The first term is dedicated to the awakening of the poetic potential of the body. It’s a rediscovery of the world and nature.
Through the observation and imitation of everyday life, the actor/ poet reaches the awareness that reality is based on a network of relations and interconnections of actions and reactions. This is the dynamic core of the stories that theatre will tell.
The journey begins with awareness of the body in space, working with two fundamental masks: the Neutral Mask and the Red Nose. This is a unique approach of Helikos. With these two archetypal masks, the artist comes to an understanding of the difference between movement and action, between neutral and dramatic, and recognizes the story/drama/action that every individual body carries. The Red Nose reveals each person’s theatrical comedy and gives the physical awareness to move beyond it, towards neutrality. The Neutral Mask allows the actor to work on presence and openness to space, and to reach the silence before the beginning of the storytelling.
Once the neutral space is integrated into the body, the mimo-dynamic journey begins. In this adventure of observation and imitation of nature the actor discovers rhythms, forms, gestures and dynamics that enrich her/his poetic language. Nature is the first source of inspiration. The knowledge gained through imitation inspires a vision of theatre based on the movements of life. The creative body is prepared for the diverse dynamics the different theatre genres require. The final step of the term is the exploration of human nature through the study of characters.
