, Iasi (Romania) where she gave a summer session as part of the exchanges promoted by the UNESCO Chair of the International Theatre Institute.
She has acted for television and radio (special prize from Radio-Canada in 1980) but especially on stage where she has always favoured creation, for example at the Théâtre Expérimental des Femmes (Le rire de l’étrangère – 1983), Théâtre Acte 3 (Les enfants terribles – 1986) or Théâtre du Limonaire (Chants pour les amours mortes – 1986). She devoted herself especially to the Théâtre de la Nouvelle Lune (La littérature un spectacle – 1979; Entre nos mots, d’autres paroles and Bande de petits verrats! – 1980; L’ami des nègres – 1981; L’entracte de la Malentendue – 1983; L’échappée, initiation à la gravité – 1984; L’enfant mort sur le trottoir - 1986; La poche parmentier and Comédienne d’un certain âge pour jouer la femme de Dostoievski - 1987; Le Grand Cahier - 1989; La Preuve - 1990; Quand je parle d’une chose je parle d’autre chose - 1995; Chapitre Zéro, 1996).
As director, she has also worked for Théâtre Acte 3 (La Voix humaine - 1983; Appel au secours, Événement Handke - 1984). But much of her effort was invested in Théâtre de la Nouvelle Lune (Bande de petits verrats! - in collaboration with Carl Béchard - 1980; On est heureux sans bon sens/25 lignes de vie - 1982; L’Échappée, initiation à la gravité - 1984; L’enfant mort sur le trottoir and Concert à la carte - 1986; Le Grand Cahier - in collaboration with Jacques Rossi - 1989). Again in collaboration with Jacques Rossi, she adapted Agota Kristof’s Le Grand Cahier (1989) and La Preuve (1990) for Théâtre de la Nouvelle Lune. Odette Guimond and Jacques Rossi were enrolled in the number of best tandem creators in 1991 by Radio-Canada on the occasion of the Journée Mondiale du Théâtre.
Between 1989 and 1991, while in professional training in the FELDENKRAIS Method®, Odette Guimond led her first series of workshops in the integration of the Method with stage work at Théâtre de la Nouvelle Lune. The method was used during productions at Théâtre de la Nouvelle Lune, including Le Grand Cahier (1989). Since then, Odette Guimond has continued her research which led to the opening of AUTOPOÏÉSIS, école d’art Feldenkrais® in 1995.
SCHOOL HISTORY
The founders, all involved in the teaching of the arts and especially of theatre, perceived a need for a school where somatic education would be given a more important role in the work of artists and where it would provide a firm foundation for the programmes developed. The aim of the project was to develop methods of artistic work in keeping with the theoretical foundations of somatic education. The establishment of the school relied on the expertise developed by the founders, not only in their teaching but also, since 1979, in theatre workshops in research and production as part of Théâtre de la Nouvelle Lune, which for some ten years included a research centre. Odette Guimond, the present director of AUTOPOÏÉSIS, was one of the founders of this non-profit theatre company and its artistic director for more than fifteen years.
From the moment it was founded, AUTOPOÏÉSIS was immediately involved in the training, research and professional development of a number of professional artists, self-taught students and students enrolled in schools of higher learning (École de théâtre du Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, École supérieure de théâtre de l’UQÀM – at the Bachelor’s, Master’s or multidisciplinary doctoral levels of the Faculty of Arts of UQÀM). Moreover, internship programmes have allowed the development of solo creations and joint productions.
In the 2001-2002 year, for instance, about ten students or professional actors were enrolled from time to time in individual lessons and in 20-hour professional development courses. Another ten students were enrolled in the school in longer and more elaborate professional development programmes. Two female solos were created, one of which was produced by Mime Omnibus in Montreal in June 2002 and the other, in July 2002, by Sonomusa at the Toronto Fringe Festival. In 2003, ten students participated in longer and more detailed training programmes and about the same number in 2004.
Annually from 2000 to 2004, a different new theatrical creation presented at the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum in Montreal between May and September was also the result of professional development sessions of between 60 and 160 hours that included four actors and up to three stage designers. A partnership between AUTOPOÏÉSIS and this institution has provided young actors with the opportunity to participate in a creative workshop and to find employment using themes proposed by the Museum. The actors performed alternately in both French and English.
The workshop on Sophocles’s Antigone, developed as the final integrating stage of a professional development session of 160 hours and involving professionals in theatre, dance and vocal work, was presented in 2002 at the International Workshops of the UNESCO Chair of ITI based on the tragic character. It was subsequently presented at the Festival of Theatre Schools held in Athens, after it was chosen to represent North America by an international jury. In 2003, the partnership with the UNESCO Chair continued with the presentation of a demonstration workshop on the construction of the character, as part of the International Workshops based on Lope de Vega and Chekhov. This workshop was repeated in 2004 in Tampico, Mexico, once again to represent North America. At the International Workshops of the UNESCO Chair of the ITI held in Sinaia in 2005, she presented two workshops, one on Ionesco’s The Lesson and the other on Molière’s Tartuffe.
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