INTRODUCTION TO DRAMATIC PLAY

The workshop will be integrative, making use of the participants’ natural skills and knowledge in dialogue with the new concepts that will be worked on. The practices will focus on the basics of movement, expression and biomechanics through dramatic play. We will use the contents of the book Peripheral Body as a theoretical basis, for greater understanding and transmission of the Self-Representation Method. In ‘KABARÓ DJITU TEN – Badju Kuridu’, whose name is inspired by the title of Paulo T. Bungué’s book of poetry (Lisbon, 1996), I intend to dramatise some poems to create a playful imaginary and form conventions for dramatic games. In the workshop, the participants will work in co-authorship, believing that this will make it more effective to produce a collective sensitisation that stems from the qualities inherent in each persona, demonstrating the importance of having creative subjectivity. Dramatic play as a form of expression and freedom. Creativity will be boosted through stage play, welcoming individual expression to mirror self-knowledge, giving participants a greater awareness of themselves and the surrounding world. Dramatic play serves as a driving force for awakening the senses and identifying original wisdoms or dormant ancestral technologies. Dance and music are fundamental elements for reconnecting with gestural archetypes and attitudes that run through the collective identity of the Guinean people in their multiple cultures. The workshop is therefore aimed at anyone interested in theatre, acting, dramatic literature, and education through art and conviviality.

Welket Bungué was born in Guinea-Bissau in 1988 and has lived in Portugal since 1990. Welket Bungué is a transdisciplinary artist of Balanta ethnicity. He lives in Berlin but works internationally. He is the co-founder of the production company KUSSA, has a degree in Acting (ESTC/Lisbon) and a postgraduate degree in Performance (UniRio/RJ). In 2021 he became a member of the European Film Academy. Bungué is a member of the Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art (Berlin), and since 2021 his films have been part of the institution’s collection. His films have circulated internationally at numerous film festivals such as Berlinale, ABFF (USA), Africlap (France), Zanzibar Intl. Film Fest, Afrikamera (Berlin), BFI London and Sheffield DocFest (UK), IndieLisboa, DocLisboa, Fest. Intl. de Cinema do Rio de Janeiro and the Stockholm Dansfilmfestival. In 2020 Welket starred in ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’ (Comp. Intl. Berlinale 2020), directed by Burhan Qurbani, in which his performance earned him a Silver Bear nomination, a nomination for “Best Leading Actor” at the LOLA awards of the German Film Academy (Deutscher Filmpreis), and also the “Aluminium Horse” award for “Best Actor” at the Stockholm International Film Festival. Welket released his first book ‘Peripheral Body’ (Jun. 2022) on Amazon, an autobiographical essay on auteur filmmaking based on the homonymous concept of “cinema of self-representation”.

Action funded by the European Union. Action co-financed and managed by Camões I.P.. Action co-funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Travel support German Filmes & AG DOK.