IPPT 2024 Tampere: 10th annual meeting of the International Platform for Performer Training
11–14 January 2024, Tampere (Finland)
Nascent Forms & Methodological Creativity in Performer Training
Call for Presentations
The 10th edition of the IPPT takes the platform back to its birthplace Finland. In 2024 we will gather in the post-industrial city of Tampere, which is located between two big lakes, 180 km north of Helsinki. In Tampere, the event will be hosted by the multidisciplinary Tampere University and in wintry weather conditions, which will be incorporated into the programme.
IPPT 2024 Tampere will focus on the contemporaneity of performer training, and how performer training currently answers to the changes taking place in the performing arts, and the communities and societies in which they are practiced. The call stems from the observation that, besides the performer training legacies of the 20th century – upon which a major part of HE performer training still rests – among artists and educators, there is a constant tendency to invent, develop and introduce new kinds of methods and techniques of training. Despite their originality, even radicality, novelty is rarely the primary motive for these innovations. On the contrary, they may be based on long-term experience in and analysis of an existing practice, or be motivated by topical issues, such as ecocatastrophe, digital technologies, decolonial imagination, corporeal politics, to name but a few.
When compared with the centuries-old legacies, these suggestions for “new traditions” might seem singular, dispersed, eccentric, or even trivial. But this is how all great historical innovations have once appeared. Instead of letting the academic or commercial markets alone decide which of them survive and have a future, IPPT 2024 wishes to take their evolution under a collective scrutiny, and invite you to conceptualise, share, analyse, and experiment these novel forms and methodologies together. Besides ‘success stories’, also examples of resistance and failure are valuable.
We welcome presentation proposals from pedagogues, artist-researchers, and artists who are working with performer training in its various forms: theatre, dance, performance, circus, puppetry, etc. The emphasis of the presentations will be on the collegial sharing of practices and, thus, preference will be given to practice-based sessions.
We invite the presenters to consider the following questions:
– What do you wish to change in performer training and why?
– What do you consider to be nascent or ‘novel’ about your practice?
– What kinds of forms, techniques or methods does your performer training introduce?
– What are the ethical grounds of your initiative?
– How has your initiative been received by trainees, colleagues, institutions, etc.?
– What is the vision of the future of performer training you wish to promote?
On the basis of the above, we as participants will discuss several perspectives of performer training, such as
– The diversity of trainees
– Activism and performer training
– New technologies and performer training
– Reflective or discursive methodologies in performer training
– The place of innovations in various artistic and institutional settings
– Innovations alongside traditions
– Nascent performer creating new practices in performing arts
Presentation formats
The programme will consist of three kinds of presentations: 60-minute or 30-minute workshops and 15-minute ‘provocations’. The accepted presentations will be curated into thematic wholes, and time reserved for facilitated reflection and exchange of ideas. In addition to black box presentations, there will also be a possibility for a limited number of a) technologically transmitted sessions (onsite/online/hybrid), and b) outdoors sessions (Please pay attention to the unpredictable and rapidly changing weather conditions in Tampere, where in January, the temperature may vary between –25 and +5 centigrades).
Please indicate in the proposal form
– the type of session you prefer (a 60-min. workshop / a 30-min. workshop/a 15-min. provocation)
– your technical and spatial requirements,
– if you wish to hold a technologically transmitted session online,
– if you wish to hold your presentation outdoors.
We are determined to host a wide spectrum of presentations from as many participants as possible. Thus, it might be necessary to adjust and curate the accepted presentations, in collaboration with the presenters.
Please submit your presentation proposal (title and max. 250-word description) and bio (max. 200 words) here. In the bio, please mention your educational background, artistic orientation and institutional affiliation. The deadline for the submissions is 31 October 2023 (23:59 CET). The applicants will be notified by 15 November 2023.
All accepted presenters will be asked to send a more detailed description of their presentation/workshop by 2 January 2024.
About IPPT
International Platform for Performer Training is an independent network connecting performer training practitioners and pedagogues from all over the world. During its 10-year history, IPPT has grown into a meeting place for a variety of experts who represent various aspects of performing and training, the very term performer training referring to artist education, artistic practice, and their research. In the IPPT meetings, there are no parallel sessions. Everyone takes part in all the activities, and the focus is on mutual sharing and discussions.
More information about the IPPT working principles: https://performertrainingplatform.wordpress.com/
The call has been formulated in collaboration with the IPPT 2024 task force, Pauliina Hulkko, Małgorzata Jabłońska, Esa Kirkkopelto, Lisa Peck, Angelo Romagnoli and Martin Woldan.
For further questions, please contact the Tampere team at ippt2024@tuni.fi