Movement training and choreography
&
Theatre pieces
Movement Training and choreography
ELEVATE YOUR EXPRESSION
Increase your physical and mental capacity.
Reduce the risk of injury.
Enhance your competitive edge.
Expressive Strength
ELEVATE YOUR EXPRESSION
Increase your physical and mental capacity.
Reduce the risk of injury.
Enhance your competitive edge.
Expressive Strength
Movement training is an opportunity to discover and develop deeper awareness and agency of ones psyche through the focussed pursuit of a specific, challenging task with a clear objective. The broader purpose of this work of physical embodiment.
What is physical embodiment?
Present moment awareness of multiple aspects of one's human experience including the internal state (mind, body, spirit) and how these relate with the external (space, natural forces and elements, relationships to people and objects).
Also...
Being present, rooted, sensitive, and alive in the body.
A tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling.
Someone or something that represents a quality or an idea exactly.
Expressive Strength movement training is designed to enhance the performer's capacity for self expression, career versatility and longevity, and increased range and resiliency.
The body is our instrument of expression. As performing artists we are both the instrument and the musician playing the instrument. Not only must our instrument be developed for our personal health and lives, but for our art. While art, specifically the performing arts, certainly has structure and process, it can not be nailed down. Conditions are created in order for desired experiences and results to occur, but the moments that the audience observes or the camera records are an alchemy of structure and freedom. Therein lies the magic and beauty of it all.
In order to have the most mastery possible, it's essential to have facility with our instrument, which is the only physical structure we have in order to live our lives and create our art. Developing this mastery is a constantly evolving process which involves both the crafting and tuning, as well as the playing, of our unique instrument.
Expressive Strength movement coaching focusses on physical training that develops the performers physical structure and skills as well as mental focus and internal awareness through pandiculation, flexibility, mobility, stability, and strength work (utilizing traditional strength and resistance training techniques and equipment), along with movement patterns that travel through space and levels utilizing various dynamics such as tempo, contraction and release, points of focus (direction and distance), power, endurance, and somatic sensitivity. This general physical preparation is the foundation of the training and can be expanded to include work designed for the development of a specific character, performance piece, or to prepare the performer for particular physical tasks.
Through the consistent, progressive and individualized rigour of physical training comes greater power and variation of expression as the body is capable of more in both movement as well as stillness. Like a violin, the musician can elicit more subtlety from a finely crafted instrument, and the instrument will respond to the playing with richer resonance. A finely tuned body can not only move with greater versatility and specificity but can also be grounded and free from restriction which allows greater resonance in what seems like physical stillness but is really rich with the energy and movement of breath, blood, and nervous system.
Physical training, aside from greater freedom of expression, also enhances the vitality, posture, and appearance of the body and greatly reduces the incidents and severity of injury which otherwise can be common from the demands on stage and set as well as disuse commonly associated with aging.
Establishing a consistent practice of physical training creates more possibility in the act of creation, for a long and fulfilling life and career.
What is physical embodiment?
Present moment awareness of multiple aspects of one's human experience including the internal state (mind, body, spirit) and how these relate with the external (space, natural forces and elements, relationships to people and objects).
Also...
Being present, rooted, sensitive, and alive in the body.
A tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling.
Someone or something that represents a quality or an idea exactly.
Expressive Strength movement training is designed to enhance the performer's capacity for self expression, career versatility and longevity, and increased range and resiliency.
The body is our instrument of expression. As performing artists we are both the instrument and the musician playing the instrument. Not only must our instrument be developed for our personal health and lives, but for our art. While art, specifically the performing arts, certainly has structure and process, it can not be nailed down. Conditions are created in order for desired experiences and results to occur, but the moments that the audience observes or the camera records are an alchemy of structure and freedom. Therein lies the magic and beauty of it all.
In order to have the most mastery possible, it's essential to have facility with our instrument, which is the only physical structure we have in order to live our lives and create our art. Developing this mastery is a constantly evolving process which involves both the crafting and tuning, as well as the playing, of our unique instrument.
Expressive Strength movement coaching focusses on physical training that develops the performers physical structure and skills as well as mental focus and internal awareness through pandiculation, flexibility, mobility, stability, and strength work (utilizing traditional strength and resistance training techniques and equipment), along with movement patterns that travel through space and levels utilizing various dynamics such as tempo, contraction and release, points of focus (direction and distance), power, endurance, and somatic sensitivity. This general physical preparation is the foundation of the training and can be expanded to include work designed for the development of a specific character, performance piece, or to prepare the performer for particular physical tasks.
Through the consistent, progressive and individualized rigour of physical training comes greater power and variation of expression as the body is capable of more in both movement as well as stillness. Like a violin, the musician can elicit more subtlety from a finely crafted instrument, and the instrument will respond to the playing with richer resonance. A finely tuned body can not only move with greater versatility and specificity but can also be grounded and free from restriction which allows greater resonance in what seems like physical stillness but is really rich with the energy and movement of breath, blood, and nervous system.
Physical training, aside from greater freedom of expression, also enhances the vitality, posture, and appearance of the body and greatly reduces the incidents and severity of injury which otherwise can be common from the demands on stage and set as well as disuse commonly associated with aging.
Establishing a consistent practice of physical training creates more possibility in the act of creation, for a long and fulfilling life and career.
Testimonials
I’ve worked for 30 years as a performing artist in Canada. Once professional training is
complete, it can be challenging to find skilled teachers capable of providing high quality,
performance-based physical training. Meanwhile, the work requires the ongoing cultivation of a
strong and expressive body. My work and training with Denise Mader have been a game
changer. Denise has been essential in supporting me to maintain and expand my expressive
capacity, even as my body ages. The work with Denise is specialized for artists. She goes
beyond strength training and focuses on forging connections in the body, between breath and
body; intention and execution; safety and boundary pushing; preparation and spontaneity - which
are all at the very heart of excellence in performance. In every session, Denise brings her
creativity, expertise, and nuanced sensitivity as an accomplished performer. She has developed techniques and
vocabulary to serve artists in this city to do what we do more effectively and more enduringly. I
am grateful to Denise for helping me to maintain and expand my artistic development at its root.
I dearly hope that other artists have the opportunity to train with Denise. She is a singular and
groundbreaking resource for performing artists.
- Kristen Thomson
complete, it can be challenging to find skilled teachers capable of providing high quality,
performance-based physical training. Meanwhile, the work requires the ongoing cultivation of a
strong and expressive body. My work and training with Denise Mader have been a game
changer. Denise has been essential in supporting me to maintain and expand my expressive
capacity, even as my body ages. The work with Denise is specialized for artists. She goes
beyond strength training and focuses on forging connections in the body, between breath and
body; intention and execution; safety and boundary pushing; preparation and spontaneity - which
are all at the very heart of excellence in performance. In every session, Denise brings her
creativity, expertise, and nuanced sensitivity as an accomplished performer. She has developed techniques and
vocabulary to serve artists in this city to do what we do more effectively and more enduringly. I
am grateful to Denise for helping me to maintain and expand my artistic development at its root.
I dearly hope that other artists have the opportunity to train with Denise. She is a singular and
groundbreaking resource for performing artists.
- Kristen Thomson
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“Essential to a serious actor is the training and perfecting of the outer instrument - comprising his body, his voice and his speech. This instrument is the violin on which he will play. He should be aware that it can be comparable to a Stradivarius and that he must turn it into and treat it like one.”
Uta Hagen - Respect for Acting
Uta Hagen - Respect for Acting
Theatre Pieces
I'm Inspired by the wide reaching connection available through honouring ones primary influences, questions, passions, and background. I love to connect with audiences through a shared experience of universal themes via personal storytelling and creation.
This One
Directed by Melee Hutton, actor/writer Denise Mader opens her kitchen and her heart to share her mother’s favourite recipes for pie and a good life... and to get a bit of help along the way. Denise is throwing a surprise birthday party for her four year old niece and is faced with the challenge of baking a pie from scratch for the first time amongst a series of mini disasters and delays. The clock it ticking before the rest of the guests arrive and she's going to attempt to make her mother's classic, a pecan pie. Her mother was a baking ninja with five kids, one husband, a farm to run and a kitchen to dance in. Louise Mader had her hands full when her life was cut short. This One is the true story of a motherless daughter and a transformative pecan-pie-baking journey. A slice of storytelling, a dash of theatrics and bountiful real life experience, This One is perfect on the palette.
This One began as a solo piece devised while Denise Mader was completing her MFA at York University. Workshopped at the Hamilton Fringe Festival in 2013, This One stole hearts and reviews. After continuing development, Denise presented the Toronto Premiere of This One as a full-length production directed by Dora Nominated Melee Hutton. Assistant directed by Kristin Boivin. Set design by Dora award winning designer Andrea Mittler. Lighting design by Kaileigh Krysztofiak. Stage management by Kate Duncan.
In the summer of 2016, a new two act version of This One premiered at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre earning rave reviews. Direction and dramaturgical support by Melee Hutton. Set design by Joshua Quinlan. Lighting design by Noel Wraight. Stage management by Lani Martel. Assistant stage management by Rebecca Walsh.
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Someday
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Welcome to Someday, a cutting edge psychological technology guaranteed to help you get what you need to live the life you want. Join seminar leader Pamela Steel as she deftly guides participants towards Someday, but then unexpectedly encounters an unplanned, unorthodox, and unexplainable lesson of her own. Pamela's presentation is hijacked by music (Lady Percy by King Charles) and her body by dance (West African). Layers are stripped away as someday becomes now: naked, joyous, and free.
Someday is a twenty minute comedic piece that explores the physical and psychological connections around the idea of achieving the life one wants…someday. A rigid frame of mind is transformed through physical engagement, acceptance, release, and celebration. |