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Dear (Gestalt) Psychotherapists, We invite you to the third edition of the Summer School, where Gestalt therapy meets applied improvisation. For several years now, we have been discovering how profoundly improvisation supports our therapeutic work. That’s why we’ve delved into practice and research, and through this Summer School—organized by IVGT and Gestalt Studia with the support of the Zázemí Therapy Center—we wish to share this experience with you. Our hope is to create a space for meeting and exchange across institutes and therapeutic approaches. We start from the idea that every encounter with a client is a creative improvisation. The training of theatrical improvisation cultivates spontaneity, the ability to be present with another person, to attune, to step into the unknown, to stay present as a figure emerges, and to be carried by the co-created situation. The experience in the therapy room often mirrors this process. Therefore, we offer you a four-day experimental playground where Gestalt therapists can meet improvisation. Together, we will explore the question: What do I experience as an improvising being, and how can I use this awareness as a therapist? The aim of the Summer School is to reflect on the improvisational experience as an existential encounter, to explore it as a source for expanding, refreshing, and strengthening therapeutic competence and stance. We invite you to a gym of creative adjustment—a space to explore contact, your own spontaneity, co-created dialogue, and experimentation. We will not be “performing theatre,” but rather using theatrical tools to perceive the aesthetics of contact, to explore how we modulate our presence, how we can breathe into the moment of encounter, and how to support the figure emerging from the co-created situation. At the same time, we will keep from improvisation its playfulness, joy, creativity, and spontaneity. Alongside the experiential work, we will offer digestible theoretical inputs and time for integration. The accompanying program will be designed so that the Summer School serves both as a learning event and a place for rest, connection, and community. P.S. The aim of the Summer School is not to produce new improvisers, to assess talent, to learn how to be funny, or to become stand-up comedians. No previous experience with improvisation or drama is needed.
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