Demidov Summer Course 2021 – The Demidov School and Film Acting

*** The Summer Course is now sold out. Please click the RSVP button below if you would like to be added to the waiting list. We will contact you if a place becomes available.

Demidov’s “Culture of Truth” is indispensable when it comes to film acting. No falseness can escape the magnifying glass of the camera lens. But how does one marry film’s demand for continuity or strict restrictions of framing with Demidov’s “Culture of Freedom”? If actors are to green-light their spontaneous creative urges, might they step out of the frame all together, or disregard whether they are filmed in a close up or a wide shot? How could an actor be free in front of the camera, while having to be conscious of the numerous concerns and restrictions connected with film? Respected textbooks on film acting consider it impossible to truly live and transform in front of the camera, precisely because of the abundance of “cheating” required by film work. According to some experts, it is not as important whether one’s acting is truthful or justified (film has its own conventions and its own truth), as long as the viewer receives the right impression.

The Demidov Summer Course 2021 is designed to dispel these myths and demonstrate how an actor can remain spontaneous and unpredictable, creative and free, while adhering to the many restrictions connected with film work. Following is an incomplete list of practices that await participants during this ten-day course:

• Freedom and Framing

• Technique of “Assigning” and Continuity

• Culture of Truth and “Cheating” for the Camera

• Surrender and Green-lighting or “Doing Less”?

• Channeling Energy in Accordance with Frame Size

• Acting against Readers, Imaginary Partners and Green Screen

• Auditioning for Film

The Demidov School and Film Acting is the fifth annual summer course, and the second to be held online. It will be taught by the Head of the Demidov Association, Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel.

DATES

July 5 – 9

July 12 – 16

TIMES

1pm to 4pm (New York)

10am to 1pm (Los Angeles)

6pm to 9pm (London)

COST

£670

US$950

• space is limited to 8 participants
• training conducted in English
• for actors, directors and acting teachers

About Andrei Malaev-Babel

Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel is the leading specialist, worldwide, in the Demidov School. During the last decade, he practically recreated the Demidov training at his Florida acting studio, and introduced it to the US, Russia, Europe, Brazil and China. Trained as a director at Vakhtangov Theatre Institute, Moscow, he is the Head of Acting and Professor of Theatre at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in Sarasota, Florida. He is a member of the international faculty and board of MICHA, the Michael Chekhov Association in New York City and on the advisory board of Stanislavsky Research Centre, UK. He is also a member of the International Scientific Committee for Arti Dello Spettacolo-Performing Arts (Italy). Since 1997, he has served as the Producing Artistic Director for the Stanislavsky Theatre Studio (STS), an award-winning company and conservatory in Washington, DC. He was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award as an Outstanding Director for his production of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. He is also the author/editor of The Vakhtangov Sourcebook (Routledge, 2011) and Yevgeny Vakhtangov: A Critical Portrait (Routledge, 2012). In 2016, he published (with Margarita Laskina) for the first time in a Routledge collection of Demidov’s books in one volume, entitled Nikolai Demidov: Becoming an Actor Creator. He is in demand internationally, conducting workshops, presenting and performing at venues, such as Stanford University; Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (St. Petersburg); the Latin American Film Festival and Teatro Escola Macunaíma (Brazil); Rose Bruford College (UK); The Shanghai Theatre Academy (China); and The Odessa Philharmonic (Ukraine). Professor Malaev-Babel is Head of the International Demidov Association, of which Demidov Studio London is a chapter, alongside Demidov School Moscow.