Inside/Outside: theatre/movement/being

Monika Pagneux was born in Germany in 1927. Her schooling was interrupted by war - after which she was not allowed to continue high school for political reasons. For a time she worked in the potato fields but in 1947 she moved to Berlin to study modern dance and theatre with Mary Wigman, which she paid for with bread and potatoes. Pagneux met Marcel Marceau in Berlin, realized that she wanted to tell stories with movement, danced with Circus Knie to earn tuition money for Étienne Decroux, who was the mime teacher Marceau suggested. In 1953, she hitched rides on trains to Paris in order to study with Decroux. Monika then studied theatre at École Internationale de Théâtre Jaques Lecoq, where she then taught movement for 15 years. She worked with Peter Brook in Paris for many years where she also ran an international theatre training studio with Philippe Gaulier, followed by workshops in London for 10 years whilst also leading Master-classes around the world. From 2007-2012 Monika has led pedagogy Master-classes in Barcelona. In 1965 Monika by chance came across a class being taught by Moshe Feldenkrais who work she immediately appreciated for its ability to 'wake people up' and also because it is 'neutral' - you don't see the training in the body on stage, unlike other training techniques such as classical ballet, acrobatics, or some martial arts where you can often spot someone trained in a particular style from their distinctive walk and stance. Actors need to be to find a dynamic, ready, available 'neutral' and from there, to do, create, express the fullest range of humanity, to be able to do whatever they want, effortlessly. Monika saw that the Feldenkrais can help actors be "sensitive and aware, a being, not a body". (adapted from an article by Anna Yen called Monika Pagneux, Play and Feldenkrais)