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.
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.
Assessment (Formative) - Monday 3rd December 2012
This week was very strange, it was my first assessed performance at university and I was really feeling nervous. I found it really hard to focus on my exercises and was always anticipating what would be happening next. From the very beginning, where we warmed up, this time all of the classes were brought together as one large group, I think this added to my already nervous state. I am usually alright when I perform, I think the fact that it was labelled as an assessment had an impact on me. During the warm up, because of the amount of people in the room and the fact that I could hardly even see what was happening towards the front, I struggled to warm up as I had previously done. This was a good experience, and I know now what to expect going into an assessment.
After completing our stretches, we then went straight into our performances, each group completed their improvised scenes which lasted for approximately three minutes. I felt like my group had a great deal of variety between us, but we also had moments where our movements echoed one another. Each of us brought a unique style to the group, and it was a good opportunity to take elements of movement from other people and convey those in my own way. It was also good to watch how other groups decided to perform their improvisations, the different scores that each group had created and the amount of different styles chosen from the same set of instructions.
Following on from this part of the assessment, Liz allowed us the opportunity to enter the space in the middle of the room whenever we felt like it. I enjoyed this part of the assessment, it was good to see how different people reacted to working in a group with people they may never have seen before that day. Again, the performance was completely improvised, I had a moment where I worked with someone I had never seen before but it worked very well and both of us worked with each other to share our weight. It was hard to know when to enter the space as the performance seemed to have only two stages, everyone entered at once, or everyone left at once. This is something that I will have to consider in future performances as I do not want to become too orchestrated or predictable.
Throughout the whole assessment, I tried to remember and apply the patterns of total body connectivity, especially the breath, as this is something we have worked on so regularly I knew it would be an important element. I really made an effort to include aspects from each pattern at different points to show my versatility and also the knowledge which I have gained throughout this first semester.
Over the next few weeks away from university I hope to continue practising some of the exercises from the movement module ready for when we return in January. I am also hoping to get a bit more reading done from the reading materials, exploring not only the essential reading but also some of the extras in order to broaden my new-found knowledge within movement.
After completing our stretches, we then went straight into our performances, each group completed their improvised scenes which lasted for approximately three minutes. I felt like my group had a great deal of variety between us, but we also had moments where our movements echoed one another. Each of us brought a unique style to the group, and it was a good opportunity to take elements of movement from other people and convey those in my own way. It was also good to watch how other groups decided to perform their improvisations, the different scores that each group had created and the amount of different styles chosen from the same set of instructions.
Following on from this part of the assessment, Liz allowed us the opportunity to enter the space in the middle of the room whenever we felt like it. I enjoyed this part of the assessment, it was good to see how different people reacted to working in a group with people they may never have seen before that day. Again, the performance was completely improvised, I had a moment where I worked with someone I had never seen before but it worked very well and both of us worked with each other to share our weight. It was hard to know when to enter the space as the performance seemed to have only two stages, everyone entered at once, or everyone left at once. This is something that I will have to consider in future performances as I do not want to become too orchestrated or predictable.
Throughout the whole assessment, I tried to remember and apply the patterns of total body connectivity, especially the breath, as this is something we have worked on so regularly I knew it would be an important element. I really made an effort to include aspects from each pattern at different points to show my versatility and also the knowledge which I have gained throughout this first semester.
Over the next few weeks away from university I hope to continue practising some of the exercises from the movement module ready for when we return in January. I am also hoping to get a bit more reading done from the reading materials, exploring not only the essential reading but also some of the extras in order to broaden my new-found knowledge within movement.
Week 10 - Monday 26th November 2012
This week we did not have an organised workshop. Instead, as a group performing the improvisation, we met in our own time with some music/sound which had been created by Esther which included busy traffic, people walking and talking, and some wildlife such as birds and wind.
The more relevant sounds made our movement even more natural and appropriate than the sound used in the previous week. It had a real impact on how each of us performed, I was surprised how much of a difference this could make to me personally.
The more relevant sounds made our movement even more natural and appropriate than the sound used in the previous week. It had a real impact on how each of us performed, I was surprised how much of a difference this could make to me personally.
Week 9 - Monday 19th November 2012
We began by completing the Makko-Ho stretches and patterns of total body connectivity.
This was swiflty followed by getting into pairs and keeping in contact with one another, we were asked to find different ways to move from a standing position to a sitting one, and then to complete the opposite. I found this exercise particularly difficult as I struggled to think of unique and different ways to complete the exercise, myself and my partner did however try to complete the most basic idea of connecting our backs to the best of our ability.
We then stayed with these partners and focused on the idea of keeping contact between two performers at all times, however this time we had one of the people remaining still whilst the other allowed most of their weight to be supported. We started the exercise by maintaining a longer pause between positions, and then developed this idea further which led to the pause between positions being very brief and almost a constant motion between the two performers. I found this part of the session a lot easier as my confidence grew in my abilities and I was comfortable to try new ideas.
In these same pairs, we then completed an exercise which involved each pair starting together at one side of the studio, we were instructed to remain in contact at all times once again, and that we were to move from that side of the studio to the other. Because of the exercise which preceded this one, I found it quite easy to do this, my confidence had built enourmously within myself and with my partner and I found it interesting to see how two performers can move through the space as one.
Finally, we performed our improvised scenes to the rest of the group and they wrote feedback with relation to what is being looked for within the assessment criteria. We were asked to try it again with some music which included some street noises such as cars and wind. The addition of music made a lot of the movements feel more natural and appropriate and because of the variety of volume and tempo, I could feel an instant impact on the decisions I made in relation to how I moved through the space.
This was swiflty followed by getting into pairs and keeping in contact with one another, we were asked to find different ways to move from a standing position to a sitting one, and then to complete the opposite. I found this exercise particularly difficult as I struggled to think of unique and different ways to complete the exercise, myself and my partner did however try to complete the most basic idea of connecting our backs to the best of our ability.
We then stayed with these partners and focused on the idea of keeping contact between two performers at all times, however this time we had one of the people remaining still whilst the other allowed most of their weight to be supported. We started the exercise by maintaining a longer pause between positions, and then developed this idea further which led to the pause between positions being very brief and almost a constant motion between the two performers. I found this part of the session a lot easier as my confidence grew in my abilities and I was comfortable to try new ideas.
In these same pairs, we then completed an exercise which involved each pair starting together at one side of the studio, we were instructed to remain in contact at all times once again, and that we were to move from that side of the studio to the other. Because of the exercise which preceded this one, I found it quite easy to do this, my confidence had built enourmously within myself and with my partner and I found it interesting to see how two performers can move through the space as one.
Finally, we performed our improvised scenes to the rest of the group and they wrote feedback with relation to what is being looked for within the assessment criteria. We were asked to try it again with some music which included some street noises such as cars and wind. The addition of music made a lot of the movements feel more natural and appropriate and because of the variety of volume and tempo, I could feel an instant impact on the decisions I made in relation to how I moved through the space.
Week 8 - Monday 12th November 2012
This week we began by quickly running through the patterns of total body connectivity. This was then followed by completing each of the Makko-Ho stretches, however this week we tried to focus on which areas of the body were being stretched most in the different positions. In order to do this, we sometimes had to complete the stretch multiple times and held these for significanlty longer (which had a greater strain on my body, particularly my legs).
We then worked as a whole class to go through an imporovisation, the score for the first one included moving through the space and then performing any of the Makko-Ho stretches for as long or short a time as we felt like and then moving through the space again for two minutes. After working as a whole group, we were split in half and watched each group's improvisation and noticed several important features such as how each performer seemed influence by the rest of the groups level (for example, as soon as one person completed a stretch on the floor, a lot of the others then moved down to the floor). The performers also moved between stretches at a similar time with a very similar pace. It was very hard to pick out specific individuals from the group.
The second score involved having fifty percent of the performers being in a still position, and the other fifty percent had to find ways of moving through the space, when they came in to contact with a still person they had to explore ways which they could be connected until one person broke off and then the person who was originally still would move and vice versa. This improvisation worked much more effectively as we had specifically looked at these ideas of connections immediately before the performance.
The final score was mainly about the patterns of total body connectivity, each person had to move through the space with a speicifc pattern in mind, we were then to find a motion we liked from someone else, copy it and then make it our own. Sometimes we would take a movement which involved one pattern and then change it so that we were using a totally different pattern of connectivity. I thought this was the best improvisation as there was a lot more freedom in the movements and therefore there was less to think about and the performance became very natural.
After all of these improvisations, we watched part of a documentary called "Force of Nature" which looks at improviser Kirstie Simpson. It was interesting to see how connected the performers were to each other throughout the performance we watched in the video, and also how effective it was to have one performer move away and single themselves out from the group. We therefore, as a group, decided that for our assessment it would be a positive thing to try and include a lot more connection between us and so tried this throughout the week.
We then worked as a whole class to go through an imporovisation, the score for the first one included moving through the space and then performing any of the Makko-Ho stretches for as long or short a time as we felt like and then moving through the space again for two minutes. After working as a whole group, we were split in half and watched each group's improvisation and noticed several important features such as how each performer seemed influence by the rest of the groups level (for example, as soon as one person completed a stretch on the floor, a lot of the others then moved down to the floor). The performers also moved between stretches at a similar time with a very similar pace. It was very hard to pick out specific individuals from the group.
The second score involved having fifty percent of the performers being in a still position, and the other fifty percent had to find ways of moving through the space, when they came in to contact with a still person they had to explore ways which they could be connected until one person broke off and then the person who was originally still would move and vice versa. This improvisation worked much more effectively as we had specifically looked at these ideas of connections immediately before the performance.
The final score was mainly about the patterns of total body connectivity, each person had to move through the space with a speicifc pattern in mind, we were then to find a motion we liked from someone else, copy it and then make it our own. Sometimes we would take a movement which involved one pattern and then change it so that we were using a totally different pattern of connectivity. I thought this was the best improvisation as there was a lot more freedom in the movements and therefore there was less to think about and the performance became very natural.
After all of these improvisations, we watched part of a documentary called "Force of Nature" which looks at improviser Kirstie Simpson. It was interesting to see how connected the performers were to each other throughout the performance we watched in the video, and also how effective it was to have one performer move away and single themselves out from the group. We therefore, as a group, decided that for our assessment it would be a positive thing to try and include a lot more connection between us and so tried this throughout the week.
Week 7 - Monday 5th November 2012
From the moment we started this week, I found it difficult to focus on the tasks we were set. We completed the Makko-Ho stretches and patterns of total body connectivity as usual but I even struggled to focus on these. We performed the stretches in pairs so that we could help one another to stretch slightly further than we thought possible.
We stayed within these pairs and started an exercise which involved connecting to one another via the wrist, we then allowed the movements to become natural between us and found that our arms could move in a lot of ways whilst staying connected to one another. This was important as it started to look at the rolling point of contact. As we began to progress through this, we included the legs to aid the activity, we were not allowed to move our legs and we were instructed to knock the other person off balance only by moving our connected wrists. I found this difficult as I kept wanting to move my legs. We were then allowed to move our legs so that as a pair we could manouvre around the room whilst connected and moving our arms. This was good as it allowed us to explore the differen amounts of force that can be used by one another and how this can change the mood of a character instantly.
Once this had been explored thoroughly, we looked at ways of keeping the body connected but moving between different parts of the body such as using the back and head, and swapping to the other wrist. Again, we did not plan how we were going to move and allowed this to be a natural exploration between us to see which movements felt most comfortable. I found that connecting via the head was the easiest to complete as it was almost impossible to see the other person and therefore I could not predict where he was going to move and so had to rely on my reactions to move with him.
In our assessment groups, we were asked to perform what had been practised during the week with our 'score'. Whilst performing this to an audience we decided that moving around whilst not in the space felt awkward and wasn't necessary for the performance. We also found that we had a very set pace in which there was very little contrast between our movements. Another group was asked to perform again, however, two of the performers were given secret instructions, they performed the scene again and it was interesting to see how different it felt, there was a much more clear storyline and the actors who did not know the instructions reacted very well to those who did.
We were asked in our groups to go back over our improvisations and add in small sound effects that can be completed by us, as well as make any other changes we felt necessary, and to video a new performance, preferrably in the space where one of us had originally observed their surroundings.
We decided to video our performance in a park as this is where Esther (a member of the group) had originally been to observe the space. A lot of our key words such as 'wild', 'adventure' and 'leaves rustling' were easier to perform in this space.
We decided to take out the idea of moving whilst not in the space and added a set beat using our bodies which was always performed by those who weren't in the space. We also tried to focus more on the idea of inculding the patterns of total body connectivity.
We stayed within these pairs and started an exercise which involved connecting to one another via the wrist, we then allowed the movements to become natural between us and found that our arms could move in a lot of ways whilst staying connected to one another. This was important as it started to look at the rolling point of contact. As we began to progress through this, we included the legs to aid the activity, we were not allowed to move our legs and we were instructed to knock the other person off balance only by moving our connected wrists. I found this difficult as I kept wanting to move my legs. We were then allowed to move our legs so that as a pair we could manouvre around the room whilst connected and moving our arms. This was good as it allowed us to explore the differen amounts of force that can be used by one another and how this can change the mood of a character instantly.
Once this had been explored thoroughly, we looked at ways of keeping the body connected but moving between different parts of the body such as using the back and head, and swapping to the other wrist. Again, we did not plan how we were going to move and allowed this to be a natural exploration between us to see which movements felt most comfortable. I found that connecting via the head was the easiest to complete as it was almost impossible to see the other person and therefore I could not predict where he was going to move and so had to rely on my reactions to move with him.
In our assessment groups, we were asked to perform what had been practised during the week with our 'score'. Whilst performing this to an audience we decided that moving around whilst not in the space felt awkward and wasn't necessary for the performance. We also found that we had a very set pace in which there was very little contrast between our movements. Another group was asked to perform again, however, two of the performers were given secret instructions, they performed the scene again and it was interesting to see how different it felt, there was a much more clear storyline and the actors who did not know the instructions reacted very well to those who did.
We were asked in our groups to go back over our improvisations and add in small sound effects that can be completed by us, as well as make any other changes we felt necessary, and to video a new performance, preferrably in the space where one of us had originally observed their surroundings.
We decided to take out the idea of moving whilst not in the space and added a set beat using our bodies which was always performed by those who weren't in the space. We also tried to focus more on the idea of inculding the patterns of total body connectivity.
Week 6 - Monday 29th October 2012
Before starting today, we each had to take an exercise ball each and find a space within the room. We then went through the patterns of total body connectivity, however each of these exercises had to encorporate the ball. To begin with I found that it was hard to remain connected to the ball at all times and that my balance was often not very stable. However, towards the end of the warm up I felt very confident in myself and some of the harder motions felt relatively easy to me to complete.
We kept the exercise balls with us and in small groups of three of four we created a chain, in between each person was a ball. The people at the front and back had to lean into the chain as appropriate. As a group, we were then instructed to walk around the studio without touching the balls with our hands or dropping them. Slowly we were merged into bigger groups so that by the end the entire class was connected to one another with balls in between each person. This was an important exercise for me because it really made me focus on other people in the group and how we could all work together, whether this meant adapting things that I was doing or allowing others to copy off my movements.
We then put the exercise balls to one side and were asked to find a space within the room where we could work as an individual. Liz then gave us various words such as 'fling', 'rock' and 'whip' for example, and asked us to find ways of acting out these words through our bodies, we performed each word several times to experiment the different ways of interpreting these words at different levels. I found it quite hard to think of a second example on some occasions for the words, but found that some words had endless possibilities attached to them.
We were then asked to merge into groups of three people and select four words from the previous exercise which could be explored further as a group. We chose 'dangle', 'fling', 'press' and 'plummet'. As a group we found ways of performing these actions together and how we could bring individual actions together as a group. Once we had found set actions, we exlpored how to make these bigger, either by adding movements or having varying pace between them and finding ways to make them link between one another. We were then given a set space to perform in and told that any group could enter and perform their sequence at any time but that we were to be mindful of other sequences around us which could influence our pace or movements. I found it very hard to focus on what other groups were doing as I was concentrating on my own actions and being united within my own group.
After this exercise, we were again given a space in which to perform, but this time we were told that only one person from each group could enter the space at any time, this meant that our actions were greatly influenced by the other performers around us as we had to find ways of making our groups actions work as a single person, or by joining someone else.
Finally, we were asked to get into groups of approximately four people and we were told this group would be the one used in our formative assessment at the end of the semester. In this group, we looked at what we had written down from the exercise in the previous week where we remembered our own space. We each selected some key words and combined these together to create a list of emotions and actions.
We were asked to meet up during the week within our groups and create a score for an improvisation which will be performed in the class. We selected rules such as;
*one person in the performance space at all times.
*one person off the performance space at all times.
*to move around whilst out of the space in an emotional state (nervous, excited).
*to have a variety of levels in the space.
We kept the exercise balls with us and in small groups of three of four we created a chain, in between each person was a ball. The people at the front and back had to lean into the chain as appropriate. As a group, we were then instructed to walk around the studio without touching the balls with our hands or dropping them. Slowly we were merged into bigger groups so that by the end the entire class was connected to one another with balls in between each person. This was an important exercise for me because it really made me focus on other people in the group and how we could all work together, whether this meant adapting things that I was doing or allowing others to copy off my movements.
We then put the exercise balls to one side and were asked to find a space within the room where we could work as an individual. Liz then gave us various words such as 'fling', 'rock' and 'whip' for example, and asked us to find ways of acting out these words through our bodies, we performed each word several times to experiment the different ways of interpreting these words at different levels. I found it quite hard to think of a second example on some occasions for the words, but found that some words had endless possibilities attached to them.
We were then asked to merge into groups of three people and select four words from the previous exercise which could be explored further as a group. We chose 'dangle', 'fling', 'press' and 'plummet'. As a group we found ways of performing these actions together and how we could bring individual actions together as a group. Once we had found set actions, we exlpored how to make these bigger, either by adding movements or having varying pace between them and finding ways to make them link between one another. We were then given a set space to perform in and told that any group could enter and perform their sequence at any time but that we were to be mindful of other sequences around us which could influence our pace or movements. I found it very hard to focus on what other groups were doing as I was concentrating on my own actions and being united within my own group.
After this exercise, we were again given a space in which to perform, but this time we were told that only one person from each group could enter the space at any time, this meant that our actions were greatly influenced by the other performers around us as we had to find ways of making our groups actions work as a single person, or by joining someone else.
Finally, we were asked to get into groups of approximately four people and we were told this group would be the one used in our formative assessment at the end of the semester. In this group, we looked at what we had written down from the exercise in the previous week where we remembered our own space. We each selected some key words and combined these together to create a list of emotions and actions.
We were asked to meet up during the week within our groups and create a score for an improvisation which will be performed in the class. We selected rules such as;
*one person in the performance space at all times.
*one person off the performance space at all times.
*to move around whilst out of the space in an emotional state (nervous, excited).
*to have a variety of levels in the space.
Week 5 - Monday 22nd October 2012
This week we began warming up by walking around the studio, different situations were called out and we were to react to these by changing the way in which we walked, the situations were all related to weather (Windy, Raining, Hot, Snowing). We focused on how different parts of the body would move, particularly the feet and knees, as well as the hands and arms. After this, we continued with the patterns of total body connectivity, but this week we did these whilst lying on the floor, which made it possible to focus on the body a lot more, especially the head and tail bone (which are often restricted whilst standing). By working from the floor, it also placed a greater emphasis on the moment when our bodies were stretched out to the maximum as more of the body lost contact with the floor. In pairs, we then worked on the Makko-Ho stretches, in pairs we were able to perform the stretch and then push each other to stretch slightly further, which was good as I often thought I had reached my limit but was able to go a bit further, which is important whilst stretching.
We then stayed in our pairs, and one of the two got into a basic table position, the other person then sat on the 'table' so that they were able to lift all parts of their body off the gorund and be completely supported by the other. This was worked upon in stages so that eventually the two people were in the table position side by side, one would then lift slightly higher and transfer their weight onto the others back so that both backs were connected as much as possible. After this, we then began to experiment with a variety of positions all based around the table, as well as incorporating the idea of dismounting the table safely and smoothly, which was followed directly by the swapping of roles to form a continuous cycle. I thought this was a very physical part of the course and, when it worked, it really felt like something which could be used in a performance to show a relationship between two people. However, when it didn't work, it looked very messy and would therefore require a lot of practise before being used in front of an audience.
Finally, I was asked to lay down on the floor with my eyes closed, and then to imagine the place where I had stayed for fifteen minutes (the bus station) from the previous week. Questions were then asked about the place I had been in;
What weather do you associate this place with? - A very light drizzle.
What food do you think this place would be? - Cold pasta.
Which animal best describes the place you were? - A koala bear.
What colour do you imagine this place would be? - Grey.
As well as this, we were asked to remember as much as we could about the place, what we felt, what we saw and what we could hear, and then to write this down quickly within two or three minutes.
We then stayed in our pairs, and one of the two got into a basic table position, the other person then sat on the 'table' so that they were able to lift all parts of their body off the gorund and be completely supported by the other. This was worked upon in stages so that eventually the two people were in the table position side by side, one would then lift slightly higher and transfer their weight onto the others back so that both backs were connected as much as possible. After this, we then began to experiment with a variety of positions all based around the table, as well as incorporating the idea of dismounting the table safely and smoothly, which was followed directly by the swapping of roles to form a continuous cycle. I thought this was a very physical part of the course and, when it worked, it really felt like something which could be used in a performance to show a relationship between two people. However, when it didn't work, it looked very messy and would therefore require a lot of practise before being used in front of an audience.
Finally, I was asked to lay down on the floor with my eyes closed, and then to imagine the place where I had stayed for fifteen minutes (the bus station) from the previous week. Questions were then asked about the place I had been in;
What weather do you associate this place with? - A very light drizzle.
What food do you think this place would be? - Cold pasta.
Which animal best describes the place you were? - A koala bear.
What colour do you imagine this place would be? - Grey.
As well as this, we were asked to remember as much as we could about the place, what we felt, what we saw and what we could hear, and then to write this down quickly within two or three minutes.
Observing My Surroundings
As my bus was running late, I decided to complete my task for the week just after the lecture in the bus station. Monday 15th October 2012 (11:15 - 11:35).
Week 4 - Monday 15th October 2012
This week, we were asked to divide into smaller groups and go through the patterns of total body connectivity ourselves, we really struggled to remember which of the movements were associated with different parts of the body and even missed some of the warm ups completely such as 'horse lips'. We then came together as a complete group and worked through them fully. This was followed by the six Makko-Ho stretches.
We were then asked to get into pairs. This exercise started by sitting on the floor with our boacks to one another, but connected. Slowly, we started to move in different directions so that we could become connected to one another through the body, this was shown by our ability to perform bigger movements but still being able to stay fully connected with one another. After this, we worked on this idea further by body surfing, sitting back to back and having one of the pair falling away towards the floor, the other person had to remain connected via the back and would end up on top of the other, the person who had went underneath would then roll as the other remained relaxed through the entire body and would be rolled along the floor. To begin with, the movement was very difficult to complete, it often felt very choreographed and thought out, as well as stiff and un natural. As we became more confortable with the motion however, their would be a natural leader each time and the movement flowed very easily to the point where we were able to complete it, have one person stand up and assist the other by using the technique from week 3 of bending through the knees. This was then followed by standing back to back and again, using another technique from week 3, we were able to bend through the knees to lower ourselves to the floor and complete the action once again.
I was then asked to find a space against the wall.
I was then asked to remain still in a position which connected me to the wall and observe all of the surroundings for a few minutes, things I could see, things I could hear, things I could feel.
In this space, I was then asked to experiment with all of the different positions avaiable to me, this included using a variety of levels, but always had to involve me being connected to the wall. We were all then asked to choose three of the
positions, repeat them over and over and find ways of linking these with one another. As a whole group, we then started with three people in their spaces, they performed their positions as many or as few times as they wished, and as one left, the next next person in the group would enter their space and continue. As the performance travelled around the room, the pace and energy changed at different points, I feel that this was sometimes influenced by a particular person's movements as some had more power and action associated with them. A few people noticed that throughout this, some of the people had begun to develop characteristics from their body language and this began to create a performance for an audience.
A task for the week ahead was to find a space where we could remain still for approximately fifteen minutes, we were then to observe our surroundings the same way we had in our space against the wall. I chose to complete mine in the bus station as my bus was running late.
We were then asked to get into pairs. This exercise started by sitting on the floor with our boacks to one another, but connected. Slowly, we started to move in different directions so that we could become connected to one another through the body, this was shown by our ability to perform bigger movements but still being able to stay fully connected with one another. After this, we worked on this idea further by body surfing, sitting back to back and having one of the pair falling away towards the floor, the other person had to remain connected via the back and would end up on top of the other, the person who had went underneath would then roll as the other remained relaxed through the entire body and would be rolled along the floor. To begin with, the movement was very difficult to complete, it often felt very choreographed and thought out, as well as stiff and un natural. As we became more confortable with the motion however, their would be a natural leader each time and the movement flowed very easily to the point where we were able to complete it, have one person stand up and assist the other by using the technique from week 3 of bending through the knees. This was then followed by standing back to back and again, using another technique from week 3, we were able to bend through the knees to lower ourselves to the floor and complete the action once again.
I was then asked to find a space against the wall.
In this space, I was then asked to experiment with all of the different positions avaiable to me, this included using a variety of levels, but always had to involve me being connected to the wall. We were all then asked to choose three of the
positions, repeat them over and over and find ways of linking these with one another. As a whole group, we then started with three people in their spaces, they performed their positions as many or as few times as they wished, and as one left, the next next person in the group would enter their space and continue. As the performance travelled around the room, the pace and energy changed at different points, I feel that this was sometimes influenced by a particular person's movements as some had more power and action associated with them. A few people noticed that throughout this, some of the people had begun to develop characteristics from their body language and this began to create a performance for an audience.
A task for the week ahead was to find a space where we could remain still for approximately fifteen minutes, we were then to observe our surroundings the same way we had in our space against the wall. I chose to complete mine in the bus station as my bus was running late.
Week 3 - Monday 8th October 2012
We began today with the six Makko-Ho stretches and the six patterns of total body connectivity to warm the different parts of our bodies up. I am starting to find that I know the stretches and that I can complete a large portion of these once prompted, they are also becoming a lot easier to complete and I have found that by stretching in my own time as well as in lectures, I am able to stretch a bit further and with ease than when I first started.
After this we began working in pairs, one partner allowed smoe of their weight to be held by the other who remained in a still position, we tried this in various positions so that by the end the stationary person was also experimenting different positions such as lying on the floor or kneeling down.
After practising this idea for a while, we were then split into two groups of roughly ten people. We were given basic instructions to perform an improvised piece lasting roughly two minutes. The basic instructions included, focusing on the pace we used, either being in the performance space or not at any time it felt appropriate, and to use what had already been practised (leaning on other people). As a group, without any pre-discussions, we were able to tell a story through our movements, without any communication or words. As the exercise continued, I struggled to maintain a high level of energy as I began to experience cramp in different parts of my body.
As the other group performed, I was able to create a story from their actions in the same way and thought some of the aspects used were incredibly effective such as having a few characters copying off another to create a chain of people doing the same thing.
This week I discovered that some of the things practised in earlier weeks such as allowing the body to fall to the floor in a connected way were slightly easier. I also thought that during the exercise of leaning on others that this allowed me to feel powerful and strong compared to the person who was leaning on me as they relied on me heavily. On the other hand, I also felt very relieved and joyous when I was being supported by someone as I felt safe and that they were there for me.
On 11/10/2012 I went to a performance at Dance City in Newcastle. It is a devised piece of physical theatre called 'Not Until We Are Lost' from a company called Ockham's Razor. They specialise in aerial theatre which combines circus and visual theatre on original equipment which explores relationships between people in the air. From the moment the performance began I was blown away by the high level of risk taken by the performers with very minimal safety equipment. The performance involved a lot of strength and stamina and the level of trust between the performers was incredible. I found that some of the aspects mirrored what we are practising within movement, especially as we are now beginnning to explore our bodies collaboratively with other people.
After this we began working in pairs, one partner allowed smoe of their weight to be held by the other who remained in a still position, we tried this in various positions so that by the end the stationary person was also experimenting different positions such as lying on the floor or kneeling down.
After practising this idea for a while, we were then split into two groups of roughly ten people. We were given basic instructions to perform an improvised piece lasting roughly two minutes. The basic instructions included, focusing on the pace we used, either being in the performance space or not at any time it felt appropriate, and to use what had already been practised (leaning on other people). As a group, without any pre-discussions, we were able to tell a story through our movements, without any communication or words. As the exercise continued, I struggled to maintain a high level of energy as I began to experience cramp in different parts of my body.
As the other group performed, I was able to create a story from their actions in the same way and thought some of the aspects used were incredibly effective such as having a few characters copying off another to create a chain of people doing the same thing.
This week I discovered that some of the things practised in earlier weeks such as allowing the body to fall to the floor in a connected way were slightly easier. I also thought that during the exercise of leaning on others that this allowed me to feel powerful and strong compared to the person who was leaning on me as they relied on me heavily. On the other hand, I also felt very relieved and joyous when I was being supported by someone as I felt safe and that they were there for me.
On 11/10/2012 I went to a performance at Dance City in Newcastle. It is a devised piece of physical theatre called 'Not Until We Are Lost' from a company called Ockham's Razor. They specialise in aerial theatre which combines circus and visual theatre on original equipment which explores relationships between people in the air. From the moment the performance began I was blown away by the high level of risk taken by the performers with very minimal safety equipment. The performance involved a lot of strength and stamina and the level of trust between the performers was incredible. I found that some of the aspects mirrored what we are practising within movement, especially as we are now beginnning to explore our bodies collaboratively with other people.
Personal Learning Plan
The responses to the following six questions form the basis of my own personal learning plan for my first year of movement.
How do you feel about ‘movement’ and what is your back ground in this area?
I feel fairly positive about movement as a module, it is something that I am enjoying and feel that it is an area of my craft that can be developed significantly. I have a very limited back ground in this area however, I have done some physical performances throughout school but I have had no professional training.
How do you feel about ‘movement’ and what is your back ground in this area?
I feel fairly positive about movement as a module, it is something that I am enjoying and feel that it is an area of my craft that can be developed significantly. I have a very limited back ground in this area however, I have done some physical performances throughout school but I have had no professional training.
What are your perceptions of what studying movement
will involve?
I believe that this module will involve a high level of physicality with some elements of dance. One of the main focuses for me is to work on the idea of expressing emotions and feelings, not just through the face, but with the whole body. I expect to work as a solo performer and also as part of a group.
What do you perceive your strengths and weaknesses
to be?
Strengths :
*Flexibility
*Willingness to learn and take instruction
*Communication skills
*Dedicated to working in my own time
Weaknesses :
*General fitness
*Relaxing
*Maintaining focus
*Organisation
*Flexibility
*Willingness to learn and take instruction
*Communication skills
*Dedicated to working in my own time
Weaknesses :
*General fitness
*Relaxing
*Maintaining focus
*Organisation
What do you hope to achieve through this module? By
Christmas? By Easter? (For example,
Physical skills, understanding of the body, knowledge of movement
practices, performance presence)
My main hope from this module is to improve my awareness of space and the opportunities which are presented to me, as an actor, by different spaces and stages. I would also like for my body to be more able of performing both bigger and more subtle movements by Christmas as there are some assessed performances which will count towards my mark for year one. By Easter I hope that I will be able to memorise all of the stretches and warm ups so that I can do these on my own before any performance, however, I also want to know which parts of the body are focused on within these exercises and why it is important to focus on these areas primarily.
What strategies can you adopt to achieve your goals?
Approaching all of the exercises with an open mind and an optimistic view is the main thing that will help me to achieve my goals. I am also going to work on the basic stretches and warm ups in my own time to push my body further so that certain areas of 'movement' will become easier, as well as exercising to improve my general fitness. In addition to the physical aspects I can work on, I am also hoping to focus on my studies a lot more and organise myself so that I am always ready to learn and can focus on the specific area being worked on or discussed.
How do you imagine this module might tie in with
your learning in other modules?
I think that a great deal of my studies from this module will be transferable into other modules. The general awareness for the space around me is something which can be applied to a performance in any module, as well as the idea of a lack of movement which can have a great impact on an audience and a performance. My general fitness being improved will also allow me to be more able to incorporate bigger and grander gestures into more performances, which could emphasise a particular moment. I do not think that the things learnt in this module will apply to the 'reading performance' module greatly as much of this is not practical, however it does help when reviewing other performances witnessed as I am more aware of what the actors are doing with their bodies and space.
I think that a great deal of my studies from this module will be transferable into other modules. The general awareness for the space around me is something which can be applied to a performance in any module, as well as the idea of a lack of movement which can have a great impact on an audience and a performance. My general fitness being improved will also allow me to be more able to incorporate bigger and grander gestures into more performances, which could emphasise a particular moment. I do not think that the things learnt in this module will apply to the 'reading performance' module greatly as much of this is not practical, however it does help when reviewing other performances witnessed as I am more aware of what the actors are doing with their bodies and space.
Week 2 - Monday 1st October 2012
We started the session this week the same as the week before, simple, small movements which grew into bigger gestures which included the whole body, and then completing both the Makko-Ho stretches and the Patterns of Total Body Connectivity in order to warm up and stretch different parts of our body. We also focused more on controlling our breath by sighing several times and shouting out words.
Following this, we looked at the idea of relaxing the body completely whilst lying on the floor, with every breath I took in I could feel myself relaxing further and further into the floor. We slowly began working with our breath to move into different positions, I found it best to move upwards and away from the floor or my body whilst breathing out, and using the breath in to relax into the floor or original position once again.
These movements became bigger and bigger so that we were lifting the majority of our bodies off the floor, sitting up. We then tried allowing our bodies to fall back to the floor slowly so that our whole body was once again in contact with the floor, this was followed in sequence by returning to the original position. I used my breath with focus here in order to aid my body in reaching up or down.
Towards the end of the activity, we were able to go from various standing positions to lying on the floor in one smooth movement and then returning to the particular position in one motion, still remembering how important the use of our breath was for this.
This was a very helpful exercise for me personally, I felt that I had never noticed how my breath was used in a performance with movement before, but it is a great tool for aiding me as a performer at particular points, breathing in to go down into a position, and breathing in when I need to lift a part of my body. The use of breath can create a mood for the character and therefore add to the emotion and physicality of a performance.
During the week, we had been asked to look into the Gallery at an art exhibition called "In The Moment", this consisted of a large collection of photographs which had captured memorable sporting moments, some positive and some negative. We were organised into small groups where we discussed internally our thoughts and ideas from the photographs, we then tried to capture these in still images which were performed to the group. As a group, we decided to focus on the movement before and after the point of the photograph as these are key elements, without these parts the actual point in the photo would not be possible. We noticed that because of the movements involved, it was sometimes possible to determine a facial expression even if this was not visible in the photo. Between our images, we used a neutral position in order to provide a contrast between the grand movements being completed in the photographs.
Following this, we looked at the idea of relaxing the body completely whilst lying on the floor, with every breath I took in I could feel myself relaxing further and further into the floor. We slowly began working with our breath to move into different positions, I found it best to move upwards and away from the floor or my body whilst breathing out, and using the breath in to relax into the floor or original position once again.
These movements became bigger and bigger so that we were lifting the majority of our bodies off the floor, sitting up. We then tried allowing our bodies to fall back to the floor slowly so that our whole body was once again in contact with the floor, this was followed in sequence by returning to the original position. I used my breath with focus here in order to aid my body in reaching up or down.
Towards the end of the activity, we were able to go from various standing positions to lying on the floor in one smooth movement and then returning to the particular position in one motion, still remembering how important the use of our breath was for this.
This was a very helpful exercise for me personally, I felt that I had never noticed how my breath was used in a performance with movement before, but it is a great tool for aiding me as a performer at particular points, breathing in to go down into a position, and breathing in when I need to lift a part of my body. The use of breath can create a mood for the character and therefore add to the emotion and physicality of a performance.
During the week, we had been asked to look into the Gallery at an art exhibition called "In The Moment", this consisted of a large collection of photographs which had captured memorable sporting moments, some positive and some negative. We were organised into small groups where we discussed internally our thoughts and ideas from the photographs, we then tried to capture these in still images which were performed to the group. As a group, we decided to focus on the movement before and after the point of the photograph as these are key elements, without these parts the actual point in the photo would not be possible. We noticed that because of the movements involved, it was sometimes possible to determine a facial expression even if this was not visible in the photo. Between our images, we used a neutral position in order to provide a contrast between the grand movements being completed in the photographs.
Week 1 - Monday 24th September 2012
We began the session by warming up and using every part of our bodies, starting with small movements in the hands working up towards shaking the whole body simultaneously.
We then did six different Makko-Ho stretches to use the different parts of our body in a more structured manner with more purpose and focus, this is done because the stretches are designed to work the twelve main meridians. They help to realise our energetic strengths and weaknesses.
In pairs, we worked together to help one anothers movements, we did simple exercises such as following a partner, being led without sight by only a hand and following someone's hand with our noses. We also tried to mirror our partner's image by copying any movements they made. This helped to relax our bodies whilst working without sight and therefore becoming more aware of the space around us. We were also tested to try different positions as we had to follow our partner and they did not always make the exercise a simple one.
The main thing learned this week was the patterns of total body connectivity, something which has been explored by Peggy Hackney in great detail. She has suggested that the process of patterning the following body connections, which begins at birth, allows us to develop to a point where we can be fully functional and expressive, something which is vital in a performance.
By completing these different movements in stages, I was able to see how much my body is able to move, and also the contrast between moving all parts of the body (stage 6) at one time compared to the stillness (stage 1). I can then apply this discovery to certain performances as I am aware of the movement my body is capable of, and how exciting it could be for an audience to see a performance with more movement as this is often more exciting to watch.
We then did six different Makko-Ho stretches to use the different parts of our body in a more structured manner with more purpose and focus, this is done because the stretches are designed to work the twelve main meridians. They help to realise our energetic strengths and weaknesses.
In pairs, we worked together to help one anothers movements, we did simple exercises such as following a partner, being led without sight by only a hand and following someone's hand with our noses. We also tried to mirror our partner's image by copying any movements they made. This helped to relax our bodies whilst working without sight and therefore becoming more aware of the space around us. We were also tested to try different positions as we had to follow our partner and they did not always make the exercise a simple one.
The main thing learned this week was the patterns of total body connectivity, something which has been explored by Peggy Hackney in great detail. She has suggested that the process of patterning the following body connections, which begins at birth, allows us to develop to a point where we can be fully functional and expressive, something which is vital in a performance.
Why?
In September 2012 I began studying a course at Northumbria University, BA (Hons) Performance. As part of the course, one of my modules (Movement) requested that each of us makes an online blog to keep a record of our work done and therefore as a way to track the progress we have made over the course of the year. This is also a place where I can keep a note of my thoughts and feelings on the module and the things that I have learned. It is also a great opportunity for me to save any particular ideas I have relating to performance, and also a way of comparing theories that I have learned in other modules throughout the year to see how these support or object things learnt in movement.
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