Profile
After joining Central in 2003, I became joint Course Leader of the MA/MFA Movement: Directing and Teaching in 2004. I combine my teaching on this course with practice in professional theatre settings as a freelance Movement Director and as a Researcher in the field of movement direction. I have also taught generations of performers on the MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice course.
My undergraduate degree is in Drama from Bristol University. My post graduate training was with Lecoq at L’Ecole International Jacques Lecoq for two years in Paris. I then spent twelve years as a physical theatre performer and creator in France, Hungary and Britain.
My movement teaching started at Guildford School of Acting in 1998 where I was Senior Tutor. My movement directing had started to develop whilst at Lecoq and became more formalised alongside teaching. The move to Central enabled me to develop and innovate in the teaching of movement direction, whilst also continuing to work as a movement director for theatre productions and companies, such as the Donmar Warehouse, Dante or Die and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Talks, keynote lectures, panels and workshops have centred on movement direction, actor movement, and movement and presence in Chile, New York, Brazil, Cyprus, Portugal and Italy as well as in the UK.
I aim to serve communities of movement practitioners as co leader of International Community of Movement with Vanessa Ewan, since 2014, and since 2020 as co-founder of Movement Directors’ Association (MDA) with Diane Alison-Mitchell. The MDA is the first industry body for professional movement directors, addressing working conditions and illuminating the contributions of movement directors.
I am an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I have served as External Examiner at RADA and University of Chichester.
I am a member of Equity and UCU, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. My PG Cert in Teaching and Learning is from Central.
Areas of Expertise
- Movement direction practice and contexts
- Training of Movement directors
- Histories and lineages of movement direction
- Movement pedagogy
- Lecoq inspired chorus work, neutral mask, elements, 20 movements and movement forms, Fundamental journey
- Movement for puppeteers
- Training for performers
- Devising practices for performers
- Contemporary Collaborative practices
- Curriculum Design
PhD Supervision
To date, I have co supervised Paul Piris’ PhD thesis ’The Rise of Manipulacting : The Puppet as the figure of the other’ to completion.
I am currently interested in supervising doctoral projects in the areas of movement direction, devising practice and movement pedagogy.
Key Publications
2020. Movement Directors in Contemporary Theatre: Conversations on Craft by Ayse Tashkiran (Bloomsbury; Methuen)
2017. The Actor and His Body by Litz Pisk, new introduction by Ayse Tashkiran (Bloomsbury; Methuen)
2016. ‘British Movement Directors’ in The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq, pp. 227-235, edited by Rick Kemp and Mark Evans (Abingdon; Routledge)
Contributions
2022. Lightwork. Edited by Alex Merkimedes and Andy Lavender Chapter 7 MyLife On movement direction by Ayse Tashkiran. Publishers Intellect, Bristol, UK
2022. Movement Direction: Developing Physical Narratives for Performance by Kate Flatt OBE, The Crowood Press, Wiltshire, UK (2022). Three contributions to this book by Ayse Tashkiran in Chapter 6 Movement Direction for a play.
2021. Skin Hunger by Dante or Die (August 2021). Ayse Tashkiran’s short reflection on skin inthe creation of new work for Dante or Die’s pandemic production. Publishers Salamander Street, Glasgow.
External Practice
Movement Direction
2023. Hamnet by Lolita Chakrabarti after the novel by Maggie O’Farrell RSC Swan theatre and Garrick Theatre, director Erica Whyman.
2022. Mary by Rona Munro. Directed by Roxana Silbert at the Hampstead Theatre.
2022. Dido’s Bar by Hattie Naylor and Marouf Majidi. Directed by Josephine Burton for Dash Arts, at The Factory, London and National Tour.
2022. FOLK by Nell Leyshon. Directed by Roxana Silbert at the Hampstead Theatre (Production Nominated for an Olivier Award 2022).
2022. The Dark by Peut Etre Theatre, National Tour. A dance theatre work for very young audiences. Directed by Daphna Attias. Peut Etre Theatre. National tour. Accessible movement work, devising movement and choreography with dancer and singer.
2021. Horizon residency for Let Your Hands Sing in the Silence Baltic Arts Centre, Projekt Europa.
2021. Skin Hunger by Dante or Die, directed by Daphna Attias, The Stone Nest, London. Movement direction of three actors using touch and movement motifs in a COVID safe, interactive installation.
2021/2018. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, directed by Erica Whyman in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), Barbican and National Tour, Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), BBC Culture in Quarantine Season.
2019. BLANK by Alice Birch directed by Maria Aberg at the Donmar Warehouse with Clean Break
2019. The Provoked Wife by John Vanbrugh directed by Philip Breen (RSC).
2019. As You Like It by William Shakespeare, directed by Kimberley Sykes for the Royal Shakespeare Company 2019-2020 RST, Barbican and National Tour.
2018. The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe directed by Ellen McDougall at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.
2018. Shakespeare in Love adapted by Lee Hall directed by Philip Breen, National Tour.
2018. Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, directed by Maria Aberg for the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Swan.
Presentations and Curation
2019. Movement Direction: Lineages and Contemporary Practices at the 3rd Seminário Internacional Corpo Cênico, convened by Artes do Movimento of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UNIRIO.
Talks and Workshops
2023. Lou Cope for a Downtime Podcast (6 January 2023)
2019. Litz Pisk’s Pedagogic and Artistic Influence on Post-War British Theatre
2019. Creative Collaboration: Women at the Helm hosted by the Mono Box at Equity
2019. Moving the Stage: Movement Director’s Practice at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
2019. Shaping the Stage at the Old Vic Theatre
2019. The Movement Podcast curated by Natasha Harrison
2018. Radical Mischief Conference RSC and University of Birmingham; curated conversation on how scholarship and performance might explore representations of violence in performance
2018. The Stage Short Interview about movement direction teaching
2017. Teaching movement directors of the future. Labanarium, University of Surrey
2016. Digital Theatre Interview on Movement Direction
2014. History of Movement Direction, video for the National Theatre
Networks and Associations
- Movement Directors’ Association, co-founded with Diane-Alison Mitchell in 2020
- International Community for Movement co-run with Vanessa Ewan, Co- Course Leader of the MA/MFA Movement: Directing and Teaching
Memberships
Equity and UCU
Register of Interest
Nothing to declare
