VASTA and ATHE Conferences

Summer 1998, San Antonio, TX

The 12th Annual VASTA Conference will be held at the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, August 8-11, 1998. The topic is VOICE AND HEALING. There will be three main workshop topics:

IS YOUR VOICE BEING HELD CAPTIVE? THE VOICE, THROAT, AND BODY FROM THE RADIX PERSPECTIVE, with Elizabeth Pond, LPC, MFT, RT.

Elizabeth Pond is a psychotherapist specializing in restoring the integrity of body, speech, and mind. She has lectured and conducted workshops in cities across the country and is in private practice in San Antonio, Texas and currently serves on the Circle of Management Team for the Radix® Institute.

OPENING AND RELEASING THE VOICE THROUGH TONING, with Joy Gardner-Gordon

Joy Gardner-Gordon is the author of seven books and the director of the Vibrational Healing Program on the Big Island of Hawaii. Having studied with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and various American Indians, she combines shamanistic sounds with powerful emotional release techniques. Her book, THE HEALING VOICE - TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY TONING, CHANTING, AND SINGING, was selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club.

HARNESSING THE ENERGIES OF THE VOICE, with Julie Barkmeier, Ph.D., CCC-SLP.

Julie Barkmeier has studied and worked with individuals with voice problems over the past ten years. She became interested in the use of energy techniques such as healing touch, therapeutic touch and Reiki while at The University of Iowa. After beginning her post-doctoral work at the National Institutes of Health in 1994, Dr. Barkmeier began studying Reiki, advancing to the level of Reiki Master in 1996. Since that time, Dr. Barkmeier has worked toward integrating the use of energy work into her clinical work with the voice.

This conference is designed to bring information from the world of complimentary ("alternative") healing modalities to the realm of voice training. The presenters were chosen for their work in the healing field, and their work is clearly applicable to voice training. Brochures, with more detailed information and registration forms, were mailed out in May. Contact Kate DeVore with questions at (617) 713-2026, or Email <kdevore@bidmc.harvard.edu> Also, see more detailed information in the winter issue of the VASTA Newsletter.

>>

The 1998 Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference is being held in San Antonio, Texas, August 12-15. A tentative listing of VASTA Programs was published in the winter edition of the VASTA Newsletter. Most of those sessions will be presented (refer to the winter edition for details) and are listed below:

Shared Panel: "Text and Breath" - Relishing Text: Eric Armstrong and Dawn Mari McCaugherty, and TEACHING THE BASICS OF BREATH, SUPPORT AND PLACEMENT: Rena Cook. This is a VASTA Debut Panel; persons presenting in this session are presenting with VASTA for the first time.

THE EXPRESSIVE ACT: INTEGRATING BODY AND VOICE: Michael Lugering and Louis Kavoras.

EXTENDING VOCAL TECHNIQUES AND THEIR USE IN CURRENT VOICE TRAINING AND THEATRICAL PRODUCTION: Carol Pendergrast, Marya Lowry, and David Smukler.

FEELING SOUND: AN APPROACH TO SPEECH AND DIALECT PEDAGOGY: Dudley Knight.

THE INTEGRATION OF FELDENDRAIS: Elizabeth Moulton and Lesley-Ann Timlick.

IT'S IN THE BAG: AN ABSTRACT ADVENTURE WITH VOICE AND MOVEMENT: Kate Ufema and Ann Bergeron.

MULTI-SENSORY TECHNIQUES FOR TRAINING DYSLEXIC ACTORS: Diane Winslow and Carolyn Blackinton.

STAGE SMOKE AND THE ACTOR'S HEALTH: Barbara Acker and Dudley Knight.

VASTA: PLANS TO BEGIN THE MILLENNIUM: Dorothy Runk Mennen, Marian Hampton, Barry Kur, BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange, Janet Rodgers, and Kate Burke.

The following sessions are additions to the conference offerings:

VOICEOVER ACTING: Natalie Baker. This session will illustrate the teaching methods developed by Natalie at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama in her course VoiceOver Acting. VoiceOver Acting is the art of using the voice alone to bring life to the written word. It can be a valuable study for the actor in his/her preparation for a professional career. The actor can be trained to adjust an already highly crafted vocal technique for the theatre to the special requirements of the microphone.

"VOCAL QUALITY: A MARKER OF CLASS AND GENDER?": Barbara Acker, Nancy Houfek. Dr. Acker will examine dimensions of quality that may be associated with specific aspects of class and gender, and how those aspects are manipulated in TV casting. Nancy Houfek will deal with shifting aspects of quality in a play in ways that upset stereotypical readings of gender and class.

The following WEDNESDAY WORKSHOPS are being offered, the second is an addition to the winter newsletter listing:

FITZMAURICE VOICE WORK: DE-STRUCTURING/RE-STRUCTURING THE BREATH FOR HEALING: Catherine Fitzmaurice and associates.

ACCESSING THE ENERGY IN SHAKESPEARE'S TEXT THROUGH VOICE AND MOVEMENT: Mavourneen Dwyer. This session is aimed at demystifing Shakespeare's 'text' with exercises Mavourneen has used in teaching her "Western Styles in Acting" class at SUNY/Stony Brook, using a combination of singing, chanting, speaking, running, jumping, and hurling as well as dance exercises and games that have been of great assistance in bridging the gap between heightened naturalism and spontaneity in the students' minds.