Ensemble Creation Workshop with Slater Penney and Jaron Hollander

In this six-hour workshop, you’ll explore practical tools for strengthening your role within an ensemble. Drawing on techniques from clown, bouffon, dance, and improvisation, we’ll begin with exercises in breath, active listening, and response—tuning attention to the subtle rhythms that connect performers on stage. From there, we’ll explore the dynamics of stepping forward and stepping back, and investigate the beautiful impossibility of mind reading in performance.

Through playful, physical exploration, participants will practice noticing, supporting, and shaping shared moments of performance. The focus is not on controlling the scene, but on breathing with it—building it together in real time.

Participants will:

• Practice techniques for breath awareness, active listening, and responsive performance

• Develop awareness of when to step forward, support, or make space within an ensemble

• Explore physical and improvisational tools drawn from clown, bouffon, and dance

• Strengthen their ability to build shared moments without relying on predetermined outcomes

• Gain strategies for collaborating with both performers and audiences in live creation

*We will break for lunch