French Foundations of Physicality
Nixon, Ellie (2025) French Foundations of Physicality. In: Milestones in Actor Training. Routledge (London and New York), pp. 75-98. ISBN 9781032632377
Abstract
During the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, Jacques Lecoq ‘joined a group of young enthusiasts who sought to use gymnastics, mime, movement and dance to express opposition to the prevailing Fascist ideology’ (Bradby in Lecoq 2000: xi). The chapter explores the connections and friendships marked by this milestone on the development of Lecoq’s internationally renowned approach to teaching theatre and reveals the interweaving repercussions of Jacques Copeau and associates that prompted the French foundations of physicality. Expanding on the prevailing patrilineal narrative of this tradition of performer training, I incorporate the under-explored yet instrumental contributions of the women taking part on this journey, including Suzanne Bing, Marie-Hélène Dasté, and Monika Pagneux. Their reimagining of teaching strategies and curiosity about what theatre could be, were to become essential principles of Lecoq’s own pedagogy and that of his contemporaries. The consequences of this constellation of embodied practices and personal encounters continue to resonate in contemporary creative theatre practice and deeply enrich twenty-first-century performer training.
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