Venice Street Training August 28th

Introduction

Welcome to your Street Training program. Street Training is a name for all the joyful, funny, subversive, responsive or poetic things people do as we use the streets. And everyone does things over and above just walking down the street with your walking down the street face on, going shopping and going to work as fast as possible. What do you do? Imagine what people are thinking, stop to smell flowers, secretly race people?

The unfolding story of a collective assault on the culture of fear and cynicism that pervades urban city streets.

Each performance will be different as we follow our desires and re-make the streets together.

“We met at the theatre and hoped we might get a glimpse of something precious in the world around us or in ourselves. Maybe we wanted to find out 'how to be joyful' in the city.”

For this week’s street training session Gail, Serena and Clare from Walk Walk Walk came to the city farm and talked to us about the projects they have been doing around Pedley Street.

I planned to spend one month in Bahia experiencing the deep symbiotic relation to nature that permaculture pointed to, for me. To continue learning capoeira with masters as a way to deepen my understanding of how one can acquire another’s culture and experience by emulating their body movements. I then intended to live for three months in Rio to subjectively explore the emotional and psychological landscape of the city and investigate the idea that “the favela is the university of malandragem” as I was told by one of the many people I had previously quizzed on the subject.

At the start of the residency I wrote
“My ways of inhabiting my body will change but some will stay the same. As I change within the currents and interplays of self, environment and culture how much control do I have over this process?”
diary Bahia, Brazil January 12th

On April 22nd 2009 I wrote

On the 8th June I delivered a Street Training workshop with the support of Amy Pettifer and Viola Carnelutti from muf architecture/art to a group of 25 school children. The session began with an explanation of how joy shapes cities and young people and children are experts on joyful behaviour. I explained that was why I wanted to learn with them so as to gather their ways of being in the street and pass them on during the architecture biennale.

We had a quick meal of freshly picked salad from the farm with bread and goats cheese. Got to know eachother a bit - people are from many varied cities such as Glasgow, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Dorking and Croyden.

We did a bit of getting to know each other's strenghts and skills and thought about the skils we want to develop.

We have made a few changes to the web site to make it easier for Street Trainers to find and talk to each other. Check the Groups section in the Main Menu to find your group or a group near you.

If you have already made an account, please check the section "My account" and edit your information to include your group (and any other information about yourself that you want to add), so that other Street Trainers can find you. If you haven't made an account yet, why don't you do that right now? Interested Onlookers are also welcome!

the first ever Street Training Video
http://www.perpetualartmachine.com/component/option,com_gallery2/Itemid,...

Margie wrote

I and several people from the Arts Research Group of the Department of Art Education at UNICENTRO, in Guarapuava, Parana, Brazil, participated in Street Training activities with Lottie Child, who also offered a workshop on 27-28 March, 2009. Provided the fascinating experience, I, various students and colleagues wish to establish a Street Training Group for continued action in the region of Guarapuava.