Spring 2000 p. 5

ESTABLISHMENT OF SAPVAME

(South African PerformersÕ Voice and Movement Educators)

submitted by Marth and Allan Munro [The following is an edited version of a vastavox posting of SAPVAMEÕs first Newsletter]

HISTORY

In the beginning of 1997 a group of dedicated voice students and practitioners (from many diverse fields, such as second language acquisition, singing, pre-primary school teaching, acting, secondary and tertiary actor training, and opera training) got together to investigate the use and training of the voice. Under the guidance of their facilitator they
discovered as they went along how much their vocal work was rooted in the use of the body. They also discovered that very little of the integration of voice and body in performance and in training was being done, both in South Africa and internationally.

From this grew the idea of sharing their discoveries with others, and drawing in the expertise and experiences of the many voice educators and movement educators in South Africa and abroad, as well as researchers and professionals from the medical field. The fundamental position is a bipolar one: that there are specialization fields, but that there are also areas of shared knowledge, expertise, and interaction. From this came the desire to establish SAPVAME.

AIMS

*The sharing of existing knowledge at an annual conference, at which local and international expertise will mingle, present papers and workshops, and conduct seminars and discussion groups. The first truly international one will be in September of 2000, to be hosted by the Pretoria University.

*The creation of a regular newsletter, which will develop into a fully fledged international journal.

*The encouragement of research and the documentation of pedagogy that is being carried out throughout the country and abroad.

*The establishment of task groups, focus areas, and regional assemblies to share experiences and empower practitioners, educators, and researchers.

*The development of an interrelationship in practice and in research between the performance educators and related medical fields. SAPVAME intends to empower educators and researchers in areas of investigation and sharing such as:

FOCUS AREA: VOICE

This section may include work on the following: Anatomy and physiology of the performers’ voice; Care of the professional voice; Different teaching systems (Berry, Estill, Lessac, Linklater, Richard Miller, Rodenburg, Sundberg, etc); Voice building; Different singing styles; Speech training; Character voice; Radio, voice overs and dubbing; Dialects and accents; Acoustic analysis of voice and speech; Etc.

FOCUS AREA MOVEMENT

Areas of interest covered will include: Anatomy and physiology of the performers’ body; Care of the professional body; Different teaching systems, such as Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais System, Kinesensics training, and Biokinetics and performance; Various skills based performance and training, such as, Character embodiment through movement, Mime, Stage Combat, Physical Theatre, and Clowning; Movement for singers; Fitness for the performer, Etc.

FOCUS AREA: BODY/VOICE INTEGRATION

The concept of Body/Voice integration is a relatively new and exciting field in the world and in South Africa, and affords many opportunities for working across cultures, languages, ages, performances, and professions. Performance artists, singers of all styles of music, actors, musicians, presenters, and many more have to present and use their bodies and their voices in an integrated and holistic way. This section will look at the optimal integration of aspects of both of the above sections, in the performer, so that the performer functions optimally (and holistically healthily) in the given rehearsal and performance situation.

ORGANIZATION:

The initial organizers will use and adapt the structures, principles, and by-laws of VASTA and ATME as models for the development of SAPVAME. We are in advanced stages of negotiation to have the vice-president of ATME Prof. Tom Casciero as one of our first international luminaries in 2000. At present the organizing committee for the SAPVAME 2000 conference consists of: Marth Munro (MA, CMA, Certified Lessac Teacher), Yvette Hardie (busy with M.Tech) Teacher, National School for the Arts, Karina Lemmer (busy with MA) Director and Voice
Specialist at Voice Excellence, Christo Potgieter (busy with M.Tech) Teacher, National School of the Arts, Lecturer—Pretoria Technikon, Esther Bredenkamp (busy with M.Tech) UNISA pre-pimary teacher.

CONTACT ADDRESS

Prof. Allan Munro, Chair, Drama Department, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, <amunro@postino.up.ac.za>. Until a home for the organization is established, SAPVAME will be housed in the Drama Department, Pretoria University, with the assistance of the Drama and the Opera Departments, Pretoria Technikon.

ENDORSEMENTS

The following endorsements from international scholars have already been received for SAPVAME: Arthur Lessac: The founder of the Lessac Voice and Movement System; Timo Leino: Head of Research in voice, Tampere
University, Tampere, Finland; Tom Casciero (PhD): Vice President, ATME, Associate Professor, Voice and Acting, Townson University (Baltimore). We are awaiting endorsements from other international scholars, educators, and researchers in the fields of voice and movement.

MEMBERSHIP

I would encourage those who would like to join to do so as soon as possible. The initial membership fees, based on those who replied, will be $60.00 per annum, but this might escalate, given the exciting news that I shall share with you below. To be an organization of this nature we have to have a constitution. During the first annual conference we therefore need to ratify such a constitution. I shall be drawing one up, and this will go out with the next newsletter for your considered opinion and comment. In the meanwhile, Pretoria University has kindly offered to keep the membership fees in trust, and will audit the account when necessary. Primarily the money will be used to administer the organization and to see that the newsletters get to you! (Hopefully in more ways than one!!) That’s the business out of the way.

CURRENT EVENTS

VASTA has welcomed us into existence, and offered us associate membership of their organization. This is
wonderful news, as it provides us with all sorts of contacts in the Americas and beyond. ATME is also enthralled with the idea. They have yet to commit themselves fully, but their Vice-President, Tom Casciero will be on an extended lecturing visit in the second half of the year. He will be hosted by the Drama Departments of Pretoria University and Pretoria Technikon, but will be available for various workshops should you approach me to try and organize it. Tom will be one of our keynote speakers and resident ATME spy. Tom has a great interest in both Voice and Movement and so is ideal for the first conference. He will also be performing his one-person show. Finally, interest in our organization is spreading and we are getting enquiries from all over. What we now need is a logo and a letter head. Any designers out there?

NEWSLETTER CONTENTS

Stage combat is a growing area of movement studies worldwide, and Marie-Heleen Coetzee shares some of this with us. As we move into the rainbow nation and the African Renaissance more emphasis will be placed on effective vocal communication. Karina Lemmer shares some of what her organization is doing about all of this. Then there is a tentative programme for the first conference. All of these spaces need to be filled with papers, workshops, panels, discussion groups and so on. You name it, we’ll consider it! Some have already been taken: one of the keynote speakers will be Prof. Tom Casciero from Baltimore University. (More of him above). The programme is not cast in stone, but is simply a guideline. In the newsletter there is also a list of upcoming events, that have to do with training and educating. This is the first tentative list, and I hope that by the next newsletter there will be far more, as things stream in!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Commonwealth Academy of Stage Arts: South Africa. Stage Combat Workshop. Pretoria, 22-23 January, 2000. Contact: Marie-Heleen Coetzee. (cell) 083 232 0824. (w) 0351 93911. Emails: mhcoetze@pan.uzulu.ac.za, or mhc40@hotmail.com.

*CREAN International Stage combat Workshop.

*SAPVAME Conference: 22nd to 25th September. Pretoria.

*SASTAPR (South African Society for Theatre and Performance Researcher). The two conferences will piggyback, with SASTAPR happening directly after with a day’s overlap so that people can attend both, and travel once.

CALL FOR PAPERS, WORKSHOPS, AND DISCUSSION PANELS

This is the first tentative call for the above for the first National Conference of SAPVAME. This is the first of many conferences, and as such does not have a theme (except something about the Millennium, if you want!) We hope to work a little more thematically in future. More detail will be forthcoming, but we envisage the following types of presentations on Voice, Speech, Movement, Integration, and the like (please see the description of the organization).
*Papers prepared and presented individually or as part of a panel. These papers might then be prepared for submission to the various accredited journals.

*Papers sharing common experiences
*Workshops on new or established techniques in any field.
*Philosophical, practical, theoretical discussion groups.
*Lecture demonstrations.
*Performance pieces that are geared towards expanding the educator’s aspect of the organization.

Please submit your ideas to
The Acting Editor and Conference Organiser:
Drama Department
Pretoria University,
Pretoria, 0002 (South Africa)
or e-mail me at
amunro@postino.up.ac.za

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