Maybe we will meet on the 4th DABIDA day (Sunday April 11th 2010) in Gilze (The Netherlands, near my home town Tilburg).

Or in Chicago, IL at the NIADA Conference (Saturday, July 17th ~ Wednesday, July 21st).
On July 20th and 21st: NIADA Masterclasses

The pictures below are from the ‘Dutch Theatre’ class. Together with Ankie Daanen I have conducted  this class at the 2009 NIADA Conference in Arrowmont, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
I hope to have the opportunity one day to teach this class together with Ankie Daanen in Ajax, Ontario (Canada) at the CDAA Annual Spring Conference. We developed this class for the 2007 Conference. We already have spent a lot of time preparing this special workshop. For the class we designed a wooden theatre. The students will fill it with two hand sculpted puppets and decorate it. On the pictures you can see the basic sketch we have made and the pile with bases for the head and also the body / costume bases.

In 2010 Ankie Daanen and I also will be teaching our ‘Meet the Dutch Touch’ 5 day class in Canada and the USA. For our workshop schedule please select ‘workshops’ in the menu.  In 2010 we will be on Vancouver Island and in Louisville, KT.

August 2008: The 20th anniversary of the Festival International de la Marionnette in Mirepoix, France
I received an invitation to take part in the exhibition celebrating this anniversary. So many sweet memories … wow, time flies. When our children were little kids (they are 25, 20 and 14 years old now) we used to go to Mirepoix every summer for our family holidays. One of these weeks I was teaching in Mirepoix and exhibiting in the town hall during the festival.
Mirepoix is a beautiful medieval littele town in the south of France and the old market place is perfect for outdoor performances. One of these years I had a cute boy from Spain in my class who was a puppeteer. He brought his puppets and one evening he decided to give a performance on the market place. Unfortunately it was the wrong time of the day because my students and I were the only audience. Later that week his friends came from Spain. They played in a folk band and we had a private concert.
The festival takes place in the beginning of August. When I entered NIADA it was not possible anymore to go there because the NIADA Conference takes place during summer as well. If you happen to be in France during the beginning of August you should visit Mirepoix.
In the meantime I have moved the workshop in France to Fall and another location (Paris): my yearly Paris Doll Holiday and Workshop Week.