L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq

L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq is an international school of theatre situated in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1956 by Jacques Lecoq, the school is a professional two-year course. The school’s graduate list includes celebrities such as Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush and directors Ariane Mnouchkine of "Theatre du Soleil" and Simon McBurney of "Theatre de Complicité".

The professional two-year course emphasises the body, movement and space as entry point in theatrical performance and prepares its students to create collaboratively.

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…"

: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, tragedy, Commedia dell'arte clowning 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, stage combat, 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.

Noteworthy alumni

:
*Geoffrey Rush - actor (Academy Award winner, ""Shine"")
*Gates McFadden – actor (""), choreographer
*Ariane Mnouchkine - director, writer and founder of "Theatre du Soleil"
*Simon McBurney - actor, director and founder of "Theatre de Complicité"
*Yasmina Reza - playwright ("‘Art’")
*Julie Taymor – Broadway theatre director ("The Lion King")
*Bernie Collins - clown ("BP Zoom")
*Richard Pochinko - clown, teacher at the Theatre Resource Centre and creator of the "Canadian Clowning/Pochinko Clowning Technique"
*Philippe Gaulier - clown, teacher and founder of L'École Philippe Gaulier [http://www.ecolephilippegaulier.com]
*Simon Edwards - The Actors Space [http://www.actors-space.org]
*Steven Berkoff - playwright and actor ("Beverly Hills Cop")
*Toby Jones - actor "("Infamous")"
*John Wright - director (The Wright School) [http://www.thewrightschool.co.uk]
*Adrian Pecknold - Canadian Mime Theatre
*Kuniaki Ida - actor, director and teacher at Teatro Arsenale
*Ronlin Foreman - actor, clown, director of pedagogy at Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre

References and related articles/other links:

:
*The official website of the school [http://www.ecole-jacqueslecoq.com/index_uk.htm]
*Lecoq, Jacques (2000) "The Moving Body". London: Methuen.:A comprehensive overview of his pedagogy written by Jacques LeCoq himself. Originally published as "Le Corps Poetique" in French.
*A quick overview of the school in "Parisvoice" [http://parisvoice.com/98/sept/html/default_acting.html]