Overall I feel very positive about the movement module, I have learnt some very valuable skills throughout, and have already seen and witnessed through my own experiences how these can be used in all aspects of my performance. I think that my positive view on the module from the beginning and my open minded attitude has allowed me to take in as much of the learning as possible, and therefore has aided my understanding of the process and results a lot more than I initially anticipated. I think that my improved organisation has allowed me to focus more on the current learning at each stage, and therefore I have been able to concentrate more on the individual studies each week. This is something which I pointed out as a personal weakness at the start of the module, and so I am happy that I feel I have improved on this.
I also feel that I have been able to develop some of the strengths which I identified within myself at the start of the module, I feel especially more flexible through the different stretches and warm ups I have learned. This was also one of my goals for the module, as well as being able to remember some of the stretches, which I have also done by performing these on a routine basis. However, I have not been able to learn which areas of the body are worked on through these different stretches, but I have noticed overall that my body feels a lot fitter and able to move in a more liberated way.
As an optional module for Semester 1 of my second year of BA (Hons) Performance, I have selected to study contemporary dance, I hope that I will be able to enjoy that module in the same way I have movement, and I hope to adopt all of the strategies I have used in movement in that module also.
GIFT 2013
On Thursday 2nd May 2013 I went to the opening night of the 3rd edition of GIFT (Gateshead International Festival of Theatre). I watched two very different performances, one by theatre company Massive Owl (UK) called We Used To Wait, which explored modern relationships between people, and the other by Sudermann and Soderberg called A Talk.
The first, we used to wait, was very physical, all of the characters moved throughout the space quite a lot, and moved to music as certain stages of the performance. I was able to compare the way in which they worked as a group to the way in which we had been asked to work within movement. It was very clear to see how these four individuals worked together as an ensemble. There were also moments where the characters were in contact with one another, two of the characters moved down onto the floor, I noticed that they were not using their breath effectively as a way to support them as they softened into the floor, and instead seemed to be holding their breath throughout. Because of this, it made a lot of the movement very heavy and laboured.
The second piece, a talk, was very contrasting to the first. The entire performance was very minimalistic in terms of movement. Instead, they chose to focus on the musicality and rhythm of typical conversations, the original idea behind their piece. Both of the women worked incredibly well during the synchronised moments, and there was an obvious sense that they worked as a team. The two women used their breath very well throughout the piece, to support them in their movement as they created beats with their own body parts and the floor, and to support their voice whilst performing quick and tricky speeches, even whilst lying on the floor.
It was interesting to see how I would choose to use elements from movement within these performances, and also to see what elements were already included. Therefore I can see clearly how the skills I have acquired within movement can be transposed into other areas of my acting and performance.
The first, we used to wait, was very physical, all of the characters moved throughout the space quite a lot, and moved to music as certain stages of the performance. I was able to compare the way in which they worked as a group to the way in which we had been asked to work within movement. It was very clear to see how these four individuals worked together as an ensemble. There were also moments where the characters were in contact with one another, two of the characters moved down onto the floor, I noticed that they were not using their breath effectively as a way to support them as they softened into the floor, and instead seemed to be holding their breath throughout. Because of this, it made a lot of the movement very heavy and laboured.
The second piece, a talk, was very contrasting to the first. The entire performance was very minimalistic in terms of movement. Instead, they chose to focus on the musicality and rhythm of typical conversations, the original idea behind their piece. Both of the women worked incredibly well during the synchronised moments, and there was an obvious sense that they worked as a team. The two women used their breath very well throughout the piece, to support them in their movement as they created beats with their own body parts and the floor, and to support their voice whilst performing quick and tricky speeches, even whilst lying on the floor.
It was interesting to see how I would choose to use elements from movement within these performances, and also to see what elements were already included. Therefore I can see clearly how the skills I have acquired within movement can be transposed into other areas of my acting and performance.
Assessment (Summative) - Monday 29th April 2013
This week was the week of our group summative assessment. We began as normal, warming up different parts of our bodies, exploring a variety of rhythms, speeds and patterns within each. The warm up this week also included a bit more physical exercise such a jogging through the space. After this we worked on partner based exercises, we were instructed to remain in contact using one part of our body, to choose whether we wanted to push the other person away or allow them to push us away without communicating. As this developed, we then moved on to moving the point of contact between different parts of the body, and using different speeds to move, as well as using a mix of levels. Overall I found the warm up very useful, it covered all of the different aspects of the performance, and even allowed us the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with our partners.
We moved straight into the assessment from this, all of the previous weeks were combined together into the thirty minute performance. I felt good in each of the elements included, even during the logomotion which I have previously found quite difficult to complete with conviction. I feel this was partly due to the fact that this week we had a small audience, but if felt more like a performance piece to me. I think that I was successful in showing all of the different things we have learned within movement, and met the criteria of the performance, working as part of the group, having a sense of originality etc.
We moved straight into the assessment from this, all of the previous weeks were combined together into the thirty minute performance. I felt good in each of the elements included, even during the logomotion which I have previously found quite difficult to complete with conviction. I feel this was partly due to the fact that this week we had a small audience, but if felt more like a performance piece to me. I think that I was successful in showing all of the different things we have learned within movement, and met the criteria of the performance, working as part of the group, having a sense of originality etc.
Week 11 - Monday 22nd April 2013
This week we warmed up as usual, after doing some of the same warm-ups as last week, we worked on the idea of yielding and pushing once again, focusing a lot on the upper-lower connection whilst doing this. We also did a lot of work on our pelvis and moving our bodies from side to side on the floor. My body was a bit slow to warm up today, a lot of the movements were hard to complete because of this. Once we got into the partner work I felt ok about my body and its ability to move, I feel this is because my partner was relying on me to be aware of my own body in order to work together.
The partner worked involved a lot of weight giving and taking, keeping our backs in contact at all times, and slowly led into the kind of contact we will be doing in the assessment. Starting off with a little bit of contact and weight sharing was good, it showed me the different ways we can choose to perform in the assessment and which will be most effective as part of a performance. Its always good to get some extra practise in with my partner as well.
After this, Liz opened up a space in the centre of the room where people could enter and exit at any time they wished. The rules for the improvisation were that there was to be moments where you either stood, sat, or lay in a still position. In between these moments, people could move through the space in any way they liked. Throughout the exercise, there were some great moments of dialogue between people using only their bodies and these would often include more than two or three people. Towards the end of the exercise people started to become a lot more inventive with their movements. It was good to see the different patterns being used by people to move.
We then ran through the entire assessment without stopping, this was a great experience as the assessment is only one week away. I felt quite confident all the way through the performance that I was performing to the best of my abilities and that my entire movement knowledge was being displayed. I am looking forward to next week!
The partner worked involved a lot of weight giving and taking, keeping our backs in contact at all times, and slowly led into the kind of contact we will be doing in the assessment. Starting off with a little bit of contact and weight sharing was good, it showed me the different ways we can choose to perform in the assessment and which will be most effective as part of a performance. Its always good to get some extra practise in with my partner as well.
After this, Liz opened up a space in the centre of the room where people could enter and exit at any time they wished. The rules for the improvisation were that there was to be moments where you either stood, sat, or lay in a still position. In between these moments, people could move through the space in any way they liked. Throughout the exercise, there were some great moments of dialogue between people using only their bodies and these would often include more than two or three people. Towards the end of the exercise people started to become a lot more inventive with their movements. It was good to see the different patterns being used by people to move.
We then ran through the entire assessment without stopping, this was a great experience as the assessment is only one week away. I felt quite confident all the way through the performance that I was performing to the best of my abilities and that my entire movement knowledge was being displayed. I am looking forward to next week!
Week 10 - Monday 15th April 2013
This was our first workshop in four weeks because of the Easter break. After my painful session after Winter I made sure that I was there on time for the warm up and that I warmed up all of my body as much as i could before doing the exercises. We warmed up with a variety of exercises we have done before, sweeping our legs along the floor from one side of our body to the other, working through the patterns of total body connectivity, stretching the toes whilst jumping as well as a few more. My body felt good throughout and after the warm up.
We then moved through the space, walking in any direction we wanted, and Liz talked us through the six patterns of connectivity and asked us to focus on each whilst we were walking. I found it easy to transition from one of the patterns to another, and felt like more movements really reflected the pattern, rather than doing the same movement for each with a slight variation. I always feel reminded of the ability my body has to move when we go through the patterns in their entirety, starting with a movement that is quite limited (Breath) and working up to the point where all the different parts of my body are moving seperately with freedom (Cross-Lateral).
After this we worked on each of the sections that will be performed in the assessment in two weeks. It was a great opportunity to work on almost everything we have worked on in movement, each stage seems to consist of something different. Sometimes I felt more comfortable in certain sections, such as the contact improvisation with my partner, than I did during the logomotion. I think because I did not take part in the exercise before Easter I was still quite new to the exercise and it was harder to commit to. I know this is an area where I need to focus more of my attention in order to improve it. I feel quite good about the assessment, there are lots of moments where I can show things I have learnt within the movement module.
As an addition to the assessment, Liz asked for six volunteers to read out the short passage before each of the patterns of total body connectivity in Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections. These will be included in the performance as a separate section. The sections will be read out in order, and whilst each is being read out, we are to move in accordance to the pattern, focusing on the breath, or head-tail for example. I find it a lot easier to focus on the movements with the words because they describe how the body and mind should feel whilst in each stage, for example, in the introduction to breath, there is a sentence which states the body feels as though it is filling and emptying in an ongoing cycle. There was more of a visual element to build upon in my opinion.
We then moved through the space, walking in any direction we wanted, and Liz talked us through the six patterns of connectivity and asked us to focus on each whilst we were walking. I found it easy to transition from one of the patterns to another, and felt like more movements really reflected the pattern, rather than doing the same movement for each with a slight variation. I always feel reminded of the ability my body has to move when we go through the patterns in their entirety, starting with a movement that is quite limited (Breath) and working up to the point where all the different parts of my body are moving seperately with freedom (Cross-Lateral).
After this we worked on each of the sections that will be performed in the assessment in two weeks. It was a great opportunity to work on almost everything we have worked on in movement, each stage seems to consist of something different. Sometimes I felt more comfortable in certain sections, such as the contact improvisation with my partner, than I did during the logomotion. I think because I did not take part in the exercise before Easter I was still quite new to the exercise and it was harder to commit to. I know this is an area where I need to focus more of my attention in order to improve it. I feel quite good about the assessment, there are lots of moments where I can show things I have learnt within the movement module.
As an addition to the assessment, Liz asked for six volunteers to read out the short passage before each of the patterns of total body connectivity in Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections. These will be included in the performance as a separate section. The sections will be read out in order, and whilst each is being read out, we are to move in accordance to the pattern, focusing on the breath, or head-tail for example. I find it a lot easier to focus on the movements with the words because they describe how the body and mind should feel whilst in each stage, for example, in the introduction to breath, there is a sentence which states the body feels as though it is filling and emptying in an ongoing cycle. There was more of a visual element to build upon in my opinion.
Week 9 - Monday 18th March 2013
This week when I arrived I felt slightly ill and so decided to observe from the side and took notes. The group started by warming up, this week the warm up was not focused on one particular area but instead used almost the entire body at different stages. The variety in the warm ups was also unusual, Liz had the group going from rocking gently one moment to stamping their feet and moving the next. It was great to see moments of great contrast.
Following this, the group completed a Qigong exercise from earlier in the semester where they had to create a balloon of energy between their arms and chest, it was stretched and moved and manipulated before gathering the energy and pulling into their centre.
The next exercise was really physical, whenever Liz was moving, everyone else also had to be moving, when Liz was still, everyone else had to be still. This was to increase the awareness of how other's were performing in the space around them. It was interesting to watch as people fed off the energies of others throughout the exercise. The use of levels in particular was notable as when one person decided to move lower to the ground, there was a moment where almost half the group went from standing to a crouching position.
This was then repeated in pairs, it looked a lot harder to focus on your partner when so much was happening in the space around you, but also easier as there was really only one person who you had to be aware of. As Dougie and Esther were working close to me, I observed them in a bit more detail. I noticed that they would often mirror one another when moving, and they took turns in leading the movement. Liz then changed the rules of the improvisation so that only one person in the pair was allowed to move at any one time, so when one stopped the other started. This appeared to make it easier to be aware of moments when the partner decided to stop or move, but because only one person was moving, there was less energy to feed off from their partner and so sometimes because repetitive.
Holding onto each other's hips and trying to break away through the space was repeated as previously experimented in earlier weeks. Liz told us all this time to focus on freeing the chest (I think because this is what predominantly leads the movement). This was another great moment of contrast, the exercise had went from a relatively peaceful exercise into one full of energy and power. It was really effective one again for me as an audience member.
The group were then asked to move through the space, one side of the room to the other, in group of three using their spines and centres of gravity. Things to note from this were the use of proximity between the performers and the moments of stillness or speed. There were some great moments where groups worked to mirror each other or work against one another to emphasise the contrast.
Logomotion was also explored, however Liz asked the group to stand in complete stillness upon finishing the exercise, the contrast once again was very powerful. The stillness was very dramatic alongside the very manic and full on logomotion. I noticed that during the first time of performing that a lot of people committed a lot of energy in the beginning but it became less and less as the performance went on. It was good to watch the silent section and see how the body can be used to really transfer their words into images. During the second time of performing, the stillness was a lot more focused, this had such an impact on the performance, before there were a lot of little distractions and it didn't really feel like a moment of stillness. As well as being more focused, I felt like the group took on board Liz's advice on what posture to adopt for the standing. The third time of performing the transitions between the different stages of logomotion were quite fluent and it was less obvious that there was a thought process involved.
We were told that these exercises were going to form a lot of the summative assessment at the end of April, I was pleased to hear this as I feel there is a good chance for me to improve on skills I have already started to develop during this semester. I am starting to see the importance of all the different exercises we do on a weekly basis.
Following this, the group completed a Qigong exercise from earlier in the semester where they had to create a balloon of energy between their arms and chest, it was stretched and moved and manipulated before gathering the energy and pulling into their centre.
The next exercise was really physical, whenever Liz was moving, everyone else also had to be moving, when Liz was still, everyone else had to be still. This was to increase the awareness of how other's were performing in the space around them. It was interesting to watch as people fed off the energies of others throughout the exercise. The use of levels in particular was notable as when one person decided to move lower to the ground, there was a moment where almost half the group went from standing to a crouching position.
This was then repeated in pairs, it looked a lot harder to focus on your partner when so much was happening in the space around you, but also easier as there was really only one person who you had to be aware of. As Dougie and Esther were working close to me, I observed them in a bit more detail. I noticed that they would often mirror one another when moving, and they took turns in leading the movement. Liz then changed the rules of the improvisation so that only one person in the pair was allowed to move at any one time, so when one stopped the other started. This appeared to make it easier to be aware of moments when the partner decided to stop or move, but because only one person was moving, there was less energy to feed off from their partner and so sometimes because repetitive.
Holding onto each other's hips and trying to break away through the space was repeated as previously experimented in earlier weeks. Liz told us all this time to focus on freeing the chest (I think because this is what predominantly leads the movement). This was another great moment of contrast, the exercise had went from a relatively peaceful exercise into one full of energy and power. It was really effective one again for me as an audience member.
The group were then asked to move through the space, one side of the room to the other, in group of three using their spines and centres of gravity. Things to note from this were the use of proximity between the performers and the moments of stillness or speed. There were some great moments where groups worked to mirror each other or work against one another to emphasise the contrast.
Logomotion was also explored, however Liz asked the group to stand in complete stillness upon finishing the exercise, the contrast once again was very powerful. The stillness was very dramatic alongside the very manic and full on logomotion. I noticed that during the first time of performing that a lot of people committed a lot of energy in the beginning but it became less and less as the performance went on. It was good to watch the silent section and see how the body can be used to really transfer their words into images. During the second time of performing, the stillness was a lot more focused, this had such an impact on the performance, before there were a lot of little distractions and it didn't really feel like a moment of stillness. As well as being more focused, I felt like the group took on board Liz's advice on what posture to adopt for the standing. The third time of performing the transitions between the different stages of logomotion were quite fluent and it was less obvious that there was a thought process involved.
We were told that these exercises were going to form a lot of the summative assessment at the end of April, I was pleased to hear this as I feel there is a good chance for me to improve on skills I have already started to develop during this semester. I am starting to see the importance of all the different exercises we do on a weekly basis.
Steptoe and Son - March 16th 2013
As part of another module, we were advised to go and see a production by theatre company 'Kneehigh' at Northern Stage called 'Steptoe & Son'. Not categorized as a movement or dance styled piece, I still felt there were some great moments of physicality that I could share within this module. I am a big fan of Kneehigh's work, it is often very physical and musical.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHhCCAOlW3g This is the advert for the piece which I went to see on Saturday 16th March 2013.
There were some moments of choreographed dance, all of the actors on stage moved simultaneously, this was a really effective part of the performance for emphasising the joy/excitement of the characters. This worked in contrast to the otherwise quite realistic style of acting utilised throughout, the dance made it seem as though it were some sort of dream sequence.
There were also some moments where the actors would fall to the floor, the motion was very smooth and fluid, supported by their breath, something which we have always worked on in our workshops.
Below are some photos from the tour, including a promotional shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHhCCAOlW3g This is the advert for the piece which I went to see on Saturday 16th March 2013.
There were some moments of choreographed dance, all of the actors on stage moved simultaneously, this was a really effective part of the performance for emphasising the joy/excitement of the characters. This worked in contrast to the otherwise quite realistic style of acting utilised throughout, the dance made it seem as though it were some sort of dream sequence.
There were also some moments where the actors would fall to the floor, the motion was very smooth and fluid, supported by their breath, something which we have always worked on in our workshops.
Below are some photos from the tour, including a promotional shot.
Week 8 - Monday 11th March 2013
We warmed up on the floor again this week, there was a combination of all the previous weeks within this, some of it was working the back, others on the different joints, as well as supporting ourselves with the breath. We then moved from a position on the floor to our knees, using our breath, we were asked to relax into the floor so that we could roll onto our back and then by breathing in we could lift and support ourselves to come back up into the same position from the opposite direction. I really enjoy this style of exercise, it is something that I have felt comfortable doing since early on in semester one and I have missed this throughout second semester as it hasn't been explored in as much detail. We then worked on material from semester one again, focusing on the arms, we stretched these by gripping one another's arms in pairs and lowering ourselves towards the floor by creasing at the hip and bending the knees. Again, this was a very comfortable warm up, and it was good to refresh my memory.
We then worked on the idea of keeping in contact with our partner. We were told we could use the ideas of rolling, sliding, turning etc as ways to move whilst in contact. Me and my partner struggled initially to think of original ideas and simply turned for the entire duration. Liz then showed us some examples of ways to vary the movement and we all tried again, it was a lot easier this time, however, we did loose contact now and then.
Staying in these pairs, we then worked on the idea of weight sharing, and the role as either the supporter or the supported. One of the two people would get into a position on the floor on their hands and knees, the other tried a few position, giving weight in each instance, starting by simply sitting on their back, and by the end being able to drape across them and lift all limbs up from the floor. Liz really emphasised the importance of making sure you were always placing your centre above that of your partners to make the exercise easier to complete. After a few minutes, we were then working on moving from a supported position into a position where you are able to support your partner and they would then be supported by you. This became very fluid, however we did lose contact now and then as our movements got bigger and more adventurous.
That exercise introduced us to part of the assessment for semester two which will be performed at a later date. Staying in these pairs, Liz told us that one of the two was to lie on the floor, the other then gave some weight and stayed in that position for a period of time (roughly 30 seconds). After that time, the roles would be switched by movement and the task repeated once again, this time with a shorter period of time (20 - 25 seconds). This was repeated over and over so that eventually the period of time spent in a still position was eliminated and we could move from one position to another freely, and always in contact. It was difficult to focus on the timings, but after a few goes, I started to realise how important it was to emphasise the stillness at the beginning in contrast to the constant movement at the end.
We then worked on the section of the assessment which will precede the contact improvisation, the stillness and logomotion. We were all told to stand in a neutral position facing forwards, we had to remain as still as possible, once a signal was sounded, one person would read out the words "the subject is .... starting now"(the subject given by Liz which is different every time). This is when we would start the logomotion, completing last week's task of the three stages. Moving with words, moving in silence and moving with sounds. This week, the transitions had started to become clearer, but it was still obvious that there was a thought process involved which looked slightly awkward and untidy. This is something I am going to have to work on!!
We then worked on the idea of keeping in contact with our partner. We were told we could use the ideas of rolling, sliding, turning etc as ways to move whilst in contact. Me and my partner struggled initially to think of original ideas and simply turned for the entire duration. Liz then showed us some examples of ways to vary the movement and we all tried again, it was a lot easier this time, however, we did loose contact now and then.
Staying in these pairs, we then worked on the idea of weight sharing, and the role as either the supporter or the supported. One of the two people would get into a position on the floor on their hands and knees, the other tried a few position, giving weight in each instance, starting by simply sitting on their back, and by the end being able to drape across them and lift all limbs up from the floor. Liz really emphasised the importance of making sure you were always placing your centre above that of your partners to make the exercise easier to complete. After a few minutes, we were then working on moving from a supported position into a position where you are able to support your partner and they would then be supported by you. This became very fluid, however we did lose contact now and then as our movements got bigger and more adventurous.
That exercise introduced us to part of the assessment for semester two which will be performed at a later date. Staying in these pairs, Liz told us that one of the two was to lie on the floor, the other then gave some weight and stayed in that position for a period of time (roughly 30 seconds). After that time, the roles would be switched by movement and the task repeated once again, this time with a shorter period of time (20 - 25 seconds). This was repeated over and over so that eventually the period of time spent in a still position was eliminated and we could move from one position to another freely, and always in contact. It was difficult to focus on the timings, but after a few goes, I started to realise how important it was to emphasise the stillness at the beginning in contrast to the constant movement at the end.
We then worked on the section of the assessment which will precede the contact improvisation, the stillness and logomotion. We were all told to stand in a neutral position facing forwards, we had to remain as still as possible, once a signal was sounded, one person would read out the words "the subject is .... starting now"(the subject given by Liz which is different every time). This is when we would start the logomotion, completing last week's task of the three stages. Moving with words, moving in silence and moving with sounds. This week, the transitions had started to become clearer, but it was still obvious that there was a thought process involved which looked slightly awkward and untidy. This is something I am going to have to work on!!
Week 7 - Monday 4th March 2013
We warmed up with a variety of exercises today, it was one of the first weeks where we hadn't been working on the floor. Rather than completing stretches we had previously learned, we warmed up by using a lot of different parts of the body, moving them all in different ways so as shaking the hands and wrists, standing up and crouching down with different sounds at each moment, some heavy breathing with sighs which became quicker and quicker so that it became a sort of panting. Upon warming up all of our body, we were asked to gather round as a group, Liz stuck a poster on the wall which introduced us to 'phrasing', specifically the classification of phrasing by Vera Maletic. They are as follows;
1 - Increasing. 2 - Decreasing. 3 - Accented. 4 - Even. 5 - Vibratory. 6 - Resilient.
Liz then asked us to think about what each of these meant to us, and in small groups we had to think which of our warm ups would be categorised as which category of phrasing. It was hard for us to do, we hadn't been told anything about the phrases and had to try and work out by their titles what sort of action would go with both, we picked some right and some wrong. As a group, we then went through a warm up which included each type of phrasing to ensure we understood them all.
We then lay on the floor, on our backs, with our arms and legs extended so they were completely flat. Liz asked us to close our eyes and listen to any sounds from within the room, picking up on any vibrations we could feel in our bodies from the floor. For this, it was important to allow my body to relax into the floor so that it could pick up any small vibrations. Liz moved through the space, making sounds with her feet and hands, we listened and took in all the different noises. After, she asked us to start copying the noises she was making, it was hard because we didn't know which part of her body she was using as our eyes were closed. We really had to focus on the sound and then repeat the noises to her. These became more pattern-like and we had to repeat them in the same pattern. We formed a group circle with the whole class and, with our eyes open this time, began to perform and copy one another's patterns using different part of our body to move the noise.
This led into an exercise where we worked in pairs, each pair stood in a line, the one behind would use their hands and feet to make some sounds either against the floor or their partners back, they then had to copy the rhythm using claps to replace any moment when they had been patted on the back. It was really hard to focus on the pattern because there were so many being performed at once. It was essential to feel the rhythm/beat with your body and then copy this. We then combined the pairs to make groups of four, again we stood in a row and the person at the back started a pattern, the third person copied and passed on to the second, and then the second on to the first. As a group, we were asked to try and repeat the pattern at the same time and pace as each other. I found this a lot easier as there was less noise within the room and therefore easier to concentrate. However, we had become more comfortable and so the patterns became quite adventurous.
Following on from that exercise, we worked in pairs to communicate with one another, we weren't allowed to use words, only sound and movement, a lot of the time the performance didn't work, I feel that it was because rather than watching and listening to what my partner was doing, I spent a lot of my time trying to think of what I could do next. Over time, after changing partners a few times, the exercise started to become a bit easier. After swapping a few times, we were then asked to change the task quite a bit, now one person would speak as though telling a story, and the other would move in response to those words. Initially we found it hard to talk about the different subjects, we soon realised this wasn't the most important element and that we could say whatever we liked. Instead it was more about the reaction and movement from the other person, in the beginning, a lot of us found ourselves simply trying to re-enact the story, but Liz told us that we should instead be focusing on the tone and pace of the story and convey this within our movement instead. I felt very uncomfortable performing one on one, especially as the person speaking was watching to see how you responded.
This became a bit easier once were put into groups of four or five, and the elements of logomotion were introduced. We started the exercise the same way, however now, we were to move in accordance to our own story (I think this is why I found more comfortable), once a signal had been made, we were then to cut out all sound, we were to move through the space the same way we had been doing, and upon hearing a further signal, we were then to keep moving, but add sounds to the performance, not words. It was weird trying to transition from one to the another once the signals were made, and we often found ourselves pausing in between and then starting again. Making the sounds was very surreal, it was hard to imagine a story in your head but be saying something completely different, also, it was hard to think what sort of sound would match with the movement and tone of the story trying to be conveyed.
To finish off the session, Liz played some music and told us we were free to move anyway we wanted in response to the music, I remembered Ionization by Bill. T. Jones from the previous week and decided that it was important to really listen to the music, as well as being aware of the performances around me. Liz then created a space in the middle of the room, now we were free to enter the space and perform the music when we felt like it, or we could sit on the outside and observe others. It was great fun to be part of, being able to tell an improvised story with other people from the music was interesting. It was also a great opportunity to see all of the different styles of movement from the group.
1 - Increasing. 2 - Decreasing. 3 - Accented. 4 - Even. 5 - Vibratory. 6 - Resilient.
Liz then asked us to think about what each of these meant to us, and in small groups we had to think which of our warm ups would be categorised as which category of phrasing. It was hard for us to do, we hadn't been told anything about the phrases and had to try and work out by their titles what sort of action would go with both, we picked some right and some wrong. As a group, we then went through a warm up which included each type of phrasing to ensure we understood them all.
We then lay on the floor, on our backs, with our arms and legs extended so they were completely flat. Liz asked us to close our eyes and listen to any sounds from within the room, picking up on any vibrations we could feel in our bodies from the floor. For this, it was important to allow my body to relax into the floor so that it could pick up any small vibrations. Liz moved through the space, making sounds with her feet and hands, we listened and took in all the different noises. After, she asked us to start copying the noises she was making, it was hard because we didn't know which part of her body she was using as our eyes were closed. We really had to focus on the sound and then repeat the noises to her. These became more pattern-like and we had to repeat them in the same pattern. We formed a group circle with the whole class and, with our eyes open this time, began to perform and copy one another's patterns using different part of our body to move the noise.
This led into an exercise where we worked in pairs, each pair stood in a line, the one behind would use their hands and feet to make some sounds either against the floor or their partners back, they then had to copy the rhythm using claps to replace any moment when they had been patted on the back. It was really hard to focus on the pattern because there were so many being performed at once. It was essential to feel the rhythm/beat with your body and then copy this. We then combined the pairs to make groups of four, again we stood in a row and the person at the back started a pattern, the third person copied and passed on to the second, and then the second on to the first. As a group, we were asked to try and repeat the pattern at the same time and pace as each other. I found this a lot easier as there was less noise within the room and therefore easier to concentrate. However, we had become more comfortable and so the patterns became quite adventurous.
Following on from that exercise, we worked in pairs to communicate with one another, we weren't allowed to use words, only sound and movement, a lot of the time the performance didn't work, I feel that it was because rather than watching and listening to what my partner was doing, I spent a lot of my time trying to think of what I could do next. Over time, after changing partners a few times, the exercise started to become a bit easier. After swapping a few times, we were then asked to change the task quite a bit, now one person would speak as though telling a story, and the other would move in response to those words. Initially we found it hard to talk about the different subjects, we soon realised this wasn't the most important element and that we could say whatever we liked. Instead it was more about the reaction and movement from the other person, in the beginning, a lot of us found ourselves simply trying to re-enact the story, but Liz told us that we should instead be focusing on the tone and pace of the story and convey this within our movement instead. I felt very uncomfortable performing one on one, especially as the person speaking was watching to see how you responded.
This became a bit easier once were put into groups of four or five, and the elements of logomotion were introduced. We started the exercise the same way, however now, we were to move in accordance to our own story (I think this is why I found more comfortable), once a signal had been made, we were then to cut out all sound, we were to move through the space the same way we had been doing, and upon hearing a further signal, we were then to keep moving, but add sounds to the performance, not words. It was weird trying to transition from one to the another once the signals were made, and we often found ourselves pausing in between and then starting again. Making the sounds was very surreal, it was hard to imagine a story in your head but be saying something completely different, also, it was hard to think what sort of sound would match with the movement and tone of the story trying to be conveyed.
To finish off the session, Liz played some music and told us we were free to move anyway we wanted in response to the music, I remembered Ionization by Bill. T. Jones from the previous week and decided that it was important to really listen to the music, as well as being aware of the performances around me. Liz then created a space in the middle of the room, now we were free to enter the space and perform the music when we felt like it, or we could sit on the outside and observe others. It was great fun to be part of, being able to tell an improvised story with other people from the music was interesting. It was also a great opportunity to see all of the different styles of movement from the group.
Week 6 - Monday 25th February 2013
We warmed similarly to earlier weeks, on the floor, we rolled the knees and other joints slowly to warm these areas up. We then lay in a semi-supine position, with our hands placed firmly on the floor. We were asked to lift our pelvis away from the floor, trying to lift our spines slowly, one vertebrae at a time so that only our shoulders were on the floor and our pelvis was being lifted towards the ceiling. This was good for warming up the spine and also increasing my levels or awareness and concentration as it was quite a particular exercise. We performed the exercise several times.
After this we stood up, we were to imagine that different parts of our bodies (knees, hips, sits bones) had eyes! We were to allow these eyes to look at the space around us. This was really hard to comprehend and nobody wanted to commit to the exercise fully to begin with, once we began to become more comfortable the movements became a lot greater and more structured so that they had a purpose. I found it hard to imagine what space the different parts of my body were looking into, I think this is to do with spacial awareness, something which I have really been trying to work on.
The next part of the workshop was focused on the arms, the first time we had used these specifically within an exercise for today. We stretched our arms above our heads, and tried to release any tension from within our shoulders. I felt confident about doing this, my arms felt very relaxed, which surprised me as I have started noticing in my everyday life that I tend to sit with a slightly hunched posture and I have to really focus on lowering my shoulders. We explored which muscles were used in order to lift our arms, and looked at the role of the rib cage and muscles in this region to aid the motion of lifting the arms. I was surprised that so many muscles were part of that one basic movement.
We then returned to back (sort of). We worked in pairs, one partner was assigned the role of 'leader', they had to place one hand on the other's lower back (the centre of the body), and use this as a way of leading the other person through the space. Liz encouraged us to use a variety of directions and pace so that both partners had to remain focused and aware. It was hard to feel through this part of my body which way my partner was trying to go, I found myself trying to look at my partner more in order to anticipate their movements rather than relying on my awareness of them through my lower back.
The next emphasised the importance of work with and against our own centre of gravity. Whereas in the previous exercise we worked to move with our centre, this next one proved to be really testing. In different pairs, we were told that one person should stand behind the other and hold onto their pelvis. The person being held onto was then instructed to try and break away from the other person, using a variety of pace and direction once again. Our centre of gravity was being pulled away from us, and with the change in direction it was sometimes quite hard to remain quite grounded. To begin with, a lot of us lacked creativity when trying to break away, we simply ran through the space. Liz demonstrated how using different movements worked more effectively as a way of breaking away. Towards the end, it became a lot harder to hold onto my partner's pelvis, this exercise was really exhausting, and so we only performed it for a few short periods of time.
As a way of continuing the work on our centre of gravity, we worked as a whole group, we were instructed to stand in neutral positions within the space, every now and then someone would move through the space and upon seeing a free hanging arm, they would first yield themselves into the floor and use the force to lift the other person's arm slightly. This was continued and developed so that we were able to lift one another from our centres. This part of the exercise was finished by allowing everyone to move through the space at the same time, the same idea of yielding was used but this time in order to lift ourselves as we performed a (karate style move???) whereby we would go to strike one another, but stop before making contact. The person who had been struck would then have to crease at the hips as previously explored to lower themselves to the ground. I found these exercises hard to complete as it became a mad rush where everyone was striking one another at the same time, there were no real moments where nothing happened and people simply moved through the space. However, there were some great moments where I really felt that my centre was being lifted and supported from the initial yielding action.
In pairs, we developed the idea of the striking action and our centre of gravity even further, to begin with, we stood facing one another, one person would perform the striking action and place their hand on the others shoulder. We tried this with both arms several times. After, we started to work on our positioning, instead of placing our hand on the other's shoulder, we were told to wrap our arm over the shoulder so that our armpit was above their shoulder and the rest of our arm went down their back. So far me and my partner found the exercise quite simple to complete, we felt quite confident going into the next part. This involved both people yielding into the floor, one would 'strike' the other, as both went down towards the floor, the action involving the shoulder and the armpit was completed and then the partner who received the strike would push away from the floor with their legs to lift the other person slightly. This was continued for a long period of time so that we developed it to a stage where we could lift our partners off the floor quite high and then either push them in a certain direction away from us or spin slightly to move them around the space. This was a lot harder to complete, several attempts ended after we tried to hard to perfect the first part rather than allowing the action to happen. I feel that I was trying to focus to much on some of the actions because of my responsibility to my partner and so I kept making small mistakes such as forgetting to sue my breath which meant the action could not be completed. We did manage to perform it a few times but did not get the chance to explore some of the bigger endings to the process as other pairs did.
We ended the session by watching a video called "Ionization". This was a very unusual piece, and is definitely something I had never seen before. The performer and choreographer Bill. T. Jones was very powerful in this piece. His approach to the movement was not to perform big expressive dance moves, instead he worked with the music, which the piece was named after, in order to move. A lot of this dance was based on the individual muscles within the body, which were very clear to see, each was moved in accordance to the music. This was good for me to see as I realised a powerful performance doesn't always mean doing the biggest things that I am capable of, and it is more important to consider my surrounding factors within a performance.
After this we stood up, we were to imagine that different parts of our bodies (knees, hips, sits bones) had eyes! We were to allow these eyes to look at the space around us. This was really hard to comprehend and nobody wanted to commit to the exercise fully to begin with, once we began to become more comfortable the movements became a lot greater and more structured so that they had a purpose. I found it hard to imagine what space the different parts of my body were looking into, I think this is to do with spacial awareness, something which I have really been trying to work on.
The next part of the workshop was focused on the arms, the first time we had used these specifically within an exercise for today. We stretched our arms above our heads, and tried to release any tension from within our shoulders. I felt confident about doing this, my arms felt very relaxed, which surprised me as I have started noticing in my everyday life that I tend to sit with a slightly hunched posture and I have to really focus on lowering my shoulders. We explored which muscles were used in order to lift our arms, and looked at the role of the rib cage and muscles in this region to aid the motion of lifting the arms. I was surprised that so many muscles were part of that one basic movement.
We then returned to back (sort of). We worked in pairs, one partner was assigned the role of 'leader', they had to place one hand on the other's lower back (the centre of the body), and use this as a way of leading the other person through the space. Liz encouraged us to use a variety of directions and pace so that both partners had to remain focused and aware. It was hard to feel through this part of my body which way my partner was trying to go, I found myself trying to look at my partner more in order to anticipate their movements rather than relying on my awareness of them through my lower back.
The next emphasised the importance of work with and against our own centre of gravity. Whereas in the previous exercise we worked to move with our centre, this next one proved to be really testing. In different pairs, we were told that one person should stand behind the other and hold onto their pelvis. The person being held onto was then instructed to try and break away from the other person, using a variety of pace and direction once again. Our centre of gravity was being pulled away from us, and with the change in direction it was sometimes quite hard to remain quite grounded. To begin with, a lot of us lacked creativity when trying to break away, we simply ran through the space. Liz demonstrated how using different movements worked more effectively as a way of breaking away. Towards the end, it became a lot harder to hold onto my partner's pelvis, this exercise was really exhausting, and so we only performed it for a few short periods of time.
As a way of continuing the work on our centre of gravity, we worked as a whole group, we were instructed to stand in neutral positions within the space, every now and then someone would move through the space and upon seeing a free hanging arm, they would first yield themselves into the floor and use the force to lift the other person's arm slightly. This was continued and developed so that we were able to lift one another from our centres. This part of the exercise was finished by allowing everyone to move through the space at the same time, the same idea of yielding was used but this time in order to lift ourselves as we performed a (karate style move???) whereby we would go to strike one another, but stop before making contact. The person who had been struck would then have to crease at the hips as previously explored to lower themselves to the ground. I found these exercises hard to complete as it became a mad rush where everyone was striking one another at the same time, there were no real moments where nothing happened and people simply moved through the space. However, there were some great moments where I really felt that my centre was being lifted and supported from the initial yielding action.
In pairs, we developed the idea of the striking action and our centre of gravity even further, to begin with, we stood facing one another, one person would perform the striking action and place their hand on the others shoulder. We tried this with both arms several times. After, we started to work on our positioning, instead of placing our hand on the other's shoulder, we were told to wrap our arm over the shoulder so that our armpit was above their shoulder and the rest of our arm went down their back. So far me and my partner found the exercise quite simple to complete, we felt quite confident going into the next part. This involved both people yielding into the floor, one would 'strike' the other, as both went down towards the floor, the action involving the shoulder and the armpit was completed and then the partner who received the strike would push away from the floor with their legs to lift the other person slightly. This was continued for a long period of time so that we developed it to a stage where we could lift our partners off the floor quite high and then either push them in a certain direction away from us or spin slightly to move them around the space. This was a lot harder to complete, several attempts ended after we tried to hard to perfect the first part rather than allowing the action to happen. I feel that I was trying to focus to much on some of the actions because of my responsibility to my partner and so I kept making small mistakes such as forgetting to sue my breath which meant the action could not be completed. We did manage to perform it a few times but did not get the chance to explore some of the bigger endings to the process as other pairs did.
We ended the session by watching a video called "Ionization". This was a very unusual piece, and is definitely something I had never seen before. The performer and choreographer Bill. T. Jones was very powerful in this piece. His approach to the movement was not to perform big expressive dance moves, instead he worked with the music, which the piece was named after, in order to move. A lot of this dance was based on the individual muscles within the body, which were very clear to see, each was moved in accordance to the music. This was good for me to see as I realised a powerful performance doesn't always mean doing the biggest things that I am capable of, and it is more important to consider my surrounding factors within a performance.
Week 5 - Monday 18th February 2013
We began this week by warming up on the floor once again, I felt a lot more comfortable starting on the floor this week after seeing the results it can have over the previous few weeks. In groups of three, we worked on the idea of exploring the movements each joint can perform, one person was instructed to lie on the floor facing the ceiling, the other two then held alternating legs and arms and whilst giving support, moved them to warm up the joints. It was important for the person lying down to completely relax their body and try to allow the control to come from the other two people. I found it hard to relax both limbs simultaneously I went through stages where I would be able to relax one but not the other. Whilst warming other people's joints up, I felt confident that I was exploring a variety of motions in order to completely work that part of the body.
After this we worked as individuals, we remained on the floor, and started to work on the patterns of total body connectivity but looked at this from the point of view of evolution. We began by imagining ourselves as blobs, no main frame or structure, we simply wriggled through the space supporting ourselves with our breath. This developed slightly so that our head was used in order to lead our movement through the space and we felt more centred, which was followed by the introduction of the spine, we were now able to wriggle more efficiently through the space towards a particular direction. This then developed so that we had very small limbs, we were able to use our spine a lot to help with a swinging motion which moved from side to side, our arms and legs were used to pull ourselves along the floor. We then developed full limbs and began to move through the space by crawling, our legs and arms did most of the movement for us, our spine helped to keep ourselves centred, and again the breath was used to support all of the movement. I found this exercise very useful, it showed just how important each of the individual patterns are, and also reminded me that the breath is always the most basic and important pattern to use, even once the creature had evolved fully.
In small groups, we were handed a sheet of paper which had diagrams showing the skeletal structure of a group of monkeys (Gibbon, Chimpanzee, Gorilla and Orangutan) against that of a human.
We talked as a class about the different structures and any of the main features we could notice. One thing that we all agreed upon was the similarity of all of the skeletons shown, including the human. We could see elements of all the other skeletons within our own. We did note however that the skull of the human differed significantly. Whereas most of the other have a very large jaw, the human is considerably small. However, the size of the skull is a lot greater in order to contain the larger brain.
In our groups, we were asked to pick one of the skeletons from the sheet other than the human, we were given a few minutes in which we had to decide how an animal with this skeleton would move through the space. We then performed these to each other without revealing which had been chosen, and the other groups had to guess which one we were representing through our movements. Some of the demonstrations were very clear due to certain features, for example, my group chose the Gibbon, we performed this by really emphasising the fact that this animal stands quite upright as opposed to the others, and also by extending our arms above our heads to show how the animal has had to adapt its basic posture in order to facilitate such extended arms. A couple of the other monkeys were quite similar, the chimpanzee and the gorilla in particular, were hard to differentiate. Because we were using our own bodies to show these, it was hard to show how differently sized each of the monkeys was. What we did notice when watching each other perform was that despite each of the skeletons being quite similar, the movements because of the odd feature were so different to that of a human.
Leading on from this, we looked at the pelvis of the human as had previously been explored. We were asked to stand still and focus on the movement of the pelvis, we tilted the pelvis forward and backward and from side to side, whilst trying to keep the head and shoulders still in order to emphasise the pelvis' ability to move seperately. We also worked on the idea of the thigh bones which are connected to the pelvis, the greater and lesser trochanters. We moved through the space, trying to lead the movement with these parts of the body, we tried moving whilst relaxing different muscles within the legs to see what difference this made to our motion. I found it hard to relax certain parts of my legs whilst using others, and realised that it was a lot easier to move when using all of my muscles. This helped to show the importance of all the muscles within the legs.
Screening Number 2 (Thursday 21st February 2013)
This week we also had our second movement screening of the semester. The two videos were focused mainly on contact improvisation, and one of the pioneering practitioners, Nancy Stark Stark. The first film "Fall After Newton" explored the idea of gravity and its importance within contact improvisation. Throughout the video there were many clips of performances Nancy was involved in, her movements were very impressive and seemed effortless, she and her partner remained in definite contact at all times despite the big movements they were performing. It was good to see how by working with each other for so long they became so connected to one another that they were able to trust each other completely to explore their bodies so freely. It was also good to see that whenever she came into contact with the floor, she would use her breath to allow her body to relax into the floor, something which we have explored a lot in our workshops.
The second video focused more on the origins of contact improvisation with Steve Paxton, who, as part of a dance group, began to develop contact improv in the early 1970s. Although this video was interesting to see where the form of dance/movement had begun, I found a lot of the performances similar to that which we had already seen in the previous video. Especially as these two artists have collaborated quite a bit, especially within the earlier years.
After this we worked as individuals, we remained on the floor, and started to work on the patterns of total body connectivity but looked at this from the point of view of evolution. We began by imagining ourselves as blobs, no main frame or structure, we simply wriggled through the space supporting ourselves with our breath. This developed slightly so that our head was used in order to lead our movement through the space and we felt more centred, which was followed by the introduction of the spine, we were now able to wriggle more efficiently through the space towards a particular direction. This then developed so that we had very small limbs, we were able to use our spine a lot to help with a swinging motion which moved from side to side, our arms and legs were used to pull ourselves along the floor. We then developed full limbs and began to move through the space by crawling, our legs and arms did most of the movement for us, our spine helped to keep ourselves centred, and again the breath was used to support all of the movement. I found this exercise very useful, it showed just how important each of the individual patterns are, and also reminded me that the breath is always the most basic and important pattern to use, even once the creature had evolved fully.
In small groups, we were handed a sheet of paper which had diagrams showing the skeletal structure of a group of monkeys (Gibbon, Chimpanzee, Gorilla and Orangutan) against that of a human.
In our groups, we were asked to pick one of the skeletons from the sheet other than the human, we were given a few minutes in which we had to decide how an animal with this skeleton would move through the space. We then performed these to each other without revealing which had been chosen, and the other groups had to guess which one we were representing through our movements. Some of the demonstrations were very clear due to certain features, for example, my group chose the Gibbon, we performed this by really emphasising the fact that this animal stands quite upright as opposed to the others, and also by extending our arms above our heads to show how the animal has had to adapt its basic posture in order to facilitate such extended arms. A couple of the other monkeys were quite similar, the chimpanzee and the gorilla in particular, were hard to differentiate. Because we were using our own bodies to show these, it was hard to show how differently sized each of the monkeys was. What we did notice when watching each other perform was that despite each of the skeletons being quite similar, the movements because of the odd feature were so different to that of a human.
Leading on from this, we looked at the pelvis of the human as had previously been explored. We were asked to stand still and focus on the movement of the pelvis, we tilted the pelvis forward and backward and from side to side, whilst trying to keep the head and shoulders still in order to emphasise the pelvis' ability to move seperately. We also worked on the idea of the thigh bones which are connected to the pelvis, the greater and lesser trochanters. We moved through the space, trying to lead the movement with these parts of the body, we tried moving whilst relaxing different muscles within the legs to see what difference this made to our motion. I found it hard to relax certain parts of my legs whilst using others, and realised that it was a lot easier to move when using all of my muscles. This helped to show the importance of all the muscles within the legs.
Screening Number 2 (Thursday 21st February 2013)
This week we also had our second movement screening of the semester. The two videos were focused mainly on contact improvisation, and one of the pioneering practitioners, Nancy Stark Stark. The first film "Fall After Newton" explored the idea of gravity and its importance within contact improvisation. Throughout the video there were many clips of performances Nancy was involved in, her movements were very impressive and seemed effortless, she and her partner remained in definite contact at all times despite the big movements they were performing. It was good to see how by working with each other for so long they became so connected to one another that they were able to trust each other completely to explore their bodies so freely. It was also good to see that whenever she came into contact with the floor, she would use her breath to allow her body to relax into the floor, something which we have explored a lot in our workshops.
The second video focused more on the origins of contact improvisation with Steve Paxton, who, as part of a dance group, began to develop contact improv in the early 1970s. Although this video was interesting to see where the form of dance/movement had begun, I found a lot of the performances similar to that which we had already seen in the previous video. Especially as these two artists have collaborated quite a bit, especially within the earlier years.
Week 4 - Monday 11th February 2013
This week we worked mostly on the idea of our bodies moving in a circular motion, this included looking at all the joints in the body which are shaped like a ball and designed to move spherically. We began the session by lying on the floor, moving the legs to start off with, and towards the end of the warm up we had completed circles using our legs, feet, arms, wrists, head and shoulders. Some of my joints were stiffer than others and were not able to move as freely. We worked in pairs to warm up some of the joints, particularly the shoulders, we moved these in relation to our legs, as one leg bent and circled across the other, we were asked to extend our arm in the opposite direction, our partners guided our arms so that we were in a safe position and to have more of an awareness of what our bodies were doing. As well as this, we massaged each others shoulders and the flesh around the shoulder blade, trying to locate different features of the shoulder. This was good at releasing a lot of the tension that naturally builds up in this area.
We then worked as a class to look at a model of a human skeleton.
We looked at some of the major bones within the body which we use everyday, and those which are focused on within movement. We named the bones as a group and located these within our own bodies, becoming familiar with where they are located and their size in relation to other parts of the body.
I found the position of the spine especially confusing, it was hard for me to visualise my own spine being so centred within my body! No wonder so much importance is placed on finding your centre, that's where everything is.
We looked at the design within the ribs, and how a lot of it is connected by cartilage because of the importance of breathing and how much change this causes within our bodies. We focused on our breathing and how much the shape of our rib cage changes.
Another thing to note is the shape of the pelvis, it is almost like a bowl, this was interesting as we all stood up and worked with the pelvis which we had never done before. We imagined the bowl (pelvis) was full of water, it was fascinating to see how mobile the pelvis is, something which I once thought was very ... stuck?
I was even more surprised when we looked in detail at the foot. The lack of bones in such a delicate part of the body astounds me. Some people thought that the whole foot would be made from one big bone, I imagined it to be made up of dozens of little bones. The fact that each toe, even the little one, extends right into the centre of the foot was unbelievable. We massaged our feet a great deal, trying to work the space between the bones and to find the bones of the toes and create circles with these.
This was mildly related to the exercise done previously where we warmed up our feet and toes by jumping and stretching, I now understand just how much of my body was being warmed up even though I didn't know or realise it at the time. I wonder if my hand and fingers are the same inside as the feet? I can't imagine they are because they are even more mobile than the feet.
Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections states that "Your hand contains 27 bones with innumerable articular surfaces" (Page 157). I found this a few weeks after the workshop where we looked at the human body and found it interesting how different the hands and feet are, even though I imagined them to be the same at one point in my life.
Hancock Museum - 12th February 2013
As part of the idea looking at skeletons, we were asked to visit the Hancock Museum in Newcastle to look at different types of skeletons and how they differ or mirror those of a human. Whilst in the museum, I found the skeletons of a very large deer and a tyrannosaurus rex.
One of the most interesting things about the skeleton of the deer was the spine. It consists mainly of one curve just above the rib cage which allows the head to be held upright. As well as this, in comparison to the human spine, the greatest vertebrae are located at the bottom of the neck, this is in order to provide support for such a great weight from the antlers. Other notable features are the elongated toe bones which we possess, only those of the deer are bent at the bottom. The deer too has a bowl like pelvis only is it the opposite way to that of a human skeleton! Both of the skeletons include a shoulder blade which is very triangular and pointed.
Overall I found that the skeletons of all three were relatively similar, the major difference was the size of the bones, and considering how different all of the creatures are, that is very remarkable. This reassures me that our bones are designed in a way that is best for us and I should trust my bodies abilities a lot more in future.
We then worked as a class to look at a model of a human skeleton.
I found the position of the spine especially confusing, it was hard for me to visualise my own spine being so centred within my body! No wonder so much importance is placed on finding your centre, that's where everything is.
We looked at the design within the ribs, and how a lot of it is connected by cartilage because of the importance of breathing and how much change this causes within our bodies. We focused on our breathing and how much the shape of our rib cage changes.
Another thing to note is the shape of the pelvis, it is almost like a bowl, this was interesting as we all stood up and worked with the pelvis which we had never done before. We imagined the bowl (pelvis) was full of water, it was fascinating to see how mobile the pelvis is, something which I once thought was very ... stuck?
This was mildly related to the exercise done previously where we warmed up our feet and toes by jumping and stretching, I now understand just how much of my body was being warmed up even though I didn't know or realise it at the time. I wonder if my hand and fingers are the same inside as the feet? I can't imagine they are because they are even more mobile than the feet.
Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections states that "Your hand contains 27 bones with innumerable articular surfaces" (Page 157). I found this a few weeks after the workshop where we looked at the human body and found it interesting how different the hands and feet are, even though I imagined them to be the same at one point in my life.
Hancock Museum - 12th February 2013
As part of the idea looking at skeletons, we were asked to visit the Hancock Museum in Newcastle to look at different types of skeletons and how they differ or mirror those of a human. Whilst in the museum, I found the skeletons of a very large deer and a tyrannosaurus rex.
Deer
One of the most interesting things about the skeleton of the deer was the spine. It consists mainly of one curve just above the rib cage which allows the head to be held upright. As well as this, in comparison to the human spine, the greatest vertebrae are located at the bottom of the neck, this is in order to provide support for such a great weight from the antlers. Other notable features are the elongated toe bones which we possess, only those of the deer are bent at the bottom. The deer too has a bowl like pelvis only is it the opposite way to that of a human skeleton! Both of the skeletons include a shoulder blade which is very triangular and pointed.
T-Rex
The skeleton of the t-rex was incredible! Firstly, the sheer size of the bones, one vertebrae was almost the same size as my head, if not bigger. Similarities between the skeleton of the t-rex and a human were the number of curves in the spine, at different points the spine begins to curve inward and outward. Also, the biggest vertebrae were located in the centre, where most of the weight was. The hip bones of the t-rex were very unusual, from what I remember they weren't connected immediately through a pelvis, instead they would have been capable of moving independently from one another! Again, the t-rex had a triangular shaped shoulder blade which was pointed.
Overall I found that the skeletons of all three were relatively similar, the major difference was the size of the bones, and considering how different all of the creatures are, that is very remarkable. This reassures me that our bones are designed in a way that is best for us and I should trust my bodies abilities a lot more in future.
Week 3 - Monday 4th February 2013
Today, we started by warming up on the floor, something which I found quite odd. I didn't see how we could warm up all the parts of the body if most of the body was relaxed. We were asked to close our eyes whilst lying on our backs, then we were to bring our feet together, pull our knees up to our chest and then allow the knees to drop either side of our body before returning them to the original position. The best way to imagine it is like doing breast stroke ... on your back ... without the water. We then did this again but in the opposite way, bring the knees up to the body seperated, joining them at the top and allowing the feet to return to the starting position together. We completed this warm up by adding the arms, whenever the legs and feet were stretched out, we had to also stretch our arms, whenever the legs were bent and close to the body, so were the arms.
We stayed on the floor after this, we rolled over onto our bellies, initially we used very small movements. We began this exercise by pushing slightly with the hands and arms to lift the top half of our bodies. After a while, we made this motion bigger, after pushing with our arms, we had to roll back onto the balls of our feet. We rocked between these two positions, pushing and yielding with our arms and legs until we were able to stand up using the force from the original pushing action. We then performed a cycle whereby after standing we would go back down to the floor and then down onto our hands. I din't particularly struggle with these exercises but they weren't as easy to comprehend or put into practise as some of the others.
We then continued with this idea of yielding and pushing with different parts of the body, we were all asked to find a part of the wall and lie down with our feet against the wall with our knees at a 90 degree angle. The first part of this exercise was to transfer force from the feet into the wall, and then push with the feet and legs to rocket ourselves away from the wall. A lot of us felt quite silly shooting around the room, but I could understand that the principle of the action is the preparation before the actual movement takes place.
Again, we worked on the idea of yielding and pushing, this time in pairs, one person positioned themselves in a sort of squat, trying to keep their back as straight as possible and their head upright. The other person then placed one hand on the hand and tried to push the person squatting down towards the floor, the person squatting had to bend their knees to move up and down working with and against the force of the other person. We then worked in these pairs to lift one another either from the waist or from just below the bum cheeks, as the person yielded and then pushed, we would support our partners to lift them through the space. I was confident in my abilities as a partner, but my partner wasn't comfortable with the idea of where we were lifting from so we instead focused on the earlier exercise where the hands were placed on the head instead. This made me realise that I am willing to try any exercise which we are given, and that I am open to trying new techniques and ideas, but it is unfair to expect others to be as open to new suggestions as I am.
Upon finishing this task, we formed a circle as a whole group, we did something similar to the rocking of Qigong from the previous week, but both feet were placed in parallel to one another, we rocked forwards so that our chest would come closer to our knees and then placed our hands on the floor. Eventually we made the motion bigger and faster so that we were soon rocking from a standing position into a half handstand, we lifted one leg higher that the other and the lowest leg left the floor for only a small amount of time. To make sure we were tucking our heads right under to perform the exercise properly we were asked to look behind us as we reached the closest position to a handstand. Again part of the yielding and pushing process, I didn't really see the use of this exercise after some of the other work which we had been doing as for me it felt like a small step backwards. Perhaps it was used as part of a warm down but I'm not entirely sure.
As a definite warm down, we worked in pairs, one partner lay on the floor on their back, they had to try and completely relax their whole body. The other person would lift one of the legs using both hands, supporting the leg by the ankle and knee, the person lying down had to try and give the entire weight of their leg to their partner who was exploring the possible movements of the leg, starting off slowly to give the person on the floor a chance to become accustomed. It was really hard to entirely trust the partner with the weight of my leg, I felt comfortable with all of the movements my leg was doing but i definitely wanted to be in control. When lifting my partners leg I had to remember to keep my own back straight so that I was comfortable and under no strain. After the exercise, a lot of people agreed that one leg felt more relaxed than the other.
Screening Number 1 (Thursday 7th February 2013)
This week we also had our first movement screening. We watched a DVD called "Breath Made Visible", a documentary about the life of dancer Anna Halprin. A lot of her work is based on events within her life, such as the time her husband was in intensive care, when she discovered that she had cancer etc. I found her movement very free, it looked very natural and as though it was not too considered. I did feel that a lot of her work was very abstract, and although it worked on a personal level to help her through some troubling times, I did not feel it was suitable for an audience as it was quite hard to watch. It was good to see how deep of an understanding she had for her own body and the ways in which it could move, even at the age of 86!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBE2ljCUokE This video is a trailer of the movie, it includes quotes from Anna Halprin herself, one of my personal favorites is "I danced for the fun of it". It's great to see how much she enjoys dancing, but how she uses something that she enjoys for such serious issues later on in her life.
We stayed on the floor after this, we rolled over onto our bellies, initially we used very small movements. We began this exercise by pushing slightly with the hands and arms to lift the top half of our bodies. After a while, we made this motion bigger, after pushing with our arms, we had to roll back onto the balls of our feet. We rocked between these two positions, pushing and yielding with our arms and legs until we were able to stand up using the force from the original pushing action. We then performed a cycle whereby after standing we would go back down to the floor and then down onto our hands. I din't particularly struggle with these exercises but they weren't as easy to comprehend or put into practise as some of the others.
We then continued with this idea of yielding and pushing with different parts of the body, we were all asked to find a part of the wall and lie down with our feet against the wall with our knees at a 90 degree angle. The first part of this exercise was to transfer force from the feet into the wall, and then push with the feet and legs to rocket ourselves away from the wall. A lot of us felt quite silly shooting around the room, but I could understand that the principle of the action is the preparation before the actual movement takes place.
Again, we worked on the idea of yielding and pushing, this time in pairs, one person positioned themselves in a sort of squat, trying to keep their back as straight as possible and their head upright. The other person then placed one hand on the hand and tried to push the person squatting down towards the floor, the person squatting had to bend their knees to move up and down working with and against the force of the other person. We then worked in these pairs to lift one another either from the waist or from just below the bum cheeks, as the person yielded and then pushed, we would support our partners to lift them through the space. I was confident in my abilities as a partner, but my partner wasn't comfortable with the idea of where we were lifting from so we instead focused on the earlier exercise where the hands were placed on the head instead. This made me realise that I am willing to try any exercise which we are given, and that I am open to trying new techniques and ideas, but it is unfair to expect others to be as open to new suggestions as I am.
Upon finishing this task, we formed a circle as a whole group, we did something similar to the rocking of Qigong from the previous week, but both feet were placed in parallel to one another, we rocked forwards so that our chest would come closer to our knees and then placed our hands on the floor. Eventually we made the motion bigger and faster so that we were soon rocking from a standing position into a half handstand, we lifted one leg higher that the other and the lowest leg left the floor for only a small amount of time. To make sure we were tucking our heads right under to perform the exercise properly we were asked to look behind us as we reached the closest position to a handstand. Again part of the yielding and pushing process, I didn't really see the use of this exercise after some of the other work which we had been doing as for me it felt like a small step backwards. Perhaps it was used as part of a warm down but I'm not entirely sure.
As a definite warm down, we worked in pairs, one partner lay on the floor on their back, they had to try and completely relax their whole body. The other person would lift one of the legs using both hands, supporting the leg by the ankle and knee, the person lying down had to try and give the entire weight of their leg to their partner who was exploring the possible movements of the leg, starting off slowly to give the person on the floor a chance to become accustomed. It was really hard to entirely trust the partner with the weight of my leg, I felt comfortable with all of the movements my leg was doing but i definitely wanted to be in control. When lifting my partners leg I had to remember to keep my own back straight so that I was comfortable and under no strain. After the exercise, a lot of people agreed that one leg felt more relaxed than the other.
Screening Number 1 (Thursday 7th February 2013)
This week we also had our first movement screening. We watched a DVD called "Breath Made Visible", a documentary about the life of dancer Anna Halprin. A lot of her work is based on events within her life, such as the time her husband was in intensive care, when she discovered that she had cancer etc. I found her movement very free, it looked very natural and as though it was not too considered. I did feel that a lot of her work was very abstract, and although it worked on a personal level to help her through some troubling times, I did not feel it was suitable for an audience as it was quite hard to watch. It was good to see how deep of an understanding she had for her own body and the ways in which it could move, even at the age of 86!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBE2ljCUokE This video is a trailer of the movie, it includes quotes from Anna Halprin herself, one of my personal favorites is "I danced for the fun of it". It's great to see how much she enjoys dancing, but how she uses something that she enjoys for such serious issues later on in her life.
Week 2 - Monday 28th January 2013
This week we warmed up using some Qigong techniques, mainly focusing on the shifting of weight from one foot to the other in a rocking motion, we then added the arms to make the movement bigger and more energetic. I found that this technique of warming up was particularly effective in focusing the breath and using all parts of the body. I was even more intrigued when I found that Adele used Qigong warm ups before a major performance as a way of calming her nerves and breathing.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2284055/Oscars-2013-Adele-struggles-hold-tears-wins-Oscar-Skyfall-snaring-Golden-Globe-Grammy.html
The warm up then moved onto stretching different parts of the body, however, rather than completing stretches which we have done in the past, we used movement as a way to stretch parts of the body such as the toes and feet. We were asked to jump up and down but every time our feet lifted off the floor we had to try and spread our toes as far apart as possible. We then stepped this up slightly and began to move through the space using the same idea. We focused as well on the relaxation of the shoulders and working on transferring the energy between the two parts of the body which I had never considered as being connected before.
Once we had completed out warm ups, Liz asked us to hold our arms out in front of us in what I think is a basic ballet pose (slightly bent elbows, pointed fingers but not touching each other). We were then asked to imagine that the space between our chests and arms was full of some type of energy, a sort of big balloon i felt. We were asked to imagine that energy stretching and moving our arms out and then in again, we moved the energy up and down through the space until finally we were asked to bring the energy into our centres.
After this, Liz said that we were to move in whatever way we felt most comfortable, there rules for this improvisation were that we were only allowed to move if Liz was moving, and when she was still, we also had to remain still. I found this exercise quite good as I feel I have developed a better awareness of my surroundings and I am more aware of the actions being performed by those around me. I felt comfortable throughout this exercise until we were asked to get into pairs. Once in pairs, we performed the exercise once again, choosing one person to become the leader each time. Because the exercise was only being performed between the two of us, I felt that my movements were being watched more closely and even though we were told to move however we wanted, I thought that perhaps my movements should have been bigger or more choreographed. This was exaggerated even further when the rules of the exercise were changed so that in our pairs, when one was moving, the other stayed still. Because we had to constantly be aware of our partners movements I felt that the intensity was increased. I did however find the task of responding to my partner quite easy. I found from these exercises that sometimes we naturally fed off each other's energies and there were some great moments of echo or contrast.
This was followed by a game called "a little bit of me, a little bit of you" which Liz said was shown to her by Janis Claxton. It basically involves the forming of two circles, one inside the other, with equal numbers of people in both circles. The circle on the outside faces the one on the inside and vice versa. The people on the outside of the circle stand up and move in whatever way they feel for approximately 20 seconds, the person sitting on the inside observing the way they move. After the 20 seconds are up, the two people facing each other swap and the person who had been on the inside not moves for about 20 seconds, trying to include one element that they picked up from their partner. After this cycle, one of the circles moves to the left so that each person has a new partner, the cycle is then completed and followed by the circle moving one space again. This is completed until the circle has done one full rotation and each pair is reunited. This exercise was great, it was fun to see all of the different styles of movement from each person and what part of the body they choose to focus on the most. It was also good to see how challenging it was to copy something which someone else makes look so effortless and easy. By the end of the game, everyone was totally exhausted! It took a long time to complete and was full of constant action.
That wasn't the end of the session though! After we all had a chance to catch our breath and have a sip of water, we moved onto a less intense exercise. We moved in random groups of three from one end of the room to the other, again moving in anyway we wanted, however we were asked whether we wanted to make conscious decisions to move with or against the other performers in our groups. For me, I could see the importance of both within a performance and what possibilities performing in such a way can provide. The second time of completing the exercise, we were asked to mirror actions that other people in the group had completed. Finally, we were asked to think of things we had focused on the week before where the spine was the main idea behind the movement, there was a lot of variety in the groups despite the fact that all were using the head-tail connection. As a guide, Liz told us to either imagine our bodies as kites, the head floating first and the tail following, or to imagine ourselves as crocodiles, a very heavy tail that generates most of the power and causes motion all the way to the head. I found both techniques useful, depending which part of the body I was interested in leading with. Another option was to imagine that when our spines were open it was letting light out, and when closed, the light could not get out. This also helped to add some variety.
This was definitely the most demanding session so far. I felt really tired afterwards, but at the same time I went away from it with so many more ideas of how my body can move as a soloist or in relation to other performers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2284055/Oscars-2013-Adele-struggles-hold-tears-wins-Oscar-Skyfall-snaring-Golden-Globe-Grammy.html
The warm up then moved onto stretching different parts of the body, however, rather than completing stretches which we have done in the past, we used movement as a way to stretch parts of the body such as the toes and feet. We were asked to jump up and down but every time our feet lifted off the floor we had to try and spread our toes as far apart as possible. We then stepped this up slightly and began to move through the space using the same idea. We focused as well on the relaxation of the shoulders and working on transferring the energy between the two parts of the body which I had never considered as being connected before.
Once we had completed out warm ups, Liz asked us to hold our arms out in front of us in what I think is a basic ballet pose (slightly bent elbows, pointed fingers but not touching each other). We were then asked to imagine that the space between our chests and arms was full of some type of energy, a sort of big balloon i felt. We were asked to imagine that energy stretching and moving our arms out and then in again, we moved the energy up and down through the space until finally we were asked to bring the energy into our centres.
After this, Liz said that we were to move in whatever way we felt most comfortable, there rules for this improvisation were that we were only allowed to move if Liz was moving, and when she was still, we also had to remain still. I found this exercise quite good as I feel I have developed a better awareness of my surroundings and I am more aware of the actions being performed by those around me. I felt comfortable throughout this exercise until we were asked to get into pairs. Once in pairs, we performed the exercise once again, choosing one person to become the leader each time. Because the exercise was only being performed between the two of us, I felt that my movements were being watched more closely and even though we were told to move however we wanted, I thought that perhaps my movements should have been bigger or more choreographed. This was exaggerated even further when the rules of the exercise were changed so that in our pairs, when one was moving, the other stayed still. Because we had to constantly be aware of our partners movements I felt that the intensity was increased. I did however find the task of responding to my partner quite easy. I found from these exercises that sometimes we naturally fed off each other's energies and there were some great moments of echo or contrast.
This was followed by a game called "a little bit of me, a little bit of you" which Liz said was shown to her by Janis Claxton. It basically involves the forming of two circles, one inside the other, with equal numbers of people in both circles. The circle on the outside faces the one on the inside and vice versa. The people on the outside of the circle stand up and move in whatever way they feel for approximately 20 seconds, the person sitting on the inside observing the way they move. After the 20 seconds are up, the two people facing each other swap and the person who had been on the inside not moves for about 20 seconds, trying to include one element that they picked up from their partner. After this cycle, one of the circles moves to the left so that each person has a new partner, the cycle is then completed and followed by the circle moving one space again. This is completed until the circle has done one full rotation and each pair is reunited. This exercise was great, it was fun to see all of the different styles of movement from each person and what part of the body they choose to focus on the most. It was also good to see how challenging it was to copy something which someone else makes look so effortless and easy. By the end of the game, everyone was totally exhausted! It took a long time to complete and was full of constant action.
That wasn't the end of the session though! After we all had a chance to catch our breath and have a sip of water, we moved onto a less intense exercise. We moved in random groups of three from one end of the room to the other, again moving in anyway we wanted, however we were asked whether we wanted to make conscious decisions to move with or against the other performers in our groups. For me, I could see the importance of both within a performance and what possibilities performing in such a way can provide. The second time of completing the exercise, we were asked to mirror actions that other people in the group had completed. Finally, we were asked to think of things we had focused on the week before where the spine was the main idea behind the movement, there was a lot of variety in the groups despite the fact that all were using the head-tail connection. As a guide, Liz told us to either imagine our bodies as kites, the head floating first and the tail following, or to imagine ourselves as crocodiles, a very heavy tail that generates most of the power and causes motion all the way to the head. I found both techniques useful, depending which part of the body I was interested in leading with. Another option was to imagine that when our spines were open it was letting light out, and when closed, the light could not get out. This also helped to add some variety.
This was definitely the most demanding session so far. I felt really tired afterwards, but at the same time I went away from it with so many more ideas of how my body can move as a soloist or in relation to other performers.
Week 1 - Monday 21st January 2013
For the first session back after the Winter break, I was late and missed the entire warm up. Throughout the workshop I tried to warm up different parts of my body whilst awaiting instruction or if I had completed an exercise. However, by not doing it properly (and possibly because of the six week break) I found a lot of the movement very limited, unnatural and painful now and then.
The point at which I joined the session was when everyone was gathered around to look at a detailed diagram which showed the spine of a human is constructed and all of the different features. This helped me to understand more clearly why our bodies are able and more comfortable moving in certain ways, and why some movements are beyond our abilities. We explored the movement within our own spines in pairs, one person would choose to lead the other either by placing their hand on the head or tail bone and encouraging the other to move using that part of their body. I found it difficult to allow part of my spine to lead my movements initially, partly because of the missed warm up, and partly because I am so used to using other parts of my body leading my movements (Chest). After watching my partner move according to my hand positions, I found it slightly easier to perform this task.
After this we worked individually to explore our own spines, we used the spine in order to move in different directions through the space. We made our movements bigger as we moved more and more, and also tried to vary moments where we led with either the head or the tail. I discovered during this that I am more comfortable leading with my head, and so need to work on my tail leading some more of the movements. We then moved from one end of the room to the other, using our spines upon entering the space as the main basis of the movement. As a few people entered the space, we naturally began to react to one another's presence within the space, we created dialogue between us using only our bodies. This was a really interesting exercise, the amount of movements my spine can perform surprised me, I always imagined it to be something that didn't really move and was used for support only. This was supported by the diagram showing all of the individual vertebrae within my spine.
During the week following this session I have noticed some pain in my back, I am unsure whether it's because I missed the warm up, or because of how much of the workshop was spent focusing on the spine, or because it had been so long since I had taken part in one of the workshops. Whatever the case, I hope my body is able to cope a bit better with whatever comes up next week.
The point at which I joined the session was when everyone was gathered around to look at a detailed diagram which showed the spine of a human is constructed and all of the different features. This helped me to understand more clearly why our bodies are able and more comfortable moving in certain ways, and why some movements are beyond our abilities. We explored the movement within our own spines in pairs, one person would choose to lead the other either by placing their hand on the head or tail bone and encouraging the other to move using that part of their body. I found it difficult to allow part of my spine to lead my movements initially, partly because of the missed warm up, and partly because I am so used to using other parts of my body leading my movements (Chest). After watching my partner move according to my hand positions, I found it slightly easier to perform this task.
After this we worked individually to explore our own spines, we used the spine in order to move in different directions through the space. We made our movements bigger as we moved more and more, and also tried to vary moments where we led with either the head or the tail. I discovered during this that I am more comfortable leading with my head, and so need to work on my tail leading some more of the movements. We then moved from one end of the room to the other, using our spines upon entering the space as the main basis of the movement. As a few people entered the space, we naturally began to react to one another's presence within the space, we created dialogue between us using only our bodies. This was a really interesting exercise, the amount of movements my spine can perform surprised me, I always imagined it to be something that didn't really move and was used for support only. This was supported by the diagram showing all of the individual vertebrae within my spine.
During the week following this session I have noticed some pain in my back, I am unsure whether it's because I missed the warm up, or because of how much of the workshop was spent focusing on the spine, or because it had been so long since I had taken part in one of the workshops. Whatever the case, I hope my body is able to cope a bit better with whatever comes up next week.
Interesting Things That I Have Read
During the Winter break, as well as performing the stretches learned in semester one, I also decided to read through some of the optional reading materials listed in the module guide in addition to the compulsory reading. The three books that I have read are;
Making Connections - Peggy Hackney (Compulsory)
The Invisible Actor - Yoshi Oida (Optional)
Through the Body - Dymphna Callery (Optional)
I have read interesting things from each of these books, each providing a different perspective on movement and the body.
Making Connections ...
"Sometimes people need to know the anatomy before they feel free to release into open-ended movement exploration." (Page 55) I really feel like this quote applies to me directly as a student, sometimes I find it hard to imagine my own body doing different things, simply because I do not fully understand my whole body, and therefore do not know my own limits and capabilities at times.
"People whose preferred pattern of Total Body Organization is Head-Tail Connectivity frequently, but not always, enjoy approaching situations in the world in a wonderfully imaginative way, using their fluid internal sequencing to improvise the situation. They often do not like to be told how to do something, but prefer to explore and follow their own creative impulses." (Page 108) This is definitely me! Head-Tail is the pattern of connection which I prefer to explore, and is often the one I instinctively turn to during an improvised scene. Although I can take direction and instruction from other people, I only really appreciate it if I feel it makes an improvement to what I am doing. I'm also not afraid to expand on those given instructions if I feel there is something which I can improve. In groups I like to be in control, but I always listen to people's ideas and thoughts.
The Invisible Actor ...
"One Japanese tradition recommends that parents should inspect the shoes of their prospective son-in-law, before giving permission for their daughter to marry. If the back of the heel is worn down, it is a very bad sign, meaning that he is lazy. ... If the would-be bridegroom has shoes that are worn down at the front, it is a good sign. He may be hasty, but the body is healthy and energetic." (Page 26 - 27) I checked my own shoes to see whereabouts most of my weight is carried within the feet, I noticed that they were worn mainly towards the rear of the shoe, this indicates that I am a lazy person. I would agree with the statement, although I am sometimes energetic and lively, I prefer to spend most of my time relaxing. I thought this was a very strange test, especially in the case of deciding whether a marriage is allowed or not, but it is interesting to see that different types of energies can have very different consequences on the posture of a person.
"The empty space of theatre exists inside the actor, as well as on the stage itself." (Page 65) For me, this suggests that as an actor, I must always be connected to the space around me and therefore be aware of the surroundings and any changes that occur. Another point is that the space on stage is part of the performance it can be used to represent so much, despite seeming so insignificant at first.
Through the Body ...
"Looking at an actor wearing the neutral mask, you look at the whole body. In effect the body becomes the face, and every movement is revealed as powerfully expressive." (Page 35) This sums of the movement module perfectly, using the body as a means of conveying an expressive state, even dialogue in some instances. It highlights the importance of an actor's body and how powerfully it can be used within performance.
6 Weeks Personal Learning
During the six week Winter break, I decided that each day I would continue to complete the six makko-ho stretched taught to us in class. I thought this would be a good way of increasing my flexibility, something which I considered as one of my strengths. By doing so, I also feel confident that I can remember the stretched in the correct order and also know the names of them. I am still not completely sure that I know which exact muscles they are stretching, but it is definitely something that I will be looking into in the future.
Metal.
On the second picture I was using the un-natural thumb as the leader, I need to tuck my head under a lot more!
Earth.
I was happy with the amount of elevation I achieved in this stretch, however, I noticed that my hand need to more parallel to each other to avoid injury and make the stretch more effective.
Fire (First).
I was overall happy with this stretch, in future I could try having my arms outside of my legs as this could have prohibiting the stretch slightly.
Water (Parts one and two).
I was happy overall with this stretch for my abilities at the moment. In the future I hope to be able to drop my head further towards my legs in the second part of the stretch.
Fire (Second).
Again, I was generally pleased with this stretch, I was particularly impressed by the curve I achieved with my spine.
Wood.
I was really trying to concentrate on having my arm above my ear whilst stretching. I am confident that I will be able to develop this stretch even further.
On the second picture I was using the un-natural thumb as the leader, I need to tuck my head under a lot more!
Earth.
I was happy with the amount of elevation I achieved in this stretch, however, I noticed that my hand need to more parallel to each other to avoid injury and make the stretch more effective.
Fire (First).
I was overall happy with this stretch, in future I could try having my arms outside of my legs as this could have prohibiting the stretch slightly.
I was happy overall with this stretch for my abilities at the moment. In the future I hope to be able to drop my head further towards my legs in the second part of the stretch.
Again, I was generally pleased with this stretch, I was particularly impressed by the curve I achieved with my spine.
I was really trying to concentrate on having my arm above my ear whilst stretching. I am confident that I will be able to develop this stretch even further.
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