Workshop description:
Clowns have big emotions, big hearts and great empathy. They mess up, they make mistakes, but they are eternally optimistic. They remind us of what it is to be human. As a practice, clowning affirms relationship and we learn not from what we know but by how much we are connecting to ourselves, to the world and to others. As such, clowning is a social art.

As teachers, parents and therapists we can fortify ourselves tremendously by accessing our inner clown and utilizing a clown’s outlook. In these afternoons together we will take a few small and playful steps to confront fears associated with being seen, not knowing what to do and trusting to stay in authenticity with what is most present. We will also laugh and have fun.

Bio:

Laura Geilen studied dance at the Boston Conservatory of Music, started a family and took a degree in Human Development from Leslie University. She completed the Curative Education and Social Therapy course while living in a Camphill community. She has training certificates in childbirth education, Spacial Dynamics, CircusYoga and clowning. She has taught movement education and circus arts in Waldorf schools and therapeutic movement in Camphill for 20 years. She runs a number of circus arts summer programs and leads clowning workshops in many settings as a member of the team of Nose to Nose of North America. In all her work she enjoys bringing people of all ages and abilities a renewed experience of their creativity, authenticity and aliveness through the transformative power of play.

Workshop description:

In this course you will learn how to bring pedagogical speech and drama into your classroom or practice. The class will explore how to use pedagogical drama as a framework for helping students process their experiences, help heal trauma, and grow as free human beings. By gaining a deeper understanding of the twelve senses and how they relate to drama, the class will use the pillars of Creative Speech – sounds of language and imagination – to enliven and transform story, poetry, puppetry, and plays.

Bio:

Debra Spitulnik, M.Ed.

Debra Spitulnik is an adjunct professor of Creative Speech at Antioch University New England, and faculty member for the Center for Anthroposophy. As a core faculty member of Kairos Institute she leads the training in artistic and healing Speech and Drama. Debra has led the development of pedagogical speech and believes that Creative Speech brings healing and nourishment to the soul and empowers the voice. She infuses all her classes with three decades of her unique experiences as a class teacher, subject teacher and speech teacher. She teaches speech, drama, storytelling, and curriculum to teachers nationwide.

Goetheanum Diploma in the arts of Speech and Drama., PerformInternational; M.Ed., Waldorf Education, Antioch University New England; B.S. Elementary and Special Education, Syracuse University.

Course description:

Trauma has in most cases a polarizing effect on a person(s) ability to feel safe in themselves and the world at large. One polarity (but there are many), goes towards a gesture of condensing, that of hardening, where the soul/physical becomes fixed and entrapped. The other polarity goes towards a gesture of dispersing, of loosening, and becoming lost from the world.  

The aim of this workshop is to explore, discover and practice movement inspired therapeutic modalities, with the intent to support the individual whohas experienced trauma in the past, the present and (the future). To provide a supportive protective gesture, so that the individual may find the place or rather the space ‘in-between’ thepolarities encountered.  

The practical skill activities, practices and applications presentenced in this workshop are primarily inspired out of the research and practice of the art of eurythmy/eurythmy therapy, and Curative Education and aspects of anthroposophical informed nursing homecare practices. 

BIO:

Over the course of the last 35+ years, Carsten has lived and worked with children, youth, and adults with developmental disabilities in Camphill communities in Scotland, England, and the United States. In true Camphill style, he has tried his hand at almost everything. He has carried responsibilities as a houseparent, workshop leader, teacher, administrator, counselor, and therapist. Carsten holds a Bachelor of Arts in the Art of Eurythmy and holds a diploma in Eurythmy Therapy. Furthermore, holds acertificate of completion of the Anthroposophical Nurse Training (Home healthcare). 

He currently lives at The Camphill School, Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, where his overall responsibility and focus over the past 15 years has been in the medical and therapeutic field. He serves as The Director of Medical and Therapeutic Services, is a licensed EMT. 

Carsten is a faculty member in the Camphill Academy (Curative Education) and adjunct faculty member of Transdisciplinary Healing Education Program Studies, Antioch University. A motto he lives by is that in life we find a true path of learning in the contemplation of the in-between. He is a therapist at heart, where the listening ear is at the core. 

Course description: 

Through artistic exercises in pastel and watercolor, we will create images that arise from the light of the heart. We will paint the mood of this inner soul landscape, using magenta, cobalt violet and violet together with soothing earth tones to kindle the fire of the heart. 

We will begin with chalk pastels and move to watercolor on the last two days, working with soothing blues that offer us a sense of calm and inner protection, culminating with the carmine red. Finally, we will attempt to express the central light of the heart as an image of a future consciousness that is centered in empathy and compassion. 

Somatic exercises that address trauma, sorrows, and fears will be shared as suggested daily practices. 

Materials: Please bring your favorite brush(es), and feel free to bring your own chalk pastels. Please bring along an image (postcard or photo) of something that you love. It can be anything that is beautiful and comforting to you and that you don’t mind sharing with the class.

Bio: