Dear All,
For those of you who follow and reply to the blog, an absence of a post last week was deliberate and was designed to help you focus on the blog assessment task at hand. Now that that is completed, here is a post for this week. As always we welcome your thoughts and value reading about your progress.
Today was a big day in a sense.
1. We witnessed all the different range of material we have already created (albeit in rough stages) and became aware of the varied emotional qualities that were running through the sections.
2. We ended the 'R' phase of the RSVP model of devising and although we will continue to generate resource and research movement/gestures and physicality through our bodies, we are soon to move onto the 'S' phase of the model where we start to 'score'.
3. We also extended and refined the opening ensemble section, giving it specific focus at times to emphasise the building of a loose structure/narrative. We re-evaluated certain characters and made one a perpetual part of Porto, while another an outsider, even to the new community that has just entered the space. This necessitated her late entrance.
In the light of the above, address the following questions:
1. Describe your response to witnessing the range of material we have generated and gathered over 5 weeks of the devising process. Did it give you any vision about Porto - even early images?
2. How do you think the 'resource' phase of devising has been beneficial for the company?
3. Has your character developed/changed/intensified emotionally and or physically over the last 5 weeks? Discuss
4. Discuss the potentials/opportunities that are beginning to emerge in Porto as a result of the two characters who don't quite fit into the community for different reasons. What do their presence do to the community?
Royona
Bahok, Akram Khan Dance Company
Exploring Liminality
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4 comments:
1.
Having 5 weeks to create material for Porto has been very interesting to participate and to observe.
The material which has been created has allowed character development for myself and for many other students.
The work created so far was not originally what I had in mind when given the concept for Porto.
My understanding has changed with the development of the work within Porto to a more interesting approach to the world which is Porto.
2.
The "R" stage has been very beneficial to the company simply because we are allowed to try ideas and nothing is set in stone even until the day of the production.
When crafting material in our small groups which was the "Photo" group we encountered some changed to material. When asked to complete another task the original task did not seem appropriate, I put forward an idea to the group which was approved and changed the order in which we worked the material.
3. Has your character developed/changed/intensified emotionally and or physically over the last 5 weeks? Discuss
My character has developed and changed drastically in 5 weeks. Originally my character did not want to make much contact with any of the residents inside of Porto.
However my character now wants to make friends because friends are of an important value, today for example when Nicola was entering, Richard made contact with my arm which sparked off an impulse for me to make friends with him which was a major part of my character development.
4.
Adding Nicola and Blake into the Porto world has changed the group dynamic greatly. In my opinion it has forced people to interact with one another which may not has done this 5 weeks back.
The two added characters will also give the audience a reason to question what they are doing there and why they are different which is not quite yet apparent even to myself as a performer.
When we had the play session today this was a large character boost for myself as said above because it allowed interaction with people who are not in our small (Photo group) community.
1. It was surprising to see how much material we have actually created. Been in separate groups for the past few weeks we were isolated from the rest of the work that was being devised. It was enjoyable to witness what the other groups had been working towards, and the relationships that had begun to develop.
To begin with I did not really have a clear vision as to what Porto would become. I was prepared to accept that the vision for Porto would only develop when we began to create the work. As an outside eye yourself and Paul obviously had a loose vision Porto, influenced by our items, giving us tasks that would lead us to the kind of work you wanted us to create. However know one could predict what material would be produced from those tasks.
2. I think this is crucial and beneficial to the development of Porto, as we can create work, try ideas and then eliminate what is relevant and what is not needed. I don’t feel like I have come across anything that has drastically not worked, the rough work that has been created in groups just need to be mouled and shaped and refined. But also this period of time has allowed us to discover our characters and others characters as it is not something can be set in stone. Now we have an idea of peoples characters, stories and relationships can now develop.
3. I don’t think my character has changed as such, I just think I have been able to discover more about my character. My character is based around the fact that she does not let people in easily. She chooses who she wants to make contact with, a harsh exterior is meant to be presented however underneath there is something warm and caring about her. The photograph I have which is made up of three photos signifies this double side to her personality. But that is only revealed to who she chooses. But over the past few weeks I have discovered who, if only a few, I would like to interact with on my journey. Although as yet I haven’t had a chance to work with them yet. So we will see what happens, but as a result of this exterior not many people have wanted to interact with me. But to be honest I wouldn’t want to if I was them. You never know you be the person to break down that barrier!
4. The two characters in Porto do disrupt this disrupted community in Porto which is ironic within itself. However I think the community is intrigued by these characters. We were enlightened about some of Blake’s character, however I think it will be really interesting if we ever discover what Nicola’s character is about. It is fascinating what drives Nicola’s character as hers is even more abstract than Blakes.
It was very interesting to watch how each group had progressed and how different all the extracts were. It's amazing to see how much material there really is and how this material can be worked on and developed further during the next few weeks. It's great to see strong characters emerging and engaging in relationships that I was intrigued by for example Gavin and Amy's. During their group performance my focus was entirely on them and it would be enthralling to see how their relationship could evolve.
I think my character has progressed imensely over the past few weeks. When we were first given our individual group tasks, I began this process with no idea of what my character was apart from the fact that it was a part of me. As myself, Leyna, I am always taking photo's of friends on the sly and trying to capture important moments of my life on camera as a record so I can reminisce on times, and this part of myself is really brought out during the photograph scene we have been working on.
When Nicola made her entrance during the opening of Porto, as she began to interact with people, my instinct was to take a picture, but something held me back and I thought it would be a drastic thing to do so soon in the opening. Then Paul came over to me and mentioned that I should maybe stand on a chair and attempt to take a picture, but resist from doing so. I found this interesting as this was exactly what I felt my character might do.
1. Seeing the material we have created so far gave me a sense of achievement, and made me feel appreciative towards everyone in the company. After what seemed like a lifetime of building our skills, we have now got something to show for it – collectively we have grown so much and even more over the last 5 weeks.
2. I think the resource stage has helped everyone in the company to ‘come to terms’ with what is ahead of us. It has allowed us all the revisit everything we have learnt and put it into action. The fact that we have started to create the material through play means that we are actually quite surprised when we create the material, which at times has a complex narrative behind it – or at least the potential to have. I think it is still quite difficult to accept the fact that nothing is finalised until the day of the performance, but this stage allows us to draft any material we may want to use or adapt.
3. Although the basis of my character has stayed the same, certain things have changed and intensified. The characteristics and especially the emotions have altered, and it has been interesting to connect with some of the other characters in Porto, especially Amy. I always seem to feel emotionally drained as well as physically tired after a session and I think this is because of the reasons behind my character. Just by returning to the times which have inspired my character cause me to remember things, emotionally and physically which at first I found strange, but I’m starting to think that Porto and my character will have more of an effect on me as a person than I initially thought.
4. The two individual characters who have been introduced are going to be very significant to Porto. I personally see Blake as a ‘father figure’ within Porto, who although seems stuck at the moment, will be an inspiration and maybe a great help to other characters. I can’t quite make my mind up about Nicola yet, but I’m interested to see how her character will develop within our world of Porto.
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