Masterclasses

For arts professionals, students, and educators who want to explore listening as an artistic and pedagogical starting point.

aifoon invites participants to approach listening as an active, creative practice. Through a deep focus on observation, reflection, and imagination, we explore how listening can shift our perception and how that shift opens up new artistic and pedagogical possibilities.

We use concrete tools, exercises, and methodologies that can be applied immediately in the classroom, in rehearsal processes, and in one’s own artistic practice. By deepening and broadening listening skills, space is created to think, speak, and create differently. Listening thus becomes a transformative force within your practice.

aifoon places listening at the center of the artistic process and explores how it reconfigures the way we see, think, move, and create.

1. Masterclass The Art of Listening: on the pedagogical and artistic possibilities of sound.
2. Masterclass Listening in Motion: on the artistic possibilities of sound and listening within the performing arts.

1. Masterclass: The Art of Listening

For educators in music, visual arts, or dance programmes (all ages)

About the pedagogical and artistic possibilities of sound and listening. This masterclass focuses on how listening can serve as a generative starting point in education and artistic practice. We’ll explore how attentive listening stimulates the imagination and how sound can be used as a source for creation, reflection, and dialogue.

What to expect:

• practical exercises on listening and sound;
• inspiring methods to apply immediately in the classroom;
• new perspectives on teaching, creative thinking, and collaboration;
• access to aifoon’s expertise in sound education.

We’ve already been working with teachers in arts and culture programs from Geel to Ypres.

“Deepening and broadening the ability to listen, and learning to think and speak using your imagination, lays a fantastic foundation to build upon. (...) The exercises and assignments we provide are very well-received. They create a sense of community and forge bonds. They give our lessons and classroom a warm, stimulating dynamic.”

– DKO Teacher, Geel

2. Masterclass Listening in Motion

For artists, performers, and creators in the performing arts

About the artistic possibilities of sound and listening in the performing arts. This workshop focuses on the relationship between listening, the body, and movement. We explore how auditory perception can function choreographically and performatively, and how listening can serve as a driving force for movement, composition, and stage practice.

What to expect:

• physical exercises focused on listening and the use of space;
• working with portable speakers as a “sound body”;
• exploration of the choreography of sound and the scenography of listening;
• an intuitive journey through listening, improvisation, and composition.

This masterclass is taught by Stijn Dickel, a listening artist and artistic director of aifoon. With a background in philosophy and mixed media as a musician-performer, he has collaborated with Jan Fabre, among others. He creates sound compositions for dance, circus, and theater.

Watch a video of the masterclass below, or listen to participants’ reactions in our podcast.

Photos: Listening in Motion at Miramiro (c) Jasper van het Groenewoud.

Read two interviews with Stijn Dickel about sound and movement

• “Sound resonates not only through the ears, but also through the body”

Stijn led the masterclass 'Listening in Motion' at the 'Out of the Toolbox' festival organized by Danspunt in 2020. In this interview, he discusses the relationship between listening and movement with dancer Ingo Reulecke.

• The Sounds of Circus

In a joint interview with sound designer Ben Scheff for the online magazine CircusTalk, Stijn Dickel discusses the possibilities and characteristics of sound in the circus.