CENTER, MARGIN, EDGE:
A DEEP PLAY LAB
1130 Jervis St. Vancouver, BC
November 30 - December 1 2024
Join the Deep Play Institute as we practice and play with a curated selection of transformative techniques culminating in creative adaptations, experimentation, games and scores. Our weekend will be a relational choreography that moves from a more codified center of transformative practice into marginal edges of play. The weekend will be structured into four 3-hour blocks. Blocks 1-2 (Saturday) will introduce the group to Circling and Psychodrama - practices aimed at bringing about group awareness, cohesion, expression and enlivened embodiment. On Day 2 we will begin the day with creative modifications and alterations of these practices, and conclude the weekend with a score called Conductor which gives participant a chance to improvise with the tools and techniques learnt from the weekend.
This workshop was designed in collaboration with hannah holtzclaw’s ongoing research project in embodied learning and social change. Funding for the workshop is provided in part by Simon Fraser University and offerings are open to both affiliated communities and practice groups, as well as the wider public.
Block 1: Circling
Circling is a practice of observing what is happening in the here-and-now of our group, with a focus on embodied presence. The practice can be thought of as a social/relational meditation, and the subject matter is what is happening for each of us and in the group as whole. During this initial block the group will both use circling as creative fodder for play, and as a means for developing a deepend group cohesion.
Block 2: Psychodrama
Psychodrama is a drama therapy methodology in which participants use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to engage a situation or encounter. It is an incredible performative practice for diving deeply and playful into intra/inter-subjective facets of self and other. Psychodrama is practiced in a group, whereby one participant volunteers to be the protagonist who then acts on their "drama" with the aid of other group members as auxiliaries. It is a highly structured technique with forms that establish safety, minimize projection, and which create the capacity for deep and transformative expression.
Block 3: Creative Adaptations of Circling & Psychodrama
Building on the foundations laid in the first two blocks, this session offer creative adaptations from both Circling and Psychodrama practices. For Circling some of these adaptations may include: Kabuki Circling (using predetermined roles in the group), circling with inner parts, and circling combined with movement and gestural expression. For Psychodrama some of these adaptations may include: short psychodrama vignettes, or solo dramas (i.e. where the protagonist is playing all roles, including the director)
Block 4: Conductor
The weekend culminates in Conductor, a game played as participants take turns conducting the group by giving commands verbally, gesturally or sonically. The medium of conducting can be sonic, musical, performative, conversational and relational. The intention is that Conductor will synthesize many of the techniques explored in the earlier parts of the weekend as participants can draw from the tools learnt (and the expression and group cohesion fostered) to create immersive and emergent scores of togetherness.
–🌾— PRACTICALS DETAILS —🌾–
Price: Price is tiered based on an sliding scales of income/subsistence and ranges from $40-80 CAD. However, should cost be a barrier and these tiers feel restrictive, please email hannah and we will work with your specific financial needs. [email protected]
Schedule: Block 1: Saturday 10am-1pm. Block 2: Saturday 2:30-5:30pm. Block 3: Sunday 10am-1pm. Block 4: Sunday 2:30-5:30pm. Lunch will be provided on both days (and we will provide reasonable accommodations for dietary restrictions).
Partial Attendance: The work we are doing is scaffolded, so ideally participants can make all 4 blocks to get the most out of the weekend. Block 1 is especially important as it provides openings, agreements and group cohesion exercises. If you really want to attend and cannot attend this first block, please write to us and we can try to provide accommodation.
Max Capacity: 15 Participants
Covid Policy: We will follow CDC protocol regarding covid isolation and engagement. If any participant has symptoms of covid (i.e. cold symptoms), we ask you to please take a home-test and if you test positive you cannot attend the program. If you test negative, and you are sick, we ask you to still wear a mask or stay at home (as tests can deliver false negatives). For everyone else, masks are optional. This policy may be updated prior to the event to ensure additional safety.
Cancellation Policy: Refunds are available up to 10 days before the event - minus a $20 processing fee. After this time we are unable to provide a refund for the event. Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors.
About the Deep Play Institute The Deep Play Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to exploring life’s deepest questions through transformative play. DPI’s facilitators – therapists, artists, coaches, and philosophers – aim to use play to bring people into an experiential questioning of what it means to exist. Each program that DPI runs is a unique container, creatively constructed and inspired by practices that include: Gestalt therapy, Process Work, Psychodrama, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Tavistock Group Relations, Relational Psychoanalysis, Authentic Relating, Nonviolent Communication, Circling, coaching, performance art, contact improvisation, experimental theater, LARPs, surrealism, existential games, and various schools of meditation.
This workshop was designed in collaboration with hannah holtzclaw’s ongoing research project in embodied learning and social change. Funding for the workshop is provided in part by Simon Fraser University and offerings are open to both affiliated communities and practice groups, as well as the wider public.
Block 1: Circling
Circling is a practice of observing what is happening in the here-and-now of our group, with a focus on embodied presence. The practice can be thought of as a social/relational meditation, and the subject matter is what is happening for each of us and in the group as whole. During this initial block the group will both use circling as creative fodder for play, and as a means for developing a deepend group cohesion.
Block 2: Psychodrama
Psychodrama is a drama therapy methodology in which participants use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to engage a situation or encounter. It is an incredible performative practice for diving deeply and playful into intra/inter-subjective facets of self and other. Psychodrama is practiced in a group, whereby one participant volunteers to be the protagonist who then acts on their "drama" with the aid of other group members as auxiliaries. It is a highly structured technique with forms that establish safety, minimize projection, and which create the capacity for deep and transformative expression.
Block 3: Creative Adaptations of Circling & Psychodrama
Building on the foundations laid in the first two blocks, this session offer creative adaptations from both Circling and Psychodrama practices. For Circling some of these adaptations may include: Kabuki Circling (using predetermined roles in the group), circling with inner parts, and circling combined with movement and gestural expression. For Psychodrama some of these adaptations may include: short psychodrama vignettes, or solo dramas (i.e. where the protagonist is playing all roles, including the director)
Block 4: Conductor
The weekend culminates in Conductor, a game played as participants take turns conducting the group by giving commands verbally, gesturally or sonically. The medium of conducting can be sonic, musical, performative, conversational and relational. The intention is that Conductor will synthesize many of the techniques explored in the earlier parts of the weekend as participants can draw from the tools learnt (and the expression and group cohesion fostered) to create immersive and emergent scores of togetherness.
–🌾— PRACTICALS DETAILS —🌾–
Price: Price is tiered based on an sliding scales of income/subsistence and ranges from $40-80 CAD. However, should cost be a barrier and these tiers feel restrictive, please email hannah and we will work with your specific financial needs. [email protected]
Schedule: Block 1: Saturday 10am-1pm. Block 2: Saturday 2:30-5:30pm. Block 3: Sunday 10am-1pm. Block 4: Sunday 2:30-5:30pm. Lunch will be provided on both days (and we will provide reasonable accommodations for dietary restrictions).
Partial Attendance: The work we are doing is scaffolded, so ideally participants can make all 4 blocks to get the most out of the weekend. Block 1 is especially important as it provides openings, agreements and group cohesion exercises. If you really want to attend and cannot attend this first block, please write to us and we can try to provide accommodation.
Max Capacity: 15 Participants
Covid Policy: We will follow CDC protocol regarding covid isolation and engagement. If any participant has symptoms of covid (i.e. cold symptoms), we ask you to please take a home-test and if you test positive you cannot attend the program. If you test negative, and you are sick, we ask you to still wear a mask or stay at home (as tests can deliver false negatives). For everyone else, masks are optional. This policy may be updated prior to the event to ensure additional safety.
Cancellation Policy: Refunds are available up to 10 days before the event - minus a $20 processing fee. After this time we are unable to provide a refund for the event. Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors.
About the Deep Play Institute The Deep Play Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to exploring life’s deepest questions through transformative play. DPI’s facilitators – therapists, artists, coaches, and philosophers – aim to use play to bring people into an experiential questioning of what it means to exist. Each program that DPI runs is a unique container, creatively constructed and inspired by practices that include: Gestalt therapy, Process Work, Psychodrama, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Tavistock Group Relations, Relational Psychoanalysis, Authentic Relating, Nonviolent Communication, Circling, coaching, performance art, contact improvisation, experimental theater, LARPs, surrealism, existential games, and various schools of meditation.
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Aaron Finbloom is a philosopher, artist and pedagogue. He is the co-founder of The School of Making Thinking (SMT) and the founder & director of The Deep Play Institute (DPI). His practice involves expanding transformative inquiry through games, performance art and structured play. With training in Circling, Authentic Relating, and Psychodrama, he also facilitates experimental individual and group sessions inspired by these practices. Finbloom has presented works internationally at venues which include: The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Gallery 151 (New York), Maschinenhaus Kulturbrauerei (Berlin), UNAM (Mexico City), and MainLine Theatre (Montreal). He holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities & Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, and is currently teaching Philosophy at the City College of New York and The University of Portland. finblooming.com
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