ilvs strauss

PAST WORKSHOPS

CALL IT BY ITS NAME: The Art and Practice of Titling - Class Exchange at Fremont Abbey - SEA - July 2018

It's the alpha, it's the omega, it's the elusive, the heavy handed, the boring, the has nothing to do with the actual piece but i can't think of anything better: The Title of Your Work. Through elegant and playful movement and writing exercises, we will concoct ways of first conjuring up that square peg of a title, then round the edges to get it to fit perfectly in the round hole that is your art. Whether you are working on a performance piece, a book, a work of 2D art, or just need a starting point, a prompt, or life motto, you'll leave this workshop with new tools with which to christen your present and future idea babies. Open to dancers, writers, movers, artists of all types. Bring something to write with, something to write on.

Directing For Film - Guest Instructor - Blanket Fort Films Motion Picture Education Program - SEA - March 2018

A hands on exploration of directing basics, including but not limited to: getting to know your production team, understanding your role within said team, working with actors efficiently and effectively, honing your overall vision as a director.

Creative Process: LIGHTS! SOUND! VIDEO! Plugging into the Multidiscipline! - Velocity Dance Center - SEA - Sept/Oct 2017

In this workshop series, we’ll cover the basics of lighting and sound design, programming in QLAB, the difference between a XLR, RCA, VGA and DMX cable, how to talk basic tech to a tech person, how to write a tech rider, navigating site specific and other non-conventional venues, and other related topics. We will also explore the creative process and how it is influenced by the addition of tech (lights/sound/video). Participants will be able to experiment and field test with different lighting fixtures (incandescents, LED’s, practicals, etc.), video projectors, and sound systems to see how they shape, mold and develop preexisting or improvised work.

BODY LANGUAGE: Exploring Your Secondary Intelligence - Hugo House - SEA - Aug 2017

(Co-facilitated with Jill Leininger)

Whether you are a dancer wanting to develop your writing, or a writer interested in how movement can bring new ideas to the surface, this writing workshop will consider what might happen if and when we let our “secondary processor” take the reins. We’ll discuss how choreographers think about and notate their creative processes and, through in-class exercises, we’ll borrow from dancers’ ideas about phrasing, repetition, and intrinsic movement to funnel the truest movements of our minds onto the page. Open to dancers, writers, and process-makers of all levels.

um, those aren't my eyes: perception and identity in art and performance - Velocity Dance Center - SEA - Oct/Nov 2015

Is what i’m looking at actually happening? Is what i’m putting down being picked up? Does it even matter?

This series will explore the ideas of intention and perception in art with an emphasis on personal narrative and honest performance ie You Doing You On Stage In Front Of People (YDYOSIFOP). Through exercises in writing and movement and open dialog, we will examine the stories we create, the experience of those stories, and the peculiar now and then gap that occurs between the two. Also up for discussion: the interplay between Text, SubText and SuperText. Open and accessible to artists of all disciplines, experience levels and identities.

Lying Face Down Forever: Crude Gestures and the Annihilation of Storytelling - Velocity Dance Center - SEA - March 2015

In this series we'll take part in Word and Movement Practices influenced by my studies and experience in science, shamanism, technical theater, and art. Starting with the first letter of the alphabet, H, we’ll convert Particles into Put Together Stories and extract Authentic Physical Movement from Elemental Impulse. From there, an exploration of the dialogue between words and physical movement to create new intersections of depth and meaning will ensue. The workshop is open to all ages and all levels of experience. Bring a journal and writing implement.

Social Justice and Media Literacy - Reel Grrls - SEA - 2014

Co-facilitated with Bronwyn Lewis. A workshop geared towards youth on redefining what media is and exploring the possibilities of what it can be through the lens of social awareness. 

From Pictures Come Words: 10,000 of Them - The Science of Stories Reverse Engineered from Images - WordStock - PDX - 2013

How does one gain access to the 10,000 words contained in a single photograph? This workshop is an exploration into using photos as source material while learning different methods of incorporating said photos back into storytelling. 

Redeciphering Collage Art - Daniel Smith - SEA - 2011

A hands-on workshop series that plays with conveying messages and stories through a patchwork of found and sourced images with focus on intentional composition, self portraiture and integration of language.