A really challenging and difficult morning and I am not going to dwell on the problems – that is for you to do as part of this blog. What is interesting though is that all of you seem to have lost sight of the fact that despite the problems encountered you all managed to produce work, you all created a performance to show, and that is worth reflecting upon.
Work in larger groups will get easier and Royona and I will employ strategies to enable you to engage with small group work in a less stressful and more organic fashion.
What you must not do is to take today’s session out of context and judge the whole semester’s work on the basis of what went on today. You have worked incredibly hard thus far and with great commitment and you have to have the confidence in yourselves to take this into semester 2.
This week then, can you reflect on the following:
1) There was a sense of you falling into bad habits – what are those habits that you relied on and how do they contrast with the good habits that you should have been employing?
2) Why do you think you relied so much on discussion when we have spent so long working on reaction and impulse?
3) Having gone through the process and produced a performance, evaluate that performance in terms of its strengths rather than its weaknesses.
Bahok, Akram Khan Dance Company
Exploring Liminality
Friday 12 December 2008
Friday 5 December 2008
Body memory, Movement and Message - 5th December 2008
Again a slightly different approach to the work today and again a different response in the end product.
The focus and concentration was really very good this morning and I think it is worth your while reflecting on your own journey through today’s session from the minute you walked in to the minute you left and try to analyse what is was that you personally contributed to the overall levels of focus.
Falls and catches can for many people be intimidating and scary techniques even at the most basic level and yet as a group these tasks were well executed and practiced.
The way in which the final work was devised was also impressive, the urgency to work and not discuss was just the correct way of moving work forward and I hope you can now see the disadvantages of too much discussion – too much talking about what you might do rather than working through what you can do. It may be worth considering in the future just how you can take the work that you have made and not rehearse it in the more accepted meaning of the word but rather refine it. By this I mean take the work created in a short space of time and then see how far you can take the one idea, see what messages the piece can communicate. There needs to be a recognition that the communication of a message or feeling can be done through the interaction between bodies and the movement rather than the need for mimetic reproduction of actions or overt and unnecessary facial expressions.
"The need to communicate is really powerful. But you can’t control it once its left because you never know how it’s going to be received. When we were making the work we were looking at all these tenuous connections between a bunch of characters and the messages that get passed from one to another that get misunderstood."
Kevin Finnan in Article 19
"I work, a lot, with task orientated techniques so I would give [the dancers] a task and see how they react to my idea. I like [the] process of digging in and not choosing the first things that comes out. [I] always try to go further and create the antagonism then go back and see how things happen after you create [that] antagonism in people, to look at many different options [within] a specific theme or specific movements and various styles of presentation before I decide how I want to present it."
Jasmin Vardimon in Article 19
Reflect on the following:
To what extent in the devising element did you and your partner work instinctively – how much of the work was initiated by the body’s instinctive reaction and to the impulses received from your partner?
Was there more than simply a matter of trust that allowed for the intensity of work whilst learning the falls and catches? How did these techniques translate into elements of the emotional journey in the final piece?
Was there an intended message in your piece? It is difficult to know if this transmitted successfully or not but you may like to reflect on how well you feel you managed to transmit your message. Did you fall into the trap of resorting to facial gesture and “acting”?
The focus and concentration was really very good this morning and I think it is worth your while reflecting on your own journey through today’s session from the minute you walked in to the minute you left and try to analyse what is was that you personally contributed to the overall levels of focus.
Falls and catches can for many people be intimidating and scary techniques even at the most basic level and yet as a group these tasks were well executed and practiced.
The way in which the final work was devised was also impressive, the urgency to work and not discuss was just the correct way of moving work forward and I hope you can now see the disadvantages of too much discussion – too much talking about what you might do rather than working through what you can do. It may be worth considering in the future just how you can take the work that you have made and not rehearse it in the more accepted meaning of the word but rather refine it. By this I mean take the work created in a short space of time and then see how far you can take the one idea, see what messages the piece can communicate. There needs to be a recognition that the communication of a message or feeling can be done through the interaction between bodies and the movement rather than the need for mimetic reproduction of actions or overt and unnecessary facial expressions.
"The need to communicate is really powerful. But you can’t control it once its left because you never know how it’s going to be received. When we were making the work we were looking at all these tenuous connections between a bunch of characters and the messages that get passed from one to another that get misunderstood."
Kevin Finnan in Article 19
"I work, a lot, with task orientated techniques so I would give [the dancers] a task and see how they react to my idea. I like [the] process of digging in and not choosing the first things that comes out. [I] always try to go further and create the antagonism then go back and see how things happen after you create [that] antagonism in people, to look at many different options [within] a specific theme or specific movements and various styles of presentation before I decide how I want to present it."
Jasmin Vardimon in Article 19
Reflect on the following:
To what extent in the devising element did you and your partner work instinctively – how much of the work was initiated by the body’s instinctive reaction and to the impulses received from your partner?
Was there more than simply a matter of trust that allowed for the intensity of work whilst learning the falls and catches? How did these techniques translate into elements of the emotional journey in the final piece?
Was there an intended message in your piece? It is difficult to know if this transmitted successfully or not but you may like to reflect on how well you feel you managed to transmit your message. Did you fall into the trap of resorting to facial gesture and “acting”?
Friday 28 November 2008
Breaking News - Very Exciting!!!
We will be having workshops with the Jasmin Vardimon Company on Friday 16th January at the Drama Department!
Details to follow….watch this space!
Royona & Paul
Details to follow….watch this space!
Royona & Paul
If music be the food of Physical Theatre...play on - 27th November 2008
I would like this opportunity the express out thanks again for the mature way in which you handled the fire alarm situation and the speed and efficacy of your return to a state ready for work. Although not a blog question, it may be worth reflecting on your level of commitment to the process now and how you might have reacted to this morning’s situation three or four weeks ago.
As always the way with this genre of work, there is a need to explore fully during the process section of the work all those elements that impact on the performance phase.
Hence this morning’s session which in some ways pulled the rug from under your feet – and it won’t be the last time this happens!
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of the correlation between music and movement and perhaps recognising that in the past you may have had an instant response to a sound, rhythm or beat, but one based on hearing rather than listening – and we all do that at some time. Maybe now you will respond in a different way. Some of you will know that in the guise of a crazy man in Scenography 1 I told you to open your eyes – I’m now asking you to open your ears.
Bob Fripp, the guitarist with King Crimson, the first band we heard, in an interview in Melody Maker in 1974 said of his playing technique and of the sources he draws from:
"I needed music, and music needed me. If you accept that I needed music, then this also involves responsibilities. Because of what I received, I have responsibilities, and I can discharge these as a player." Retrieved from "http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_in_Melody_Maker_%281974%29"
Each of these kinds of music (His sources, jazz, rock and so on) exist on different levels. There's the particular kind of feeling associated with each of them, and there's the separate vocabularies needed to express those feelings. What my guitar technique will do is enable is enable musicians to move more freely from one form of music to another since, in learning the technique, his personality will be put under sufficient stress that he will not only develop emotionally and mentally, but the feelings involved will change his personality. In other words, it's not so much a guitar technique as a way of life.
Fripp in Melody Maker; 1974
In the same music paper, Mike Giles the drummer adds:
"[…] everybody had been doing things which were unsatisfying... and somehow we created an opportunity to do what we wanted. And that wasn't, really, to play anybody else's music. So we didn't go for music that sounded like blues, or jazz, or rock, or... Led Zeppelin, or Rolling Stones... We didn't want to be like any of the other bands. We wanted to find out what *we* were like, what we could create [...]"
Giles;Melody Maker 1974
Both have resonances with our ways of working with the body.
You were also required to work practically in a different way today; with a set task but without direction, self – supported, and with an end product for audience consumption. It was interesting to watch the pieces evolve and to note the techniques beyond the strategy taught to you that you as large groups employed. The following quote from notes about devising on Stan’s Cafe website may help you evaluate and reflect on your own practices:
"The clever thing is to spot what has potential and to follow it up, refine it, expand on it and make it into something great. You must be realistic and you mustn't be down hearted. You must give good feedback to each other, this means honest and constructive criticism. Remember, if you think what you're doing isn't very good, the chances are the audience won't either; sort it out!"
Stan’s Café; 2007
Please respond to the following:
1.Comment on your responses to the music and to the task of listening rather than hearing.
2. How did the relationship between the music and the task you were set affect the way you worked and the performance you made?
3. Comment on the devising process, how you managed the task and how creative that process was.
4. What was your response to having to use pedestrian movement as opposed to the more stylised work we have dome to date?
As always the way with this genre of work, there is a need to explore fully during the process section of the work all those elements that impact on the performance phase.
Hence this morning’s session which in some ways pulled the rug from under your feet – and it won’t be the last time this happens!
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of the correlation between music and movement and perhaps recognising that in the past you may have had an instant response to a sound, rhythm or beat, but one based on hearing rather than listening – and we all do that at some time. Maybe now you will respond in a different way. Some of you will know that in the guise of a crazy man in Scenography 1 I told you to open your eyes – I’m now asking you to open your ears.
Bob Fripp, the guitarist with King Crimson, the first band we heard, in an interview in Melody Maker in 1974 said of his playing technique and of the sources he draws from:
"I needed music, and music needed me. If you accept that I needed music, then this also involves responsibilities. Because of what I received, I have responsibilities, and I can discharge these as a player." Retrieved from "http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_in_Melody_Maker_%281974%29"
Each of these kinds of music (His sources, jazz, rock and so on) exist on different levels. There's the particular kind of feeling associated with each of them, and there's the separate vocabularies needed to express those feelings. What my guitar technique will do is enable is enable musicians to move more freely from one form of music to another since, in learning the technique, his personality will be put under sufficient stress that he will not only develop emotionally and mentally, but the feelings involved will change his personality. In other words, it's not so much a guitar technique as a way of life.
Fripp in Melody Maker; 1974
In the same music paper, Mike Giles the drummer adds:
"[…] everybody had been doing things which were unsatisfying... and somehow we created an opportunity to do what we wanted. And that wasn't, really, to play anybody else's music. So we didn't go for music that sounded like blues, or jazz, or rock, or... Led Zeppelin, or Rolling Stones... We didn't want to be like any of the other bands. We wanted to find out what *we* were like, what we could create [...]"
Giles;Melody Maker 1974
Both have resonances with our ways of working with the body.
You were also required to work practically in a different way today; with a set task but without direction, self – supported, and with an end product for audience consumption. It was interesting to watch the pieces evolve and to note the techniques beyond the strategy taught to you that you as large groups employed. The following quote from notes about devising on Stan’s Cafe website may help you evaluate and reflect on your own practices:
"The clever thing is to spot what has potential and to follow it up, refine it, expand on it and make it into something great. You must be realistic and you mustn't be down hearted. You must give good feedback to each other, this means honest and constructive criticism. Remember, if you think what you're doing isn't very good, the chances are the audience won't either; sort it out!"
Stan’s Café; 2007
Please respond to the following:
1.Comment on your responses to the music and to the task of listening rather than hearing.
2. How did the relationship between the music and the task you were set affect the way you worked and the performance you made?
3. Comment on the devising process, how you managed the task and how creative that process was.
4. What was your response to having to use pedestrian movement as opposed to the more stylised work we have dome to date?
Saturday 22 November 2008
Building Our Palette - 21st November 2008
Dear All,
Many apologies for the delay in putting up this post. Some of you have emailed me to enquire after it and the truth is Blogger was not letting me put up the post for most of Friday for some reason. So, again, apologies. Happy to know that some of you miss it when it isn't up!
A good session with a great amount of techniques and skills learnt and applied creatively to practice. The progression of the table work from the knee reliant horizontal position to the raised pyramid position to the standing vertical position was a great deal to cover in one session. But you achieved this with a good sense of focus and determination. This lent the final section of 'play' a great deal of dynamism and excitement.
Questions for this week then:
1. We would like you to reflect on the challenges faced and excitement experienced in your individual transitions your bodies underwent as it traced its journey through the different table positions. Through this, particularly when the tables were allowed to respond and move freely, what did you start to learn about the technique and its creative potential?
2. The play sections are becoming an integral part of our Friday mornings. The palette starts to expand each week and gets richer and more dynamic. What are the main purposes of these open play sessions? What do you as an individual and the ensemble as a whole gain from these sequences?
Looking forward to reading your thoughts this week.
Royona
Many apologies for the delay in putting up this post. Some of you have emailed me to enquire after it and the truth is Blogger was not letting me put up the post for most of Friday for some reason. So, again, apologies. Happy to know that some of you miss it when it isn't up!
A good session with a great amount of techniques and skills learnt and applied creatively to practice. The progression of the table work from the knee reliant horizontal position to the raised pyramid position to the standing vertical position was a great deal to cover in one session. But you achieved this with a good sense of focus and determination. This lent the final section of 'play' a great deal of dynamism and excitement.
Questions for this week then:
1. We would like you to reflect on the challenges faced and excitement experienced in your individual transitions your bodies underwent as it traced its journey through the different table positions. Through this, particularly when the tables were allowed to respond and move freely, what did you start to learn about the technique and its creative potential?
2. The play sections are becoming an integral part of our Friday mornings. The palette starts to expand each week and gets richer and more dynamic. What are the main purposes of these open play sessions? What do you as an individual and the ensemble as a whole gain from these sequences?
Looking forward to reading your thoughts this week.
Royona
Friday 14 November 2008
Turning the Tables - 14th November 2008
A mixed session today with some really good practical work but a real loss of the discipline and control shown last week. I wonder why that was, and both Royona and I would welcome your reflections on this.
Watching the play session it soon became apparent that many of you were unconsciously applying a wide range of techniques acquired over the weeks and using them in a creative way. Furthermore, this in turn brought about the beginnings of real physical and emotional narratives. The fact that so many of you commented on your engagement with the play element this week and found it stronger and in some ways easier than last week is a significant move – there was some lovely work. See how effective such a simple thing as being a table can be? In the technique it seemed easy and perhaps without purpose, but put into not just a performance context but one that had a purpose and an emotional content, the table becomes something else. We now need to build on this and really let the body do the remembering, the technique become sharper but at the same time driven by emotion rather than the need to repeat a move. As Royona said – we’re getting there!
Contact was again the key element of the work today, the pressure on the pelvis in the roll-over and the swivel exercise, the balance on the back and to a certain extent, the correct contact with the floor for the most beneficial execution of the leap.
How , then, in the play section, did you explore the reasons for making contact, how did this manifest itself and how did this in turn lead to a different movement?
Reflect on the table exercise – how did you make this journey from a technique to something that was dynamic?
Watching the play session it soon became apparent that many of you were unconsciously applying a wide range of techniques acquired over the weeks and using them in a creative way. Furthermore, this in turn brought about the beginnings of real physical and emotional narratives. The fact that so many of you commented on your engagement with the play element this week and found it stronger and in some ways easier than last week is a significant move – there was some lovely work. See how effective such a simple thing as being a table can be? In the technique it seemed easy and perhaps without purpose, but put into not just a performance context but one that had a purpose and an emotional content, the table becomes something else. We now need to build on this and really let the body do the remembering, the technique become sharper but at the same time driven by emotion rather than the need to repeat a move. As Royona said – we’re getting there!
Contact was again the key element of the work today, the pressure on the pelvis in the roll-over and the swivel exercise, the balance on the back and to a certain extent, the correct contact with the floor for the most beneficial execution of the leap.
How , then, in the play section, did you explore the reasons for making contact, how did this manifest itself and how did this in turn lead to a different movement?
Reflect on the table exercise – how did you make this journey from a technique to something that was dynamic?
Friday 7 November 2008
Contact and Communication - 7th November 2008
This morning’s session was perhaps the best yet in terms of focus, not only great focus and concentration when active in the work but also when engaged as an observer outside the action, or an observer in the action. These moments of immersion in the work will increasingly become more and more significant, more and more intense and more and more a key part of the growth of the ensemble.
Some very expressive and beautiful work also today and creating work that once again Royona and I could feed off and build from, and change plans accordingly! Well done all.
But what of your reflections of the morning? For these we would like you to focus on the following:
“Contact Improvisation is mostly performed as a duet….with dancers supporting each other’s weight while in motion. (…) Contact Improvisation uses momentum to move in concert with a partner’s weight, rolling, suspending, lurching together. They often yield rather than resist. Interest lies in the on-going flow of energy rather than on producing still pictures. The dancers in contact improvisation focus on the physical sensations of touching, leaning, supporting, counterbalancing and falling with other people, thus carrying on a physical dialogue.”
Sharing the Dance: Cynthia Novak (P8)
1) How has your understanding and experience of contact transformed through the sessions we have had so far? You may want to think in terms of how it has changed from the first session to the latest, or how it may have changed from the beginning of one session to the end and developed from that moment, or a combination of these.
2) Through the means of contact, a dialogue is created: Reflect on the ways you communicated through the physical (pressure) and through the non-physical (eye-contact).
And just so that we do not loose sight of one of the key, identifying factors of our work, we will leave you with this quote from Jasmin Vardimon, given in an interview as part of the programme for Yesterday.
“….A journey into a memory, a body memory. Being a dancer I learned to trust my body’s memory. In Yesterday I look at the things that my body – my muscles and my bones – remember, but my conscious brain does not always remember.”
Jasmin Vardimon
Some very expressive and beautiful work also today and creating work that once again Royona and I could feed off and build from, and change plans accordingly! Well done all.
But what of your reflections of the morning? For these we would like you to focus on the following:
“Contact Improvisation is mostly performed as a duet….with dancers supporting each other’s weight while in motion. (…) Contact Improvisation uses momentum to move in concert with a partner’s weight, rolling, suspending, lurching together. They often yield rather than resist. Interest lies in the on-going flow of energy rather than on producing still pictures. The dancers in contact improvisation focus on the physical sensations of touching, leaning, supporting, counterbalancing and falling with other people, thus carrying on a physical dialogue.”
Sharing the Dance: Cynthia Novak (P8)
1) How has your understanding and experience of contact transformed through the sessions we have had so far? You may want to think in terms of how it has changed from the first session to the latest, or how it may have changed from the beginning of one session to the end and developed from that moment, or a combination of these.
2) Through the means of contact, a dialogue is created: Reflect on the ways you communicated through the physical (pressure) and through the non-physical (eye-contact).
And just so that we do not loose sight of one of the key, identifying factors of our work, we will leave you with this quote from Jasmin Vardimon, given in an interview as part of the programme for Yesterday.
“….A journey into a memory, a body memory. Being a dancer I learned to trust my body’s memory. In Yesterday I look at the things that my body – my muscles and my bones – remember, but my conscious brain does not always remember.”
Jasmin Vardimon
Friday 31 October 2008
Video Links
Here are some video links to inspire your visual, physical and intellectual understanding of the genre we are working in. These will hopefully be useful especially having had the history and context related lecture today.
Please copy and paste links below onto browser to watch and remember to turn the sound on!
All comments welcome:
1. Pina Bausch's Cafe Muller
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqrqjERhkQ
2. Pina Bausch's Masurca Fogo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DD8ragxwOMI&feature=related
3. Vincent Dance Theatre's Broken Chords
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-5_OxPlBvxY
4. Jasmin Vardimon's Showcase
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6iunk83-TNk
5. Jasmin Vardimon's Justitia
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VtW_H5Y4aGw&feature=rela
Please copy and paste links below onto browser to watch and remember to turn the sound on!
All comments welcome:
1. Pina Bausch's Cafe Muller
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqrqjERhkQ
2. Pina Bausch's Masurca Fogo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DD8ragxwOMI&feature=related
3. Vincent Dance Theatre's Broken Chords
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-5_OxPlBvxY
4. Jasmin Vardimon's Showcase
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6iunk83-TNk
5. Jasmin Vardimon's Justitia
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VtW_H5Y4aGw&feature=rela
History, Context & Aesthetics - 31st October 2008
Dear All,
It was a tough session today for several reasons. I would still like to think that the session was appropriately timed and that the content delivered was vital in order for you to have a holistic engagement with the genre. It is also essential to remember and accept that theory and practice in this genre are inseparable.
We considered the influential roots of physical theatre. We looked at its features from 'theatre' and what it owes to 'dance'. We considered the notion of a hybrid performance language; a third entity that arises from the mixture of dance and theatre. We considered the practice of key practitioners and their creative approaches. We viewed clips ranging from the professional world to our own student archives; demonstrating where the work is at and where it is able to journey.
Questions for this week then:
1. What is the relationship between Physical Theatre and the theoretical frameworks of 'gender' and postmodernism'. Consider the overlaps between the study on Investigations 2 and the content we looked at today in P&P.
2. How is the history of changes in early 20th century western dance and theatre evident in the current practice of Physical Theatre. Please use key examples to answer this question.
Looking forward to your answers. Please remember these questions are designed to make you think intellectually about your practice and are also examples of questions you will be graded on in semester 2. Use quotes and reference them.
Let's all hope for a consistently positive journey beyond today's session with equal focus and commitment on both practice and intellectualising the practice.
Royona
It was a tough session today for several reasons. I would still like to think that the session was appropriately timed and that the content delivered was vital in order for you to have a holistic engagement with the genre. It is also essential to remember and accept that theory and practice in this genre are inseparable.
We considered the influential roots of physical theatre. We looked at its features from 'theatre' and what it owes to 'dance'. We considered the notion of a hybrid performance language; a third entity that arises from the mixture of dance and theatre. We considered the practice of key practitioners and their creative approaches. We viewed clips ranging from the professional world to our own student archives; demonstrating where the work is at and where it is able to journey.
Questions for this week then:
1. What is the relationship between Physical Theatre and the theoretical frameworks of 'gender' and postmodernism'. Consider the overlaps between the study on Investigations 2 and the content we looked at today in P&P.
2. How is the history of changes in early 20th century western dance and theatre evident in the current practice of Physical Theatre. Please use key examples to answer this question.
Looking forward to your answers. Please remember these questions are designed to make you think intellectually about your practice and are also examples of questions you will be graded on in semester 2. Use quotes and reference them.
Let's all hope for a consistently positive journey beyond today's session with equal focus and commitment on both practice and intellectualising the practice.
Royona
Friday 24 October 2008
Body & Technique - 24th October 2008
Dear All,
Apologies for the delay in putting up this post.
Thanks again for a very productive session. It is now clear to us that your focus and commitment is beginning to grow week by week. With a near full class this morning, a lot of bodies to manoeuvre and a lot of discipline to maintain, we were pleased that you all did so well. Yes, talking and giggling did break out, but you seemed better at controlling yourself with the discipline. It was also clear that often discussions about the work were taking place in a productive manner. This is helpful, but can be distracting too. So keep this under control as much as you can in the future.
We worked on some significant techniques today. All of them were based on the following key principles:
1. Key points of contact
2. Reading bodies through these key points of contact
3. Distribution of weight
4. Pelvic centre of gravity
5. Carrying body weight
What is beginning to happen now with all of you is an inner understanding of how a technique is carried out is developing, over and above how 'good' or 'easy' or 'difficult' something looks.
So, questions for this week then:
1. Can gravity become our friend? If so, how can we achieve this? Once we befriend gravity how does our relationship with it change? How many of you feel you are being able to achieve this slowly and surely?
2. Analyse the quote below from Ken Martin on a key aspect of contact improvisation that we have started to slowly discover in our practice, and discuss it in relation to your own growth in the work so far.
"Contact improvisation [...] is a forum for discovering who we are beneath our skins. It is a place where our self concept is questioned […] It makes us compromise our reality – pushes the boundaries of our self awareness."
Ken Martin. Contacting the Soul, available from: http://nurturedance.org/contactimprov.htm
Looking forward to your responses. The questions are challenging so really think before mechanically responding and make your comments rich and reflective. Remember, so spelling or grammatical errors and no casual mode of expression. Keep it formal and of a high academic standard.
Royona
Apologies for the delay in putting up this post.
Thanks again for a very productive session. It is now clear to us that your focus and commitment is beginning to grow week by week. With a near full class this morning, a lot of bodies to manoeuvre and a lot of discipline to maintain, we were pleased that you all did so well. Yes, talking and giggling did break out, but you seemed better at controlling yourself with the discipline. It was also clear that often discussions about the work were taking place in a productive manner. This is helpful, but can be distracting too. So keep this under control as much as you can in the future.
We worked on some significant techniques today. All of them were based on the following key principles:
1. Key points of contact
2. Reading bodies through these key points of contact
3. Distribution of weight
4. Pelvic centre of gravity
5. Carrying body weight
What is beginning to happen now with all of you is an inner understanding of how a technique is carried out is developing, over and above how 'good' or 'easy' or 'difficult' something looks.
So, questions for this week then:
1. Can gravity become our friend? If so, how can we achieve this? Once we befriend gravity how does our relationship with it change? How many of you feel you are being able to achieve this slowly and surely?
2. Analyse the quote below from Ken Martin on a key aspect of contact improvisation that we have started to slowly discover in our practice, and discuss it in relation to your own growth in the work so far.
"Contact improvisation [...] is a forum for discovering who we are beneath our skins. It is a place where our self concept is questioned […] It makes us compromise our reality – pushes the boundaries of our self awareness."
Ken Martin. Contacting the Soul, available from: http://nurturedance.org/contactimprov.htm
Looking forward to your responses. The questions are challenging so really think before mechanically responding and make your comments rich and reflective. Remember, so spelling or grammatical errors and no casual mode of expression. Keep it formal and of a high academic standard.
Royona
Friday 17 October 2008
Demonstrative Body To Articulate Body - 17th October 2008
Dear All,
A very focused and concentrated session this week with a lot of effort and hard work put in. The results of this could clearly be seen in the last fifteen minutes or so of the session. However, in order to get to the point at which it became possible to initiate the play session, the technique had to become familiar and safe which you achieved to a high level. One thing that was really evident was the ease with which contact is now being made and the level of trust and sensitivity and these were key elements in the way you worked today. It enable the technique to be effective. Without the understanding of the new technique and a real feel for the practice of it, the work at the end would not have been such a delight to witness and so developmental in the execution of it; it was a committed and thoughtful piece of work.
The move from technique to play, to a more performative approach to the work was quite clear. It was very interesting to watch the body memory begin to emerge and past techniques and exercises form part of what you were producing.
Thus the body began to tell stories, to build relationships and to start to express emotions.
We would therefore like you to comment on the following:
1) To what extent did you recognise or experience the shift from the demonstrative body to the articulate body? What part did body memory play in this?
2) Did an emotional layer come into your work and if so how did that manifest itself? If not, then how do you think emotional content would affect the work you did today?
It is also important for me to go away and reflect on my own work today and on why it was that I was unable to relax sufficiently for that one demonstration.
And as a final thought:
How do these two numbers, 50:4, relate to each other?
Looking forward to your comments.
Paul
A very focused and concentrated session this week with a lot of effort and hard work put in. The results of this could clearly be seen in the last fifteen minutes or so of the session. However, in order to get to the point at which it became possible to initiate the play session, the technique had to become familiar and safe which you achieved to a high level. One thing that was really evident was the ease with which contact is now being made and the level of trust and sensitivity and these were key elements in the way you worked today. It enable the technique to be effective. Without the understanding of the new technique and a real feel for the practice of it, the work at the end would not have been such a delight to witness and so developmental in the execution of it; it was a committed and thoughtful piece of work.
The move from technique to play, to a more performative approach to the work was quite clear. It was very interesting to watch the body memory begin to emerge and past techniques and exercises form part of what you were producing.
Thus the body began to tell stories, to build relationships and to start to express emotions.
We would therefore like you to comment on the following:
1) To what extent did you recognise or experience the shift from the demonstrative body to the articulate body? What part did body memory play in this?
2) Did an emotional layer come into your work and if so how did that manifest itself? If not, then how do you think emotional content would affect the work you did today?
It is also important for me to go away and reflect on my own work today and on why it was that I was unable to relax sufficiently for that one demonstration.
And as a final thought:
How do these two numbers, 50:4, relate to each other?
Looking forward to your comments.
Paul
Saturday 11 October 2008
Centres & Weight Sharing - 10th October 2008
Dear All,
Apologies for the delay in getting the post up from yesterday's session. Since I have already put up a post regarding Yesterday I want to keep this one quite brief. It was a great session yesterday, despite the lack of focus and disruptions in class. This makes us wonder how much further you could have all travelled without the focus. So, do keep this in mind.
It was a challenging session in many ways. You were encountering completely new skills and learning the importance of accuracy of technique to avoid injuries and to allow this new language to settle into your body memories. You were forced into close physical contact with the additional nerves of dealing with concepts of 'weight'- sharing. All of these made the session edgier as your own body's capacities and limitations became more exposed.
In the light of the above please reflect on the following question:
1. What did you learn about your own body's capacity to:
a. learn precise physical technique
b. encounter issues of body weight
c. shift its relationship to gravity
d. understand the significance of touch as a means of communication
I leave you with a quote from Steve Paxton, the revolutionary movement artist of 1960-70's America to whom contact improvisation is attributed. Paxton says of touch,
(2004 : 61)
Looking forward to your responses on this post and the one on Yesterday.
Royona
Apologies for the delay in getting the post up from yesterday's session. Since I have already put up a post regarding Yesterday I want to keep this one quite brief. It was a great session yesterday, despite the lack of focus and disruptions in class. This makes us wonder how much further you could have all travelled without the focus. So, do keep this in mind.
It was a challenging session in many ways. You were encountering completely new skills and learning the importance of accuracy of technique to avoid injuries and to allow this new language to settle into your body memories. You were forced into close physical contact with the additional nerves of dealing with concepts of 'weight'- sharing. All of these made the session edgier as your own body's capacities and limitations became more exposed.
In the light of the above please reflect on the following question:
1. What did you learn about your own body's capacity to:
a. learn precise physical technique
b. encounter issues of body weight
c. shift its relationship to gravity
d. understand the significance of touch as a means of communication
I leave you with a quote from Steve Paxton, the revolutionary movement artist of 1960-70's America to whom contact improvisation is attributed. Paxton says of touch,
"Touch sensitises, promotes awareness... Touch, along with the other senses, integrates out physicality…It is difficult to imagine that while grazing each other’s minds in touch and movement we would not bump into some of its manifestations."
Looking forward to your responses on this post and the one on Yesterday.
Royona
Friday 10 October 2008
Yesterday by Jasmin Vardimon
Dear All,
Below is a link to a review for Yesterday by Jasmin Vardimon which we all watched last night. Please read it first and then attempt to follow the questions below aimed at generating thoughts about the work itself.
The Guardian Review : www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/sep/14/dance
1. How did the work challenge your understanding of physical theatre?
2. How did the issues raised in the piece challenge you as an individual?
3. What made it feel like a dance piece and what transformed it into physical theatre?
I look forward to your responses.
Royona
Below is a link to a review for Yesterday by Jasmin Vardimon which we all watched last night. Please read it first and then attempt to follow the questions below aimed at generating thoughts about the work itself.
The Guardian Review : www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/sep/14/dance
1. How did the work challenge your understanding of physical theatre?
2. How did the issues raised in the piece challenge you as an individual?
3. What made it feel like a dance piece and what transformed it into physical theatre?
I look forward to your responses.
Royona
Monday 6 October 2008
Jasmin Vardimon & Body Memory
I have just discovered by sheer coincidence this video interview with Jasmin Vardimon about the making of Yesterday, that we are all watching this Thursday in Birmingham. And amazingly she talks about 'body memory'.
It's a beautiful interview with seductive footage from Yesterday.
Here is the link. Please copy and paste onto browser to watch.
http://www.article19.co.uk/06/video_jasminyes.php
Would love to hear your thoughts on the footage and the interview.
Royona
It's a beautiful interview with seductive footage from Yesterday.
Here is the link. Please copy and paste onto browser to watch.
http://www.article19.co.uk/06/video_jasminyes.php
Would love to hear your thoughts on the footage and the interview.
Royona
Friday 3 October 2008
Trust & Personal Boundaries - 3rd October 2008
Dear All,
Another great session - thanks to you all.
I think it is worth reflecting first of all on your commitment and engagement with the work. Regardless of reservations, dislikes and problems with some exercises, you all still maintained a level of focus and commitment that was a real pleasure to witness and very encouraging for Royona and I.
Today's session was difficult, it moved some of you out of your comfort zones and exposed you in a different way to last week. Most of you felt that last week you were working without a thought to the aesthetic, but in reality, subconsciously that notion of the aesthetic body was still operating. Today because of being allowed vision you could see what you were doing and subconsciously got driven by the sense of aesthetic again. As a result the work became less challenging and in some cases you found it uninteresting. Continue to think about the aesthetic in this work. Find a comfortable balance between an awareness of the 'placement' of the body, its detailed individual parts and a freedom to access creativity without limitations and inhibitions about how this body appears to the outside eye. If a body is honest, it is captivating to watch - it's as simple as that.
Think about how you easily began to work in the 'body reading' exercise and how the chair became an intervention or an aid in the relationship between you and your partner.
Challenges and set backs will happen - and they should be embraced as part of your growth and reflection, not treated as frustrations and hindrances. They make you more aware, more conscious of your limitations and hopefully more determined to overcome them. You will encounter limitations, from the warm-up exercises to the techniques we teach you. Accept this and set goals to overcome them. Be patient above all.
Look at the picture at the top of the blog. Look at the points of contact the performer has with the floor. Imagine how her body feels, how her muscles are working and more importantly how the position and influence of her spine. Imagine how she feels and imagine the effect gravity is having on her current position and where she might move next.
Think back to your own floor exercises and find the parallels to the image on the top of the blog, captured in time.
The questions we would like you to consider this week are:
1) What does the term 'Body Memory' imply in this genre of working?
Discuss whether you were able to access your own body memory during any part of the session reflecting on learnt principles and techniques from week 1.
2) How did the floor exercise develop your understanding of your spine's relationship with the floor? What role did gravity play in your explorations?
Discuss with detailed examples
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reflections.
Paul
Another great session - thanks to you all.
I think it is worth reflecting first of all on your commitment and engagement with the work. Regardless of reservations, dislikes and problems with some exercises, you all still maintained a level of focus and commitment that was a real pleasure to witness and very encouraging for Royona and I.
Today's session was difficult, it moved some of you out of your comfort zones and exposed you in a different way to last week. Most of you felt that last week you were working without a thought to the aesthetic, but in reality, subconsciously that notion of the aesthetic body was still operating. Today because of being allowed vision you could see what you were doing and subconsciously got driven by the sense of aesthetic again. As a result the work became less challenging and in some cases you found it uninteresting. Continue to think about the aesthetic in this work. Find a comfortable balance between an awareness of the 'placement' of the body, its detailed individual parts and a freedom to access creativity without limitations and inhibitions about how this body appears to the outside eye. If a body is honest, it is captivating to watch - it's as simple as that.
Think about how you easily began to work in the 'body reading' exercise and how the chair became an intervention or an aid in the relationship between you and your partner.
Challenges and set backs will happen - and they should be embraced as part of your growth and reflection, not treated as frustrations and hindrances. They make you more aware, more conscious of your limitations and hopefully more determined to overcome them. You will encounter limitations, from the warm-up exercises to the techniques we teach you. Accept this and set goals to overcome them. Be patient above all.
Look at the picture at the top of the blog. Look at the points of contact the performer has with the floor. Imagine how her body feels, how her muscles are working and more importantly how the position and influence of her spine. Imagine how she feels and imagine the effect gravity is having on her current position and where she might move next.
Think back to your own floor exercises and find the parallels to the image on the top of the blog, captured in time.
The questions we would like you to consider this week are:
1) What does the term 'Body Memory' imply in this genre of working?
Discuss whether you were able to access your own body memory during any part of the session reflecting on learnt principles and techniques from week 1.
2) How did the floor exercise develop your understanding of your spine's relationship with the floor? What role did gravity play in your explorations?
Discuss with detailed examples
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reflections.
Paul
Friday 26 September 2008
In the Beginning - 26th September 2008
Dear All,
What a great start to the module! Thank you for a focused, committed and creative session with a high level of responsiveness and sense of responsibility for yourselves and each other. The work you created and its maturity allowed Paul and I to build on the session instinctively, leaving plans aside and going with the flow. This is very promising.
Think about the journey you undertook this morning and the learning curve accompanying it. Think also about the introductory talk we gave to prepare you for the whole year's work ahead. Think about the new way in which we introduced you to conceptualising the body and using it for communication. And now try and answer the following questions, reflecting on your own work from this morning and from those around you.
1. How did the session shift your understanding of 'neutrality' in performance? What do you think is meant by the centre and why is it important to ground the body before beginning to work in the genre?
2. More often than not, movement is associated with a certain idea of 'aesthetic' (find out what this means exactly before you answer this question). Dance holds the popular impression that movement must be pretty to look at.
In this morning's session, how did we approach this stereotyped understanding of 'aesthetic' movement? What made movement most interesting to watch? How pretty it looked? Or how honest it was and connected to one's inner impulse? Discuss this with examples.
It is always good to respond to these questions after reading around the subject. This will help locate your own experience in a wider theoretical context. Look up the websites on this blog of other companies and look at their comments on the issues raised above. Use quotes and reference them correctly if you want.
Looking forward to ALL your responses by Wednesday 1st October, 4 pm. Enjoy the weekend!
Royona
What a great start to the module! Thank you for a focused, committed and creative session with a high level of responsiveness and sense of responsibility for yourselves and each other. The work you created and its maturity allowed Paul and I to build on the session instinctively, leaving plans aside and going with the flow. This is very promising.
Think about the journey you undertook this morning and the learning curve accompanying it. Think also about the introductory talk we gave to prepare you for the whole year's work ahead. Think about the new way in which we introduced you to conceptualising the body and using it for communication. And now try and answer the following questions, reflecting on your own work from this morning and from those around you.
1. How did the session shift your understanding of 'neutrality' in performance? What do you think is meant by the centre and why is it important to ground the body before beginning to work in the genre?
2. More often than not, movement is associated with a certain idea of 'aesthetic' (find out what this means exactly before you answer this question). Dance holds the popular impression that movement must be pretty to look at.
In this morning's session, how did we approach this stereotyped understanding of 'aesthetic' movement? What made movement most interesting to watch? How pretty it looked? Or how honest it was and connected to one's inner impulse? Discuss this with examples.
It is always good to respond to these questions after reading around the subject. This will help locate your own experience in a wider theoretical context. Look up the websites on this blog of other companies and look at their comments on the issues raised above. Use quotes and reference them correctly if you want.
Looking forward to ALL your responses by Wednesday 1st October, 4 pm. Enjoy the weekend!
Royona
Tuesday 8 July 2008
Welcome to Process & Performance 200809
A warm welcome to all Second Year Drama & Performance students at the University of Wolverhampton taking Process & Performance.
Consider this blog as our online home. If it doesn't yet feel like one, it will soon become one! This blog has been set up as an intellectual, reflective and critical resource and tool as we collectively undertake our creative journey through the next twelve months. It will function in a way, where we will initiate dialogue through posts and you will respond to them via your posts.
This module will be about discovering who we are and how we reflect this in our movement on a daily and an extra daily basis.The keywords you may want to start researching into as this module progresses are:
body
identity
sexuality
culture
dance-theatre
physical theatre
We hope to see you using this blog in a constructive and useful manner and on a regular basis. Looking forward to the start of a mammoth journey.
Royona & Paul B
Consider this blog as our online home. If it doesn't yet feel like one, it will soon become one! This blog has been set up as an intellectual, reflective and critical resource and tool as we collectively undertake our creative journey through the next twelve months. It will function in a way, where we will initiate dialogue through posts and you will respond to them via your posts.
This module will be about discovering who we are and how we reflect this in our movement on a daily and an extra daily basis.The keywords you may want to start researching into as this module progresses are:
body
identity
sexuality
culture
dance-theatre
physical theatre
We hope to see you using this blog in a constructive and useful manner and on a regular basis. Looking forward to the start of a mammoth journey.
Royona & Paul B
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