Barcelona

A MASTER CLASS VOICE TALE – SPEAKING SONG
LED BY DITTE
BERKELEY AMD MAHSA VAHDAT

INFORMATION:
TO WHOM: Actors, professional actresses and performers interested in exploring andexpanding their vocal expressive abilities.
WHEN: From November 13 to 17.
SCHEDULE: from 3.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.
ON: To determine
PRICE: AISGE and AADPC members _ 80€ / Institut Teatre_ 100€ / Non-members _ 110€

Those interested must send CV + photography before October 31 by email to jagustina@aisge.es
The order of arrival of the requests will also be taken into account at the time of the selection.

DESCRIPTION

THE COURSE INCLUDE A MASTERCLASS
WITH MAHSA VAHDAT (IRAN).
Friday 17th, at 3.30 p.m.

A voice has a tale to tell. In fact, the voice has a million tales to tell, depending on the song it’s singing, the experiences it goes through, the person who is listening, the sounds surrounding it, the state I, who am singing, am in.

As an actress I enter into a dialogue with my voice every time I sing a song. I ask how are we going to sing this today? What about this sound, how does it feel? What does it say?

What tale does it tell? The exploration takes me further and brings more questions. This is the work of the performer that wishes to make the song a tool for a very deep exchange of experience between the singer and the listener. The voice is naked, and allows us to share on a level that we are not used to and often feel unsure in. The exploration of its boarders and its connections with the physical experience, with images, with associations, makes richer our tools for communication and allows for a space of discovery.

The work session focuses on an exploration into our own voices and our voices reflected and fused in the voices of others. The strength of standing confident with the sound of our own voice, exploring its richness and building the foundation to support it, through breath, physical support, imagination. Discovering its strength when appearing singly, and power when it adds to the richness of a common sound created by other voices.

This particular encounter includes the presence of a unique artist, Mahsa Vahdat, singer and pedagogue of Persian traditional music. The work of Mahsa has been recognized worldwide, resulting in collaborations such as currently with Kronos Quartet in the U.S.A.

Mahsa will share a session of work on the last day of the workshop, during which she will open the doors into the landscape of classical Persian music. Her interpretations are subtle and full of emotion and they offer us a platform for us to experience our own voices in this unknown landscape and discover something new through the journey the song offers.

DITTE BERKELEY (DK/UK)

Grotowski Institute and Teatr ZARMBrought up in Barcelona, she graduated from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in London in 2001.
She has since been a leading actress and co-creator in Teatr ZAR theatre company based in Wroclaw, Poland. She performs in all of Teatr ZAR’s performances and has taken part in their numerous expeditions since the company was founded. Performances include the triptych Gospels of Childhood, Cesaerean Section and Anhelli. The Calling and their latest production Armine, Sister. As a performer she took part in the international project “Unfinished Palace, Moving People, Floating Borders/ European Songlines” under the direction of Stephan Stroux, as part of the Culture Capital 2016 in Wroclaw. As well as being a performer in theatre and film, she is passionate about the work with voice. At the Grotowski Institute she is a researcher in the field of voice since 2006 and has been engaged in the vocal research line of the BodyConstitution program. Since 2017 she holds regular voice sessions entitled “Voicycles- A Rite of Voice” at the GI in Wroclaw aimed to people who are not from the performance domain.
Leader of a weekly voice laboratory with children entitled “Moj Wielki Glos” in collaboration with other vocal artists in Wroclaw.

Primarily, she imparts her independent workshop “Voice Tale (Speaking Song)” at theatre institutions and dance festivals both in Poland and internationally.
She was initiator and artistic director of the cyclical VoicEncounters festival in Wroclaw. In 2009 she was co-organizer of the international Festival “Giving Voice”, in collaboration with CPR (Wales). Has collaborated with Studio Matejka during the research period of 2010-2013 as voice supervisor and trainer.

MAHSA VAHDAT(Iran)

Born in Tehran in 1973, she is an Iranian artist and singer and a strong advocate of freedom of expression. Her musical style is a contemporary expression inspired by old traditional, folk and regional music of Iran that she developed for many years and is the result of the work with numerous musicians from Iran and other countries. Mahsa composes most of her songs.

She entered Tehran University in 1993 and graduated with a B.A. in music. Since 1995 Mahsa has performed as an independent singer and musician at many concerts and festivals in Asia, Europe, the United States and Africa, alongside musicians from Iran, Europe and America. She often performs with her sister Marjan Vahdat, also a singer and artist. Without being visible in her own society because of the restrictions of the female solo voice after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran, she and her sister have continuous contact with a large audience who appreciate their art in the world and in Iran itself.

After her participation in Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2004), Mahsa began a lasting collaboration with the Norwegian label Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV), which led to the worldwide release of a series of records. Since 2007, Mahsa is one of the ambassadors of the Freemuse Organization, an independent international organization that advocates for the freedom of expression of musicians and composers from around the world. In 2010, she was granted the Freemuse Award.

She is currently working on a project with her sister Marjan Vahdat with the company Kronos Quartet in U.S.A.

Since 2010 she collaborates with the theatre company Teatr ZAR, from Poland, performing in “Armine, Sister”, a performance dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide.