https://youtu.be/S0WESBhxKcU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZAM2Y_ZDU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k44jOjxrSg0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Eyjq_lYII&t=47s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUo7OpCvppY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9G5BVWbfS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUjBR6IO0Po

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3PtTvChG6k

Thoughts on adapting the material for video

Adapting to the space

The performance in the space would have had a very different and particular energy and I can do the full range of movements that I had planned to do when in the studio. I will have to make my movements with the same energy and quality of movements but compress them into a smaller distance and make sure that this is translated in the video. I will be trying to have multiple shots to show the story of the sequences. I will try to include a range of shots that can show the range of movements of the sequences and edit them together in the hopes that I can link the sequences in a way that a story starts to be created.

Ideas on how we could interact

Interaction through the video is going to be difficult and in a way, it is a key element in the original piece, however, I feel like our piece can take inspiration from the way that the piece introduces sequences and character into the same space in the square and through this shared space there is a link between all of the characters that have their own individual stories. I feel like focussing on our solo sequences and having them all up replaying at the same time in the final edit will be a form of connection as the whole piece. I also think in the edit if we can find a way to have moments of collective energy such as a group pause at a particular point of the video will be effective in having the group interact in a subtle way that won’t be pretentious as forcing a physical connection through the screen even though we are into very different places whilst this could work I believe we should stay on the side of having a collective moment of energy rather than trying to show us physically trying to connect digitally.

Week 6

Warm-up exercise in the space:

Today’s class was only me and Brandon and we took turns to lead the warm-up which was much like the previous warm-ups of just exploring the space and how we can change the dynamics of movements to move through it. It was interesting doing this in a two as it would mean that the time that we had to think of new dynamics of moving in the space was limited so really had to think on the spot to keep the movements fresh. I also think just having the two of us made it easier to follow the changes of movements having only to spot one person also the transitions of who was leading was easier to differentiate because it was clear when there was a lull and you had to take over.

Revision and precision of material:

After the warm-up, I revised the material that I didn’t get to revise in last week’s class. I revise the other space. I started to think more about the amount of time in the positions that I was in for instance how long do I sit on the grass for looking at the cloud how long lying down on the floor looking up at the clouds and how long sitting up picking the grass. I chose the timings and I work with the precision of the movements. I decided to pick the grass three times for instance. Before this session, the other place was focussed about more of what I was thinking in my head and the setting that I was picturing and the energy of how I felt about the setting. The thoughts were serene thoughts and I was happy and chilled on the top of a hill looking at the clouds.

https://youtu.be/bz3l8vZlzJA

Exploring different ways of documenting the material

After revising the material we went on to document each other’s sequences. I did the other space and I documented Brandon’s body parts sequence called the force. I was documenting the paths that Brandon took. I took to a page in my booklet and started to move the pen across the page as if the end of the pen was Brandon’s feet and mark his movements as he was doing his piece. I had to get him to do it a number of times to be assured that I had got the right movements. There were points in which he stopped to do a movement of the movement with his upper body forced the lower body to move from its spot. I tried to mark all of the key movements and movements of the piece on this documentation of where he moved across the stage. I marked these moments with a number and gave them a short title that I could remember them by. The thing about this sequence that Brandon did was that there was a lot of moving back and forth much like my body parts actions. This made the documentation slightly messy with a lot of the movements overlapping each other. Doing this documentation showed me that it is important to sell the reasons behind being moved across the room as if there is not a clear reason for moving to and fro in the same sort of direction on the stage the performance will be bland and confusing for an audience and for a performer. The force and wandering hand are similar in the fact that there is a battle going on with a body part that is being controlled and the character that doesn’t want to be controlled. When doing my Wandering hand I have to make sure that the movements that I make come with the relevant energy and story behind it of my having this happen me not being in control so the body part is dragging the rest of my body in a state of confusion and the points of shaking off the control to it being transferred into another body part to when I start to move in the space again needs to be dynamic from the point of stillness when I have the body part under control and the push that the other body part has when it regains the power over the rest of my body.

Relation with each other in space:

We then moved on from the documentation to then to explore the relation with Brandon’s the force with my the hill sequence in the space and finding a fusion between the two starts to create a sense of how we will merge or solo sequence to form the whole piece together. We started by both being off stage then coming into the space in our own time and start to perform our routines simultaneously. Once we finish the routine in one part of the space we would travel to another part of the stage and repeat the routine again. It was interesting just do the routine with another person doing a different routine in the same space with the two routines have very different energies. I feel like the distance in which we were performing from each other was also an interesting factor in regards to the energy of the room. When we were more distance from each other I felt like there was a sense of the stage as the square of the piece being in two different places for the two different characters. When the distance was close and Brandon got close to me in the part of his piece when he is being dragged by his hand and he manages to stop himself and he stopped himself just in front of me there was a real sense of tension that Brandon was restraining his body part from potentially wanting to hurt or do something to my character. There were points in our routine when we would stop the sequence of the routine and just observe the others. This moment I feel was the most effective when we were close and Brandon was coming towards me and whilst I was in my state of peace and serenity I feel like this contrast in the energy created a very interesting dynamic and conflict. There was a point where I was transitioning to a different part of the room to restart my routine still rolling the blades of grass in my hand whilst Brandon was at the start of his routine as he was on the phone walking looking at the phone. We walked passed each both focusing on what we were doing with our hands and then we bumped shoulders and looked at each other as we bumped pass each then moved back into a position and resumed our routines. I feel like this was a great moment as it felt like we both disrupted each other for me it was like Brandon disrupted the peace and serenity that I was feeling by being alone on the hill and for Brandon, I feel like that could have been the reason for his body losing control and that there could be another storyline that is developed that I inflicted this on him which caused him to have this out of control hand and that would work at he was at the start of his routine and me being serene as he does his routine would work well with this storyline.

Improvisation and exploration in space (the square)

After creating the clash we started to explore all of our material in relation to each in the space looking for a way to enter the space and leave the space with multiple new ways of leaving the space and entering the space became available like hiding behind the curtain the doors from the back of the space the door at the side of the space and the doors at the other end of the space. I feel like this gave me a good sense of all the ways that the group as a whole can enter the stage and we can explore with the timings of the entrances of the group and the energy that we come into the stage with to create interesting moments in the pieces and possibly start to form some storylines that link with each other with the entrances and exits.

Week 5

The object Umbrella Businessman

In Tuesday’s rehearsal, I started to develop the character with the man with an umbrella. I took the little bit work that I did on the scenario of the umbrella with its normal function with the man in the rain waiting for the bus and tried to keep that same type of character for the “Umbrella Businessman”. I wanted to capture the impatience and annoyance of the character that I create in the scenario but one where the character moves around the space and has more actions than waiting at the bus stop. So I started to think about how the businessman would walk and I came up with him walking very stiff with very short steps in which he barely lifts his foot from the floor sort of shifting himself around the space. I would have the character standing upright with his arms stuck to his sides, holding the umbrella with his right hand and resting it on his shoulder. I build this physicality for this character as I imagine him to be a very serious, awkward man in an annoyed mood due the rain and his lateness. Every couple steps the man would take he would perform one of the four actions that I created for him to show his impatience and growing annoyance. The actions that created were taking a sharp sniff, looking at his watch on his left hand, sneezing, putting out his left hand to check if it’s still raining after all of these actions I would take a deep sigh before starting to walk again.

Looking at the Bird’s Death

During Tuesday’s rehearsal we came up with a group moment with Brandon and Josh. We were doing the actions with our objects and moving around the space amongst each other and we wanted to come together and be connected by a singular point. We wanted to do this moment because when we were walking around the space it felt like we were in the same space contrary to the other space but it felt like we were disconnected much like the inner city atmosphere when people don’t interact with each other and just keep to their own and we thought that a moment that had a point of connection would resonant compared to the dynamic that we already had. I thought that it would be a good idea for the three of us to be doing our own action then at the same time look to the sky to all observe something happen at the same time to break out of our actions and show that we are in the same space and to build the tension of what we saw. We then thought that it could be the death of a bird and we could track the flight of the bird’s fall with our eyes and slowly come together to look at where the bird had landed, we also thought that the bird could be shown by a spotlight with the silhouette of a bird and it fall the spotlight expands of gets brighter to show the fall of the bird from the height of the sky.

Warm-up exercise in the space

In today’s class’ warm-up we explored the floor and the different heights that we can use in the space. Exploring in all the ways how you can be the lowest that you can be in the space and the tallest that you can be in the space and also the biggest and the smallest whilst moving in the space. I found the sticking point of this exercise was to what extent you can think outside the box is tough and to keep doing so. I felt at one point that thinking of how to be as low or as high as possible was the restricting factor, much like most of the warm-ups, and as soon as I stopped thinking so much and explored my body and the movement of the body fully the more interesting things arose and more ideas came.

We then moved on to the dripping tap exercise which was imagining that a tap was dripping from the sky and trying to move your body to get every part of your body wet from the dripping of the water. When moving around imaging the drip of water it was hard not to be self-conscious and reluctant. It was also hard to maintain the stable imagine of the water dripping in one place and for the mind not to wonder. There was various points of doing this exercise when I was fully committed to imagining the dripping water and fully committing to the movements to get my body wet, but then those moments were fleeting as I caught myself in a weird position and got self-conscious or I started to think of the parts of the body that I didn’t reach and then got in my own head. In those moments of full commitment to picturing the drip I could see it clearly and my mind was clear of external thoughts and the drip had my singular focus, then the movements came naturally from just focussing on the drip, anytime I lost that focus on the drip the moment was broken and the movements were less free and dynamic.

We then walked around the space normally paying close attention to the way in which we walk. We focussed on the bigger actions of how we walked like what we led with and how our weight is distributed and our natural walking rhythm down to smaller mannerism like how we hold our hands whilst we walk. I found that I walk relatively slowly with a steady pace, I land on my heel when walking and finish my step toes, I’m upright and my chest is up and that has my head propped up slightly raised, my arms are by my side and loose and have a slight swing.

The Other Person

Following the warm-up we moved on from analysing how we walked to start to observe the way that someone else in the room was walking around the room paying attentions to the same details that we paid attention to in the warm-up. From observing we started to imitate these behaviours. Starting to build up the other person’s physicality. We would transition from our imitation of the other person to naturally walking as ourselves. I was walking as Jack. Jack walks with is head leading and his neck slightly extended. His right hand is cupped with his palm facing behind him his left is has its thumb in his pocket and the rest of the hand hanging out. His right arm swings gently but his left is stiff in held by pocket. His foot moves low to the ground and lands with his heel first. He leans forward and has a slight slouch. He walks relatively briskfully and tends to have a very slight rocking from side to side with each step. After building this imitation we started to walk as our normal selves the room and start to perform so normal actions that we would do in the space, for example there was a chair in the space that we had to interact with in some way whether it was sitting on it naturally or stepping over it. Whilst we were walking around the space interacting with the space we would observe the person that we were imitating doing these actions then recreate them when doing the imitation in the space again. Jack would slouch in the chair and not stay in the seat for very long. Jack also did a little shuffle with his feet when people would walk directly at him and get close. Jack also stepped over the chair with a bend back kind of skipping off of it with his haed down with his bent back.

Revision and precision of all material:

After the break we went over all of the material that we have and started to work on their details to polish their actions. I revised the Body parts, Opposites, The Object, The characters that we chose from the text.

Week 4 (Just Tues Rehearsal)

Developing the drunk

There was no Friday class due to the strike however I did come in for the Tuesday rehearsal (the first one due to the light workshop and the Library session the last couple weeks) to develop the physical actions of the character “The Drunk.” I started with the breath of the character as I feel when creating a character the breath is an effective way to start as it sets the emotional state of the character and starts to affect your physicality naturally simultaneously. For the drunk the breath is laboured, deep and slow this is because being intoxicated leads to shortness of breath and fatigue and this was a good place to start to build the physicality of the character off of. The deep breathing also gave me a sense of weight, a heaviness which started to build on the mood of the character being tired and trying to get home but struggling so having a sense of hopelessness. I went on from the breath to start working on my gaze. The gaze of the drunk is glazed and unfocussed eyes which is typical of drunks with the sense of looking at something but looking through it not being able to fully focus on anything. Doing this really helped to convey the image of a drunk and added to the state of struggle another layer of confusion and disorientation. From the eyes, I went on to explore how I would move around the space. I decided that I should move quite slowly around the room due to all the debilitating factors due to being drunk, so I took very short steps and every now and then stumble on a step with my foot in mid-air which would mean that I would have to take a second to recompose and steady myself. I rotated my hip in a circle throughout the piece to get a swaying from side to side to show that I am constantly trying to keep my balance. I decided that I would have a constant smile and occasion giggle when playing the drunk because although it is a struggle to manoeuvre around the space I think that due to being intoxicated it has left the drunk with less in habitations he is self-amused by the struggle that he inflicted on himself.

After getting the basics of the character I started to create some actions that I can remember and repeat intermittently throughout my journey around the space. I started by rubbing my face which would then turn into a big yawn with my arms outstretched. I would then stretch out more with my left hand on my left hip and stretching my whole body to the left with my right arm over my head touching my ear and vice versa on the right side. I would then start to laugh deep from the belly with my hand on my stomach slightly bent over, the laugh would turn into a cough and I would bend more, the cough would turn into a retch as if I was about to vomit which would be the cause for me to quickly stand upright and try and hold the vomit in. I would then take two stumbling steps to the left then to the right as a reaction to holding in the vomit.

Boxing in the street

Josh and I played around with the idea of our two characters meeting in the square, perhaps bumping into each other unintentionally and start to fight in the street. This would be apt for my character as the bumping into each other would be easily done by the drunk due to his lack of balance and I am sure that the obnoxious behaviour of the drunk will be noticed by the other characters in the square and prompt Josh’s character to react when the bumping happens. Getting violent is also something that is common amongst drunks.

Week 3

Discussion

Today’s discussion started with a discussion about the piece where are devising is based from “The Hour in which we knew nothing of each other by Peter Hanke and discussed Hanke’s political stances and the controversy surrounding him and his Nobel prize win. The question asked to the group was can you separate the art from the artist? And also should we integrate/reference his controversy in our interpretation? The main consensus from the discussion was that the art can and should be separated from the artist and I agreed with that point with the condition that the art doesn’t reflect a perspective that I cannot codon which is not the case in “The hour in which we knew nothing of each other”. Whilst believing that the art should be separate from the artist and willing to include a reference to Hanke’s connection with the visitation of the dictator’s Slobodan Milosevic funeral, I don’t see how or why we would include a reference to the event unless we started to build the piece around a centralised theme in contrast to the nationalist views as I don’t feel adding a political reference in a piece that isn’t very political is impactful or valuable.

Warm-up

We warmed up by doing the same warm as the last two lessons moving around the space being aware of the others in the room. We then moved onto changing the rhythm and tempo around the room interchanging from travelling the fastest way we could around the room to the slowest way that we could travel. I feel like these changes in speed changed the dynamic in the room with the quickest movements being more vibrant and alive energy and the slowest, more mellow energy which built up in tension. Thoughts in my head when moving fast was few and far between with me just trying not to bump into each other whilst when walking slowly I had a lot more thoughts as I had more time to think about the specificity of my movements and focus on how my movements were realistic nuances of walking normally in a slow version.

We then started to work on occupying the most and the least space in the room while travelling around the space. I found it difficult to think of the different ways of making my body the biggest and smallest it can be without staying in the same position. I feel like the exercise taught me to think more abstractly rather than practically about how to be small and how to be big as I initially took the request as a task of efficiency of being the smallest and biggest meaning only being in the one position where I thought I was the biggest or smallest I could ever be rather than an explorative task to finding new ways of being small or big.

From that exercise we were split into two groups and we had to travel around the room constantly in physical contact with each other discovering new ways in being contact with each other and moving in unconventional ways. I struggled in terms of variety in this exercise in terms of the contact with the group and different movements of travelling, I feel that I learnt from the last exercise in how to move more abstractly but it took me some time during this exercise to get into the mind-set of exploring with the ways in which that I can be in physical contact with a member of my group.

The organism

The warm-up developed into the organism exercise which was a group of three (with Leo and Brandon) that would have to move around the room in contact with each other occupying the smallest and biggest amount of space that we could. The difficulty with this exercise is communicating without speech and how we could move around the space whilst maintaining the contact and exploring the different ways of moving and whilst being big or small. We as a group took some time to start to develop a means of non-verbal communication on how to start moving around the room effectively. The thing was when we started to move across the room effectively the amount of exploration of different shapes that we could make whilst as the organism decreased and we weren’t as creative as we could have been in how we were connecting to each other. Being on top of each other having to climb around and under each other whilst being physically connected gave a sense of aliveness as a creature and we were one entity but with conflicting separate moving features. It felt like an embryonic creature learning and expanding whilst moving and exploring the ways of travel through the space, I feel this was because of our constrictions we had to adapt in order to move.

The other space

We then went onto to the other space exercise as we laid on the floor to start to feel the weight of our body on the floor observing the feelings that we felt and the sounds that we heard. We then started to imagine ourselves in another space and to imagine the different texture of how the ground feels in the environment that we are imagining. I started to think of being on a grassy hill in a park area during summer. I started to imagine the sensations of laying on the soft grass with the sun on my face and the occasional breeze of air. I was alone on the hill and this I think was the most important feeling, the feeling of peace. We then were told to open our eyes and start to exist within our imaginary environment. I started with just looking at cloud in the sky when on the hill sitting up with my arms hugging my bent legs. I then slowly lied back with coming together prop up my head from off the floor and stretched out my legs straight still looking at the clouds. I then sat back up to the same position this time picking some grass grains and rolling them in my hand then looking back at the clouds. I then stood and started to walk out of the space still rolling the grass and looking at the clouds and then at the grass in my hand. I feel like the serenity is an interesting quality to have in terms of the whole piece with “Wandering hand”, “The Opposite actions” and “the organism” being less calm and faster paced and frantic. Whilst doing the exercise with all the others doing their own spaces I think the contrast in the room was quite interesting being in the same space but have different spaces in the mind, the room felt a little bit like organised chaos.

The object

We all brought some objects to explore with in class and I brought a bike helmet and an umbrella. We started to walk around the room and explored the ways that our objects can be used in an abstract way to its normal function. I found it quite difficult to think on my feet and create many different alternative functions for the objects. As the task went on the mind became more empty for ideas and I found that you had to just think of any random item and try to make it believable as you possible could and if it didn’t work or feel right just to quickly move on to something else, this was easier said than done. The functions that I got for the helmet was holding and rocking it in my arms as if it was a baby, dragging it by its straps on the floor as it was a dog, holding it as if it was a bowl that I mimed eating from, dribbling around with it as if it was a football, wrapping it around my neck by the straps as if it was a necklace, reaching up and twisting into the ceiling as if it was a lightbulb and the functions that I got for the umbrella was swing with it closed as if it was a golf club, moving around the room dipping besides each side of me as if it was a rowing oar, with it open sweep the floor as if it was a broom, holding it in front of me sideways as it was a bicycle handlebars moving with my legs pumping up and down like I’m riding a bike, moving it quickly from to side to side like a  toothbrush, holding it to my ear as if it was a phone, having the umbrella out and looking and feeding it like a fish pond.

We then started to explore the objects as they normal function in the space and to create scenarios around that function. For the Umbrella waiting in the rain annoyed and frustrated waiting for a bus. I would often take a look to see if the bus was coming by leaning my torso forward and turning my head. I would also be tapping my foot impatiently and have a constant annoyed energy of not being still. With my helmet tired and injured hobbling home with bicycle, holding my helmet under my arm on my midriff. I would hobble along as though my left leg was injured and be out of breath and every now and have a little grimace of pain.

Week 2

Warm-Up

This classes warm-up started as last week did by walking in the space and being aware of others in the space changing rhythm, levels and dynamics which the rest of the class had to follow.

We then followed up the first part of the warm-up with a new exercise, we had to be certain distances from each member of the class. It started as one metre and then the room was in a constant state of measuring and judging and adjustment. The distance was constantly being changed and then the quality of negotiating the manoeuvres was very different. The shorter the distance the more frantic the moving to adjust to everyone else in the group. The connection amongst the group was more physically obvious and people were so close to each that people the group energy was more hysterical as people didn’t have a lot of space to make their adjustments people were getting in each other’s way and changing the distances in relation to others. At a longer distance, I could see people measuring in their head how far they were from people and the movements of adjustments slower and more analytical like a lion hunting its prey.

The Opposite Actions

We then worked in partners (I was with Kaja) moving around the space doing the opposite action of our partner, for instance, if our partners start going down towards the floor we would have to stretch and towards the ceiling. I found this exercise quite hard when following my partner as defining what the opposite of an action is quite difficult and how many elements to focus on what difficult to gauge. We spent time experimenting trying to catch each other out which was wasn’t a good idea too forming clear actions. I think it’s also important to isolate and focus on to the opposite of one element of an action so if Kaja was walking forwards and upright with her hands in the air I think the dominate action to oppose is the hands in the air so I should walk with my hands towards the floor rather than trying to be completely opposite walking backwards down low with a bent back and my hand towards the ground. It was much easier to follow clear, defined movements and worked better as the actions for us to use for a sequence that we can repeat and remember and be clear to an audience that we are connected. We decided to break down the actions into separate actions that isolate specific features of movements and we came up with five defined actions to use in our sequence with one opposite voiced action.

The voice action “Cat and Dog” is that we would make a meow noise and I would make a dog noise after it. Depending on the volume of the meow being loud or quiet I would do the opposite with the woof. This can be used whilst doing any of the other actions obviously.

The “In and Out” action is that one person would walk upright with their arms and the other and would have their arms out to the side bent with their hands on their breasts.

The “Star and Ball” action is that one person would have their arms extended and legs extended diagonally making themselves as wide as possible whilst walking. The other person is walking curled up into a ball trying to be as small as possible whilst walking.

The “Up and Down” action is that one person would crouch down whilst walking a bit like the ball but not trying to make themselves as small as possible still have a straight back just getting low with the legs bent still walking and the other walking with their chest to the ceiling upright trying to be as tall as possible whilst still walking upon the toes of their feet.

The “Forwards and Backwards” action was that one person would jog forward and the other would walk backwards.

The “Jump and Anti-Jumping” action is that one person would jump and the other would anti-jump (crouch as if landing from a jump downwards)

Group Improvisation

From the opposite actions, we took a quick break and documented the actions that we wanted to keep and use from our exploration. We went onto a group improvisation using the opposite actions with our partners. We had to notice how we interacted whilst taking the short drinks break and act like that at the start of the improvisation; chatting, drinking, on the phone etc. We then from that starting point enter the space to be eventually joined by our partners or joining our partners that have already made their way to the space, then would perform the same actions of imitating the break within the space.

We then went onto improvising with the opposite actions with the other partner’s actions as well as our own. There started with an equal amount of numbers on each side of the space we then would walk into the space and perform a series of the opposite action then leave the space. Our partners would then enter the space and do the opposite of the actions that their partner had done. There was a maximum of 4 people in the space at one time and partners could be in the space at the same time each other. The exercise started a bit tentatively and we didn’t fully commit to the exploration of distance, interaction with other people and owning the space but as the exercise went on we became more loose and explorative to the possibilities of the exercise. I remember walking into the space, being low as in the “up and down” action and walk besides Brandon who was sitting in the chair and I loudly barked as the dog from the “cat and dog” action, it was a nice moment of interaction and a good dynamic within the space creating an unspoken, impromptu connection whilst having separate actions and relation to each other.

Documentation

After the group improvisation, I redid my body parts sequence “Wandering Hand” Jack wrote done my actions in detail after watching it twice paying close attention to the specifics of my movements.

The Doer and the teller

Jack then started to build a narrative to go with my Wandering hand sequence. He started to describe an invisible man that was dragging me across the room that I kept shrugging off. This gave me a new perspective on my piece as initially I had the vague idea that my hand was being controlled from within like my hand was going rogue rather than an external force taking hold off my hand and pulling it. This exercise gave me a question that I can answer about the sequence. The question being my reaction to being dragged across the room is it something internal or external that I am fighting against and how I can effectively show that through my facial expression, the quality of my movements and the transition between each body part being controlled.

After Jack narrated my action it was my turn to narrate for him, but since he didn’t have an action prepared, I was to create a sequence from scratch from my narration of an improvised story. The story started with him waiting at the bus stop and getting impatient, checking his watch and then deciding to walk across the street where he is met by a big dog that he is scared off which makes him fall to the ground and then get back up and run back to the bus stop. Jack reacted to the story and performed at the same time. It was quite difficult to give a story that resulted in big actions that Jack could work with so I found that I was trying to just focus on the actions that I could provide for him despite how weird and unsensual the story was. The actions weren’t great and neither was the story, if we were to do the exercise again I think I would focus on a better more realistic story focussing on emotion and plot rather than trying to give actions for Jack to interpret in his movements and I would advise him to let go of realism not to take the story literally and work off an impulse to create the movements based off whatever triggers him to move, the emotions, the situation, the characters etc.

Week 1

Warm-Up

At the start of the class, we warmed up by moving around the space, filling the space as much as possible whilst paying attention to our own natural movements. This start gave us a good basis in which to build addition physicality that we want to place over own natural movements and inclinations. We also were aware of our relation to the other people in the space which also lays out a good basis for working as a group in the space whilst focussed on our own individual movements.

The warm-up then transitioned into a more group focussed exercise as one person would lead the whole group’s rhythm and direction around the space. This developed a different focus as we began to collaborate as an ensemble moving in unison in terms of rhythm and changing of direction but still individual in own route around the space. This meant that you needed to keep an eye on at least one of the other members of the group if not the leader to keep in the loop with the change of movements. At first, the movements were quite reserved but progressively the leaders tried to make think more difficult and dynamic for the group playing with pace and levels.

Leading with a body part

The warm-up smoothly transitioned into the next exercise as we moved from this changing of levels, directions, rhythm and pace as a group to working individuality but with the same energy of being shifted around the space by a leader, however this time we were being led by a body part of our own. We were moved by the head, the hip, foot, knee and even the tongue, which all brought different qualities of movement. I found that being led with the head was a lot heavier than any other body part which meant that the movements were slower naturally and when there was a change of direction it was more jarring, laboured and it pulled the whole body with it. Moving with the hand leading was a lot quicker and sharper and I could move around the room a lot quicker. I enjoyed being led with the hand the most as I think it allowed me to be more expressive with my movements as there was the most range of movement up high and down low and the longest reach with it being attached on the end of my arm. I found being led with the foot was the most difficult with the feet being the thing that leads the movement naturally it was hard from one foot to be dictating the movement and the other hopping around.

Composition of “Wandering Hand”

Using the leading body part exercise we started to create a composition using three body parts being the lead. From the body parts exercise I enjoyed being led the most by the hand, the hip and the head so these were the components that I used when composing the short routine. I started to develop some movements being led by the hand. I decided that I wanted my composition Wandering Hand to show me being possessed by something within me and I am being unwillingly led by it. I showed this by following my right hand whilst being led in a bemused fashion. My head would turn as my hand would showing that I was trying to follow the thing that was possessing me. Led from the hand I was dragged across the room, turned then dragged across the other side. This happens three times then my hand and head look down and was dragged down low to the floor. From the floor, I was dragged right to left. I would then shake off my arm three times standing upright flicking my wrist with the shakes. I then hit my hand on my hip whilst shaking transferring the lead to my hip. Being led by the left hip protruding I would take 12 slow steps to walk in a circle back into my starting position. The slow walking is to show my struggle against being dragged by my hip. I would then shake my hip three times and then body roll up to my head and stick out my head forward to show that it was moved up into my head. I was then dragged by my head forward. I showed this by sticking out my head forward with my neck stretching all the way forward. I took three steps forward with my head out with a slightly bent back to show the resistance to being pulled from the rest of the body. The steps are the same dynamic as when I was being pulled by my hand with my feet and legs being the last parts of my body to move to show my resistance to the movement that is in my head. Once I have taken the three steps I then my head jarringly jerks backwards and my slightly bent back now is lent back and the same thing happens for the three steps forward except it’s in reverse as I take three steps backwards this time. My feet and legs are now the closes to the audience and my head is all the way back in my chest and is tipped slightly up and I take three steps backwards. I then go forward and backwards once more. I then whipped my head from my neck down into my left shoulder three times as to shake the control out of my head and then stand still.

I decided that I wanted to start the routine on the floor because the piece needed a clear starting point and a clear ending point. I start the piece with my legs crossed sitting on the floor following my right hand with my eyes and head in a trance-like state. My hand moves from the right to the left back to the right then to the left. When my hand moves to the right again it moves diagonally and upwards when my arm is outstretched which then pulled my up to a standing position and then drags me across to the right side of the room.

Exercise on precision and feedback

After constructing the composition we had to perform it to the rest of the class twice. The class will be looking for any variations from the first time it was performed to the second. Performing it the first time compared to the second time, I feel that the dynamics of the movements were sharper and more focussed the first time than the second time. I feel that the first time had more energy. With the movements being sharper tenser when hitting the turning points it made the performance feel like my hand, hip and head were more controlling of me which was the effect that I wanted, so that was the note that I took and I will be performing it with more vicar and purposeful movements to give the impression that I am being dragged across the room and I am trying to fight it.

Group exercise

The class was then split into two groups. Our group had to enter the space at random and perform the composition simultaneously and find a way of exiting the room at random. We all entered the space at different times, staggering the timings of our movements. It was difficult to decide when to come in and how to own the space before starting the action. When doing the action there was any interaction with the others but there was something in doing it simultaneously that created an unspoken shared connection despite our pieces being separate. When doing the exercise I was aware of how I should leave the room. I felt as though my entrance wasn’t a strong entrance and was tentative so I was looking for a strong exit to my action. I decided to use the controlling hand to lead me out of the room and to exit through the open side door. Transitions between actions is a key point that about my movements this week’s session within the actions itself and the way I enter and leave the space as there is where I will start to build and maintain the meaning or the story of the piece.