From April 27, 2024 to May 6, 2024, Dan Gelbard and Laurie Andrieu, actors, trainers, and co-founders of Atlas, Impros of the Worldimpros du monde - Brussels, were in Bordeaux and La Rochelle for a week-long artistic residency with Atlas, impros du monde France! This mobility was funded by the European program Culture Moves Europe through the management of the Goethe-Institut.
Upon their arrival on Saturday, April 27, they performed the improvised theater piece Confidences with Nabla Leviste on the stage of Improvidence Bordeaux Café Théâtre!
On Sunday, the residency officially began with a first meeting of the Atlas, impros du monde Bordeaux team, discovering the projects of each association, and preparing for the week.
On Monday, the day started with the creation of an interactive show raising awareness about European issues. Dan and Laurie also attended their first weekly Atlas Bordeaux improv workshop. The program included meeting members and working on character creation for long-form improvisations.
On Tuesday, Laurie and Dan had the opportunity to join Manon, an Atlas Bdx trainer, in a workshop with young people in civic service at Unis-Cité Bordeaux Gironde! Emotions, gibberish, and the use of multiple languages made for a great improvised moment with the participants!
In the evening, Laurie led the Tuesday weekly workshop with the Atlas members! The program included a brief overview of the approach Laurie and Dan use in the Improvyglot workshops: realizing that we can understand each other without words, through body language and intonations, followed by first improvisations in another language for some students who wanted to challenge themselves!
On Wednesday, Dan and Laurie performed Atlas' very first children's show: 'Invitation to Travel, Special Kids' at Cabanes Urbaines, with other actors from Atlas Impros Bordeaux and La Rochelle! It was the first show that brought together Atlas Bordeaux, La Rochelle, and Brussels on stage with improvisations blending travel, memories, and fantasy.
On Thursday, they spent their last hours in La Rochelle with a session exchanging ideas with the founder of Atlas, Charlotte Galliot! They discussed applied improvisation and facilitation, shared strategies for developing social projects, and this boosted their desire to launch great social value projects in Brussels! In the evening, they participated in the Thursday weekly workshop with Alban to work on the group's show format!
On Friday, they spent the afternoon at Théâtre l'Improvidence preparing for the evening shows, discovering the concepts, and doing technical rehearsals. They started with the preparation of Quartier Libre (Atlas Bordeaux show) and then Babel Games (the new multilingual show by Atlas Brussels). At the end of the day, they attended the Atlas Bordeaux Board of Directors meeting.
On Saturday, they performed three shows at Théâtre l'Improvidence Bordeaux with the Atlas Bordeaux team and their guest Othmane Chenini: Quartier Libre, Babel Games, and the show Confidences in which Laurie invited Charlotte Galliot from Atlas La Rochelle and Olivier Dubois, actor and manager of Improvidence.
On Saturday and Sunday, they also participated in the "Gender and Identities" workshop organised by Atlas Bordeaux and La Rochelle. For two days, participants discussed and shared on the themes of gender and identity, and confronted prejudices on stage using theatrical improvisation. The workshop concluded with a beautiful end-of-residency show, "Destins Croisés," addressing themes of sexual and emotional orientation, transgender identity, the relationship to norms, and sexism, following the destiny of four characters.
Thank you to Culture Moves Europe and the Goethe-Institut for their support in this project, and to Atlas, Impros du monde France for their trust and incredible hospitality!
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