Session 6

Reborn 'discoveries' 

In this lesson we started off with an excersie where we were being reborn, discovering our bodies as if we'd been born again. This excersie is about discovery and revealing. Discovering your body parts and how does it feel? How does it work? What is it used for? And mostly pure fascination or curiosity. When we were taking the time to discover and explore I found myself instantly linking rational thoughts. Like maybe I'm here because something bad happend to me and I'm relearning things that usually come second nature to you. And the way how babies are so determined to learn how to move, walk and stand. I think that during this exercise I was thinking too much and not truly allowing myself to be lose and open. I find this extremely hard because everything to my is logically in some way or form. If I didn't think rationally about how I'm there or to to have the mind set of a baby then I'm sure I would become animalistic in some way because it just how I think. I believe it's very hard to just lose your consince thoughts because how do you function. I think as long as you don't let it hinder you and stop you from being expressive then it's not that bad. 

Whole year group piece

Responding to a question 

In this lesson we worked as a whole year group responding to a question that was asked. We had to answer it honestly with our physicality and body language and it was better to discover the answer in other ways than talking or using diogloue. In order for the excersie to work you had to be very disciplined and not let anything distract you, you have to take full responsiblity for your learning and progress. We started by working in pairs then we had to work with another pair and answer different questions physically. After that we then started to work as a whole ensemble. I personally loved this because it gives you the opportunity to truly be honest with yourselfs without having to justify you choices or decisions. It was instructed that we lose conscience thoughts but I couldn't. I was asked a question and I responded truthfully for example one question was "what keeps you up at night?" Which for me is technology like my phone or iPad so I went with my iPad. I noticed that a lot of peoples reactions were typical or generic. I don't know if that was because maybe people weren't completely honest with themselves or sure however they generally may of felt the same but I found that annoying because when people start to copy each other it becomes boring and not very interesting to watch. Also I noticed that a lot of people at first just clumped into the centre of the room which was  disappointing because it makes the space unbalanced and visually unappealing. 

After that the teachers picked out specific people to answer a question and develope their physicality to lead the rest of the class. At first I thought this would be very interesting because you allow one person to find their own truth then they encourages others to do the same but follow. But this is not what happend, instead people just copied the person leading and I found myself getting disengaged with the activity because of the lack of individaulity and authenticity of the piece. I couldn't help but feel like that one persons discovery it's not yours. I don't think that a lot of people fully connected to the activity to fully commitment themselves to the task. Either way I really enjoyed this because it gave me the opportunity to be truly free and expressive with myself in a way that I haven't been before. 

Session 4

WHOLE GROUP PIECE

Creation inspired by Rene Magritte’s – The Lovers

The Lovers René Magritte

(Belgian, 1898–1967)

“My painting is visible images which conceal nothing,” he wrote, “they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, ‘What does it mean?’ It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.”

http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/rene-magritte-the-lovers-le-perreux-sur-marne-1928

I really like this painting because it shows you that sometimes things aren't how they are presented or perceived to be and that not everything is black or white. It is left up to our imaginations to try and work out what the image is and what it means. The painter said "It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.” Implying that no ones interpretation is wrong. 

I like this painting being the stimulus of our piece because it allows us to create our own meaning and interptations but to also provoke mystery amongst our audince. 

CREATIVE EXERCISES

Finding "elemental movement"

Embody as ice, water, molten lava, wood, metal

Move/travel as these - ice, water, molten lava, wood, metal transitioning from one to the other.

We had to travel around the space embodying different substances like solides and liquids. This affected our movement because when your walking through water your most likely to walk quite slow but weighted but if you became water your movements would be airy and you'd glide and your weight would also be light and even balanced. Depending on your thought process your Imitation of the substance can vary. You can be very heavy and fast which could indicate dangerouse waves. I think there's no right and wrong to your movements because you can manipulate your movemnets to fit different situations. Water in a cup that is left alone is not going to look the same as water that someone is shaking so when you replicate a substance you automatically link your conscience dissucions to your thoughts and memories. 

Responding to objects that can move

Watching a plastic bag screwed up and unravelling 

In small groups respond and recreate the movement physically without talking discussing.

We had to watch and recreat the movement of a plastic bag. This was very interesting to observe and try to replicate with your group because your tying to copy the properties of an item. I instantly thought about how to link what the bag was doing to what a human does which I discovered was breathing. Altough the bag cannot physically breath it moved as though it had a pulse like it was breathing. I watched the bag go back and fourth and I wanted to show that. It was fascinating to me that we could take a item to inspire us and creat art. This to me is abstarct work because if someone didn't know what we were doing I doubt they'd of thought we were trying to embody a plastic bag. There was no need to speak to your group because of the level of concentration and commitment was evident. Without talking about how we felt or what we thought the bag was doing or how it was moving we just started working toghter and naturally developed an understanding of our movement. Which was slight, slow and flowing we also huddled closely together which symbolised to me the tight properties(atoms) that make a plastic bag. 

Ensemble

Flocking/shoaling - moving as an ensemble

Build the ensemble - "Yes Lets"

Develop the ensemble moving, speaking, travelling as a group

With the ensemble work I found that it helped us as a class to work well collectivly. In order for the activity to work everyone had to give their full commitment and dedication. I found myself fully focused and open and I think by doing activities like this it helps you to connect to the rest of the actors In the class and builds a respectable relationship with people. Although I believe this is beneficial but for me I find it quite hard to concentrate and process the fast changes like who's leading then who's changed the direction in which the rest of us are following. However I do enjoy 'Yes Let's' because it gets you out of your comfort zone and really warms you up. I think these excersises are really helpful because they helped you to understand how our ensemble piece was going to work and develope. 

Scratch Performance

Every group shares their work with the rest of the group who give feedback and suggestions.

Me, Jasper and Ellis used one mirror that was slightly damaged and we sat in front of the mirror and one by one showed how we felt about ourselves. I was prideful, Ellis was envyous and jasper was insecure. We done our physicality and emotions in stages (scale 1-3).   

What will you do next?

Work on timing 

Getting all the props we need 

Clearer structure that we can keep repeating 

What useful advice/suggestions were made?

Have no diogloue because it's more powerful and intriguing 

Separate mirror so it more personal 

What costume, props do you need to gather/find?

Comfortable causal nighties 

A makeup bag with makeup and money in it 

Three long mirrors 

What are you trying to communicate?

We are trying to communicate that no matter who we are and where we are in life we can't necessarily hide from ourselves. We constantly try to cover up or not acknowledge the things we dislike about ourselves because we are some what ashamed but the smallest things about ourselves the good, the bad and the ugly make us who we are. I think our piece is relatable to people because everyone's believes they have flaws that some try to hide and other don't. I think by using props like  money in a makeup bag full of markup I think I makes an audince question the media themselves and the girl (me) why is she doing this. I think by wearing nighties shows how even when your at home and you should be comfortable and relaxed you can be your own worst critic. Our question is simply why do we put ourselves down and try to live up to perfection and is there a such thing?