Leela Alaniz, Singapore, 2025
Leela Alaniz, PhD, is a Franco-Brazilian director, actress, and pedagogue. She earned her Master’s and PhD in Philosophy and Theatre from Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris III. She is currently a full-time Lecturer in Acting and Performance at LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore. With over 25 years of experience in practice and research, Dr. Alaniz has performed and directed numerous plays, toured internationally, and taught courses across the US, Europe, India, Turkey, Singapore, and South America.
Her academic research centres on Practice-as-Research, a methodology that examines evolving actor training techniques. She has developed a unique training method that merges Jerzy Grotowski’s Organic Lineage with Etienne Decroux’s Corporeal Mime, emphasizing embodiment and artistic expression. Rather than focusing solely on interpretation, her approach empowers the actor-author, the actor as a creator, placing the devising process at the core of contemporary theatre. Her research on the Dynamo-Rhythm of Etienne Decroux has been published on Mime Journal: (2013). https://scholarship.claremont.edu/mimejournal/vol24/iss1/2/
Developing an Author/Performer
This workshop is based on the methodology developed by Leela Alaniz over the past 25 years, drawing from two distinct yet complementary approaches to actor training. The first approach is rooted in Grotowski’s Organic Lineage, which explores the body’s inner impulse and its creative potential. This organic research focuses on deepening physical awareness, energy flow, and emotional embodiment.
The second approach is Étienne Decroux’s Corporeal Mime, a rigorous physical technique that trains the body as an expressive instrument. Through articulation, weight, counterweight, and dynamo-rhythm, participants develop precision, structure, and mastery over movement. Although these techniques emphasize contrasting principles, organicity vs. rigor, they converge in key areas:
Scenic presence and heightened stage awareness
Energy flow and its role in expressive movement
Mastery of movement through technical precision
Emotional awareness and embodiment
Empowering the performer as both an actor and creatorBy bridging these methodologies, the workshop fosters a unique process where performers gain autonomy, refine their craft, and develop their creative voice as author/performers.
