Summer Session 2020
In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, all classes are offered online via Zoom. Each course offers eight 2-hour sessions, for a total of 16 hours of instruction.
Our courses are complementary and build on one another; we encourage you to enroll in multiple classes for the full experience. Multi-Class Package discounts available.
SCHEDULE | COURSES
New to the Yat/Bentley Method?
RSVP now to attend Tom’s free 3-hour workshop (via Zoom), Introduction to Transformation.
Upcoming workshop dates:
Sunday, June 14th: 4-7p PDT (click to convert to your time zone)
SCHEDULE
JUN 20 - AUG 13, 2020
Our foundational class, focused on the Swings. Suitable for all curious, creative minds. Learn more.
Discover your Transformative potential through an approach not typically taught in American training programs. For beginner to advanced artists. Learn more.
Develop a toolkit for tackling text and audition pieces without fear. Find intuitive choices that are active and embodied. For intermediate to advanced performers. Learn more.
Use the Yat/Bentley Method to create a fully-developed, original character complete with an inner and outer life. Suited for experienced performers, writers, and directors. Learn more.
COURSES
EVERYTHING IS MOVEMENT | INTRO TO THE YAT/BENTLEY METHOD
SATURDAYS 10a-12p PDT, JUNE 20 - AUGUST 8
Learning Level: Beginner to Advanced
Through examining the movement of our inner resources of Sensing, Thinking, Intuiting, and Feeling, we begin to comprehend character and express ourselves in ways we never thought possible.
In this experiential course, you will receive an embodied understanding of the foundations of the Yat/Bentley Method. Learn to use the tools of:
The Swings - Physical exercises to develop the inner and outer lives of the performer.
Feldenkrais® and Awareness Through Movement® - Gentle, guided lessons that offer another portal to the unknown, to discovering effortlessness and animating the entire body.
Voice - Based in the work of Cicely Berry and evolved through the Yat/Bentley Method, locate your voice from the ends of your hair to the depths of your bones.
Explore how everything is movement and is revealed in movement:
Thought, gesture, sensing, emotion, memory, intuition, voice
Our history and our inner lives
Nothing can be hidden
Taught by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director), Pamela Hollings and Heidi Carlsen (YBC Associate Artists). Suitable for all curious, creative minds.
SELF-DISCOVERY | INTRO TO MOVEMENT PSYCHOLOGY
TUESDAYS 6-8p PDT, JUNE 23 - AUGUST 11
Learning Level: Beginner to Advanced
Discover your Transformative potential through an approach not typically taught in American training programs. Explore the process of creating from a place of known truth in order to expand into unknown truths.
This course integrates the work of Yat Malmgren, Rudolf Laban, and Uta Hagen. Students will gain a deeper experience of:
Laban Working Actions - Jungian Psychology as revealed in movement through Dabbing, Flicking, Punching, Pressing, Slashing, Wringing, Floating, and Gliding — tools for accessing the unconscious within.
Inner Attitudes - The archetypal character types and their variations of Stable, Mobile, Near, Remote, Adream, and Awake — the secret forces behind human behavior.
The Swings - Physical exercises to develop the inner and outer lives of the performer.
Feldenkrais® and Awareness Through Movement® - Gentle, guided lessons that offer another portal to the unknown, to discovering effortlessness and animating the entire body.
Learn the skills and resources to:
Locate and develop the parts of our inner lives we don’t usually bring to our artistic work.
Apply the approach of Movement Psychology to various creative pursuits, from writing to acting, dancing to directing, and more.
Taught by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director) and Heidi Carlsen (YBC Associate Artist). Suitable for ambitious beginners as well as experienced artists seeking a new approach to their craft.
DIVING INTO TEXT | YAT/BENTLEY SCRIPT WORK
WEDNESDAYS 6-8p PDT, JUNE 24 - AUGUST 12
Learning Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Discover dynamic new techniques for tackling a text, using the Yat/Bentley Method to engage the full voice and full body in your exploration. Take a monologue, audition piece, or scene from page to stage with the specificity and detailed character embodiment of Movement Psychology.
Students in this class will build on the content of the Intro classes to experience:
No More Boring Script Work - Follow the Yat/Bentley Method to find intuitive choices that are fully embodied in your vocal and physical instruments.
The Fusion of Movement Psychology and Stanislavsky - Uncover both the inner and outer realities of character as they are revealed through text.
Laban Working Actions - Apply them to text to immediately provide rich texture to a piece. (This is a great audition tool!)
Externalized Drives - Stay active and fulfilled from moment-to-moment through the use of Passion, Vision, Doing and Spell.
Through use of Breakout Rooms, students will receive small-group or individual instruction in the tools of Character Transformation as you prepare and perfect a monologue, audition piece, or scene.
Taught by Adam Kotin and Pamela Hollings (YBC Associate Artists). Suitable for intermediate to advanced performers, or those who have received an introduction to the Yat/Bentley Method.
CREATING CHARACTER | THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION
THURSDAYS 6-8p PDT, JUNE 25 - AUGUST 13
Learning Level: For Experienced Performers, Writers, Directors
For those willing to take their summer commitment a step further. Take a flying leap into the Art of Character Transformation and use the Yat/Bentley Method to create a fully-developed, original character complete with an inner and outer life.
With four teachers and the use of Zoom Breakout Rooms, students in this class will benefit from ample individual and small-group instruction.
You will build on the content of the Intro classes to:
Discover the music, imagery, and attributes that build a character through an intuitive step-by-step approach.
Experience your personal portal into the world of the character from perspectives you never dreamt possible.
Unleash the vitality of the Externalized Drives of Passion, Vision, Doing, and Spell in character development.
Investigate your emotional, thinking, intuiting and sensing centers, then learn how to bring them all together in various combinations that build three-dimensional characters.
Taught by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director), Heidi Carlsen, Pamela Hollings, and Adam Kotin (YBC Associate Artists). Suitable for experienced writers, performers, and directors.