About
Beyond Burlesque! is a four-day workshop designed primarily for actors and performers with some professional stage experience. The aim is to create a short cabaret act or performance piece that can be presented in a professional cabaret / live performance context.
The workshop will draw on traditional cabaret performance languages (music, singing, dancing, drag, stripping, etc.) and explore ways in which these can be combined with contemporary notions of sexuality, provocation, popular culture and queer sensibility.
Because of her use of nudity, Ursula Martinez is often described as a “burlesque” performer. However, Ursula finds the recent resurgence of “traditional burlesque” to be creatively limiting, and thus a pure exploration of this genre in the workshop will be discouraged.
Biography
Ursula Martinez is a writer, performance artist and cult cabaret diva.
She studied French and Theatre at Lancaster University and began her performance career working with experimental theatre companies such as Forced Entertainment and The Glee Club.
In the mid 90s, she began performing solo on the London club/cabaret circuit and very quickly made a name for herself.
A few years later, Martinez combined her experimental theatre background with her cabaret experience and made her first theatre show A Family Outing, which was a huge success at the 1998 Edinburgh Festival. Two years later, Martinez created two more pieces, Show Off and OAP. Together with A Family Outing, they formed a completed trilogy of work entitled Me Me Me!, which was presented at the Barbican as part of B.I.T.E 06.
Now an established international artist, Martinez continues to produce live performance, both solo and collaborative, for different contexts, such as theatre, cabaret, site-specific, installation and nightclub. Her latest solo theatre show, My Stories, Your Emails, was commissioned by Barbican B.I.T.E. 2010 and has recently enjoyed sold-out seasons at the Sydney Opera House, Brighton International Festival and Soho Theatre.
Martinez is an associate artist with performance provocateurs “Duckie”, with whom she created the Olivier Award-winning show C’est Duckie. She is also an original cast member of the internationally acclaimed Olivier Award-winning contemporary circus/variety phenomena La Clique / La Soiree.
Martinez has recently branched out into directing. Her first project was directing Victoria Melody in her solo show Northern Soul, which premiered at the 2011 Brighton International Festival. She is currently directing Australian circus performer Jess Love in Notorious Strumpet and Dangerous Girl.
Last year, Ursula ran her first performance workshop in London, in collaboration with Duckie and Live Art Development Agency.
Links
http://www.ursulamartinez.com/
http://www.duckie.co.uk/
Beyond burlesque! - video of the workshop, photo gallery
Beyond burlesque! presentation - video
Practical Information
When and Where
Klub Gromka, Metelkova mesto
Workshop
Oct. 7, 8, 10 (Tues, Wed. & Fri), 2014, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.: workshop
Saturday, October 11, 11:00 a.m. onwards: final preparations for the workshop’s public presentation (the exact working schedule for Saturday will be agreed on during workshop week!).
Public Presentation
October 11, 2014 – at 10:30 pm: Public performance with the presentation of a few selected workshop acts in the framework of the Image Snatchers technoburlesque event by Emanat.
Application
The workshop is designed for actors, dancers and performers with some professional stage experience.
All interested parties are asked to submit an application consisting of a brief description of their stage experience and a brief statement explaining their motivation for participating in the workshop. Application criteria are regular attendance on all four days of the workshop. Readiness to participate in the public performance on Saturday, October 11 in Klub Gromka is desirable but not obligatory.
Please email your applications to: agon@emanat.si
Application deadline: Open until Monday, 22nd of September.
Participation is limited in number, so we reserve the right of selection in the event of an excessive number of applications!
Application fee
€ 40
Support
Organised by Emanat & the City of Women Association
In collaboration with Klub Gromka, Ljubljana
Coordination and executive production: Sabina Potočki
Financially supported by: Ministry for Culture RS, Municipality of Ljubljana – Department for Culture
Previous events
- , Klub Gromka, Ljubljana, SI
- , Klub Gromka, Ljubljana, SI
- , Klub Gromka, Ljubljana, SI
- , Klub Gromka, Ljubljana, SI
- , Klub Gromka, Ljubljana, SI