Lucy Glassbrook: Creating Body Stories

Finding space is difficult right now, but space can be found in the smallest of places, especially in our own body. This three-part workshop will explore how we can find space within ourselves and expand beyond our physical surroundings. We will discover the endless possibilities within the body to create a short piece of physical storytelling, firstly exploring through breath dynamic, then internal and external impulses of body movement, before culminating in the opening of our 360 body. This series is designed to reignite the revelation of taking up and inhabiting space and how we can use this to support and communicate.

Session 1 – Dynamic of Breath

The first session will look at the exploration of breath and how this opens the structure of our body to create space to move. In taking time to understand the breath in the body, the expansion and contraction that breathing causes and the influence we have on the way we breathe, we will begin to unpick the effects on our body quality and dynamic. This is the base discovery of our storytelling bodies.

Session 2 – The 360 Body

Session 2 will see the focus shift to the nuance of our internal and external being. How does your body want to move? Exploring is at the heart of what we do here. We will discover our inner movement source from the heart, allowing the body to rejuvenate movement from the source, not editing or aiming for perfection but journeying through self-discovery. The second movement source will be how our heart transcends our body and moves us in our space and is influenced by its surroundings and how we feel within them.

Session 3 – Telling our Story

Using the explorations and skills gained from the first two sessions we will build a presentation of story through our expanded knowledge of the body. Using the dynamic and expansion of breath, combined with the discovery of the internal and external reaches of our 360 body, we will present a physical representation of storytelling and understand the power of the body as a way of communication and expression.

Biography

Lucy Glassbrook is a Midlands-based movement director, choreographer and teacher who has a background in performance. Having completed her undergraduate degree in acting, she went on to be a professional dancer and actor.  Lucy found her way into movement through physical theatre inspired by the way that acting and movement could be combined to create a more embodied storytelling experience, and found herself moving more into movement directing, devising and facilitation. This led her to complete her master’s degree at Royal Central school of Speech and drama in Movement directing and teaching, graduating in 2020 and this has expanded her skills and enthusiasm in the realm of movement.

She is especially interested in movement direction and intimacy within the world of acting, and how to support participants through their embodied understanding. Her recent work includes movement direction for Showface festival, choreography for a short dance film and exploring new writing through the virtual medium.