How Drama and Theater Can Rewire Limiting Beliefs

Dr. Ralf Rauker international Director & Performing Arts Lecturer will be facilitating ‘Balancing Act Workshops' at Heart Place over 4 Weeks

Dates Coming for July Soon

Life is a constant Balancing Act and in my workshops I use elements of actors training to improve mental health and wellbeing. Theatre has a healing potential and can enhance our sense of equilibrium, which helps us to adapt to our daily life challenges.

Dr. Ralf Rauker - workshop facilitator, artistic director

I’m working for three decades in professional performance making, directing and actors training, have created 25 theatre/performance productions in Europe/Australia//India and teach the psychophysical acting method “Meyerhold’s Biomechanics” internationally. 

While the topics of my performances are diverse, there was always an underlying fascination about the fragility and resilience of human nature and consequently with healing, as an inherent aspect of performing arts practice. The concept of catharsis in ancient Greece and the therapeutic effects of performative rituals in much older cultures like the Indigenous Australian, were my inspiration here. 

I felt a growing passion for political theatre at the same time. Bertolt Brecht’s attempt to raise political awareness through his plays, rather than ‘hypnotise’ the audience with emotional identification, was an important counterbalance to the concept of catharsis. Brecht’s use of music and the suggestion that actors could step in and out of character, to break the illusion that they ‘are’ the character, were very useful for me as a Performance Maker and director. 

15 years ago I got more frequently involved in “Applied Theatre”. Working with non-professionals on the benefits that acting and theatre could have on their personal and/or professional life, was an eye-opener. A research project on “Emotional Intelligence and Performing Arts” led to a staff development program at Edith Cowan University in Perth and I’ve continued to develop similar programs since then. 

https://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/2889549/rauker.pdf

I’ve also worked in Community Theatre in Perth and in December 2019 “Breaking Ice / SOS - Seniors on Stage”, was produced with support of the City of Cockburn. And in March 2021 “The Handover” an intergenerational performance project“ was staged at John Curtin College of the Arts with support of the City of Cockburn and City of Fremantle.

This is a collaboration with Heart Place and our Community Art & Culture & Mind-Body program heartplace.community

Please note Ralf is not a Drama therapist Balancing Act Workshops are a community experience and contribute in this way to our mental health and well being. Here is a link  for your interest on Drama as a Therapy.