This week we did not have an organised workshop. Instead, as a group performing the improvisation, we met in our own time with some music/sound which had been created by Esther which included busy traffic, people walking and talking, and some wildlife such as birds and wind.
The more relevant sounds made our movement even more natural and appropriate than the sound used in the previous week. It had a real impact on how each of us performed, I was surprised how much of a difference this could make to me personally.
Week 9 - Monday 19th November 2012
We began by completing the Makko-Ho stretches and patterns of total body connectivity.
This was swiflty followed by getting into pairs and keeping in contact with one another, we were asked to find different ways to move from a standing position to a sitting one, and then to complete the opposite. I found this exercise particularly difficult as I struggled to think of unique and different ways to complete the exercise, myself and my partner did however try to complete the most basic idea of connecting our backs to the best of our ability.
We then stayed with these partners and focused on the idea of keeping contact between two performers at all times, however this time we had one of the people remaining still whilst the other allowed most of their weight to be supported. We started the exercise by maintaining a longer pause between positions, and then developed this idea further which led to the pause between positions being very brief and almost a constant motion between the two performers. I found this part of the session a lot easier as my confidence grew in my abilities and I was comfortable to try new ideas.
In these same pairs, we then completed an exercise which involved each pair starting together at one side of the studio, we were instructed to remain in contact at all times once again, and that we were to move from that side of the studio to the other. Because of the exercise which preceded this one, I found it quite easy to do this, my confidence had built enourmously within myself and with my partner and I found it interesting to see how two performers can move through the space as one.
Finally, we performed our improvised scenes to the rest of the group and they wrote feedback with relation to what is being looked for within the assessment criteria. We were asked to try it again with some music which included some street noises such as cars and wind. The addition of music made a lot of the movements feel more natural and appropriate and because of the variety of volume and tempo, I could feel an instant impact on the decisions I made in relation to how I moved through the space.
This was swiflty followed by getting into pairs and keeping in contact with one another, we were asked to find different ways to move from a standing position to a sitting one, and then to complete the opposite. I found this exercise particularly difficult as I struggled to think of unique and different ways to complete the exercise, myself and my partner did however try to complete the most basic idea of connecting our backs to the best of our ability.
We then stayed with these partners and focused on the idea of keeping contact between two performers at all times, however this time we had one of the people remaining still whilst the other allowed most of their weight to be supported. We started the exercise by maintaining a longer pause between positions, and then developed this idea further which led to the pause between positions being very brief and almost a constant motion between the two performers. I found this part of the session a lot easier as my confidence grew in my abilities and I was comfortable to try new ideas.
In these same pairs, we then completed an exercise which involved each pair starting together at one side of the studio, we were instructed to remain in contact at all times once again, and that we were to move from that side of the studio to the other. Because of the exercise which preceded this one, I found it quite easy to do this, my confidence had built enourmously within myself and with my partner and I found it interesting to see how two performers can move through the space as one.
Finally, we performed our improvised scenes to the rest of the group and they wrote feedback with relation to what is being looked for within the assessment criteria. We were asked to try it again with some music which included some street noises such as cars and wind. The addition of music made a lot of the movements feel more natural and appropriate and because of the variety of volume and tempo, I could feel an instant impact on the decisions I made in relation to how I moved through the space.
Week 8 - Monday 12th November 2012
This week we began by quickly running through the patterns of total body connectivity. This was then followed by completing each of the Makko-Ho stretches, however this week we tried to focus on which areas of the body were being stretched most in the different positions. In order to do this, we sometimes had to complete the stretch multiple times and held these for significanlty longer (which had a greater strain on my body, particularly my legs).
We then worked as a whole class to go through an imporovisation, the score for the first one included moving through the space and then performing any of the Makko-Ho stretches for as long or short a time as we felt like and then moving through the space again for two minutes. After working as a whole group, we were split in half and watched each group's improvisation and noticed several important features such as how each performer seemed influence by the rest of the groups level (for example, as soon as one person completed a stretch on the floor, a lot of the others then moved down to the floor). The performers also moved between stretches at a similar time with a very similar pace. It was very hard to pick out specific individuals from the group.
The second score involved having fifty percent of the performers being in a still position, and the other fifty percent had to find ways of moving through the space, when they came in to contact with a still person they had to explore ways which they could be connected until one person broke off and then the person who was originally still would move and vice versa. This improvisation worked much more effectively as we had specifically looked at these ideas of connections immediately before the performance.
The final score was mainly about the patterns of total body connectivity, each person had to move through the space with a speicifc pattern in mind, we were then to find a motion we liked from someone else, copy it and then make it our own. Sometimes we would take a movement which involved one pattern and then change it so that we were using a totally different pattern of connectivity. I thought this was the best improvisation as there was a lot more freedom in the movements and therefore there was less to think about and the performance became very natural.
After all of these improvisations, we watched part of a documentary called "Force of Nature" which looks at improviser Kirstie Simpson. It was interesting to see how connected the performers were to each other throughout the performance we watched in the video, and also how effective it was to have one performer move away and single themselves out from the group. We therefore, as a group, decided that for our assessment it would be a positive thing to try and include a lot more connection between us and so tried this throughout the week.
We then worked as a whole class to go through an imporovisation, the score for the first one included moving through the space and then performing any of the Makko-Ho stretches for as long or short a time as we felt like and then moving through the space again for two minutes. After working as a whole group, we were split in half and watched each group's improvisation and noticed several important features such as how each performer seemed influence by the rest of the groups level (for example, as soon as one person completed a stretch on the floor, a lot of the others then moved down to the floor). The performers also moved between stretches at a similar time with a very similar pace. It was very hard to pick out specific individuals from the group.
The second score involved having fifty percent of the performers being in a still position, and the other fifty percent had to find ways of moving through the space, when they came in to contact with a still person they had to explore ways which they could be connected until one person broke off and then the person who was originally still would move and vice versa. This improvisation worked much more effectively as we had specifically looked at these ideas of connections immediately before the performance.
The final score was mainly about the patterns of total body connectivity, each person had to move through the space with a speicifc pattern in mind, we were then to find a motion we liked from someone else, copy it and then make it our own. Sometimes we would take a movement which involved one pattern and then change it so that we were using a totally different pattern of connectivity. I thought this was the best improvisation as there was a lot more freedom in the movements and therefore there was less to think about and the performance became very natural.
After all of these improvisations, we watched part of a documentary called "Force of Nature" which looks at improviser Kirstie Simpson. It was interesting to see how connected the performers were to each other throughout the performance we watched in the video, and also how effective it was to have one performer move away and single themselves out from the group. We therefore, as a group, decided that for our assessment it would be a positive thing to try and include a lot more connection between us and so tried this throughout the week.
Week 7 - Monday 5th November 2012
From the moment we started this week, I found it difficult to focus on the tasks we were set. We completed the Makko-Ho stretches and patterns of total body connectivity as usual but I even struggled to focus on these. We performed the stretches in pairs so that we could help one another to stretch slightly further than we thought possible.
We stayed within these pairs and started an exercise which involved connecting to one another via the wrist, we then allowed the movements to become natural between us and found that our arms could move in a lot of ways whilst staying connected to one another. This was important as it started to look at the rolling point of contact. As we began to progress through this, we included the legs to aid the activity, we were not allowed to move our legs and we were instructed to knock the other person off balance only by moving our connected wrists. I found this difficult as I kept wanting to move my legs. We were then allowed to move our legs so that as a pair we could manouvre around the room whilst connected and moving our arms. This was good as it allowed us to explore the differen amounts of force that can be used by one another and how this can change the mood of a character instantly.
Once this had been explored thoroughly, we looked at ways of keeping the body connected but moving between different parts of the body such as using the back and head, and swapping to the other wrist. Again, we did not plan how we were going to move and allowed this to be a natural exploration between us to see which movements felt most comfortable. I found that connecting via the head was the easiest to complete as it was almost impossible to see the other person and therefore I could not predict where he was going to move and so had to rely on my reactions to move with him.
In our assessment groups, we were asked to perform what had been practised during the week with our 'score'. Whilst performing this to an audience we decided that moving around whilst not in the space felt awkward and wasn't necessary for the performance. We also found that we had a very set pace in which there was very little contrast between our movements. Another group was asked to perform again, however, two of the performers were given secret instructions, they performed the scene again and it was interesting to see how different it felt, there was a much more clear storyline and the actors who did not know the instructions reacted very well to those who did.
We were asked in our groups to go back over our improvisations and add in small sound effects that can be completed by us, as well as make any other changes we felt necessary, and to video a new performance, preferrably in the space where one of us had originally observed their surroundings.
We decided to video our performance in a park as this is where Esther (a member of the group) had originally been to observe the space. A lot of our key words such as 'wild', 'adventure' and 'leaves rustling' were easier to perform in this space.
We decided to take out the idea of moving whilst not in the space and added a set beat using our bodies which was always performed by those who weren't in the space. We also tried to focus more on the idea of inculding the patterns of total body connectivity.
We stayed within these pairs and started an exercise which involved connecting to one another via the wrist, we then allowed the movements to become natural between us and found that our arms could move in a lot of ways whilst staying connected to one another. This was important as it started to look at the rolling point of contact. As we began to progress through this, we included the legs to aid the activity, we were not allowed to move our legs and we were instructed to knock the other person off balance only by moving our connected wrists. I found this difficult as I kept wanting to move my legs. We were then allowed to move our legs so that as a pair we could manouvre around the room whilst connected and moving our arms. This was good as it allowed us to explore the differen amounts of force that can be used by one another and how this can change the mood of a character instantly.
Once this had been explored thoroughly, we looked at ways of keeping the body connected but moving between different parts of the body such as using the back and head, and swapping to the other wrist. Again, we did not plan how we were going to move and allowed this to be a natural exploration between us to see which movements felt most comfortable. I found that connecting via the head was the easiest to complete as it was almost impossible to see the other person and therefore I could not predict where he was going to move and so had to rely on my reactions to move with him.
In our assessment groups, we were asked to perform what had been practised during the week with our 'score'. Whilst performing this to an audience we decided that moving around whilst not in the space felt awkward and wasn't necessary for the performance. We also found that we had a very set pace in which there was very little contrast between our movements. Another group was asked to perform again, however, two of the performers were given secret instructions, they performed the scene again and it was interesting to see how different it felt, there was a much more clear storyline and the actors who did not know the instructions reacted very well to those who did.
We were asked in our groups to go back over our improvisations and add in small sound effects that can be completed by us, as well as make any other changes we felt necessary, and to video a new performance, preferrably in the space where one of us had originally observed their surroundings.
We decided to take out the idea of moving whilst not in the space and added a set beat using our bodies which was always performed by those who weren't in the space. We also tried to focus more on the idea of inculding the patterns of total body connectivity.
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