my pedagogical career

It was with a lot of freedom that the students participated in this workshop. The exercises gave a framework allowing them to apprehend the rules of theatrical play, from the expression of feelings to the management of the stage space. Their involvement in this collective adventure aimed to make them aware of each other's role in a group and to take charge of themselves throughout the creative process. The show was designed from improvisations on a specific theme, inviting students to bring their own universe. Then the composition and the rehearsals gave rise to the writing of The Princess of the Fireflies.

I regularly intervene with improvisation groups (theatrical improvisation, improv match, etc.) with the mission of revisiting the fundamentals of acting in improvisational situations in terms of physical play. Knowing well the qualities of comedians improvisers (repartee, responsiveness, ability to build a situation or story ...) and also their problems (tendency to use clichés, rushed ideas, too explanatory words at the expense of feeling ...), I bring to the companies techniques allowing them to enrich their acting skills. For that I use principles of my pedagogy focused on silent acting and scenic composition : group dynamics, expression of the feelings and reaction to the environment, as well as bodily attitudes and archetypes.

I directed a group of fifteen actors and actresses, whom I selected from candidates proposed by Pôle Emploi Spectacle, in order to prepare auditions before casting directors, movies and theater companies directors. Under my direction, actors and actresses, in duo or solo, worked scenes highlighting their acting skills, their personality, their know-how. The performance took place at the Théâtre de Dix Heures in Montmartre. It has been a success, receiving an enthusiastic and interested welcome from the invited professionals. The operation was to be repeated with new groups, but as the budget tightened, this success was the last.

I conducted an workshop on this theme, for a group of fifteen professional performing artists. I chose an intensive formula, so the class lasted 80 hours spread over three weeks of training. The objective was to upgrade the actors in the apprehension of the techniques of the corporal training, allowing them to perfect their capacities of interpretation, to control their gestures and their image, to become aware of the role of each one in the composition of the scenic or cinematographic space.

I arrived in this school, then in a time of crisis. I accepted the responsibility of the clown class with the second year students and the Space-body-movement course with the first year. Everything was to be rebuilt with directives that were redefined on the spot. During the two years that I taught in this school, I applied my pedagogy, meticulous, evolutive, involving the creativity of the students, in a "result-demonstrative » framework. The work on silent cinema has had a significant impact. The work done was particularly adapted to make them aware of their gestures and the place of the actor in the cinematographic space. With the little time we had, I led them to imagine stories ranging from five to twenty minutes on the theme of silent film. I then realized the editing of these 55 films designed with a dozen classes.

For a few years I actively participated in pedagogical commissions around the arts of mime and gesture. Trainers, mainly from the legacy of Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau, but also Jacques Lecoq or from the dance, meet regularly to lead practical and especially theoretical reflections which defines the mime today in his practice and in its transmission. After a certain period of exchange, I came to find myself in rupture with this Oedipus mime complex, with this kind of existential crisis in which I do not recognize myself. Therefore, I continue my research with some colleagues, outside the consensus of "mime and gesture"

A cruising pace is taken for several years. I organize and teach courses every day of the week, as well as many workshops, sessions of actor’s coaching and artistic consulting. I work for theatrical companies, high schools, colleges, MJC, etc. In short, training has become my main activity. I develop my methodology for learning acting. The study of archetypes from our popular traditions takes a central place, questioning the universality of language. Despite the success of my approach, the economic model under which I operate is fragile. I decided to go back to an associative form, to reduce the number of workshops and to free up time for the creation of shows.

In the course of the 2004-2005 season, I moved to Paris with my commedia dell'arte masks in one hand and a solo show in the other. I play in the Parisian theaters and I intervene in various productions, while giving my first courses and workshops - at the Théâtre de la Main d'Or, at the Théâtre l'Article, at Thierry Hamon Theater Workshops or with the association Ycon, before moving to the Saint Roch classrooms in the first arrondissement. As I participate in the life of cultural and artistic associations, my training activity is developing. I gather a group of students with whom I create a show that will be played in Paris and during the Avignon Festival. In 2007, my training activity is grouped under the name of "Atelier Theater Patrick Forian"

Back in Switzerland, after two years of training at the Lassaad International Theater School, I started teaching in different structures. I rely on the wealth of lessons I have received to build my pedagogical approach. I discover that the role of teacher suits me as much as that of actor and the transmission of a know-how fascinates me. I also acquired my first collection of masks and I am working to achieve some myself. I give regular workshops of interpretation, improvisation and mime, as well as courses of commedia dell'arte, clown and jesters.