SMOUTH’S CREATIVE WORKSHOPS 2023/24

Since 2001, SMouTh’s workshops have been a meeting place for the city’s youth, where spontaneous expression and technical artistic training coexist and open new creative paths through art. In 2014, a new cycle of creative workshops began in collaboration with the Mayoralty of Culture and Science of the Municipality of Larissa, having as a place of action and creation the industrial monument of Pappas Mill.

Completing more than ten years of experience SMouTh has developed an original model of creative workshops which is based on the composition of contemporary performing arts (Theatre, Dance, Music, etc.) based on the active participation of the trainees through the group process and operates in terms of inclusion of vulnerable and special groups (people with disabilities, immigrants, refugees, people with cultural particularities etc.)

The objective in the laboratory groups is to create an original, synthetic, representational work that is created in parallel with the experimental, research experience of the laboratories and captures the ideas, concerns and quests of all group members. In the last ten years all renewed workshops have presented to the public the following shows:

2015: POLITAI

2016: TRUTH – work in progress

2017: TRUTH (performed at the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera (GNO) at the 1st meeting of Regional Musical Theater Companies organized by the GNO)

2018: IN A WELL (performed at the 2nd meeting of Regional Musical Theater Companies organized by GNO)

2019: OPEN HANDED

2020: 1.5 METERS CLOSE (dance video) OUT (participation in short film)

2021: CAN YOU HEAR ME? \ DON’T FORGET ME |COUNTDOWN, 3 short films created by the trainees having as common theme the concept of transition

2022: THE LITTLE EVERYTHING

2023: THE BIG NOTHING

The workshops are addressed to young people (15 years+) with or without previous experience on the stage who want to express themselves, create, take part in performances, in educational and artistic activities and travel with the vehicle of art in Greece and abroad.

The workshops offered for this year’s educational cycle 2023-2024 are in the following fields:

• Acting
• Contemporary Dance & Improvisation
• Body percussion
• Narrative Photography
• Creative Writing*

Trainers: Kostas Lamproulis, Despina Bounitsi, Filippos Zoukas, Katerina Bekou, Thanasis Saliampouhos, Athina Manoli, Giannis Chatziantoniou

You can read the trainer’s bios here

1. Creative Writing workshop (Tuesday 19.00-21.30)

Trainer: Costas Lamproulis

Based on the belief that everyone can produce written texts and stories, the creative writing workshop gives its members the opportunity to express themselves and experiment with the most common, perhaps, means of expression, the written word. In a context defined by spontaneity, safety and immediate feedback, each stimulus becomes an occasion for creative writing and then a trigger for an equally creative interaction and communication that aim not only at developing expressive ways but also at building introspection and team spirit.

2. Acting Workshop (Wednesday 19.00-21.30)

Trainers: Katerina Bekou, Thanasis Saliampοuchos

In the Acting workshop participants come into contact with the rules of structured and spontaneous expressive play and how this is transferred to the theatrical act using body expression and the correct use of speech (orthophony, breathing). Students work on texts of various dramaturgy and explore the combination of all the individual elements that structure the theatrical role.

3. Contemporary Dance & Improvisation Workshop (Monday & Wednesday 21.00-22.30)

Trainers: Athina Manoli, Despina Bounitsi

In the dance workshop, physical skills and personal movement are cultivated highlighting dance as a comprehensive and valuable means of expression and communication. Starting from the techniques of contemporary dance and improvisation, trainers include in their work the new trends and quests of the group in order to connect dance with life itself and modern social reality. In this workshop previous experience in dance is not required but just the willingness to work and share. We want to find ways our ideas to come through physical expression and bring us together and set us free. The stage performance and the connection of dance with the rest of the performing arts is one of our main goals.

4. Body Percussion Workshop (Thursday 19.00-21.00)

Trainer: Philippos Zoukas

Body percussion workshop is addressed to those who want to create, relax and express themselves through the musical instrument that we all carry every day, our body. Body percussion is an art form expressed by the human body through movement and the sounds it produces, combining rhythm, expression and communication.

5. Narrative Photography Workshop (Tuesday 16.50- 18.50)

Trainer: Giannis Chatziantoniou

Narrative photography workshop is addressed to young people who are attracted by the magic and power of the image and are looking to expand their cognitive and creative horizons in the art and technique of photography but at the same time express themselves through the image and interact within a group.

6. Combo Workshop (Saturday* 17.00-20.30)

*Subject to scheduling

Coordinated by all SMouTh instructors

COMBO means composition and the composition of the performing arts was and remains the primary and main reason for the existence, development and formation of SMouTh’s artistic work. This workshop is a meeting place of synthesis for all workshops’ group members. Moreover, COMBO constitutes the core of research and the source of inspiration and creative development of a modern, inclusive and synthetic stage language, capable of expressing modern man in a constantly changing society.