Spring into Motion 

Please contact us at info@thecherry.org if you have further questions about the workshops, including reduced fee options for financial need or accommodations to make the workshop accessible.

Online enrollment includes a fee which covers the credit card processing fees. If you’d like to avoid the fee, you can enroll by emailing jen@thecherry.org and mailing a check to The Cherry Arts @ 130 Cherry St, Suite 3, Ithaca NY 14850.

The Storytelling Body: a weekly physical theatre workshop

with Robin Guiver
Wednesdays, April 17–May 29, 6:30–8:30 pm, (6 sessions, no session May 1) 
$250
Cherry Artspace (102 Cherry St)

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Explore the creative potential of movement and physicality through this exploration of physical theatre with Robin Guiver. These sessions will draw from Robin’s own training in Lecoq-based actor created theatre, and his professional experience over nearly two decades in film and theatre, to move through theatrical territories, and look at the building blocks of making work that begins with movement. Through games, exercises and play we will work as an ensemble to discover different artistic starting points as storytellers, and discuss how each might be used to develop an idea.

Shadow Puppet Smorgasboard 

With Lilypad Puppet Theatre
Sunday April 21, 10 am–1 pm
$65
Cherry Artspace (102 Cherry St)

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In this workshop, Lily and Matt of Lilypad Puppet Theatre will share techniques and tricks for making a fun and dynamic shadow puppet performance. Learn how to bring paper shadows to life and use them for effective storytelling. Inspired by the famous work of Richard Bradshaw, we’ve used strings, wires and colors to surprise and delight the audience.  

First there will be a short performance, demonstrating tricks and manipulation techniques for shadow puppets. We will show you some examples such as 3-piece puppets that create fluid movement, puppets that can change expression, and puppets with hidden pieces. Then, everyone will make their own puppets with detailed directions and templates, which they will be able to take home. We will learn how to make shadow shows more dynamic by introducing interesting movement and surprising elements as well as encouraging creative use of materials.  

Finally, we will focus on performance skills and visual storytelling to create original short shadow scenes. With coaching, and feedback on puppet manipulation, we can make these shadows come alive. 

Expressive Awareness through Aerial Skills and the Feldenkrais Method

with Mara Neimanis (In-Flight Theater)
Saturday May 11, 10 am–5 pm
$120
Cherry Artspace (102 Cherry St)

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Join us for a playful approach to communicating, storytelling, and self-care combining The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education® and Aerial Studies for physical performance.

Spin, float, fly and glide on low flying aerial sculptures as architectural realms of play and vehicles for communication in this day-long masterclass with Arial Actor Mara Neimanis. Participants will engage in exercises that explore improvisational skills, ensemble play, spatial and kinesthetic problem solving, risk and relationship, and the development of gesture. The workshop will be augmented by gentle lessons from Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® to inform self-awareness, movement organization, and to offer an in-depth basis for responsive communication and self-care. NO experience is necessary. Anyone with an imagination and a body is welcome. 

The Feldenkrais Method® works with the plasticity of the brain and its ability to form new cells and reorganize itself, and in effect, helps the body integrate new references for movement. Awareness Through Movement® lessons teach the body to experience easier and more optimal movement patterns that can be integrated into how the body functions and organizes itself. Results include the opportunity to relinquish habitual movement patterns that cause or contribute to chronic pain and find a new way of moving, standing, walking, balancing and being in one’s everyday living.

Mara Neimanis is a guild certified Feldenkrais practitioner and teaches Physical Theatre/Aerial Arts in the Niagara University Theatre Program and with theatre companies internationally. She has a diverse background as a playwright and performer and is the founder of In-Flight Theater whose unique brand of aerial performance takes place atop suspended metal sculpture and sometimes inches from the floor. Mara blends her unique aerial and theatre training with the creative application of the neuroplastic healing connections of The Feldenkrais Method® to create aerial plays as well as treat both her human and canine clients.

Puppetry in Performance: using puppets and objects for creativity and storytelling

with Robin Guiver
Sunday June 16, 10 am–5 pm 
$120
Cherry Artspace (102 Cherry St)

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Explore creativity and performance using puppets and objects with Robin Guiver. Robin’s unique approach to puppeteering is drawn from his background in physical theatre, extensive work with Handspring Puppet Company (the Puppet company behind the National Theatre’s world renowned War Horse), and his film work with the leading creature puppetry teams in the UK, on films including Star Wars VII, VIII and IX, Ghostbusters ‘Frozen Empire’, Jurassic World 2, and others. 

Working both solo and on multiple person puppets, using both technique and play, we will look at how and why is puppetry such an exciting and accessible skill, explore different physical languages of puppets for performance, and look at how and where we can apply puppetry as an effective skill in different situations for both theatre and storytelling.

Introduction to Performance Storytelling 

with Jay Leeming 
Saturday June 29, 10 am–5 pm
$120
The Cherry’s Camilla Schade Studio (130 Cherry St)

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This workshop will introduce participants to the skills of voice, physicality, and imagination necessary to tell traditional stories aloud. We will hear stories and tell some of our own, learning to bring traditional myths, legends and fairy tales alive through the power of the spoken word. Special attention will be given to composition, the role of improvisation, and the use of the body. 

For thousands of years traditional stories have been the means by which humans have connected with unseen powers, the natural world, and each other. Humans think with stories, and traditional stories in particular offer us tools with which to challenge the narratives we find around us. Come channel the hag-queen, the rowdy king and the reckless fool within you so as to say things you never thought you could say. All are welcome and no previous theater or storytelling experience is required.