Drama & Visual Arts Students Collaborate With Portable Structures

Visual Arts Sculpture Meets Drama Movement Class Meets Abstract Theatre

Creating additional space for cross-discipline arts learning, NOCCA Drama Movement Teacher Grace Booth working with Visual Arts 3-D/Fabrication Instructors Jenny LeBlanc and Marcus Brown recently merged physical theatre and visual arts sculpture into the classrooms.

Within Grace’s theatre instruction, studies focused on physical theater practitioner Jacques Lecoq. A pedagogical tool called “Portable Structures” is part of his approach to teaching students the techniques of Mask play.  These ‘Structures’ are objects that, in the words of Mr. Lecoq: “appear like abstract architectural forms, organizing the space into rhythms that bring it to life. They are played like masks, carried by the body or manipulated by the arms, moving in the space followed by their indications and forces.”

NOCCA’s Visual Arts students visited Drama Movement class and studio to help inspire them to create the pieces from concept. Drama students will then visit the workings within the Visual Arts Studio as pieces evolve, grow and come to life. Once the pieces are completed by the Visual Arts students, works will be shared back with the Drama students for use in their movement theatre class, and hopefully, a performance for the Visual Arts students who created the sculptures.