Esther Snelder

Esther Snelder

Researcher

Department
DAS Research
Research Group
Research Group Embodied Knowledge in Theatre and Dance

Researcher, Embodied Knowledge in Theatre and Dance
Teacher, Mime

Esther Snelder (Drempt, 1971) graduated in 1997 in the direction Mime at the Faculty of Theatre of the Amsterdam School of the Arts and in 1998 as teacher in Mime. Since then she has worked as a performer with many dance and theatre makers, such as Kassys, Nicole Beutler, Jerome Bel, Sanne van Rijn, Magne van den Berg, De Gemeenschap and Jetse Batelaan. Esther works as a teacher and adviser at the Amsterdam Mime School, teaches performance and Alexander Technique at the ArtEZ School of the Arts in Arnhem and is acting coach for the musicians of company Oorkaan. Esther followed the three-year teachers training in the Alexander Technique and gives private lessons in this technique since 2017.

Research
I am interested in the way in which our habitual patterns influence our functioning and acting. Inspired by my training in the Alexander technique and experience as performer, I work on the awareness of psycho-physical habit patterns in (mime)performers and I try to achieve a freedom of choice whether or not to use them. Staying in touch with your environment, the space in which you are, creates space for awareness and sensation. I investigate the extent to which the concept of space, in all its variations, contributes to the extent to which you as a performer remain present in what you do. In an attempt to capture this in language, I juxtapose my findings and vocabulary with some texts by Wouter Steenbergen (‘Het nieuwe stilstaan’, unpublished text, 1993), Frits Vogels (Etsen op het netvlies, Zuiderzwaluw 2016) and Etienne Decroux (Words on Mime, 1985 [1963]).
 

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