Look Who it Was Random video

On Location: DA!cumentary (by Hill Country Middle School, Austin, TX)

299 views · Published 10 July 2018 · 5:14 · Indexed 31 October 2026

Channel: Kennedy Center Education Digital Learning · 2018 · Education

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What do you get when you mix yoga, biomechanics and acting? A theatre company that is helping actors move into the future, of course! Our documentary shows the story of Heather Huggins, a young actor/director who studied in Russia with movement coach and creator of the Droznin System, Andrei Droznin. Here in Austin, Heather has formed the DA! Theatre collective in hopes of exposing the Droznin System to area artists.

DA means “yes” in Russian. Yet DA! is more than a word and more than a company; it is a way of life. Rooted in contemporary Russian acting and movement theory, DA! is a desire to explore our outer limits and our inner core. DA! is more than one person or one idea; it is a collective. Believing in the power of that collective, DA! seeks to carve out spaces and times where artists of all kinds can train, play, discover, create, and produce together.

The Droznin method incorporates a large amount of difficult movements and exercises. Andrei Droznin, creator, had goal to not just teach students "stage tricks" but "to make connection between body and mind, body and soul, so when they feel something, they will immediately express themselves (on stage). He described his method as "living movement" which is "stage movement that blurs the boundaries between dance, mime, and vernacular gesture," which in turn allows the audience to identify with the performance on a much deeper level.

Austin is the capital of Texas, the live music capital, AND home to over 100 registered theatre and dance companies. Austin is an exciting and diverse place to live and visit. There is always something to see or do. We are a friendly city and encourage you to come join and run along lady Bird Lake, try some wonderful tex-mex foods or take in a show! Austinites believe in keeping Austin weird (but in a good way!), but also in supporting the arts. Come on down to Austin and be a part of what is happening!

From 2008-2010, nineteen schools from across the United States created videos as part of the On Location program. A "media studio on wheels" visited each school for two weeks and provided students the gear and training to tell the story of the arts in their community.

From go-go music in Washington DC, to gullah woodburning in Beaufort, South Carolina, to modern dance in Berkley, Michigan, the arts of a community can be as different as it's geography.

The Kennedy Center traveled the country to help students tell the story of the arts in their community, and the result is a video collection reflecting a rich diversity of local artists and art forms across the United States.

The videos in this series were scripted, produced and edited by students using professional equipment, under the supervision of Kennedy Center teaching artists.

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