This summary is part of research on performance training in undertaken by Professor Peta Tait and Dr Melanie Beddie in 2017 funded by La Trobe University. It researched the influences on, and the training of, prominent teachers working within key training institutions circa 1980 to 2010.

Lindy Davies Lindy Davies is an actor, director and actor trainer. She was Head of Acting at Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) from 1979 to 1982 working alongside Peter Oysten, the founding Dean. She returned as Head of Drama from 1995 to 2006. She gained an MA from New York University and was taught by Richard Schechner and others. Davies is recognised for her innovative teaching of acting and directing. She is outspoken about her disinterest in American interpretations of Stanislavski and focuses instead on the actor’s breath and impulse, and finding an imaginative connection to language. After studying at Monash University and training as a drama teacher at State College in the 1960s, she developed a series of drama workshops for children at the Carlton Council flats using a combination of her own experiences and the teaching processes of Dorothy Heathcote. Davies helped form the La Mama Experimental Theatre Company, which later became the Australian Performing Group (APG) at the Pram Factory Theatre. In 1976, she travelled overseas to study with Kristin Linklater and Cicely Berry, and it was with these teachers Davies discovered the importance of connecting to impulse, breath and to language. She also attended a workshop with Teo Spycalski, a colleague of Jerzy Grotowsk. Whilst overseas Davies participated in a workshop with Peter Brook and Yoshi Oida whose work confirmed for her the need for artistic collaboration during the rehearsal process. On her return to Australia at the end of 1978 she was able to briefly work with dancer and choreographer Mary Fulkerson who was visiting Melbourne State College. This work consolidated her thinking about the actor in space. While in France she also worked with Peter Brook. Another important collaborator was the director Rex Cramphorn with whom Davies worked on a number of productions including playing Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s in 1983. She now directs productions and gives master classes for actors and for film directors in Australia and internationally.

Teachers Workshop Teachers Richard Schechner Peter Brook, Yoshi Oida Cicely Berry Mary Fulkerson, Teo Spycalski Kristin Linklater

Lindy Davies Book Drama in Education Teaching and Leadership by Dorothy Heathcote VCA Head of Acting VCA Head of Drama NIDA classes

Theatre Company Colleague Working with APG, Melbourne Rex Cramphorn

Diagram ©M.Beddie 2018 The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of including 30-s sprints in one weekly low-intensity training (LIT) session during a 3-week transition period in elite cyclists. Sixteen male elite cyclists (maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max: 72 ± 5 ml·kg−1·min−1) reduced their training load by ~60% for 3 weeks from the end of competitive season and performed only LIT or included 30-s sprints (SPR) in one weekly LIT-session. Performance and physiological capacities were evaluated during a prolonged (~2.5 h) test-session, including a strength test, a submaximal blood lactate profile test, a "Lindy Davies’ fine production …. She has drawn from an excellent cast high-quality performances of clarity and humour. Jenny Tate’s set is ravishing, especially in the lovingly slow transformations between acts… then there's the divine Angie Milliken as a Natalya full of contradictions: delicately strong; sentimentally manipulative; tough, fragile and beautiful; and innocently cruel. This sort of production is why we have big State Theatre Companies, with the resources to take on such a classic and get it right." - The Australian. "Directed by Lindy Davies who takes an inquiring organic appro Prior research indicates that many international students from Asia, studying in Australia, face serious learning difficulties and lack confidence in speaking and taking a proactive role in classrooms. The paper reports on data gathered in interviews with students from five This phenomenon is in serious contradiction to the notion that the major goal of all English language teaching should enhance learners' ability to use English effectively and accurately in communication (Davies & Pearse, 2000). Other studies indicated that regardless of their length of study in the foreign country, most of the ESL learners still felt challenged when utilizing English for academic work (Lee, 2009;Sawir, 2005). Lindy Davies (29 August 1946) is an Australian actress, director, actor trainer and performance consultant. She played Ruth Ballinger in the Australian soap opera Prisoner in 1985, and won the AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1986 film Malcolm. Lindy Davies has developed an approach to performance: a process; which is an intuitive imaginative connection to language, space and transformation. She has worked as a Performance Advisor/Consultant on many films including The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is Australia's leading centre for education and training in the performing arts. Founded in 1958, NIDA uses a conservatoire model, where students learn through practical experience, working on real productions.