Testimonials About Demidov school

This past week has been filled with inspiration and intuition, and I feel more and more that this is truly a place where I should anchor my investigations into acting. The études are deeply engaging, and it’s incredibly stimulating to be surrounded by actors of different nationalities and generations.

It’s always a challenge for me to work with lines in English, as my native languages are Japanese and Portuguese — but I make a point of embracing this challenge each time.
Your attentive and heartfelt guidance has been a true source of artistic and pedagogical inspiration. It’s prompted me to reflect deeply on my own practices in both rehearsals and teaching settings.

Alice Kiyomi Yagyu (Alice K.) is a theatre director, performer, playwright, professor, and researcher based in São Paulo, Brazil. Her work explores intersections between Eastern and Western performance traditions, with a focus on acting. She is a professor in the Department of Performing Arts at the University of São Paulo and a translator of contemporary Japanese theatre.
Her actor training includes studies in Japan with masters of classical traditions (Noh – Hōshō style; Kyogen – Izumi style), Butoh (Anzu Furukawa), and Rakugo (master storyteller Sankyo Yanagiya), as well as Russian methodologies (notably the Vassiliev and Demidov approaches). She also practices Capoeira (regional style).
Alice has directed and/or performed in over thirty productions, some of which have received national recognition. Her recent play, Iti ka bati ka (All or Nothing, 2023), awarded by the São Paulo State Cultural Program (ProAC), centers on the relationship between a ninety-eight-year-old mother and her sixty-eight-year-old daughter, and was created during the pandemic.

What unfolded across these five days was both disarming and quietly profound. Under Andrei’s guidance, we were invited not to perform, but to experience — to allow truth to arise, moment by moment, without force or pretense. The structure of the Demidov work — deceptively simple, utterly alive — offered a radical kind of permission. Not to be perfect. But to be present.

Each session moved deeper, from the foundations of freedom and awareness into the actor’s emotional and psychological rhythm. I felt physically and emotionally challenged, yet never exhausted. Strangely, I left each evening more awake, not less.

Transformative. Liberating. Necessary.

This intensive stripped away the pressure to perform and brought me back to something honest, instinctive, and human. I stopped “trying to act” — and began to experience. The Demidov work, as taught here, is not just a technique — it’s a quiet revolution.

Each session felt like an invitation to trust myself again. I laughed, cried, got lost, got found. And somehow, even over Zoom, we built a space of deep connection — with ourselves, each other, and the work.

I leave this week softer, clearer, and braver. If you’re an actor, artist, or human longing to reconnect with your instinct and emotional truth — take this course. It will change how you create, and how you live.

Before I joined the workshop with Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel, I had already experienced some work with the Demidov technique. But something still didn’t sit right — I felt that what I was truly searching for lay deeper. Those earlier attempts left me with unanswered questions and a lingering sense of incompleteness.

It was only here that things began to fall into place. My encounter with Andrei was more than just a workshop — it was a meeting with a teacher I can truly call an authority. Someone who deeply understands acting and leads the process with wisdom, attentiveness, and genuine respect for the actor.
Observing his work as a teacher was profoundly inspiring — also in the context of my own pedagogical practice. His way of leading the sessions — clear and focused — showed me how one can work with actors both gently and with great precision. There was also room for dialogue; questions were always welcomed and met with thoughtful, grounded responses.

Through this work, I felt a renewed sense of passion for acting — for doing, for engaging, for being in the process. I’m deeply grateful for this experience and eagerly look forward to continuing along this path.

During the 2020 pandemic I was accidentally introduced to the Demidov School. After months of email pestering of Andrei Malaev-Babel, I finally was in my first intensive of Demidov training. I haven’t looked back.

When I began my formal acting training in the early 1980’s the only teacher in Atlanta, GA was a lady named Sandra Dorsey. It just so happened she was a teacher of the Strasberg Method and so I became a student of the Strasberg Method. I trained in, practiced and eventually, thirty years later, began teaching Strasberg. While this method served me well, my introduction to Demidov’s pedagogy completely turned my world upside down. “If only I had had this forty years ago.”

I interviewed and was accepted into the first class of Demidov Acting Certificate training but, due to timing and finances was unable to participate. Luckily, two years later, I was accepted into the class that began in the Autumn of 2023 and will continue my training for two more years into the Teacher Certification training.

After spending years in study and practice of Strasberg and his interpretation of Stanislavski’s system, having the simplicity and power of the Demidov School has been revolutionary for me. The immediate immersion into the subconscious where true inspiration and creativity resides seemed too good to be true. It was too easy. I wasn’t working hard enough. But, after enough repetitions of the etudes, it became evident beyond doubt that this was the key to true life on stage. Complete surrender to the subconscious.

Having experienced that first table read where so many wonderful emotions and characters burst into life only to be destroyed in rehearsal and almost never to be revived I had begun to worry that maybe I wasn’t cut out for acting. Why could I have that inspiration that one time and never get it back? My Demidov School training has guided me back to that “first time” experience in all of my performances.

I am honored to be a part of the revival of the Demidov School. What Stanislavski and his disciples did for the stage and camera in the 20th century is about to be eclipsed by what “should have been” from the beginning. One hundred years from now, Demidov will be the name that actors refer to when they talk about the father of modern acting.

Update (June 2025) – I have just completed my two-year Demidov Acting certificate training under the guidance of Andrei Malaev-Babel and his two student teachers Nolan Hennelly and Kimon Fioretos. I was in class Mon, Wed & Fri for 2 ½ hours almost every week from October through May for two years with an international ensemble of eight. Interestingly, during that time, I also have had my most successful run as an actor. Three TV limited series in recurring guest star roles and several films of varying budget levels and lengths. In addition, the level of roles I am being invited to audition for has risen. While all of these things are attributable to many factors (experience, age, type, relationships, etc.) I cannot help but think that no matter how I got the audition, what I brought to the audition and the performance also had a hand in what people experienced in my performance and why they reached out to me to begin with. Do I have actual data to support this? … Is it just coincidence? … possibly. All I know is, my training and my success have been concomitant. And on that five-dollar word I will say, I highly recommend investigating the training that the DA (Demidov Association) offers. The two-year and four-year programs are massive time, energy and financial commitments but, the intensives are a wonderful and affordable introduction. Five stars, highly recommend.

And now, in the third half of my life, I begin the second half of this four-year journey as I step into the role of student teacher. I am honored and thrilled for this opportunity. Come join us.

"Having taken part in 3 of Andrei Malaev-Babel’s online courses, I’m hungry for more. After nearly 50 years as an actor, director and teacher, this has been a Damascene experience for me; it’s what I’ve been waiting for. Demidov’s approach seems so uncluttered, compared with most of the better-known practitioners. The work seems rich in humanity and relies so strongly on the ensemble, on perception, on sensitivity towards one’s scene partner, on a freely instinctive non-intellectual approach, and particularly on a state of calm in the actor. Andrei’s vast knowledge of Russian theatre and his passion for Demidov’s teachings combine with a constantly supportive approach to make him as good a teacher as I have ever known. He is also a brilliant lecturer, speaking with great clarity, wit and conviction. Having spent a total of 75 hours in Andrei’s company and having seen what it did for my fellow participants, my only sorrow is that I didn’t find this work many years ago. This is such an important contribution to actor training."

"I am now participating in my second Demidov Summer Course. You can say a lot about the technique, you can argue about it or defend it, but one thing is certain: the technique works. Even before meeting Andrei Malaev-Babel, I came across Demidov’s book The Art of Living Onstage and realized that this unknown man writes of what I thought about and what I wanted to accomplish during the entire time of my theater practice. Now I think that this is the only technique that is concentrated on the actors and their talent, on liberating this talent. There are a lot of great schools that are focused on the actor playing a particular role (in fact, most of them work on that), but there is only one school for the actor of any role, focused on strengthening and developing the most important thing – actor’s freedom. Thanks to all teachers! Thank you for allowing me to soar and break out of my comfort zone! Thank you for loving the actors and believing in them!"

"The decision to take the Demidov Summer Course was spontaneous. At one moment I just though – I must do this! I followed my impulse and sent an application. Doing theater in Germany for a long time – as an actress, director and teacher – I was missing something in the practice and understanding of the nature of living onstage. Many techniques, genres, philosophies, theater schools give a lot of space for creativity and experiment, but at the same time get you off the road; you lose the focus and the truth that was the reason for doing it all. I would describe the Demidov School as “going back to fundamentals.” In 10 days you can feel the “first sprouts” of something new and honest. The leader of the course, Andrei Malaev-Babel, is an incredibly sensitive and responsive teacher, who guides the student all through the course, finding an individual approach to everyone. I personally felt like I was in good hands. Special thanks to the organizers for the perfect timing and quick and easy communication. The Demidov School made my summer. Thank you."

Working with Demidov School was a very insightful experience and opened new doors of freedom in an actor's process for me.

Working with etudes, you're learning to access the subconscious easily, without effort. It is a deceivingly simple approach rooted in working from relaxed and open state of mind, and I believe the genius of this work is that it trains a actors to be completely free, not getting in the way of themselves, and in touch with their creative impulses at all times. It was quite a revelation for me to work this way and I encourage actors of all levels to try it out — especially if you're looking to be even more free, spontaneous and creative in your acting.

German Segal is a film, theatre and voice actor from Russia.

He studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School for four years, and worked in numerous projects in Russia upon his graduation. In 2021, he landed his first English-speaking role starring in The Undeclared War, a Channel 4 British TV series directed by Peter Kosminsky.

The following year, in 2022, he enrolled at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London for an MA in Acting for Screen from which he graduated with distinction. His most recent work in the UK includes the second season of Wolf Hall for BBC One.

German currently lives in London and acts internationally.

Testimonials

Alice Yagyu, Summer Intensive Participant

Robert Jandy, Summer Intensive Participant

John Rice, London Workshop Participant

Yuvraj Bhatia, London Workshop Participant

German Segal, London Workshop Participant

Dylan T Jackson