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Biological acting

During his career as a director, Jan Fabre has designed his own methodology, namely ‘biological acting’. Every action on stage starts from a physical impulse, from the biology and physiology of the body. From his observations on the biological instincts of the animal world, he developed a series of exercises that challenge the physical and mental concentration of his performers. Jan Fabre developed this purely 'practice-based' research method to sharpen the expressive power of his performers.

The first intention of this research project is to elaborate on the method of biological acting: the different exercises are fine-tuned and written out in order to be applied by other theater makers. The second intention is to develop a measuring instrument to optimize the physical effort of the performer which has consequences for his expressive power. A third intention of this research project is to relate these measurements to the expressivity of the performer. Is there a connection between faster exhaustion of a performer's reserves and the quality of his 'performance'. Does the 'aura' of an actor decrease as he has to draw from his reserves?

Promoters:
Annouk Van Moorsel & Luc Van den Dries

RESEARCHER(S)