Summer Term 2021

The Yat/Bentley Centre is now enrolling for our Summer Term 2021! Our SCHEDULE A classes, designed to accommodate students in international as well as U.S. time zones, begin on June 22nd. Our SCHEDULE B classes begin July 5th.

In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, all classes are offered online via Zoom, with the exception of Conduit to Creation.

There are course offerings for everyone from beginners to advanced artists. Private sessions with Tom Bentley-Fisher and members of the YBC Teaching Company also available.

Tuition rates are listed in the class descriptions below. We are pleased to offer a limited number of scholarships; please Contact Us if you would like to learn more.

SCHEDULE A: JUN-AUG

SCHEDULE B: JUL-AUG

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

New to the Yat/Bentley Method?

RSVP to attend our free workshop (via Zoom), Introduction to Transformation.

Upcoming workshop dates:

• Sunday, May 30th: 10am Pacific Time

• Thursday, June 3rd: 6pm Pacific Time

SCHEDULE A

JUNE 22 - AUGUST 14, 2021

This unique YBC scene study class will explore text utilising the 7 Spheres and 4 Pathways of the body. Learn more.

Explore the Stanislavsky fundamentals intrinsically linked to the Yat Method: Imagination and Motivation. Suitable for all curious, creative minds. Learn more.

Learn to move more elegantly, efficiently and creatively through an embodied physical practice that leads you through the steps of creating a small performance. In-person class with Covid protocols at a Bay Area location To-Be-Announced. Learn more.

SCHEDULE B

JULY 5 - August 14, 2021

Drop in whenever you’d like. Cultivate the flow of freedom through a regular embodiment practice! Enter this summer and express your artistry with vitality. Learn more.

If you are brand new to acting, or curious to explore new depths of the unknown on your journey towards character transformation, this class is for you! It will prepare you to fully experience the Yat/Bentley Method. Learn more.

Deepen your familiarity with the Yat/Bentley Method with this fast-paced training. Tackle monologues and original scenarios with muscularity and verve. For intermediate to advanced performers. Learn more.

Develop your route to teaching or directing with clarity and depth, rooted in the skills you have developed through the Yat/Bentley Method. For experienced to advanced artists. Learn more.

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COURSES

SPHERES & PATHWAYS | A PHYSICAL APPROACH TO THE YAT METHOD
TUESDAYS 10a-12:30p PT, JUN 22 - AUG 10

Tuition: $280/month

Learning Level: Beginner to Advanced

How can we use Spheres to open our bodies to aspects of ourselves and a character? How can we use Pathways to guide how we approach a role or piece of text? This class will clarify your experience with the Spheres and Pathways and how they apply practically to your work as an actor.

In this class we will:

• Introduce the physicality of 7 Spheres and 4 Pathways 

• Explore the Spheres and Pathways of your body through text and scene study

• Develop physically transformative character creation skills that enhance your understanding of the Yat Method

We welcome any level of actor, director, theatre maker - prior knowledge of the Yat Method is helpful but not essential. 

Taught by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director), Lavinia Hollands and Pamela Hollings (YBC Associate Artists).

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FUNDAMENTALS & IMAGINATION | A PATHWAY TO THE YAT METHOD
WEDNESDAYS 10:15a-12:45p PT, JUN 23 - AUG 11

Tuition: $280/month

Learning Level: Beginner to Advanced

This class will explore character motivation through objectives, actions and activities and how they impact the Yat work. We will explore how imagination is fundamental to character transformation through exercises, text and the physicality unique to YBC. 

In this course you will:

• Determine clear motivations for character that correspond to Weight, Space, Time and Flow

• Activate the Imaginative life of the actor and character through practical exercises

• Connect the Imagination and body to enhance the actors physical approach to creating character

Please come with a character or piece of text in mind that you would really like to work with. 

Suitable for all curious, creative minds; actors, performers and theatre-makers.

Taught by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director) and Lavinia Hollands (YBC Associate Artist).

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FREEING YOUR FLOW | DAILY EMBODIMENT PRACTICE
MON/WED/FRI 9-10a PT, JUL 5 - AUG 13

Tuition: $200 for 10 sessions - drop in when you like!

Learning Level: Beginner to Advanced

Come join this experiential drop-in class to keep your Inner and Outer Energies flowing through daily practice. You will gain embodied self understanding through swings, voice and Feldenkreis.

• The Swings - Physical exercises to develop the Inner and Outer lives of the performer.

• Feldenkrais® and Awareness through Movement® - Gentle, guided lessons that offer another portal to the unknown, to discovering effortlessness and animating the entire body.

• Voice - Lessons incorporating the work of Cicely Berry and the Yat/Bentley Method, aiding the performer to use their imagination and energies to find their voice within the whole body.

Taught in rotation by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director), Heidi Carlsen, and Pamela Hollings (YBC Associate Artists). Suitable for all curious, creative minds.

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FROM A DEEP TRUTH | INTRO TO THE YAT/BENTLEY METHOD
TUESDAYS 6-8:30p PT, JUL 6 - AUG 10

Tuition: $280/month ($420/term)

Learning Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Discover openings to tap into your deeper truths as an artist. Identify sensations, develop energies and cultivate your imagination as you dig below the surface, allowing story and character to reveal themselves. Through improvisation and potential scene-work this class will give you keys to revealing your truth by:

• Identifying, experiencing and expanding hidden depths

• Identifying your Inner Sensations of Sensing, Thinking, Intuiting and Feeling

• Developing the manifestation of these sensations and reservoirs

• Experiencing the shifting of energies through the Pathways and the Spheres

• Solo and duet improvisations using all of the above to gain flexibility and expand choice through letting go of unnecessary and inefficient habits, thereby finding freedom

• Using personal reservoirs, imagination, imagery, the body and breath in relation to these Pathways and Spheres to experience the revelation of character

At YBC we are expanding into the mystery of ourselves, opening to the full array of who we are. Join us to uncover your own hidden depths!

NOTE: This class does not meet on 8/4. The final class will be held on 8/14.

Taught by Heidi Carlsen with Miranda Bentley (YBC Associate Artists). Suitable for Beginner to Intermediate artists.

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MUSCULARITY OF CHOICE | TRAINING IN THE YAT/BENTLEY METHOD
THURSDAYS 6-8:30p PT, JUL 8 - AUG 12 or
FRIDAYS 2-4:30p PT, JUL 9 - AUG 13

Tuition: $400/month ($600/term)

Learning Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Put your knowledge of the Yat/Bentley Method to immediate work as you expand and deepen your abilities through an intimate learning experience tailor-made for you. Enrollment is limited to eight students.

Students in this course will be pushed to meet their resistances with confidence and imagination, as they experience:

• The Inner Attitudes most challenging for you — Focus on the work that creates the most profound stretch for you as an artist — through simultaneous exploration of monologues and original scenarios.

• Active, Embodied Choices — Find the astonishing three-dimensionality of character using the four variations of each Inner Attitude.

• Personalized Coaching — The YBC teaching company will craft a ‘tailor-made’ experience that builds on each student’s previous work, including one-on-one instruction.

Taught by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director) with guest appearances from the YBC teaching company and community. Suitable only for those familiar with the Yat/Bentley Method.

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CONDUIT TO CREATION | THE EXPRESSIVE BODY
FRIDAYS 10-12:30p PT, JUN 25 - AUG 13 (IN PERSON)

Tuition: $280/month

Learning Level: Beginner to Advanced

This class is a springboard to devising a new mini performance. Come with your unabashed freedom and desire to create. We will guide you through the creation of a site-specific extravaganza!

• Experience the freedom of your Inner and Outers through embodiment practices that then lead you into your creative process.

• Be guided through your own dance, theater or devised happening step by step. Experience the journey of creation through a solo or collaborative project using any of the following: music, props, an environment, text

• Learn to trust your intuition, work quickly, while experimenting continually. If you’ve always wanted to create a new work, here is the chance. 

You don’t need to have a clear idea for a performance - if you have on great! If not, do come with an image and a poem/piece of text that affects you deeply.

Suitable for all curious, creative minds; actors, performers and theatre-makers.

NOTE: This class will be held in-person at a Bay Area Location To-Be-Announced. We will follow all appropriate Covid protocols. If you are interested in enrolling but want to know more about the location before committing, please submit the enrollment form and we will share location details as soon as possible.

Taught by Heidi Carlsen (YBC Associate Artist) with guest appearances by the YBC Teaching Company and community.

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INSIDE THE OUTSIDE EYE | TEACHING & DIRECTING IN THE YAT/BENTLEY METHOD
SATURDAYS 10a-12:30p PT, JUL 10 - AUG 14

Tuition: $400/month ($600/term)

Learning Level: Experienced to Advanced

Develop your route to Teaching or Directing with clarity and depth, rooted in the skills you have developed through the Yat/Bentley Method.

This class includes weekly sessions on Saturdays as well as considerable preparation time outside class. When enrolling, you must indicate whether you seek to join the Teaching or the Directing stream. Directing and Teaching students will work together for the first portion of each session before splitting into separate breakout rooms.

Through hands-on exercises and experiences, you will develop your own methods for:

• Connecting with and understanding the performer

• Developing and following a creation process 

Teachers: Investigate and expand your natural gifts and start down a path that can ultimately bring you to teaching the Yat/Bentley technique through your own special skills.

Directors: Explore how your directorial eye can make use of the Yat/Bentley Method in staging, design, preparation, and most importantly, your work with actors. 

Enrollment is limited to ten students total, and is only open to former students of YBC or those with considerable experience in the Yat Method.

Taught by Tom Bentley-Fisher (YBC Artistic Director) and Adam Kotin (YBC Associate Artist) with members of the YBC community.

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PRIVATE LESSONS

The YBC Teaching Company is also available for one-on-one private coaching in the Yat/Bentley Method, Feldenkrais, and Voice. Contact Us for more information about available times and rates.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

This term, we are inviting our most advanced students to propose projects they would like to develop with the guidance of the YBC creative family. Eligible students will be contacted via email with more information.