Creativity is a flirty thing. A whiff of an idea you swing around and try to grab. Or it might be a quiet whisper that wakes you from deep sleep, causing you to get out of your warm bed, find pen and paper, and write something down.

This class is the final culmination of the many creative ideas and practices I have shared with students over the past three years of teaching at Creative Arts. Accessing the movement concepts embedded in “Laban Effort Actions” and “Viewpoints” we will explore ways to use those movements and writing “tools" to discover what we want to say. We'll then investigate emerging themes, and create an original piece of movement art.

Will there be speaking and text? Maybe. Will there be music and singing? Maybe. Will there be joy, discovery, and sharing? Yes! What I can also promise is that you will stretch yourself, see others do the same, and come away with something you would not have imagined. The class will start with a gentle, fun, warm up that you can take home with you. From there we will move on to Viewpoints and Laban work but progress quickly towards creating a story or stories that will become a piece of creative theater.

I am so excited to use the creative ideas we have been exploring over my last three years at camp and with your help, combine them into something magical.

This class is open to anyone. No prior experience is necessary.

Meet your Instructor

Hilary Harper-Wilcoxen

I am primarily a dancer. Whatever I do has movement as its foundation. So, when I taught Theatre Movement to college actors for many years, it was with an eye to how movement conveys a message. How it tells the audience what the words hint at. I loved it.

I also love how we all tell stories with our bodies – with our expressions and gestures. I even did my MFA graduate thesis on Laban Effort Actions and Movement for Actors. All of this brings me to summer Creative Arts camp on Long Lake and how excited I am to share this with new students and see their eyes light up as they realize the tremendous power and accessibility of tempo, space, effort, and weight.

My fourteen years as a college dance and theatre professor, as well as my current work developing programs for young children, and my last two summers teaching at Creative Arts camp, have taught me that movement matters and is for everyone. Join me!