Demidov Acting Technique Six Month Immersion Course

Demidov Studio London is offering actors the opportunity to work consistently through the first four courses of the Demidov curriculum as one continuous journey, across six months of training.
The Demidov Six Month Immersion Course is for actors who are serious about training in the technique of creative freedom, as created by Nikolai Demidov and taught at Demidov Studio London.
The Immersion Course will be delivered in three stages, through a series of in person Intensives, complemented by online work via Zoom.
The course is designed to give actors a practical means of consistently accessing artistic inspiration, to discover what it means to fully experience and LIVE on stage or screen, through a precise and complete inner technique. Its aim is to let our skills develop smoothly and organically, to develop our creative process as a whole and create a natural path for the liberation of our artistic uniqueness.
The Demidov School approaches the creative process as an indivisible whole (everything we need is already there from the beginning). Throughout this program we develop our creative reflexes (spontaneous reactions) in order to facilitate and support our organic life on stage or screen. We train, refine and calibrate our artistic instrument towards our truth, with deep respect to each actor’s individuality and uniqueness.
DSL is looking for actors who are committed to diving deeply into the Demidov work, interested in exploring their own creative process and who they are as artists. The group chosen for the course will work as an ensemble across the six months of training.
On successful completion of the Immersion Course, participants will be invited to go on to the Demidov Scene Study Course.
The Demidov Immersion Program Content
Stage One – The Demidov Etudes + Inexact (Creative) Repetition – the Etudes are the foundation of the entire Demidov School, and in this stage of the course we learn the fundamental principles of the organic approach to the art of living on stage and screen. Through Demidov’s signature etudes we get a first taste of what it means to truly live in the moment, to truly and see and hear on stage, to remain ‘here and now’. We are encouraged to trust our spontaneous urges, and exercise creative freedom. We do so by surrendering to the genuine life that develops on its own. These are our partner scales exercises, as a musician practises scales every day, Demidov created these to refine and tune our creative instrument towards the surrender to and transformation into character.
Stage One also includes: The Art of Inexact (Creative) Repetition – The nature of acting is that we repeat, whether in rehearsal, audition, performing a play or filming many takes of a scene in a film. It is impossible to repeat something exactly the same way twice. So how do we repeat an etude, a scene or an entire play, so that it is not a carbon copy, a mechanical repetition of what we did last time? Here we learn the fundamental principles that lie behind Demidov’s art of inexact or creative repetition. We discover the inner life of a given text and the ways to embody it. It frees us from any obligation to repeat exactly what we did last time (our behaviour, actions, what we felt, etc.), and it teaches us how to trust our creative intuition and surrender to the truth of the moment, without considerations of right and wrong.
Stage Two – The Power of Circumstances – How many times have we felt helpless during our work on a scene or a play, while rehearsing? We try to find a drastic solution, to become more active, to strengthen our tasks, objectives and “choices”, but the only thing we feel is that we derail even more. We deviate from truth and inspiration, from the organic flow of our character’s life. But if we learn how to place ourselves under the correct circumstances and how to perceive them, then everything flows naturally and uninterruptedly. Here we will learn how to orient ourselves in the circumstances and how to surrender to them fully. We will work more deeply on:
• Repeating a single etude to explore how circumstances originate and become “given”
• Discovering how circumstances are kept
• Experiencing how circumstances evolve and deepen with each repetition.
Stage Three – Character – Actors in rehearsal often make the mistake of ‘playing’ character from the very start and so kill off its living essence. We then have no other choice but to resort to intellectual inventions, forcing and imitation. Demidov’s approach allows us to let go of any effort of this kind.
According to Demidov, character is born in us, not ‘built’ or ‘made’. It is a living being that continues to develop and mature for as long as we are active in a role. Demidov says the origin of character is connected with subtle energy, with what he calls ‘weak currents’. In this stage of the program, through our work on etudes, we will practise surrendering to these ‘weak currents’, to the first subtle manifestation of a character’s being, to what Demidov calls the ‘embryo’ of the character. We will learn how to allow this ’embryo’ to grow and develop on its own. We will use specific character facilitation and accumulation exercises unique to the Demidov School, exercises precious for the actor’s creative homework.

Why train with us?
Demidov Studio London is the only place in the UK where you can receive authentic and complete training in the Demidov Technique, with a trusted teacher, who has trained in the entire Demidov curriculum as both actor and teacher and is certified by the International Demidov Association. DSL is the only official UK Chapter of the Demidov Association.
The Immersion Program will be taught by DSL Director Andrei Biziorek.

Program cost, dates and times
Entry to the course will be by interview.
The Program will entail 141 hours of training over six months.
Total cost of the program: £2160. A deposit of £500 is required within two weeks of being accepted onto the program.
Payment plan: A payment plan is possible, in agreement with DSL administration. The full deposit would still be necessary and then a monthly payment would be required. Full payment for the program would need to be received before the end of the course.
The program will consist of in person intensives and online work via Zoom.

Stage One – Etudes + Inexact (Creative) Repetition. In Person Intensive 1: October 4, 5 and 6, 2024. 10am to 4pm each day.
Three weeks Online work: Two sessions a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, Wednesdays and Fridays – October 16 to November 1, 4pm to 7pm.
Stage Two – Circumstances – Online work: Eight sessions, Wednesdays and Fridays: November 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, December 4 – 4pm to 7pm.
In Person Intensive 2: December 6, 7 and 8 – 10am and 4pm each day.
Two weeks Online work: Wednesdays and Fridays, including one Monday session: December 11, 13, Monday Dec 16, 18 – 4pm to 7pm.
CHRISTMAS BREAK
Stage Three – Character – Online work: seven sessions, Wednesdays and Fridays, including one Monday session: Monday January 13, then Jan 15, 22, 24, 29, 31, February 5 – 4pm to 7pm.
In Person Intensive 3: February 21, 22 and 23 – 10am to 4pm each day.
Two weeks Online work: Wednesdays and Fridays, March 5, 7, 12 and 14 – 4pm to 7pm.

The first step… If you are interested in applying please complete the form below to register your interest.

The next step…
If you are invited to interview, you will be offered a date to meet over zoom with DSL Director.
Please note, if you are accepted onto the program, you are agreeing to commit to the entire course. Refunds are only considered in exceptional circumstances so please consider your application carefully.