MA in Contemporary Physical Performance Making (CPPM) is a ground-breaking course that takes postgraduate education out of the classroom and puts practical experience with world-leading makers of performance at the heart of the learning process. Students are working alongside some of the most exciting directors, choreographers, performance makers, artists and companies across the world to further their own artistic practice through active collaboration, devising and performance. It is very important to us that all those international students who study the CPPM curriculum and those world-renowned performance makers who come to Estonia to teach them in Estonia, do not just stay between the four walls of the academy. CPPM Open Class is a series of events where anyone interested can take a look at the otherwise hidden rehearsal and creative processes. At the end of each open class, interviews with the guests will also take place to reveal even more about their creative processes.

Jan Fabre has grown to become one of the most versatile artists on the international stage. He makes a clean break with the conventions of contemporary theatre by introducing the concept of ‘real-time performance’ – sometimes called ‘living installations’ – and explores radical choreographic possibilities as a means of resurrecting classical dance. Fabre has been writing his own plays since 1975, although it was not until 1989 that they were first performed. His texts form an exceptional collection of miniatures, as it were, with a very open writing style and reflect Fabre’s concept of theatre as an all-encompassing form of art in which dialogue functions alongside other elements such as dance, music, opera, performance and improvisation. Chaos and discipline, repetition and madness, metamorphosis and the anonymous are all indispensable ingredients in Fabre’s theatre. The acuteness and reserve with which he employs language demand innovative solutions which have also appeared in the hand of other directors to have worked with his texts.

Just like Stanislavski, Meyerhold, and Grotowski, throughout his career, Jan Fabre has put together a set of ‘exercises’ which he uses to prepare his performers (his actors and dancers) to work on stage. These ‘Guidelines for a performer in the 21st century’ have developed into the basis of his teaching and find specific expression in his work. The series of exercises focuses on systematically refining and optimising the quest for the potential of the physical acting (also known as ‘physiological’ acting). Fabre attaches great importance to breathing, the use of explosive energy, and the articulations of head, torso, and limbs. A lot of input is drawn from the kinetics of cold and warm-blooded animals.

Ivana Jozic is a dancer and actress born in Zagreb, Croatia. She studied dance at the School for Classical Ballet in Zagreb and London Contemporary Dance School and acting in Drama Studio London. She started to work with Jan Fabre in 2003 for the production “Je suis sang” (2003). Later she continued with other productions: “Tannhäuser” (2004), “The Crying Body” (2004), “Histoire des Larmes” (2005), “Requiem for Metamorphosis” (2007), “Orgy of Tolerance” (2009) and “Prometheus Landscape II” (2011). She toured for 4 years with Fabre’s solo “Angel of Death”, a worldwide success which won the Golden Laurel Wreath at the MESS International Theatre Festival, honouring the best overall performance. In 2008, Fabre had written and created another solo for her: “Another Sleepy, Dusty, Delta Day”. Ivana is part of Jan Fabre’s 24-hour project “Mount Olympus” (2015), and continues to work on other projects. As an actress, Ivana appeared in Chantal Akerman’s movie-installation “Women from Antwerp in November” (2007) and in Pierre Coulibeuf’s “Doctor Fabre will cure you” (2013).

Irene Urciuoli was born in Italy in 1992. She trained as an actress graduating from Accademia dei Filodrammatici in Milan. She joined Troubleyn/Jan Fabre in 2018 with the performance “Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules” and “Mount Olympus” in New York in November 2018. She is also a performer in the new creation “The Fluid Force of Love”, which is still on tour. She continues to work on other projects alongside teaching as part of the Jan Fabre Teaching Group.