Three-Year Professional Conservatoire Training

Acting

Our three-year professional training creates the environment for self-discovery and a deeper relationship with your craft. Classes are advanced, intensive, and challenging and are designed to build confidence, encourage freedom, and extend your range as an artist.

Acting projects broaden artistic curiosity and allow you to explore observations of the real world within the framework of a play. With advanced study, you will see key connections between the real, poetic and imaginary worlds, expanding your imagination and developing your authentic artistic voice.  

Fonact gives you the exceptional opportunity to access a variety of international Directors who will take the lead on contemporary and classical texts to ensure you experience as many artistic methods and tools as possible. Outside of class, we encourage independent study for you to fully explore the world of the plays and examine the characters in their wider context, which allows you to take a more active role in the creative process.  

As a three-year student, you play an active part in rehearsals as you develop your professional ability to play out a scene and apply directorial notes on characterisation. Initiative and imagination are expected in the rehearsal room as you learn to collaborate with scene partners and build upon the foundations of our core ensemble work.  

We encourage you to be open with your scene partners, your own impulses and your instincts within a scene as you learn to experiment and play with the rhythms and dynamics of your body, your voice, and your space.  

There is a performance showing at the end of each term, with at least two professional full-scale theatre productions in the magnificent Municipal Theatre of Fontainebleau. You will work with a professional team to engage in the professional rehearsal process, which includes: 

• Artistic Director 
• Technicians 
• Set Designers 
• Costume Designers 
• Sound Designers  
• Sound Operators 
• Musicians and more.

Movement

Advanced movement training builds a deeper understanding of pure movement and developed movement improvisation. This exploration allows you to evolve in your movement, sharing your creative inspiration and generosity of spirit.

Movement classes explore: 

• Body alignment 
• Functional movement 
• Weight transference 
• Spatial awareness  

We will build on the work of Laban and movement improvisation to include Feldenkrais and Alexander elements, as well as movement patterns that lead to self-reliance.  

We work on movement improvisation, physical strength, contact improvisation, and independent movement study. You learn to translate and transpose the rhythms of the world within the space through your bodies. Movement classes encourage your sense of rhythm and the rhythmic movement of the body through simple, complex, or choreographed movements.  

Throughout the two-year course, you learn to understand and negotiate the physical requirements of each acting project and explore how to align and prepare your body for each project’s objectives. You will study how to proficiently warm-up: lower limbs, pelvis, torso, spine, upper limbs, and relax the muscles.

Movement classes enable you to explore and express the imagination through your body, in a range of forms, for both rehearsal and performance. The course develops your physical confidence and builds a wider control and understanding of your body, such as its inherent tensions, rhythm, dynamics, flexibility, and alignment. 

Voice

The three-year course gives you a wider understanding of the anatomy of the speaking/singing voice, placement for character vocalisation, as well as advanced pitch and tone zone relationships. This deeper level of craftwork is essential to allow your imagination and creativity find truthful expression.

You will explore the stylistic vocal and breathing requirements for different texts and genres, as well as:

• The intricate relationship between voice, breathing and movement  
• The emotional life of breathing and its link to thought and intention 
• The adaptation of the voice to a range of linguistic styles  
• The technical and imaginative connection to text from a stable vocal base.  

Independent practice is encouraged outside of class as it will help you to fully explore the craft of voice work. All projects and productions develop your vocal instrument and during the programme you will see the progression of how you project your voice and affirm your presence on stage. 

Evaluation

Progression is evaluated by module leaders, throughout the programme by continuous assessment. One final evaluation is assess by an independent panel. there are nine evaluations in total.

Dates:

Term 1: 02 October – 15 December 2023
Term 2: 15 January – 29 March 2024
Term 3: 19 April – 28 June 2024

97% of our students valued their time on this programme