Jacques Lecoq, The Moving Body (Le Corps Poétique). Teaching Creative Theatre. New York: Methuen Drama, 2020, pp. 187.

Abstract

The Moving Body. Teaching Creative Theatre is the third English edition of Le Corps Poetique: un enseignement de la creation theâtrale by Jacques Lecoq, originally released in France in 1997. This edition includes a foreward by Simon McBurney, an introduction by Mark Evans and an afterword by Fay Lecoq. It presents Lecoq’s philosophy and pedagogical ideas on dramatic mime, through the account of his personal aesthetic journey and of his teaching methods. The book’s structure parallels the students’ program at Lecoq’s Parisian school and is divided into four parts, describing the progression from the exploration of movement to its application to different dramatic territories to creation. In a very accessible language and with clear exemplifications and illustrative drawings, Lecoq shades light on a vision of mime considered as training for theatre and for life. Though its real substance is beyond words, its documentation finds in this book a reference point for theatre students and for researchers willing to learn more about Lecoq’s ideas and methods. It also instantiates the idea of the expressive body that transversally influenced the performing arts in the Twentieth century. Keywords: Jacques Lecoq; dramatic mime; dance; performing arts