There is no Self realisation without embodiment, no growth without the attempt to give the Invisible a visible form.
– Thomas Prattki
There is no Self realisation without embodiment, no growth without the attempt to give the Invisible a visible form.
– Thomas Prattki
About the Centre
Welcome
The Thomas Prattki Centre for Integral Movement and Performance Studies is a place of professional research as well as personal growth and addresses advanced practitioners in the performing, healing and educational arts, who are interested in exploring the relationship between embodied identity, individuation and Self realisation in one’s own professional field and personal life.
Our aim is to provide a space of personal as well as transpersonal, individual as well as collaborative, artistic as well as educational investigation into the realisation of creative potentials in groups and individuals. We wish to foster through movement and performance in all its different forms the emergence of a more integral experience of the body, which embraces autonomy, fluidity, the liminoid and the androgynous on the way to creative Self realisation, in art and life.
Integrating core concepts of archetypal psychology, the Jungian approach to personal growth, the research of Jean Gebser on structures of consciousness , Jacques Lecoq’s pedagogy on embodiment through mask and movement, the initiatic process work of Maria Hippius and Karlfried Graf Duerckheim, awareness practices such as Alexander Technique, Iaido and Zen meditation and a devising process rooted in the emerging images and creative impulses of one’s own journey, Integral Movement and Performance Practice offers a unique program for performing artists, educators and practitioners in movement and performance based healing arts interested in deepening their personal and professional journey.
Through movement and improvisation, through mask and myth, through the creation of performances from ritual to installation, from playwriting to film making, from solo project to ensemble creation, through drawing, painting and sculpting, through reading, writing and critical reflection, through individual research projects, which allow for the application of the Integral Movement and Performance Practice to one’s own specific field of interest, practice and profession, each participant is invited to develop an embodied sense for the creative power of our personal and collective imagination and shared consciousness. This process invites the emergence of a more holistic experience of ourselves, the development of new cultural narratives, educational models and performance worlds , which reflect this development and rich questions about the need for more embodied integral leadership in one’s own professional practice and personal life.
There are three masks.
the one we think we are
the one we really are
and the one we all have in common.
– Jacques Lecoq
There are three masks.
the one we think we are
the one we really are
and the one we all have in common.
– Jacques Lecoq
A Word From the Founder
After 30 years of practical research with groups and individuals into the process of personal and artistic individuation and Self realization through mask, myth and movement, the creation of a centre for integral movement and performance studies felt like the natural next step on my own journey towards a deeper embodiment of the integral nature of life and art.
My interest in movement and performance has been always two-folded. On one side a strong artistic interest, inspired by my years as a student, as a teacher and later as the pedagogical director of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. On the other side an interest in personal Self realisation through means of movement and performance, inspired by 3 decades of work with groups and professionals in the performing, healing and educational arts. My artistic journey led me on a rich journey as a performer, director and teacher, and to the creation of the London International School of Performing Arts in 2003 and arthaus.berlin international training and research center for devised performance in 2018.
My interest in a deeper connection between the process of personal individuation, Self realization and the practice of embodiment through mask, myth and movement led to the creation of the Thomas Prattki Centre for Integral Movement and Performance Studies in 2015.
As the school thrives through the wonderful contributions and exciting visions of each team member, so does the Thomas Prattki Centre. Each member on the team has her/his own practice, which reflects their artistic and personal quest for Self realization. And I am thankful to have the opportunity to be together with them on one of the most amazing journeys I could ever imagine, towards the embodiment of the human spirit and a deeper understanding of the grand movement of Life itself.
We all look forward to share the journey with you as well.
With best wishes,
Thomas Prattki
Founder and Director
Thomas Prattki Centre for Integral Movement and Performance Studies
Programs
Programs
Integral Embodiment and
Integral Performance Making
This 3-year certificate program (formerly IMPP) addresses advanced practitioners in the performing, educational and healing arts interested in professional and personal development through a movement and performance based process work, which explores a practice for artistic individuation, Self realisation and the emergence of a more embodied consciousness. The program is offered in modular form over 6 modules of 4-7 weeks each. For more detailed information please click here.
MA Integral Movement and
Performance Practice
We are excited to be able to also offer the 3-year program in Integral Movement and Performance Practice (IMPP) as an MA program in collaboration with Rose Bruford College in London. For more detailed information please Contact Us.
Workshops
The Thomas Prattki Centre offers a range of workshops, which allow participants to get to know the approach. For more detailed information about the workshop program please click here.
Should you have any questions do not hesitate to
Performance is a ceremony, a ritual. You should go out of it more human than when you went in.
– Ariane Mnouchkine
Performance is a ceremony, a ritual. You should go out of it more human than when you went in.
– Ariane Mnouchkine
Team
The Founder
Thomas Prattki
Thomas is the founder of arthaus.berlin, an international creative hub for theatre makers from around the world.
He has been the pedagogical director of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq, before creating in 2003 the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). In 2018 he creates arthaus.berlin, which hosts the international school of theatre and performance makers (formerly LISPA), an international workshop and research space and the Thomas Prattki Centre for Integral Movement and Performance Studies.
As a performer he has toured the world with Mummenschanz, a world renowned company combining movement, mask, puppetry and the visual arts. He has directed, taught and lectured for the last three decades in over 30 different countries, pursuing his interest in the practice of Embodiment in art and life.
His most important reference point next to the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq is the strongly Jungian and Zen based work of Maria Hippius and Karlfried Graf Duerckheim.
Faculty
Valentina Bordenave
Valentina Bordenave is a freelance dancer, choreographer and, since 1998, a certified Alexander Technique teacher. She is a graduate in dance from the Folkwang University in Essen, Germany.
With over 20 years of experience as a dancer and movement teacher, Valentina has been actively researching the integration of mechanics and poetry of the body. Now based in Berlin, her work has a strong focus on the body support system, spatial and energetic awareness, intense physicality and utmost sensitivity. As well as holding workshops and training for dance and theatre companies, she teaches Alexander Technique, dance and improvisation at Familie Flöz Summer Academy and for the past ten years at the Acting Department at Berlin’s University of the Arts (UDK).
As a performer, Valentina has worked with the choreographers Mark Sieczkarek and Editta Braun among others.
In 2014 she founded the international Collective ANDERPLATZ with nine other actors and dancers, where she directs and performs.
Ariel Gutiérrez
Originally from Buenos Aires, Ariel has a background in international politics, Literature and Performing Arts. He studied at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in 1996 and joined LISPA in 2011, where he completed the Advanced Devising Practice program as well as the pedagogical training.
An active collaborator with companies in the US, Europe and Latin America, he also holds a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures from the University of Miami with an emphasis on Performance. His dissertation “Scenic Landscapes: The theater in the global city” explores the relation between globalization, theater and non-conventional performance spaces.
Abigail Dooley
Abigail is a theatre director, teacher, performer and scriptwriter, specialising in devised theatre. She trained at East 15 Drama School, Ecole Philippe Gaulier and LISPA.
She has performed, directed and devised with many companies including Compagnie Philippe Gaulier, Keith Johnstone, Spymonkey, Told by An Idiot, Peepolykus and Trestle Theatre Company. She is joint Artistic Director and performer with the theatre company – A & E Comedy, whose play, Enter The Dragons, won the Best of Brighton Fringe award 2017.
Over the last 25 years Abigail has taught extensively at drama schools and Universities, including Mountview, ALRA and Middlesex University. As a scriptwriter, she won Hat Trick Productions Sitcom Mission Competition and has made a number of short films, including a TV sitcom pilot with Spymonkey Theatre Company.
Peter Oechsle
Psychologist, Zen Teacher and initiatic therapist. He lives in Ibach in the Black Forest and has worked for over 30 years at the Duerckheim Center in Todtmoos Ruette.
He gives workshops in guided drawing, embodied mythology and personal process at arthaus.berlin.
Kelley Soul
Kelley has worked professionally as an actor, director, stage manager and arts administrator.
She trained as an actor, director and dramaturg at the University of Northern Colorado (1994), before completing her MFA in Actor Created Physical Theatre at Naropa University (USA) in collaboration with LISPA.
Before moving to Europe, she performed with a number of US-based theatre companies, devising experimental work, whilst working as an arts-in-education activist with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Kelley completed the pedagogical year at LISPA in 2004, and has taught with the LISPA team since 2005. She is also a visual artist, working primarily in acrylic, ink and watercolour, and has a deep interest in the creative space that is opened when different artistic and educational practices meet and transform.
Cat Gerrard
Cat is a performance-maker, storyteller, director and teacher from London. She trained at Drama Studio London and LISPA.
Cat has toured Europe with solo work and with various puppetry, physical theatre and storytelling ensembles, including Theatre Témoin and Impronta Theater. She is Artistic Director of storytelling company TailSpin.
She has been exploring the depths and heights of voice, text and telling – as a practitioner and a teacher – since 2010, colliding her cross-arts interests with a movement towards wholing.
Philipp Schaefer
Philipp is an actor, clown and licensed TaKeTiNa Rhythm Teacher. An alumnus of Jacques Lecoq, he has performed his show “stäx rhythmclown” in street theatre festivals all over Europe. As a teacher he has worked at theatre schools and universities such as LISPA, Universität für Musik und darstellende Künste (Vienna) and Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding (Munich).
He is a drum circle-facilitator and works as well with Himalayan singing bowls. “Rhythm is my tool as a clown and as a teacher in order to create a space for new experiences and personal development. There is no need to learn a new instrument, since you are the instrument. You will find out how to play it in the best possible way.”
Patrick Soul
Patrick is a multi-instrumentalist with over 25 years of experience both performing and writing in many different styles of music.
He has a Masters degree in Jazz Performance from the the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and sang for seven years with the London Vocal Project, performing with them at London’s best jazz clubs as well as at the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican. Since 2008 Patrick has been encouraging and assisting theatre students at arthaus.berlin / LISPA to playfully explore and expand the musical possibilities available to them, individually and in the group, through mindful listening, rhythm games and improvisation.
He also composes electronic and acoustic music, with a particular interest in the layering of patterns, additive and subtractive process music, free improvisation and instant composition.
Valentina Bordenave
Valentina Bordenave is a freelance dancer, choreographer and, since 1998, a certified Alexander Technique teacher. She is a graduate in dance from the Folkwang University in Essen, Germany.
With over 20 years of experience as a dancer and movement teacher, Valentina has been actively researching the integration of mechanics and poetry of the body. Now based in Berlin, her work has a strong focus on the body support system, spatial and energetic awareness, intense physicality and utmost sensitivity. As well as holding workshops and training for dance and theatre companies, she teaches Alexander Technique, dance and improvisation at Familie Flöz Summer Academy and for the past ten years at the Acting Department at Berlin’s University of the Arts (UDK).
As a performer, Valentina has worked with the choreographers Mark Sieczkarek and Editta Braun among others.
In 2014 she founded the international Collective ANDERPLATZ with nine other actors and dancers, where she directs and performs.
Abigail Dooley
Abigail is a theatre director, teacher, performer and scriptwriter, specialising in devised theatre. She trained at East 15 Drama School, Ecole Philippe Gaulier and LISPA.
She has performed, directed and devised with many companies including Compagnie Philippe Gaulier, Keith Johnstone, Spymonkey, Told by An Idiot, Peepolykus and Trestle Theatre Company. She is joint Artistic Director and performer with the theatre company – A & E Comedy, whose play, Enter The Dragons, won the Best of Brighton Fringe award 2017.
Over the last 25 years Abigail has taught extensively at drama schools and Universities, including Mountview, ALRA and Middlesex University. As a scriptwriter, she won Hat Trick Productions Sitcom Mission Competition and has made a number of short films, including a TV sitcom pilot with Spymonkey Theatre Company.
Cat Gerrard
Cat is a performance-maker, storyteller, director and teacher from London. She trained at Drama Studio London and LISPA.
Cat has toured Europe with solo work and with various puppetry, physical theatre and storytelling ensembles, including Theatre Témoin and Impronta Theater. She is Artistic Director of storytelling company TailSpin.
She has been exploring the depths and heights of voice, text and telling – as a practitioner and a teacher – since 2010, colliding her cross-arts interests with a movement towards wholing.
Ariel Gutiérrez
Originally from Buenos Aires, Ariel has a background in international politics, Literature and Performing Arts. He studied at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in 1996 and joined LISPA in 2011, where he completed the Advanced Devising Practice program as well as the pedagogical training.
An active collaborator with companies in the US, Europe and Latin America, he also holds a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures from the University of Miami with an emphasis on Performance. His dissertation “Scenic Landscapes: The theater in the global city” explores the relation between globalization, theater and non-conventional performance spaces.
Peter Oechsle
Peter is a psychologist, Zen Teacher and initiatic therapist. He lives in Ibach in the Black Forest and has worked for over 30 years at the Duerckheim Center in Todtmoos Ruette.
He gives workshops in guided drawing, embodied mythology and personal process at arthaus.berlin.
Philipp Schaefer
Philipp is an actor, clown and licensed TaKeTiNa Rhythm Teacher. An alumnus of Jacques Lecoq, he has performed his show “stäx rhythmclown” in street theatre festivals all over Europe. As a teacher he has worked at theatre schools and universities such as LISPA, Universität für Musik und darstellende Künste (Vienna) and Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding (Munich).
He is a drum circle-facilitator and works as well with Himalayan singing bowls. “Rhythm is my tool as a clown and as a teacher in order to create a space for new experiences and personal development. There is no need to learn a new instrument, since you are the instrument. You will find out how to play it in the best possible way.”
Kelley Soul
Kelley has worked professionally as an actor, director, stage manager and arts administrator.
She trained as an actor, director and dramaturg at the University of Northern Colorado (1994), before completing her MFA in Actor Created Physical Theatre at Naropa University (USA) in collaboration with LISPA.
Before moving to Europe, she performed with a number of US-based theatre companies, devising experimental work, whilst working as an arts-in-education activist with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Kelley completed the pedagogical year at LISPA in 2004, and has taught with the LISPA team since 2005. She is also a visual artist, working primarily in acrylic, ink and watercolour, and has a deep interest in the creative space that is opened when different artistic and educational practices meet and transform.
Patrick Soul
Patrick is a multi-instrumentalist with over 25 years of experience both performing and writing in many different styles of music.
He has a Masters degree in Jazz Performance from the the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and sang for seven years with the London Vocal Project, performing with them at London’s best jazz clubs as well as at the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican. Since 2008 Patrick has been encouraging and assisting theatre students at arthaus.berlin to playfully explore and expand the musical possibilities available to them, individually and in the group, through mindful listening, rhythm games and improvisation.
He also composes electronic and acoustic music, with a particular interest in the layering of patterns, additive and subtractive process music, free improvisation and instant composition.
Alumni
Alumni
They say about the program…
As an experienced theatre practitioner I was feeling depleted and found myself repeating well-trodden creative paths. I wanted to dig deeper into the creative process. The IMPP course offers a fascinating, unique and groundbreaking program. It took me on a journey of creative discovery, both personally and professionally.The combination of core ideas of Lecoq’s pedagogy, essential elements of the Jungian concept for personal growth and the initiatic process work of Hippius and Duerckheim opened up new creative pathways. The course offered insights into my personal creative process and how to connect it to my professional journey and, at the same time, illuminated our approach to the world and one another. I discovered a new creative language offering a rich, deeply personal knowledge that is vivid, truthful and expansive. The teachers are incredible. Their expertise, generosity and support – outstanding. They encouraged us to work outside our comfort zones, to experiment and to take risks. I leave the course with the ability to access a rich, exciting and endlessly creative universe that I previously didn’t know existed.
IMPP is truly unbelievable, a unique training you won’t find anywhere else. The modules developed me in all directions: as an artist, as a person, as a teacher. Thomas is an authentic Master teacher – inspirational and challenging.
This has been the course I always wanted to do and I have been lucky to find exactly what I needed. I had the possibility to embrace those qualities of myself I always tried to hide and to discover how they actually nurture my creative growth. When I started to integrate them I discovered the immense possibilities I have within myself and how they support my personal and artistic process. I highly recommend this course, if you want to discover more about who you are and how these personal discoveries impact your way of creating art. You need courage to do it!
As a working practitioner and a parent, I really appreciated the chance to work in a shorter, modular format – I couldn’t see how it would be possible otherwise due to the logistics of organising time away from my partner, young family and job. What I didn’t expect was how helpful the time between modules was for the entire process – I was able to step back from my own relentless drive to accumulate more skills, and allow the experiences of each module the space to develop, digest, and resonate throughout my ‘everyday’ life as well as my creative life. What a blessing, to really discover these two ‘lives’ are one and the same!
Admission
Admission
Documents for the application are a letter of motivation, a CV, a recent photo and a financial budget statement, which indicates how you plan to pay for tuition and accommodation during your studies in Berlin.
In order to be eligible for the MA Integral Movement and Performance Practice or the 3-Year Certificate Program, it is necessary to either participate in one of the audition workshops offered by the Thomas Prattki Centre, or to have an interview with the Director of the Program (this can be done online).
Please send a full application before your audition workshop / interview, as listed above. If you have any questions you can Contact Us -we are happy to help!
Fees
The total fees for the 2022-2025 3-year Certificate program, which begins on 7th March 2022, can be viewed in this PDF document. We offer some very limited tuition assistance scholarships, as well as a special COVID-impact discount for practitioners impacted by the pandemic – contact us if this is something you would require.
The total fees for the MA version of Integral Movement and Performance Practice 2022-2025 are set by Rose Bruford College and are higher than the Certificate program fees. Contact us for more information
Location
EDEN*****
The Eden Studios are located in the leafy district of Berlin Pankow, right next to the trendy area of Prenzlauer Berg with its cafes, bars and restaurants. You can easily reach the studios by public transport and the center of Berlin is less than a 10 minute tube ride away. Eden offers five new studios between 150- 300sqm with wooden sprung floors and amazing views of the surrounding park. The Eden has also a café with an outdoor terrace for sunny days and offers catering with vegetarian food.
Berlin
The city of Berlin is considered to be one of Europe’s most “cutting edge” capitals. Well known for its liberal lifestyle and postmodern zeitgeist, Berlin is youthful, artistic and “hip” and has everything to offer one would expect from an international metropolis. At the same time, the city remains one of the world’s most affordable places for students, with relatively low costs for accommodation, food, public transport etc. in comparison to other Western European capitals.