Heidi Frei
Heidi Frei (* 1927 in Zurich ; † February 27, 2015 ) was a theater educator from Switzerland . She is considered one of the founders and ambassadors of the Jeux Dramatiques .
Short biography
Heidi Frei was born in Zurich in 1927. In her youth she came into contact with Jeux Dramatiques as a form of play, to which she dedicated her life's work, through scouting work in Switzerland. She was particularly enthusiastic about the free fairy tale play for the theater and later she dealt intensively with the psychological depths and meanings of fairy tales. She attended a course for directing, where a young actress gave her a new look at her previous understanding of theater through her performance. She wrote the book "Jeux Dramatiques with Children 2", which is often used in theater education, in which she further developed the existing method and adapted it to work with adults. In 1972 she authorized the group “Schweizerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Expressionsspiel”, which was formed in Switzerland. Heidi Frei died in Switzerland at the end of February 2015.
Jeux Dramatiques
Jeux Dramatiques describes the expressive game that draws from experience. Originally it goes back to the pedagogue Léon Chancerel from France, who developed the method in 1936 and gave it a name. The focus of the method is on a subjective orientation, self-awareness through a new and changed body and sensory perception and the expressive expression of the experience through acting. This form of play of expression assumes that movement, facial expressions and body language make the inner experience perceptible to the outside. No role should be played, or something should be presented as authentically as possible, but the feelings and experiences of the person playing at the moment of the game should be expressed. It should offer the players the opportunity to get closer to themselves through the role played and to perceive themselves differently. Since this technique can help to express or recognize unconscious or hidden ideas, wishes and fears, it is sometimes also used in psychotherapy.
Further developed method by Heidi Frei
For its further development, Frei dealt with Konstantin Sergejewitsch Stanislawski , who had already inspired Chancerel to develop this form of play. She incorporated many of his approaches. The basic conditions for the end of the game and the game itself are important. The game is accompanied by a game director, who has the task of creating a space as free from evaluations as possible in order to enable a process of experience and expression. The feeling of pressure to perform or assumptions of correct or incorrect role interpretations should be avoided at all costs. The game management provides impulses from which the players develop their roles themselves. Then the players slip into their roles and design their own rooms to share their experience. A gong is often used to clearly signal the beginning and end of the game for everyone involved. The goals of playful expression are to work through topics along a plot, to act and react with pleasure together, to explore and try out one's own abilities, to discover new communication possibilities, to recognize social patterns and to experience and learn to communicate one's own emotional world. This method is based on the assumption that by identifying with different roles, development processes are stimulated in all those involved, which enable self-reflection. The focus is on the sensory experience and empathy of the players. The Jeux Dramatiques represent a process of experiencing, expressing oneself, creating and interacting. The division of the game according to Heidi Frei is made in four steps, which she calls RSPV. Each letter stands for one of the steps:
First step - R: The descriptive letter stands for raw material in this initial phase of the game . These are content-related, but also external raw materials. The former mean the goals, motives and needs of the people who enter the game situation. The latter are material to be provided such as props, music, location information, possible roles or even texts and text passages. In this phase the first considerations for the game are made.
Second step - S: This step is about preparing for the game . The topic and role should be worked out, as well as a possible text. It is important that the players choose their role themselves, even if there is impetus from the game management. The general conditions (topic, role, location, etc.) for the game are determined in this phase and presented by the players.
Third step - P: The practical implementation of the game situation follows . The players embody their self-chosen and developed roles in spontaneous experience. They express what they experience at the moment of the game, according to their own ideas. Designations such as performance or representation are avoided because they are not suitable for this type of game, they follow a fundamentally different principle. Spoken texts are often avoided in order to relieve the intellect and allow for an expression that is as low-threshold as possible. The feeling and experience can be expressed through sounds and gestures.
Step Four - V: Finally follows the processing of the experience through all of the game involved. This common reflection should not evaluate or interpret what is played. It is about a concentrated understanding of what was experienced in the game. In this step, one's own perception should be expanded again, thus enabling processes of self-awareness and self-awareness. In this last phase of the method, the original intention of the Jeux Dramatiques becomes apparent.
In addition to “why”, “what” and “how”, key questions that players have to ask themselves are also who the game should take place for. It should not be played to entertain an audience or to learn the craft of acting, but the goal of the game is self-awareness. Through this method, children, young people and adults can discover hidden creative abilities and at the same time explore themselves and learn to express their inner self, their emotional world. Frei suggests various structures as possible entry points into the game, which dictate the design of the first step. Depending on the age group or needs, these entries can take place via materials and objects, the spatial experience, the basic motif of the respective game or an introduction to the experience through, for example, a story told by the game management.
Areas of application
The Jeux Dramatiques, especially the method described here, is often used in education in the areas of school, kindergarten, family education, curative and special education, further training for social professions, adult education, but also as a form of therapy and psychotherapy for all age groups. They should contribute to the development and unfolding of self-esteem and self-confidence, as well as the improvement of social skills through increased empathic ability - also with non-verbal communication.
literature
- Jeux Dramatiques working group: expressive game from experience 1. Zytglogge Verlag, Bern 1984.
- Tanja Bidlo: Theater Education. Introduction. Oldib Verlag, Essen 2006.
- Heidi Frei: Jeux Dramatiques with children 2. Zytglogge Verlag, Bern 1990.
- Marion Seidl-Hofbauer: Jeux Dramatiques in elementary school - social learning through expressive play. Brigg Pädagogik Verlag, Munich 2009.
- Gabriele Weiss: When the red cats dance ... Jeux Dramatiques for social and curative education professions. Lambertus-Verlag, Freiburg 1999.
Web links
- Heidi Frei, Birgit Jung: The pedagogy of the Jeux Dramatiques. Retrieved January 27, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sarah Nixdorff: Social learning through theater games in English class. GRIN Verlag 2010, ISBN 3-640-56361-1 , p. 9.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Free, Heidi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss theater pedagogue |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zurich |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 27, 2015 |