Chekhov Masterclass with Camille Litalien

Chekhov Masterclass: Awakening Character: Movement, Imagination & Transformation

How does a character wake up in the body? In this masterclass, we will explore character emergence through Michael Chekhov’s psycho-physical approach, using Psychological Gesture, qualities of movement, and Imaginary Centers as gateways into the physical and imaginative life of a character. We will investigate how character can emerge through movement, imagination, sensation, impulse, and relationship.

The workshop will begin with a Becoming Otherwise somatic practice, inviting participants to slow down, awaken sensation, and cultivate an embodied state of listening. From there, we will explore the physical qualities and imaginative possibilities available within the body. The work will move between somatic practice, imagination, physical exploration, and character investigation, allowing participants to experience how the body can become a pathway into a character’s inner world.

The intention is not to create a fixed physical “characterization,” but to develop a more responsive relationship between body, imagination, impulse, and dramatic action so that character can remain alive, surprising, and available in the moment.

Participants should come prepared to move, explore, imagine, and work physically. No previous experience with Michael Chekhov technique is required.

Camille Litalien is a movement educator, somatic practitioner, and artist whose work explores the relationship between body, imagination, sensation, and character. She is currently the Head of Movement at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where she teaches movement and oversees the school’s movement faculty.

Camille’s approach to actor training draws from Michael Chekhov, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s Body-Mind Centering®, Anna Halprin, Skinner Releasing Technique, Hatha Yoga, Lecoq Mask work, Gaga, and other somatic and movement-based practices. She has taught movement and embodied practices for actors, dancers, and teachers in conservatory and professional training environments, most recently with the National Alliance of Acting Teachers at The Juilliard School.

Her teaching invites performers to experience the body not simply as an instrument to be trained, but as a place of perception, imagination, relationship, and transformation. She is particularly interested in how physical sensations and images can open pathways into character, allowing actors to discover choices rather than impose them.

Camille is also the creator of Becoming Otherwise, an evolving somatic and imaginal practice exploring mindfulness, sensation, relational presence, and creative transformation. Her teaching is grounded in curiosity, play, rigor, and deep attention to the individual body and its unique ways of knowing.