MOVEMENT PSYCHOLOGY: YAT MALMGREN / LABAN TECHNIQUE
Movement Psychology & Character Analysis: devised for actors, directors, writers and others wishing to learn and then explore in-depth the technique. It was developed initially by Rudolf Laban and his assistant William Carpenter, and later completed by Yat Malmgren and taught by Christopher Fettes, founders of Drama Centre, London.
Having further developed the teaching in collaboration with Christopher Fettes and others over twelve years, Giles Foreman is now a leading contemporary exponent in the UK and across Europe. He leads the workshops along with expert colleagues.
The workshops involve the progressive unfolding of all the elements of the technique – followed by opportunities to embody what has been covered, through practical exploration and in acting exercises.
Dates for CHARACTER ANALYSIS WORKSHOPS
MORE INFORMATION
The technique is based on the psychological theories of Carl Jung (Sensing, Thinking, Intuiting and Feeling) and the work of Rudolph Laban. Laban was the architect of European Contemporary Dance who essentially conducted an extraordinary comprehensive analysis of human expression
Yat Malmgren recognised that this would prove to be a powerful tool for the actor and went on to complete Laban’s theory. He extended Laban’s ideas by creating a psychological typology which brings together Laban and Stanislavsky. Inner motivation and outer expression leading to the detailed and accurate construction of character.
This work was placed at the heart of Yat’s original acting studio in London and later at the Drama Centre London. The technique is familiar to all the students of Yat including Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Colin Firth, Helen McRory, Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender, Simon Callow and all the many accomplished artists taught over the course of 50 years work.
For more information on Yat Malmgren and what some of his now famous students had to say about his method, follow the links below:
The Guardian newspaper obituary – Yat Malmgren
Back Stage West – Colin Firth interview
Soul of the American Actor – article
January 2017: Swedish Radio podcast SPOTLIGHT – about Yat Malmgren, and the work. Including recordings made in 2000 with him and with Christopher Fettes at Drama Centre, plus commentary from Simon Callow and Pierce Brosnan.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS / MOVEMENT PSYCHOLOGY: YAT MALMGREN / LABAN TECHNIQUE
Four Stages – taught in intensive workshops, devised for those wishing to understand and then explore in-depth the technique. Taught by the leading contemporary exponent in the UK and across Europe, Giles Foreman; and expert colleagues, in London – and also in major cities across Europe and USA
The book A PEOPLED LABYRINTH written by Christopher Fettes is back in stock; it is available for visitors who come to our studio in London – and via Amazon.co.uk.
LONDON :
CHARACTER ANALYSIS WORKSHOPS with GILES FOREMAN and colleagues.
Part 1: Basic Components
Part 2: Inner Attitudes
Part 3: Externalised Drives
Part 4: Confluence of Externalised Drives
In 2023 and 2024, the 4 stages are taught during the 4-week WORKSHOPS held each April and August, in London.
Fee £500 per workshop – £2,000* in total
£500 deposit to reserve a place, instalments possible*.
Here is a link to an online REGISTRATION form to complete, to join us.
“I found the Giles Foreman workshop illuminating and inspiring. Very challenging at times, but always great fun. Despite having gone to drama school, it was the first time I was given a thorough, incisive insight into the inner and outer workings of the human personality.
No longer a case of intuitive guessing and trial by error – work on a character became a reliable and exact breakdown of the innumerable aspects that apply to each and every one of us: how we sense, think, intuit and feel; how the emphases and combinations of these ‘mental factors’ affect what type of person we are, and the way we tick and relate to the world and the people around us; how all this is coloured by each character’s specific, individual background, and how our outward expression is a direct reflection of our inner state.
This course gave me a new, exciting and intricate vocabulary which I can apply to analyse not only every character I am called upon to portray, but to every person I see! Perhaps the most important thing for me, though, was to find out how I myself tick, not only for self-knowledge, but to clearly see the work I have to do as an actor to change from what I am as a person to the character I am playing.“ DC (Munich Workshop)
ADVANCED CHARACTER ANALYSIS: 10 – 6 pm. Intensive practice-week – for those who have completed the 4 stages.
NEW! Transformation – The Art of Building Extraordinary Characters – with Giles Foreman
December 4th-8th 2023
MASTERY 1
Yat Mastery is designed for those who have completed Yat 1-4, people who have taken the GFCA 4-week Intensive courses, those who have graduated from GFCA London or from the Drama Centre London and are familiar with the basic tenets of the theory.
Mastery 1 is the first workshop in a 4 part program which provides an opportunity to learn how to apply the Principles of the Yat technique practically in the building of complex, layered characters.
An opportunity to gain mastery in this extraordinary technique developed by Laban/Malmgren – a pathway to understanding the self, and to profound Character Transformation
Yat Malmgren (March 28 1916-June 6 2002) was one of the great solo artists of European modern dance and later became a legend in British actor training, having been the creator of the Laban-Malmgren System of Movement Psychology and Character Analysis.
He led, jointly with John Blatchley and Christopher Fettes, the creation of the Drama Centre London in the autumn of 1963, and then continued as Director of Movement at the School. Malmgren taught a number of famous actors including Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Anthony Hopkins, as well as Andrew Tiernan, Helen McCrory, Paul Bettany, Michael Fassbender, Russell Brand, Anne-Marie Duff, Craig Kelly, John Simm, Ryan Gage, Andrew Pleavin and Nicolas Tennant.
Born in Gavle, north of Stockholm in 1916, he went to went to drama school with Ingrid Bergman but possessed an exceptional talent for movement and dance, and soon became a world famous “Character Dancer” of the 1930’s. As the war broke out Yat found refuge in Dartington Hall in Devon where he met Hungarian character Dancer Rudolf Laban. Laban took Yat under his wing, and left him all his notations on the exploration of movement in everyday experience. Yat later adapted Laban’s notations to acting and thus created a revolutionary teaching tool as opposed to conventional theatrical dance.
Yat initially taught at a small studio in West Street, off Shaftesbury Avenue in London, and became the acting guru of Sean Connery. He was invited by Lawrence Olivier to work at the fledgling National Theatre and later taught a young Anthony Hopkins at the Royal Academy. The Drama Centre, London was created around his work, and has subsequently produced some of the greatest names in British and world theatre and cinema.
For more information on Yat Malmgren and what some of his now famous students had to say about his method, follow the links below:
Wikipedia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4432581,00.html
(Colin Firth Article) Yat Malmgren