Dr Christina Kapadocha

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Email
ckapad@essex.ac.uk -
Location
HH3.2 EAST15 LOUGHTON HATFIELDS, Loughton Campus
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Academic support hours
EA405-7-FY Movement EA606-G-SU MA Practical Project EA613-G-SU MFA Practical Project
Profile
Biography
I am a London-based theatre and somatic practitioner-researcher and founder of Somatic Acting Process®. My earliest artistic and professional development included studies and qualifications in classical piano and singing, music theatre, dance and literature. My ongoing experience in theatre and acting practices started formally in 2005. As a Greek-born actress, I shaped the ground of my acting experience as a first-class graduate of the Greek National Theatre Drama School (Diploma in Acting) which operates in tandem with the National Theatre of Greece. While in Greece I performed, among others, in productions of the National Theatre of Greece and the Athens Festival. In 2010 I was awarded a full-time scholarship from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) in order to advance my theatre studies in the UK. I moved to London and completed my postgraduate degree in acting at East 15 Acting School (MA Acting International). During my studies at East 15, I also got the opportunity for a residency in Bali (ISI Denpasar) and Moscow (GITIS) where I studied and performed. After my MA, I started developing an expertise in the interrelation between modern somatic movement and theatre practices through a Practice-as-Research PhD at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD) and my professional development as somatic movement educator (RSME, Diploma IBMT/BMC®). For these studies I was additionally awarded an Elsie Fogerty Research Degree Studentship. As part of my PhD and the critical investigation of actor-training pedagogies, I shaped a new actor-training approach introduced as Somatic Acting Process. I started teaching my practice and related subjects in major London-based drama schools (such as RCSSD, East 15, Mountview, Rose Bruford) and independent contexts. Since April 2018 I am a full-time Lecturer in Theatre and Movement at East 15 as a member of both the Movement and Research teams. Since January 2022 I am also the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies at school. As a practitioner-researcher, I currently concentrate on the application, modification and impact of somatically-inspired practices into theatre-performing environments and beyond. I particularly introduce new praxical (practical-theoretical) discussions on the somatic in theatre-performance and voice studies bringing together world-leading pioneers in somatic or somatically-informed practices. I was awarded 2020 Outstanding Early Career Researcher in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Essex. My theatre experience in the UK includes performances at the Cockpit Theatre and Roundhouse, either as an independent artist or as a member of Andreas Skourtis-Performing Architectures company. I have, among others, directed and/or facilitated performances at the Park Theatre, Cockpit Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Embassy Theatre (RCSSD) and Corbett Theatre (East 15). My latest focus is the investigation of a theatrical form that re-evaluates the dynamics between performers and non-performers/active spectators through a contemporary approach to catharsis. I identify it as Somatic Theatre.
Appointments
University of Essex
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Lecturer in Theatre and Movement, East 15 Acting School (9/4/2018 - present)
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Movement Tutor, East 15 Acting School (7/10/2014 - 9/4/2018)
Other academic
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Visiting Lecturer, Rose Bruford College (6/3/2017 - 9/4/2018)
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MA Tutor, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (1/2/2016 - 9/4/2018)
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Visiting Lecturer, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (3/6/2013 - 9/4/2018)
Teaching and supervision
Current supervision
Publications
Journal articles (7)
Kapadocha, C., The cinematography of artistic research: process, methods, output. UNATC Journal of Drama Teaching
Kapadocha, C., (2023). Tactile renegotiations in actor training: what the pandemic taught us about touch. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. 14 (2), 201-215
Kapadocha, C., (2021). Community as soma: Reflections on a community-conscious theatre gathering. Journal of Arts and Communities. 12 (1-2), 7-21
Kapadocha, C., (2021). Somatic methodology in actor movement praxis. Skenè: Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies. 12
Kapadocha, C., (2018). Towards witnessed thirdness in actor training and performance. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. 9 (2), 203-216
Kapadocha, C., (2017). The development of Somatic Acting Process in UK-based actor training. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices. 9 (2), 213-221
Kapadocha, C., (2016). Book review of Christina Gutekunst and John Gillett’s Voice into Acting: Integrating Voice and the Stanislavski Approach (2014), The Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1: 99-101.. The Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies. 1 (1)
Books (1)
Kapadocha, C., (2020). Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond. Routledge. 9781138360600
Book chapters (4)
Kapadocha, C., (2020). Somatic logos in physiovocal actor training and beyond. In: Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond. Editors: Kapadocha, C., . Routledge. 155- 168. 9781138360600
Kapadocha, C., (2020). Introduction: somatic voice studies. In: Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond. Editors: Kapadocha, C., . Routledge. 9781138360600
Kapadocha, C., (2020). Beyond our somatic voices. In: Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond. Editors: Kapadocha, C., . Routledge. 9781138360600
Bardi, P. and Kapadocha, C., (2020). On Voice Movement Integration (VMI) practice by Patricia Bardi: Awakening resonance in the moving body. In: Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond. Editors: Kapadocha, C., . Routledge. 9781138360600
Conferences (28)
Kapadocha, C., Intersections 2014: The Colloquium of Performance Research Conference
Kapadocha, C., Intersections between embodied logos and embodied perception in a somatic approach to acting
Kapadocha, C., The ‘Basic Neurological Patterns’ in a somatic approach to acting
Kapadocha, C., Towards intersubjective dynamics in psychophysical actor training: logos and the use of metaphor
Kapadocha, C., Reenacting the Beginning: from conception of Dionysus
Kapadocha, C., Actor training and the camera: the documentation of a somatic approach to acting
Kapadocha, C., Breathing the Role: a somatic acting exploration
Kapadocha, C., From each actor’s embodied logos to the text
Kapadocha, C., Waiting for…: Somata in-between migration and stasis
Kapadocha, C., From each actor’s embodied logos to the text
Kapadocha, C., The Somatic in Theatre and Performance Research Gathering
Kapadocha, C., Whose Health and wellbeing? An educator's short monologue
Kapadocha, C., Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond: A two-day praxical symposium
Kapadocha, C., Somatic invitations as method towards polyphonic research in academia and beyond
Kapadocha, C., TaPRA 2022 PaR Gallery: Re-embodiments
Kapadocha, C., Haptic Possibilities: Interactive Re-embodiments
Kapadocha, C., Katsilerou, Z. and Bonnici, E., (2022). Movement and Voice Network Launch
Kapadocha, C., (2021). Videography and editing as methods towards somatic invitations in artistic research
Kapadocha, C., (2021). Are we still in touch?
Kapadocha, C., (2021). The digital for the somatic in PaR
Kapadocha, C., (2021). Lifelong Health and Physical Contact
Kapadocha, C., (2021). Teaching Movement Online: Experiences & Challenges
Kapadocha, C., (2020). Integrating brain and mind through somatic logos
Kapadocha, C., (2020). Video-online presentation: Somatic invitations to spectator-witnesses
Kapadocha, C., (2019). Introduction to the symposium: Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond
Kapadocha, C., (2019). A presentation inspired by the chapter: Somatic logos in physiovocal actor training and beyond
Kapadocha, C., (2018). The Somatic in Theatre and Performance Research Gathering
Kapadocha, C., (2018). Text and Somatic Logos
Media (3)
Kapadocha, C., Off touch-off balance: are we still in touch?. Video
Kapadocha, C., Video book launch for Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond. Video
Kapadocha, C., What can be somatic in arts praxis? – a video article. Video
Thesis dissertation (1)
Kapadocha, C., (2016). Being an actor/becoming a trainer: the embodied logos of intersubjective experience in a somatic acting process
Other (5)
Kapadocha, C., Haptic Possibilities: Interactive Re-embodiments
Kapadocha, C., (2021).Haptic possibilities: practising physical contact as part of online actor training,Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog
Kapadocha, C., (2020).Haptic possibilities: practising physical contact as part of physically-distanced actor training,Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog
Kapadocha, C., (2019).Somaticity within and beyond arts praxis: Inviting your witnessing,Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog
Kapadocha, C., (2016).‘Post-conference reflection on disseminating praxical research in actor training’, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog
Grants and funding
2022
Impact Global Work
University of Essex (ESRC IAA)
Contact
Academic support hours:
EA405-7-FY Movement EA606-G-SU MA Practical Project EA613-G-SU MFA Practical Project