3-MONTH DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMME
Ensemble Building Programme
A 12-week distance learning programme in ensemble leadership for theatre and dance
Over twelve weeks you learn to read a group, set up the conditions for ensemble work, train shared attention and rhythm, and build an Ensemble Transformation Plan for a specific group. Your tutor reads every task you submit and replies with individual written feedback.
The presentation describes the programme week by week. We send it to you personally.
DURATION
12 weeks, 5 to 10 hours a week
FORMAT
Distance learning, in English
FEEDBACK
Written, on every task
TUITION
€2,450
From a group of strong performers to an ensemble
Strong performers become an ensemble through the conditions their leader creates.
You start each production, season or school year with a new group and little time. Your performers are strong individually, and the scenes still lack a shared rhythm. Notes you give in rehearsal change less on stage than you expect. Part of the group holds back, and smaller circles form inside the cast.
Many directors, choreographers and teachers learn ensemble work on the job, one project at a time. The Ensemble Building Programme gives that learning a structure: how to read a group before you lead it, how to run the first meeting, how to build trust through action, how to train shared attention and rhythm, and how to give feedback a group can use.
The programme draws on Stanislavski’s attention and physical action, Meyerhold’s collective rhythm, Michael Chekhov’s atmosphere, the Viewpoints, Lecoq’s physical listening, Keith Johnstone’s work on status, and research on group development and psychological safety. Each source leads to a task for your rehearsal room, studio or class.
Who the programme is for
The programme is written for professionals in theatre and dance who lead groups of performers. Most come to it from one of three situations.
01
Directors who build an ensemble with every new cast
You direct with a new cast each time, often in a short rehearsal period, or you are an actor or an emerging director starting to stage your own work. The programme gives you a way to plan the first weeks with a group step by step.
02
Choreographers, movement directors and dance company leaders
You lead classes and rehearsals with a company, set work on dancers or direct movement in theatre productions. Weeks 7 to 9 give you scores for shared attention, physical listening and synchrony that you can run with your company.
03
Teachers in professional training and facilitators of intensives
You teach acting, movement or theatre at a conservatoire, academy or studio, or lead intensives and creative laboratories with a new group each time. The programme helps you open each course with an agreement and rituals written in your own words.
Leaders of school, youth, community and multilingual groups are also welcome to apply. You apply each task to your own group, and your tutor’s feedback takes it into account.
Applicants have a high school diploma and prior experience in the performing arts. Places in each group are limited, and each application is reviewed individually.
How distance learning works
Each week follows the same cycle, and you choose when to study within it.
Read the week’s written lecture.
Choose your pathway and test the week’s tool.
Submit your task, a working document such as a map, an agreement, a score or a protocol.
Your tutor reads it and writes back about your group and your decisions.
Take the feedback into the next week. In Week 12 your tasks become the sections of your Ensemble Transformation Plan.
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Three pathways for every task
A
You lead a group now
Try the week’s tool with your cast, company or class and describe what happened.
B
You can observe rehearsals
Watch another leader’s rehearsals or classes and read the group through the week’s tool.
C
You are between groups
Design the work for a group you have led before or a group you plan to lead, and set out how it would run.
Your tutor responds to your work in every pathway, and your final plan is written for one specific group.
What you work on
Twelve weeks in four parts. Each part adds sections to your plan.
01
WEEKS 1 TO 3
Seeing the group
A diagnostic map of a group you lead, observe or design; how a group develops and how leadership changes with it; status, ambition and the informal power map, with a strategy for a performer who pulls focus or holds back.
02
WEEKS 4 TO 6
Establishing the frame
Authority without control: what you say at the first meeting and the rehearsal agreement you set up; trust built through action, in a sequence of exercises with a clear consent protocol; opening and closing rituals and communication structures that prevent conflict.
03
WEEKS 7 TO 9
Building the ensemble body
Shared attention, physical listening and partner responsibility, synchrony, rhythm and collective energy, each written as a score of 10 to 25 minutes that you can run with a group.
04
WEEKS 10 TO 12
From cohesion to creation
Feedback and creative conflict as artistic material, with a feedback protocol; collective flow and authorship, with a map of who decides what in the work; and your Ensemble Transformation Plan.
The programme presentation describes every week.
What you complete the programme with
01
Eleven working documents
a diagnostic map of your group
an analysis of the group’s stage of development
a power map and a strategy for one performer
an opening for the first meeting and a rehearsal agreement
a trust-building sequence with a consent protocol
opening and closing rituals
an attention score
a physical listening score
a synchrony and energy score
a feedback protocol
a map of collective authorship
02
An Ensemble Transformation Plan
Ten sections for one specific group, revised from the work of Weeks 1 to 11: diagnosis, strategy, tools and risk management.
03
Written feedback on every task
From Week 1 to Week 12, to reread before your next first rehearsal.
04
NIPAI Certificate of Completion
Issued when all weekly tasks and the Ensemble Transformation Plan are submitted, and stating 120 hours of study.
A participant’s story: from instinct to method
Rafał Supiński completed the Ensemble Building Programme. Since the course, the tools have turned up in his rehearsals, productions and workshops.
THEATRE DIRECTOR, ACTOR AND VOCAL COACH · POLAND
Rafał Supiński
Rafał creates original musical theatre and educational performances and has worked with opera houses across Poland, including the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic in Białystok and the Polish National Opera. He came to the programme for a repeatable way to build an ensemble with each new cast, instead of starting from zero every time, and applied each tool to his own performers.
“It helped me organise ideas that had accompanied me for years, and gave me practical tools for creating performances through rhythm, physical action, imagination and collective awareness.”
Where the method shows up in his work
01
In rehearsal
The Machine of Change, from Augusto Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-Actors: one performer sets a rhythm, the others join, and a conductor shifts the tempo. “This builds an ensemble rhythm that is co-created rather than dictated.”
02
On stage
At the premiere of the musical Vesper he staged a living image: “the soloist sings while a group of us actors are completely still, frozen in emotionally charged positions.”
03
In workshops
He put the methods to work straight away in his acting and vocal workshops across Poland. The course sharpened his instinct for framing improvisation “within clearer parameters”.
“The experience from NIPAI has influenced the way I work with ensembles… I often return to those tools in my directing practice.”
Who developed the programme
The Ensemble Building Programme was developed at NIPAI by Sergei Ostrenko and Gennadiy Ostrenko. Your tutor reads every task you submit and replies in writing.
DEVELOPED THE PROGRAMME
Sergei Ostrenko
Director, choreographer and teacher of acting and theatre directing, and Head of the Theatre Department at NIPAI. Sergei began in theatre in 1979 as a stage designer, continued his education as an actor and then as a director, and made his directing debut in 1986 with Gogol's The Government Inspector. He has taught in professional theatre education since 1988, at the Latvian Academy of Culture, the University of Calgary and Rosebud School of the Arts, among others, and has directed dozens of productions with international casts and creative teams.
DEVELOPED THE PROGRAMME
Gennadiy Ostrenko
Movement director, stage designer and teacher of theatre biomechanics. Gennadiy designed the Theatre Biomechanics programme for performers, based on Meyerhold’s research, and works with improvisation, stage combat and tai chi. He has been part of the IUGTE and NIPAI production team since 2004. In his words, “The most important aspect of performance practice for me is working with partners.”
Other NIPAI programmes
3 MONTHS
The Director and the Play
Close reading of a play for rehearsal, from the first reading to the plan for your first rehearsal.
3 MONTHS
Choreography and Blocking in Performance
The stage picture, positions and groupings.
12 MONTHS
Theatre Directing Certificate
A longer directing pathway; its second module is The Director and Ensemble Building.
Programme details
Duration
12 weeks, in four parts
Study time
5 to 10 hours a week
Format
Distance learning, with a written lecture and a practical task each week, three pathways for every task, and individual written feedback from your tutor on every task
Language
English
Tuition
€2,450, paid in full before the programme starts.
Includes the written lectures and tasks of all twelve weeks, individual written feedback on every task and on your Ensemble Transformation Plan, and the NIPAI Certificate of Completion. On request, NIPAI provides a confirmation of admission, an invoice and a programme description for your employer or funder. Funding at NIPAI
Developed by
Sergei Ostrenko and Gennadiy Ostrenko
Entry requirements
A high school diploma and prior experience in the performing arts
Admission
Send the application form with your CV and links to your work. Places in each group are limited, and each application is reviewed individually; accepted applicants receive registration, a study contract and enrolment documents. Admissions process
Start dates
Admissions are rolling. Contact us for the date of the next intake.
Certificate
NIPAI Certificate of Completion, issued when all weekly tasks and the Ensemble Transformation Plan are submitted, and stating 120 hours of study
Continuing at NIPAI
If you later apply to the 12-month Theatre Directing Certificate or one of the 18-month advanced programmes, your completed programme can be reviewed as part of your pathway, and tuition alignment can be discussed during admissions.
Terms
Participation is governed by the NIPAI Terms and Conditions.
Next step
Programme presentation
Every week of the programme in detail, the three pathways and how admission works. We send it to you personally.
A question about your group
Tell us about your work and the group you lead now or plan to lead next. You can also ask for the date of the next intake.
Application
Send the application form with your CV and links to your work. Each application is reviewed individually.
Frequently asked questions
Can ensemble building be taught?
Yes, as a set of conditions a leader creates. What looks like chemistry in a cast usually comes from how the first meeting runs, what the group agrees on and how feedback is given. These conditions can be planned and practised, and the programme works through them one at a time.
Do I need a group of my own?
A group helps, and you can complete the programme without one. Every task offers three pathways: for participants who lead a group now, for those who can observe rehearsals, and for those between groups, who design the work for a group they know. Your tutor responds to your work in every pathway.
How practical is the programme?
Every week ends with a working document you can take into rehearsal: an agreement, a ritual, a score or a feedback protocol. Over twelve weeks these documents build into a plan for a specific group.
Are there live classes?
The programme is taught in writing. You read each lecture and complete each task at times that fit around rehearsals, teaching and touring, and your tutor’s feedback comes in writing too.
How much time does it take?
Plan for 5 to 10 hours a week. If you are in rehearsal, your current work becomes material for the tasks; if you are between projects, you work through the pathway for participants between groups. Admissions are rolling, so you can start in a quieter part of your season.
I work with teenagers, amateurs or a multilingual cast. Is the programme for me?
The programme is written for professionals in theatre and dance, and leaders of school, youth, community and multilingual groups are welcome to apply. Most examples in the lectures come from professional rehearsal rooms and residencies; you apply each task to your own group, and your tutor’s feedback takes it into account.
How is this different from team building?
The programme is a performing arts course rooted in rehearsal practice: shared attention, physical listening, rhythm, status and feedback in a rehearsal room or studio. Every task is written for a cast, a company or a class preparing work for performance.
Why take a programme instead of a book of exercises?
Books are a good starting point, and the reading lists include several of them. In the programme a tutor reads every task you submit and writes back about your group and your plan.
When does the next intake start?
Admissions are rolling. Contact us, and we will tell you the date of the next intake.
Can my school, theatre or company pay for the programme?
Yes. On request NIPAI provides a confirmation of admission, an invoice and a programme description for your employer or funder. The tuition is paid in full before the programme starts, and the Certificate of Completion states 120 hours of study.
What kind of certificate do I receive?
The NIPAI Certificate of Completion is a private professional certificate issued by NIPAI when all weekly tasks and the Ensemble Transformation Plan are submitted. It states 120 hours of study. Employers and professional bodies set their own rules on which training they recognise for professional development.
Further reading
