About
About
Anna Yen
Anna Yen is an actor, theatre maker, and Feldenkrais Method ® practitioner. Her work spans theatre, contemporary circus, physical theatre, and film. She teaches in communities, companies, schools, universities, festivals and privately.
Anna teaches Awareness Through Movement at the Qld Conservatorium of Music.
Anna was an actor for, and Dance Captain in, Sydney Theatre Company / La Boite Theatre’s 2023 “The Poison Of Polygamy”. She played a Goblin and was Goblin movement coach for The Jim Henson Company / a Stan Originals “The Portable Door”. Anna performed in Baran Theatre’s “Tower of Babel”, debase’s “Concerto for Presto and Harmony” at the Shanghai International Arts Festival, CAAP/Griffin Theatre’s “The Serpent’s Table” Sydney Festival, Creative Region’s ‘It All Begins With Love” Qld Tour, and “Monsteria”. Her acclaimed physical theatre work “Chinese Take Away” was adapted into a film for SBS.
Anna is the recipient of a Matilda Award Commendation for “Chinese Take Away”, a Best Costume Design Matilda Award with GUSH co-creators for “Monsteria”, and a Churchill Fellowship.
Her play “Slow Boat”, for which she was Movement Director, premiered at the Brisbane Festival in 2022. Anna has taught PlayMoves widely in Australia.
Anna's Approach
- Building ensembles and performer’s stage presence through games, playfulness, complicity, and Awareness Through Movement explorations
- Devising new works collaboratively from multiple starting points, including physical devising and dramaturgy, to uncover the deep interests of the creative team
- Making innovative, powerful, and exciting theatre that helps build bridges between peoples and contributes to greater understanding and connection between us
- Utilising and investigating contemporary physical theatre, circus theatre, text, clown and physical / visual imagery
- As a theatre maker, director and movement teacher I work with professional, community and student performers
- There is always more to learn!
One of Anna’s big influences is the work of Monika Pagneux. Another is the work of Dr Moshe Feldenkrais.
Monika Pagneux
“Monika Pagneux is one of Europe’s leading exponents of movement in contemporary theatre, devoted to preparing actors for the stage. She studied and worked with Jacques Lecoq, Moshe Feldenkrais, Peter Brook, Complicité and many more teachers, actors, dancers, directors and children. Monika’s way of working helps actors to find a unity between their inner psyche and its outer expression. Truth becomes the source of creativity; actions result from being, not thinking.
She asks, ‘Who am I?’ Her answers transform her into a mentor for our times.”
– From “Inside Outside – theatre/movement/being” by Monika Pagneux
A film in which Monika discusses her thoughts about her work and life, including interviews with well known performers and directors, and a book based on Monika’s scrapbook, in which she summed up a stream of her work over the last years, can be found here.
A blogspot on Monika by one of her long-term students: http://monikapagneux.blogspot.com.au
“Monika Pagneux” by Anna Yen The Feldenkrais Journal no 25 Let’s Play published by the FELDENKRAIS GUILD® of North America 2012
About Feldenkrais Method
Anna is a member of the Australian Feldenkrais Guild and a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner. She is available for one to one sessions and workshops.
The Feldenkrais Method is an educational system centered on movement, aiming to expand and refine the use of the self through awareness. It is intended for those who wish to improve their movement repertoire (performers, musicians, artists), as well as those wishing to reduce pain or limitations in movement, and many who want to improve their general well-being and personal development.
Because it uses movement as the primary vehicle for gaining awareness, it is directly applicable to issues that arise from restricted or habitually poor movement. But as a process for gaining awareness, it can expand a person’s choices and responses to many aspects of life.
The Feldenkrais Method was originated by Dr Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), an Ukrainian-born physicist and judo practitioner. The Feldenkrais Method is applied in two forms by practitioners: Awareness Through Movement and one to one Functional Integration sessions.
‘Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself.’
‘If you know what you are doing, you can do what you want.’
‘What I am after is more flexible minds, not just more flexible bodies’
Services
for performers
Movement Workshop for Performance
A workshop designed to expand performers’ movement options; encourage playfulness and pleasure to be on stage; build complicity with other performers; and expand the ability to enact one’s impulses on stage. PlayMoves integrates ensemble games, rhythm as a foundation for creative play, Awareness Through Movement (Feldenkrais Method), stagecraft, devising from the physical,and creative processes. PlayMoves invites authenticity and vulnerability on stage, while being true to one’s embodied inner-knowing. With curiosity and pleasure.
Anna has taught PlayMoves to performers in Cairns, Townsville, Maleny, Brisbane, Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne, Bellbray, Perth and Hobart.
for general public
Awareness Through Movement, Play and Creativity Workshop
This workshop is for people who want to explore awareness through movement, creativity, presence and the pleasure to play, with other people.
- Movement sequences from the Feldenkrais Method designed to heighten the perception of one’s body and rediscover an organic sense of movement with more ease and less tension
- Games to invite our playfulness
- Group exercises to explore what it means “to be present” and in “complicity” with others
- Rhythm as a foundation for creative play
- A wonderful writing exercise that begins from the physical
- Awareness Through Movement
- Playfulness
- Creativity
- Connection
Theatre Making
- Devising new works
- Creative Developments
- Dramaturgy
- Writer
- Director
- Acting
- Physical Theatre / Circus performer
Feldenkrais - One to One
- Anna is available for One to One lessons to explore ways to enhance movement options, and improve function. These "Functional Integration” lessons are held in West End, Brisbane.
- Anna teaches Awareness Through Movement at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music - Griffith University.
‘I danced down the street after my Feldenkrais lesson with Anna. I was impressed. And it takes a lot to impress me.’ – Áine –
Home
Movement Workshop for Performance
facilitated by Anna Yen
The program includes
- games to invite our playfulness and the pleasure to be on stage
- performance exercises to explore what it means to be present and in complicity with other performers
- movement sequences from the Feldenkrais Method designed to heighten the perception of one’s self-use, rediscover an organic sense of movement with more ease and less tension, and discover options. The Awareness Through Movement explored will be based on the popular ‘Wake Up!” sequence.
- rhythm as a foundation for creative play
- a beautiful writing exercise that begin from the physical
All within a Covid-Safe plan
PlayMoves is facilitated by
Anna Yen, performer, theatre maker and Feldenkrais practitioner.
It is inspired by the work of renowned European theatre teacher Monika Pagneux. Our quest is to awaken the performer, inviting the attentive and joyful performing physical presence that marries risk with vulnerability and self-confidence with authenticity.
Comments from PlayMoves participants
“This has been the most awakening and inspiring workshop I have attended in a while. Really wonderful.” Actor
“I feel as though I’ve been woken up – opened to new ways of being and reminded of others I’d forgotten.” Musician
“Extremely valuable. Workshops like this one help to reaffirm one’s creativity.” Actor
