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Tag: Avi Dolgin

Improv conference held here

Improv conference held here

Viola Spolin is widely thought to be the mother of modern improvisation. (photo from amazon.ca)

If you thought that improv was only for entertainment, think again. This summer’s applied improvisation conference at Granville Island will showcase some of the world’s best applied improvisation coaches, trainers and facilitators.

The conference will be hosted by the Applied Improvisation Network in partnership with the Improv Centre, formerly Vancouver Theatresports.

Avril Orloff is one of four Jewish community members on the Vancouver conference planning committee. She told the Independent that there will be more than 30 workshops offered, from improv in education and health care to using it to navigate difficult conversations, increase confidence, build community and address humanitarian issues.

“The hard part will be choosing among all the great offers,” she said.

Conference dates are July 27-30, with July 25-26 called “Learning Journeys” before the conference proper, where people can sign up to do a deep dive into particular topics for a half or full day.

“Another highlight is the Open Space sessions on the final day, which is a marketplace of ideas where anyone can offer a workshop on any topic they’re particularly interested in,” said Orloff. “Open Space is a great lab for people who want to test out new ideas, processes and games, or put out an ask to anyone who’s willing to answer.”

Orloff dived into applied improv in 2022 and fell in love with it.

“The weekly classes and open space sessions were a bright spot in my life during the pandemic,” she said. “They expanded my outlook beyond the confines of the immediate moment and made me feel connected during a time of isolation.”

Since then, she has used applied improv techniques more and more in her work as a facilitator, starting with the online “connection cafés” she hosted during the pandemic, and now in person.

Avi Dolgin is another community member on the planning committee. He said they are expecting 200 delegates with a dozen or so who are local but the majority from elsewhere in Canada, as well as from the United States, Europe and Asia.

Dolgin sees improv as a profound way of unlocking human potential. Now retired, he uses improvisation to teach Bibliodrama at Or Shalom.

“In my life, an improvisation mindset encourages me to greater spontaneity, unexpected creativity and a greater willingness to help others in their ideas,” he said.

Carol Ann Fried, an inspirational speaker and consultant who lives in Vancouver, is also on the conference committee. She is presenting an applied improv workshop alongside Sarah Fisk and Matt Weinstein.

“Now that many people – but not all – are meeting again in person, the need to conduct ‘hybrid meetings,’ where some are in person and others are online, has arisen,” she said. “This split format is difficult, in part because it is hard for people to interact with each other. Our session attempts to address this issue with specific structures and activities to engage people in a hybrid setting, that are based in the values of improv, and that can be used in any work context.”

Well-known improviser Colin Mochrie will be one of the keynote speakers at the conference. Mochrie is most famous for appearing in the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway for the last 30 years.

Jewish community member David Diamond is the other keynote speaker. He will be giving a demonstration of Theatre for Living, with three audience members. Based on Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and Diamond’s lifelong interest in physics, Theatre for Living uses improvisation to create scenes that stimulate community dialogue and calls for change, in particular cross-sectoral understanding.

Applied Improvisation Network (AIN) was created in 2002 to bring together professionals with a keen interest in the study, practice and teaching of applied improvisation. Initially, a group of 30 or so improvisers gathered for the first conference in San Diego. Today, AIN is a global community of more than 8,000 participants online and across numerous regional and local groups.

Ed Reggi is AIN’s president and another member of the Jewish community. Reggi, who lives in St. Louis, Mo., told the Independent that there has always been a Jewish presence in the organization, from its founding to the present day.

Reggi said he takes his inspiration from Viola Spolin (1906-1994), who is widely thought to be the mother of modern improvisation. Spolin was the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. Spolin’s father, Make Mills, had escaped pogroms in Ukraine to come to the United States. Her grandfather stayed in Ukraine and died at the hands of Stalin’s troops after the Soviets took his farm.

Much of Spolin’s work and success comes from her body of experience around recreational play. She studied under Neva Boyd, who was a sociologist, and documented recreational games, dance and activities that came over from Europe, Reggi said.

“Of course, Viola’s son, Paul Sills, watched his mother developing her Theatre Games and he took them over to the University of Chicago, where he worked with Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Ed Asner, Alan Alda and Avery Schreiber and so many more.”

Sills went on to create the Second City in Chicago, now North America’s oldest improvisation theatre institution, where Saturday Night Live stars Gilda Radner, John Belushi, John Candy, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara made their debuts.

Reggi is excited about attending the conference here in July.

“I think, because this conference is happening in Vancouver, I expect more Jewish presence. Last year, we were in Ávila, Spain, after two years of being halted by the pandemic. I am thrilled to be coming back together in person again.”

For more information about the conference, go to appliedimprovisationnetwork.org/vancouver-conference-2023.

Cassandra Freeman is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.

Format ImagePosted on July 7, 2023July 6, 2023Author Cassandra FreemanCategories Performing ArtsTags Applied Improvisation Network, Avi Dolgin, Avril Orloff, Carol Ann Fried, conferences, David Diamond, Ed Reggi, education, improv, improvisation, Viola Spolin
Join in Limmud 2018

Join in Limmud 2018

Limmud Vancouver is now accepting program proposals for the April 14-15, 2018, learning symposium. Organizers seek presentations on a range of topics – text study, Jewish history, social action, arts and culture, family programs, and more – and welcome a range of formats: for example, lecture, interactive music and movement, chavruta-style small group, PowerPoint. They hope both new and returning presenters will prepare proposals, and encourage both experienced teachers and new voices to share areas of personal expertise. The Limmud principle is, “Every learner can be a teacher. Every teacher should be a learner.”

In 2018, Limmud Vancouver returns to Beth Israel Synagogue. The Saturday night event will shift: before sunset, participants will learn from several diverse presentations; after sunset, they’ll enjoy Havdalah and a reception. There will be only one weekend ticket sold, good for both Saturday night and Sunday.

Limmud Vancouver 2018 chairperson Laura Duhan Kaplan is well known around town for her breadth of teaching and organizational skills. The previous chairperson, Avi Dolgin, and the core group that created Limmud Vancouver will be staying on to create this next weekend. But Limmud Vancouver is looking for community members to join the team. They need volunteers on the existing committees – publicity, community outreach, venue, family programming, etc. And they would like to have one or two more people managing the computer tech for the presenters on the Sunday. As well, they are looking for two people to create the printed program guide – a time-limited task that calls for writing, editing, layout and production abilities. And they are also open to new initiatives; for example, Jewish theatre, monthly topic gatherings, and so on. What would you love to see at the next LimmudVan? What would you love to take on?

Contact [email protected] with any questions. If you have specific program ideas you’d like to discuss, contact [email protected]. To join the team or offer help, contact [email protected]. And, last but not least, to submit a presentation proposal, go to limmudvancouver.ca/submit-a-proposal. The deadline for proposals is Dec. 15, 2017.

Format ImagePosted on November 3, 2017November 1, 2017Author Limmud VancouverCategories LocalTags Avi Dolgin, education, Laura Duhan Kaplan, Limmud
Hundreds learn at Limmud Vancouver

Hundreds learn at Limmud Vancouver

This year’s Limmud Vancouver had about 35 percent more attendees than it did last year. (photo by Robert Albanese)

About 350 lifelong learners spent the day exploring a huge diversity of Jewish ideas at the second annual Limmud Vancouver event Feb. 1.

Limmud is a worldwide confederation of festivals of Jewish learning, entertainment, ideas and exploration. Started in the United Kingdom in 1980, Limmud is now an annual event in 80 cities. The local event last year was held at King David High School, but this year, it took place a few blocks away, at Eric Hamber, which accommodated 350 registrants, where last year’s had to be capped at 260.

“That’s about a 35 percent growth,” said Avi Dolgin, a founder and organizer of the Vancouver event. The structure changed a little as well, with 40 individual sessions, up from 36 last year, but over five blocks instead of six as was done previously.

“We had eight options per timeslot to drive people truly crazy,” said Dolgin. At breaks between sessions, participants shared take-aways from the many lectures, events, performances and panel discussions.

King David teacher Aron Rosenberg led a session called Love, Hate and the Jewish State, based on a program developed by the New Israel Fund. Participants were asked to move around the room in response to questions of core values around attitudes about Israel, Canada, citizenship, human rights, religion and other hot button topics. Participants moved left or right across the room depending on their level of agreement or disagreement with statements such as “Christmas should be a federal holiday in Canada” or “serving in the Israeli military is a Jewish value.” The room broke into smaller groups to discuss statements about Israel with which they agreed or disagreed.

In another session, comedian and inspirational speaker Adam Growe explained his mathematical formula for measuring success at tikkun olam. (The formula is: S=(hti)c*k.)

In a session on the messianic idea in Judaism, Beth Israel Rabbi Jonathan Infeld said that Judaism is “100 percent about bringing Moshiach” and added that “we have a problem with this idea.” Part of the problem, he said, is that Jews have a history with false messiahs, from Jesus and Bar Kochba to Marx and the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

As an example of how messianism – a belief in a future of perfect existence ushered in by the Messiah – permeates Judaism, Infeld said that the Passover seder, which is almost universally accepted as a metaphor for the Exodus from bondage in Egypt, is actually about redemption from this world. And the wish “next year in Jerusalem” is not so much an aspiration for the literal city in Israel, but for the place and time of the Messiah.

Dolgin took special pride in the diversity of Limmud Vancouver’s offerings. “It was a mix of some text, some history … this year we had a lot of arts and culture – Bernstein and opera and Shakespeare, Jews and Western literature,” he said. “This year, we also had workshops, group discussions about what’s your relationship with Israel and Jewish identity, traditional talmudic study chavruta-style. We had a panel talk which included a debate on the issue of Shmita, which is the seventh year in which the land and the economy is supposed to revert to the situation before.”

In future, Dolgin said, he hopes Limmud will beef up children’s programming and attract more Orthodox participants. He noted that, on forms submitted by presenters, a large proportion said they were shomer Shabbat and keep kosher.

“We look like were kind of a Renewal or Reform outfit, but a quarter or maybe as much as a third of the presenters said they observe Shabbat,” he explained.

Organizers are already priming volunteers and presenters for next year. In addition to attracting teachers who may not see themselves as teachers, Limmud is looking for volunteers in such areas as technology and publicity.

“As a young organization, we’re still easy to hijack because we have no allegiances to anybody except the people working in it,” Dolgin said. “So, if people have a vision for what Limmud could be, then they should come in and steer it in that direction and they will be met with open arms.”

Pat Johnson is a Vancouver writer and principal in PRsuasiveMedia.com.

Format ImagePosted on February 13, 2015February 13, 2015Author Pat JohnsonCategories LocalTags Adam Growe, Aron Rosenberg, Avi Dolgin, Jonathan Infeld, Limmud

The spirit of Limmud in Vancouver

On Sunday, more than 200 adults and children converged on King David High School for the first annual Limmud Vancouver. Limmud is a global phenomenon celebrating Jewish learning and experiences in their most diverse and unexpected forms. Now occurring in scores of cities worldwide, each event is unique and driven by local volunteers.

Vancouver’s first foray into the Limmud experience was not only apparently flawless in execution (with 42 presentations in multiple rooms, with hundreds of participants, any number of things could go wrong – if they did, they were invisible to the average participant) but also as a model of community in its purest sense.

Limmud was brought to Vancouver by Ruth Hess-Dolgin, z”l, whose vision and passion outlives her. After her passing, her dream was taken up by her husband Avi Dolgin and friend Betty Nitkin, who corralled dozens of volunteers to deliver a truly remarkable event. Some community organizations supported it, but Limmud was led, driven and delivered by volunteers acting in no capacity except their dedication to the idea of learning in ways that are “non-denominational, multi-generational and truly transformational.” The buzz around the event was so intense that it sold out weeks in advance, which was perhaps the only disappointment of the day; that so many who would have liked to were unable to attend.

Limmud is founded on a philosophy that everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner. When they were not presenting on their own topics, presenters were participating in lively sessions with others. Titles – rabbi, doctor, professor – went out the window.

The sessions were as diverse as the attendees. Experiential sessions included Jewish chanting, the music of Uganda’s Jews, and singing along in Yiddish. Ethical and spiritual issues confronted included organ and tissue donation, reflections on the Shema, the Ten Commandments and whether God has gender. Historical themes included religious tolerance in the Middle Ages, klezmer music in early-20th-century Montreal, what caused the death of Jesus, and the Nazis’ policies on reproduction. There was a presentation on how Jews should treat people who transition to Judaism from other religions and Jews who transition from one gender to the other.

In the breaks between sessions, the hallways were filled with traditional and untraditional Jewish musical performances. People were able to unwind in a crafts room. Children were tended but also treated to family-oriented programming of music, art and a session on how to be grateful and what it means.

For those who attended, Limmud provided countless opportunities to reflect on our inner selves, our communities, our world. And perhaps the most important lesson of the day was that this kind of an event does not require the mobilization of organizations and institutions. It was envisioned by a single woman, whose spirit and enthusiasm inspired hundreds of individuals to share her passion for Jewish experiential learning. It was the model of how a single individual, even when she was there only in spirit, could significantly enrich our community.

Posted on February 14, 2014May 8, 2014Author The Editorial BoardCategories From the JITags Avi Dolgin, Betty Nitkin, Limmud Vancouver, Ruth Hess-Dolgin
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