In this free morning workshop, Isabel Shaida will introduce the Six Viewpoints, a practice of improvisation and observation created by Mary Overlie. We will spend time practicing with the broken down materials of performance as articulated by the Viewpoints: space, shape, time, emotion, movement and story. You will be guided through the materials and experience being in relationship with ourselves, the work, and our fellow participants.

The Six Viewpoints technique was formulated by Mary Overlie and grew out of the landscape of her home, Montana. As Mary put it, “In this environment distance has a physical impact on the body. The combination of high prairie and mountains inundate you with a sense of space and perspective…The voice of this land counsels you to learn to use perspective as a tool and to cut deeply into what concerns you. This is the point of view of The Viewpoints.”

The Viewpoints break down the dominant components of performance into six materials – Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement, Story. The Viewpoints offer the artist a way to practice observing the present moment with increasing sensitivity, and to respond with greater range – developing flexibility, articulation, and strength in movement for both the individual and the group.

ISABEL SHAIDA Isabel Shaida is a movement artist and climate organizer living in Bozeman, MT. She credits her theater work with teaching her how to experience and process the world in an embodied way. She was an artist in the 2018/19 SITI Conservatory program where she trained in The Suzuki Method of Actor Training and Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints. She has continued her study of Viewpoints under Barney O’Hanlon, Wendell Beavers, and Deborah Black. She experiences the materials of the Viewpoints as a living practice and a lattice work that underlies everything.

LILA LIVINGSTON Lila Livingston is a chaplain and artist originally from Bozeman, Montana. Lila is an M.Div. candidate at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she studies Buddhism and interreligious engagement. Additionally, she studies movement with Jane Alexandre, Deborah Black, and Sophia Treanor and is excited about the interaction between body, ecology, and spirit in all of her learning and work.