Why does it feel so good to write those words?
Because I am emotionally, physically and mentally drained after this term. I am sure that the commute has a part to play and I think my re location for next term will help in that department.
Physically we don't have any many practical movement sessions as I would like but cycling has keep me active and strong so I can be pleased for that.
I love to cycle away from something and feel the freedom of traveling swiftly and independently whether in a solid direction or a meandering flow I am off somewhere.
I think because this MA is the reason I have cut of from other links and work and it isn't integrated into my life, it is my life, means that I expect alot from it. I always wanted to do something like this alongside working in the industry as normal but this isn't really happening yet.
I feel a bit stuck in this land of reflection and it's killing me softly.
But I also have a problem when I think about the next course, about going to Gaulier next year for example? do I need to this, is it excessive, my feeling is no.
So I need to be happy with my i am here now and what may happen as a result.
To write and articulate my practice is good for me, because it is hard.
Wow so many short sentences with full stops at the end, I am finding this hard obviously. The boxing off is pissing me off and it always has. How can I keep my spirit alive, the passion for doing what I do?
Okay i'm going to pack for home and continue this later.
I full term one analysis is coming! in some form anyway, i need to put it in it's place and not as an almighty weight for me to bear.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Ha Hello
Lots has been going on, research, anatomy my way, socialising, teaching, reflecting, wanting to be elsewhere BIG TIME, rushes of inspriation, the space between is what im playing for, the future, the present but rarely the past, rectus femerous, owning it, the movement director, love far away, voice my voice, tension, imagary, release, persona, an enormus sense of wellbeing, more than just yoga!, the pleasure of boring things, I am what I am....
Finding a connection through body and voice, emotion in the voice and the capacity to play your role through what you are really feeling experiencing.
Presentation 2 - I want to communicate something well. I want to stay connected to my audience. I want to give accessible, useable advice. I think I did this on tuesday when talking about how an actress would play the role of a pregnant character.
Why has my writing on here become less poetic and free?, why does this happen?, my source of inspiration seems to be in the building more than outside. So I think my learning has become a bit tunnel vision and maybe this has left me flat. I do want to tunnel myself because I think it is necessary but I also feel connected to my knowlege when I open my senses and live. To make it real is how I own it. I need to trust that.
I had a lovely sense of me on my way this week with a big difference in the work I presented compared to my peers I was happy. I mean happy in the knowledge that I was less technical, included less aquired knowledge as them but that I did the task my way. I learned from it.
I take the notes that they give me and I must plod on and keeping working my way.
Its the first time for years that I don't know what is round the corner which seems strange as I havn't had regular work for 6 years which is normal, but this sensation is different. I am living in a new place, completley new, I am in love, I think i'm taking a risk, I am starting a new chapter out here and in me.
Some things I heard this week...
Actors want to feel but they would be better sensing
Actors are the creators, the team around them just support it
As a movement person working with actors keep your powder dry don't be a 'movement person'
Work with the actor, in their language
Hold back, let them do it. Don't be a wonderful mover it's not useful
The movement musn't overtake the expression
Keep the warm up, gestural rooted in pedestrian movements
use voice - actors need it
be very focused on the aim of the movement session
Finding a connection through body and voice, emotion in the voice and the capacity to play your role through what you are really feeling experiencing.
Presentation 2 - I want to communicate something well. I want to stay connected to my audience. I want to give accessible, useable advice. I think I did this on tuesday when talking about how an actress would play the role of a pregnant character.
Why has my writing on here become less poetic and free?, why does this happen?, my source of inspiration seems to be in the building more than outside. So I think my learning has become a bit tunnel vision and maybe this has left me flat. I do want to tunnel myself because I think it is necessary but I also feel connected to my knowlege when I open my senses and live. To make it real is how I own it. I need to trust that.
I had a lovely sense of me on my way this week with a big difference in the work I presented compared to my peers I was happy. I mean happy in the knowledge that I was less technical, included less aquired knowledge as them but that I did the task my way. I learned from it.
I take the notes that they give me and I must plod on and keeping working my way.
Its the first time for years that I don't know what is round the corner which seems strange as I havn't had regular work for 6 years which is normal, but this sensation is different. I am living in a new place, completley new, I am in love, I think i'm taking a risk, I am starting a new chapter out here and in me.
Some things I heard this week...
Actors want to feel but they would be better sensing
Actors are the creators, the team around them just support it
As a movement person working with actors keep your powder dry don't be a 'movement person'
Work with the actor, in their language
Hold back, let them do it. Don't be a wonderful mover it's not useful
The movement musn't overtake the expression
Keep the warm up, gestural rooted in pedestrian movements
use voice - actors need it
be very focused on the aim of the movement session
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Short attention span, high curiosity rate
In light of playing a Gorillia at the national history museum with 'creature feature' theatre company I continue to consider my homework.
Reading A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney how would you research and communicate the physiology of the pregnant character to an actress?
Oh I need a brew tangents have pulled me away into a thousand places. I am learning about my attention span alot this year.
Pelvic power
Reading A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney how would you research and communicate the physiology of the pregnant character to an actress?
Oh I need a brew tangents have pulled me away into a thousand places. I am learning about my attention span alot this year.
Pelvic power
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
LABAN
I really like the work that I have done on Laban
It is really applicable and works from impulse in a particular way. The actors are given rules and restrictions and they become rich to play with. Especially when mixing an inner and outer effort can the effect of 'acting' take shape.
The elements are a great way in to the continuums (space, time, weight, flow) so again a cross over to Le coq's work is good to see. I also found cross overs with the states of tension, as I say to my students tension gives intention. I still believe that and it came back to me today.
You can play the efforts in big, comic and grotesque ways but also disguise them within naturalism. We explored the efforts for their rhythms, directions and use of space in fairly abstract way as pure movement. The way to consolidate one effort was to visit another effort that has one different element and then build in more differences afterwards. Then we played with a mixture of pacing around in the space to gestures and keeping the effort in 'stillness' before breaking into movement again.
We took a simple task of walking to a chair and sitting down, starting in one effort and making the change to another at any point. So if I travelled over in a Wring (Indirect, heavy, sustained) and I changed when I saw the chair to a flick (indirect, light, sudden) this adds meaning and then styles choices must be made to propose interpretation.
TERMINOLOGY
KINESPHERE - the bubble or personal space that surrounds you sometimes referred to as aura
PATHWAYS - movement pathways, neural pathways (nervous system), circulatory pathways (cardiovascular- respiratory systems)
ways in to efforts
Arc like or curved movements are INDIRECT they have no clear beginning or end which proved challenging when INDIRECT met SUDDEN. The dynamic of sudden normally comes out of a contrasting rhythm or pattern of movement for example a shock, or burst of laughter or high emotion rather than a constant speed. So to keep a sudden tempo while your movements have no punctuation and are continuous provided a challenge. Was this a challenge of the mind or the body? although some wouldn't separate the two as in Feldenkris training you are just your 'self'. Nevertheless where does the challenge occur in perception or action?.
Does one element rely on a exact set of circumstances to remain correct? or are we just most familiar with movement principles from our daily lives and therefore that is our benchmark? In movement training we take what is real and we dissect it for use elsewhere. By extracting movement principles we have more playing options whether we want to recreate something that looks very life like or something more stylised the source is the same. Our experience of movement through the tension, action, emotions and challenges that we feel and observe in others is our source and should be understood and manipulated for use in theatre. It is the conflict that we must chase to find new movement 'pathways' and understand more.
In all movement work we are trying to identify the pattern and rhythms that we head towards in order to know what we avoid. In the ones we avoid we may find the golden ticket to the factory of delights and more importantly orange dwarfs. The process of identification is key, what are my habits and the contractions within me am I a floating, fire, gorilla searching for eyes and bodies to play with? do I try to thrust but end up wringing and flirting with with air? I love to be strong, acrobatic and warrior like but also to morph and be less obvious make space for dreams. Indirect or direct what is most prominent at the moment my peers would say I am direct. I think I am externally direct and internally indirect. Tension level 5 but 0 is intriguing and is entering my body easily at the moment. None lives in one completely or if they do they become comic and extraordinary. To visit these different restrictions is the actors work.
Inner efforts get me excited and brought up an interesting question, where do I place the breath?. If the breath helps us to articulate the effort in every case from the external, it is also needed for the internal effort and then how can you share it or find a flow between the two needs for breath. It feels like a rub your tummy at your head situation.
BREATH IN MOVEMENT
Breath and impulse are so closely related in acting how do we find natural flow of opposing impulses. I say natural because I do it when I run for a train (Thrust - direct, Heavy, sudden movement) and think happy thoughts (Float - direct, light, sustained movement).
Glide, slash, float, glide, thrust, dab, press, wring...
Glide - direct, light, sustained
Float - Indirect, light, sustained
Wring - Indirect, heavy, sustained
Press - Direct, heavy, sustained
Flick - indirect, light, sudden
Slash - Indirect, heavy, sudden
Thrust - Direct, heavy, sudden
Dab - Direct, light, sudden
which are you?
It is really applicable and works from impulse in a particular way. The actors are given rules and restrictions and they become rich to play with. Especially when mixing an inner and outer effort can the effect of 'acting' take shape.
The elements are a great way in to the continuums (space, time, weight, flow) so again a cross over to Le coq's work is good to see. I also found cross overs with the states of tension, as I say to my students tension gives intention. I still believe that and it came back to me today.
You can play the efforts in big, comic and grotesque ways but also disguise them within naturalism. We explored the efforts for their rhythms, directions and use of space in fairly abstract way as pure movement. The way to consolidate one effort was to visit another effort that has one different element and then build in more differences afterwards. Then we played with a mixture of pacing around in the space to gestures and keeping the effort in 'stillness' before breaking into movement again.
We took a simple task of walking to a chair and sitting down, starting in one effort and making the change to another at any point. So if I travelled over in a Wring (Indirect, heavy, sustained) and I changed when I saw the chair to a flick (indirect, light, sudden) this adds meaning and then styles choices must be made to propose interpretation.
TERMINOLOGY
KINESPHERE - the bubble or personal space that surrounds you sometimes referred to as aura
PATHWAYS - movement pathways, neural pathways (nervous system), circulatory pathways (cardiovascular- respiratory systems)
ways in to efforts
Arc like or curved movements are INDIRECT they have no clear beginning or end which proved challenging when INDIRECT met SUDDEN. The dynamic of sudden normally comes out of a contrasting rhythm or pattern of movement for example a shock, or burst of laughter or high emotion rather than a constant speed. So to keep a sudden tempo while your movements have no punctuation and are continuous provided a challenge. Was this a challenge of the mind or the body? although some wouldn't separate the two as in Feldenkris training you are just your 'self'. Nevertheless where does the challenge occur in perception or action?.
Does one element rely on a exact set of circumstances to remain correct? or are we just most familiar with movement principles from our daily lives and therefore that is our benchmark? In movement training we take what is real and we dissect it for use elsewhere. By extracting movement principles we have more playing options whether we want to recreate something that looks very life like or something more stylised the source is the same. Our experience of movement through the tension, action, emotions and challenges that we feel and observe in others is our source and should be understood and manipulated for use in theatre. It is the conflict that we must chase to find new movement 'pathways' and understand more.
In all movement work we are trying to identify the pattern and rhythms that we head towards in order to know what we avoid. In the ones we avoid we may find the golden ticket to the factory of delights and more importantly orange dwarfs. The process of identification is key, what are my habits and the contractions within me am I a floating, fire, gorilla searching for eyes and bodies to play with? do I try to thrust but end up wringing and flirting with with air? I love to be strong, acrobatic and warrior like but also to morph and be less obvious make space for dreams. Indirect or direct what is most prominent at the moment my peers would say I am direct. I think I am externally direct and internally indirect. Tension level 5 but 0 is intriguing and is entering my body easily at the moment. None lives in one completely or if they do they become comic and extraordinary. To visit these different restrictions is the actors work.
Inner efforts get me excited and brought up an interesting question, where do I place the breath?. If the breath helps us to articulate the effort in every case from the external, it is also needed for the internal effort and then how can you share it or find a flow between the two needs for breath. It feels like a rub your tummy at your head situation.
BREATH IN MOVEMENT
Breath and impulse are so closely related in acting how do we find natural flow of opposing impulses. I say natural because I do it when I run for a train (Thrust - direct, Heavy, sudden movement) and think happy thoughts (Float - direct, light, sustained movement).
Glide, slash, float, glide, thrust, dab, press, wring...
Glide - direct, light, sustained
Float - Indirect, light, sustained
Wring - Indirect, heavy, sustained
Press - Direct, heavy, sustained
Flick - indirect, light, sudden
Slash - Indirect, heavy, sudden
Thrust - Direct, heavy, sudden
Dab - Direct, light, sudden
which are you?
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Well Overdue
Natasha Federova
Last wednesday my interrogating systems of movement was led by the ex mosco arts theatre Natasha Fedeova. I was taken by her energy which seemed so out of place at the 'lovely' central school of speech and drama. She was so frank and spoke about how felt. She began the class as most tutors do which I find a bit laborious, by asking us introducing ourselves. I think it would be more fun to introduce each other as we have heard the same thing time and time again, 'I have a mish mash of styles', 'I am a physical performer', 'I have done Grotowski's river work', 'I love laban' all words that mean very little but we still use them to describe ourselves. So she asked for all of our names and then said that she would say them back to us...and she did all 11 of us, now this tells me that although she is ill today she is made of hard stuff.
I WAS RIGHT!
This session appealed to the boy in me! it appealed to my sense of challenge and adventure and complete physical engagement to the point of pain. She had us stretching in pretty extreme ways, doing splits, pushing and bending each other, she pushed our core muscles, our flexibility, our body/mind relationship, stamina, pain threshold, sense of game, pleasure....
I came out remembering the bold physical work that I love to do. It is something that keeps me on my toes and engaged. It's the challenge, but a challenge is within my reach or at least aspects of the work. So this is what I like to inject into my teaching which I think I know already but can enjoy more. Thanks Natasha for having a personality while you teach, for being firm and focused and for pushing all of us in the way that we needed to go. I was aware that others in the group were challenged differently to me just as I would be as was when counting and steps came into play!
She never showed us the limit of a move, she always added more to keep us working. 'To make your life interesting' enjoy it she would say!
To go back to my comment about central being lovely, I am not being derogatory but there is something a bit calm in the school and well packaged as I imagine most drama school have. This energy kicked me in face in the way I love to be treated and allowed me to work through my personality to get the best. To teach and direct you have to keep practicing theatre and be inspired and challenged in your own work. I really believe this and need to know that I will work best like this. I am so interested by all the teachers, their styles, subject and chosen approach to the aforementioned. The mixture in this great building in incredible, so rich.
It's funny how I remember more of the details of her class a week later, than I did at the end of the session. I didn't and usually don't make notes in practical sessions and I know that my body will remember what it needs as it has done for some many years. I look forward to working in this way again.
Last wednesday my interrogating systems of movement was led by the ex mosco arts theatre Natasha Fedeova. I was taken by her energy which seemed so out of place at the 'lovely' central school of speech and drama. She was so frank and spoke about how felt. She began the class as most tutors do which I find a bit laborious, by asking us introducing ourselves. I think it would be more fun to introduce each other as we have heard the same thing time and time again, 'I have a mish mash of styles', 'I am a physical performer', 'I have done Grotowski's river work', 'I love laban' all words that mean very little but we still use them to describe ourselves. So she asked for all of our names and then said that she would say them back to us...and she did all 11 of us, now this tells me that although she is ill today she is made of hard stuff.
I WAS RIGHT!
This session appealed to the boy in me! it appealed to my sense of challenge and adventure and complete physical engagement to the point of pain. She had us stretching in pretty extreme ways, doing splits, pushing and bending each other, she pushed our core muscles, our flexibility, our body/mind relationship, stamina, pain threshold, sense of game, pleasure....
I came out remembering the bold physical work that I love to do. It is something that keeps me on my toes and engaged. It's the challenge, but a challenge is within my reach or at least aspects of the work. So this is what I like to inject into my teaching which I think I know already but can enjoy more. Thanks Natasha for having a personality while you teach, for being firm and focused and for pushing all of us in the way that we needed to go. I was aware that others in the group were challenged differently to me just as I would be as was when counting and steps came into play!
She never showed us the limit of a move, she always added more to keep us working. 'To make your life interesting' enjoy it she would say!
To go back to my comment about central being lovely, I am not being derogatory but there is something a bit calm in the school and well packaged as I imagine most drama school have. This energy kicked me in face in the way I love to be treated and allowed me to work through my personality to get the best. To teach and direct you have to keep practicing theatre and be inspired and challenged in your own work. I really believe this and need to know that I will work best like this. I am so interested by all the teachers, their styles, subject and chosen approach to the aforementioned. The mixture in this great building in incredible, so rich.
It's funny how I remember more of the details of her class a week later, than I did at the end of the session. I didn't and usually don't make notes in practical sessions and I know that my body will remember what it needs as it has done for some many years. I look forward to working in this way again.
|
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Idiot in Brixton
That idiot was me!
I have to blog this so that I remember not to do it again. Basically tonight I found myself walking around brixton with a laptop in my cloth bag, getting lost because I thought I was so clever and could find my way home instead of waiting for a bus. I taught myself a valuable lesson today, not to be so impatient! this is one of my big character traits so tricky to kill off instantly.
But the fear of walking into places that I didn't recognise in an area that we are told to be scared of will keep impatience when it comes to safety at bay for now. It is so true that you learn best by your own mistakes. I feel like an idiot, funney after spending 3 hours at a workshop where people were paying to taste was it is to IDIOT. Funney. Basta! bedtime.
I scared myself tonight and would rather not do that again. To see all the faces of the people at the workshop as they flopped and sunk into the swamp of shit where they really wanted to die in that moment is strange to think of now. I would have given anything to be playing or even flopping my ass of than being stuck in Brixton with what felt like danger around every corner.
What we do as performers is share something with an audience and take a risk every time we do, but the risk is in our heads.
More about the fantastic Natasha Federova tomorrow. What a fantastic day of levels of tension in the body and some good old Russian style movement for actors to get our teeth into.
I have to blog this so that I remember not to do it again. Basically tonight I found myself walking around brixton with a laptop in my cloth bag, getting lost because I thought I was so clever and could find my way home instead of waiting for a bus. I taught myself a valuable lesson today, not to be so impatient! this is one of my big character traits so tricky to kill off instantly.
But the fear of walking into places that I didn't recognise in an area that we are told to be scared of will keep impatience when it comes to safety at bay for now. It is so true that you learn best by your own mistakes. I feel like an idiot, funney after spending 3 hours at a workshop where people were paying to taste was it is to IDIOT. Funney. Basta! bedtime.
I scared myself tonight and would rather not do that again. To see all the faces of the people at the workshop as they flopped and sunk into the swamp of shit where they really wanted to die in that moment is strange to think of now. I would have given anything to be playing or even flopping my ass of than being stuck in Brixton with what felt like danger around every corner.
What we do as performers is share something with an audience and take a risk every time we do, but the risk is in our heads.
More about the fantastic Natasha Federova tomorrow. What a fantastic day of levels of tension in the body and some good old Russian style movement for actors to get our teeth into.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Limber Up
I had my limber assessment today
I had to lead a 20 minute limber class suitable for first year student actors. It could be preparing them for anything that I chose as my intended class. I am interested in animal work as an actor training into character development or creation. My task over the last few weeks has been to be very clear and teach something concrete to my class. I often work in a playful and creative way avoiding very technical exercises, as I write this I think it's not true but anyway in a schizophrenic way I will continue my train of thought. Maybe I am less drawn to these type of exercises because I have to be very clear in my instructions and know the work inside out.
BOY AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH dunno where that came from.
So I took some exercises that i do alot and really worked on getting to the core of what they were about and how to lead them. I was pleased on the whole although I ran out of time at the end so didn't tie it up quite right.
At the beginning of the module my feedback for the weeks ahead was:
NO GAMES
I MUST DEMONSTRATE
USE A SOFTER VOICE
DON'T RUSH
I definitely have addressed those points and therefore as I realised in my last blog, I am learning. I am tuning my teaching instrument and I love it. Another challenging aspect of my chosen limber was that it wasn't FUN and I think thats interesting. Sometimes we have to do prep work that is valuable and not an instant fix of adrenaline, humor and play. No sometimes play is around the corner but not quite needed yet. I must find play for myself that isn't always visible to the students but keeps me light and responsive. I am different to them and need to support there journey from the outside and resist MY desire to have fun all the time. Oh it's getting deep, i'm analysing myself thats thursdays session coming into my self indulgent blogging time!
RESEARCH QUESTION FOR NEXT WEEK?
I had to lead a 20 minute limber class suitable for first year student actors. It could be preparing them for anything that I chose as my intended class. I am interested in animal work as an actor training into character development or creation. My task over the last few weeks has been to be very clear and teach something concrete to my class. I often work in a playful and creative way avoiding very technical exercises, as I write this I think it's not true but anyway in a schizophrenic way I will continue my train of thought. Maybe I am less drawn to these type of exercises because I have to be very clear in my instructions and know the work inside out.
BOY AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH dunno where that came from.
So I took some exercises that i do alot and really worked on getting to the core of what they were about and how to lead them. I was pleased on the whole although I ran out of time at the end so didn't tie it up quite right.
At the beginning of the module my feedback for the weeks ahead was:
NO GAMES
I MUST DEMONSTRATE
USE A SOFTER VOICE
DON'T RUSH
I definitely have addressed those points and therefore as I realised in my last blog, I am learning. I am tuning my teaching instrument and I love it. Another challenging aspect of my chosen limber was that it wasn't FUN and I think thats interesting. Sometimes we have to do prep work that is valuable and not an instant fix of adrenaline, humor and play. No sometimes play is around the corner but not quite needed yet. I must find play for myself that isn't always visible to the students but keeps me light and responsive. I am different to them and need to support there journey from the outside and resist MY desire to have fun all the time. Oh it's getting deep, i'm analysing myself thats thursdays session coming into my self indulgent blogging time!
RESEARCH QUESTION FOR NEXT WEEK?
Sunday, November 6, 2011
End of Week 4...thank god!
End of week four is music to my ears.
It's been an awkward week, a struggle to motivate and find the reason for anything really. I'm not going to rattle on about why it was hard because it's just a week in a series of many that will be wonderfully different.
I had beautiful weekend with my love, in Etampe (1 hours south of Paris) amongst giggling, artichokes, markets, sky blue eyes, tears of joy, etc we visited ecole Philippe Gaulier for a much needed injection of his wit and wise words. Philippe reminds me that
1. The relationship between Clowns is the most important thing
2. The difference between clown and eccentric character is the relationship with the audience. The character does eccentric things that exist in their own world regardless of the audience response. The Clown does his gags or actions for the audience, they acknowledge the flop and try to save the show with what they do.
3. The clown doesn't do things well, there must be problems and interruptions.
4. We must understand the clowns game
5. We have to believe that you are good friends with your partner, even if you fight it is just to have an affect on the audience.
So full of inspiration and sensing the fragile journey that his students are in the middle of I was grateful to have witnessed Philippe at work again.
I also learned as I often do that Clown work needs to be simple, I saw some work that didn't make me laugh and I think to my own work and think i'm doing all right. I have something! Part of this week has been an uncomfortable feeling of displacement, why, what, who, am, I, want, do, I, F off! I really try to avoid putting myself in a box, which happens to be what my best mate calls me! I am me and I can do different things that all use me and what I love to do! that is the title on my flat pack box.
My task in pedagogy class was to break down what I can do easily and teach it step by step. This is a good challenge for me, I try to remember the feeling I had when doing a particular physical exercise 8 years ago! Oh man that calculation has really taken me back. My body has so much memory in it and I carry exercises and physical advice around from so many sources. To teach this work I must take a step back and break the motion down and find the words to communicate. This is a good lesson for me, so yes I am learning here.
I am excited by the potential of the 'Movement director' and I continue to learn more about the possibilities and challenges she has. So I will start to think about some research activity for research week ,week 6. What do I want to explore with my class?
Clown Lab went to central on saturday, which was great for me. I really needed to work in an area that I love and find that organic flow through the work that I chose to share with the group. I have an eye on the changes that I want to make and the work that I have done at salford has prepared me for this link.
The Playful body.
It's been an awkward week, a struggle to motivate and find the reason for anything really. I'm not going to rattle on about why it was hard because it's just a week in a series of many that will be wonderfully different.
I had beautiful weekend with my love, in Etampe (1 hours south of Paris) amongst giggling, artichokes, markets, sky blue eyes, tears of joy, etc we visited ecole Philippe Gaulier for a much needed injection of his wit and wise words. Philippe reminds me that
1. The relationship between Clowns is the most important thing
2. The difference between clown and eccentric character is the relationship with the audience. The character does eccentric things that exist in their own world regardless of the audience response. The Clown does his gags or actions for the audience, they acknowledge the flop and try to save the show with what they do.
3. The clown doesn't do things well, there must be problems and interruptions.
4. We must understand the clowns game
5. We have to believe that you are good friends with your partner, even if you fight it is just to have an affect on the audience.
So full of inspiration and sensing the fragile journey that his students are in the middle of I was grateful to have witnessed Philippe at work again.
I also learned as I often do that Clown work needs to be simple, I saw some work that didn't make me laugh and I think to my own work and think i'm doing all right. I have something! Part of this week has been an uncomfortable feeling of displacement, why, what, who, am, I, want, do, I, F off! I really try to avoid putting myself in a box, which happens to be what my best mate calls me! I am me and I can do different things that all use me and what I love to do! that is the title on my flat pack box.
My task in pedagogy class was to break down what I can do easily and teach it step by step. This is a good challenge for me, I try to remember the feeling I had when doing a particular physical exercise 8 years ago! Oh man that calculation has really taken me back. My body has so much memory in it and I carry exercises and physical advice around from so many sources. To teach this work I must take a step back and break the motion down and find the words to communicate. This is a good lesson for me, so yes I am learning here.
I am excited by the potential of the 'Movement director' and I continue to learn more about the possibilities and challenges she has. So I will start to think about some research activity for research week ,week 6. What do I want to explore with my class?
Clown Lab went to central on saturday, which was great for me. I really needed to work in an area that I love and find that organic flow through the work that I chose to share with the group. I have an eye on the changes that I want to make and the work that I have done at salford has prepared me for this link.
The Playful body.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Le Coq, Le coq, Le coq
I love Le coq!
For those that don't quite know how to take that statement I will explian. Jaques Le coq was a theatre practitioner that trained actors and creatives to use their bodies first and foremost to expereince acting. He focused on the physical over the physcological. The physcology was left for the spectator and the actors were free to inhabit movement in relation to space. It is more complicated than that but also his work was very simple, revisitng basic human actions inorder to discover physical freedom and physcial control. His theory and philiosphy is massive and interrogated human nature, while his exercises/forms were rooted in simplicity.
The 7 levels of tension is something that I have encountered in different ways over the years. Recently I have began to incorpate this work into my teaching and I am very interested in it at the moment. To revisit this today in class after teaching it and exploring it with another Le coq trained teacher in the space of 2 months was fantastic. I had the sandwich effect of the being the student (the bread) either side of the meat (the teaching) in the middle. That's an interesting thought, to have the students experience close to your teaching is a good combination. It needn't be that you work on a level so to speak with the students as you must assume the role of teacher but to keep their experience close to you is useful. I like to see the different approaches of teaching this work including the use of language, the time given, the imagary and labels attached. This time we moved through the states quite quickly and we didn't as I previously experienced break into a sweat and feel the body working to it's limits. We analysed each state after we had attempted to embody it, the states had numbers and the odd reference but a version of the titles for each were given to us at the end. In groups we discussed each state in terms of weight, breath, space (internal and external) and general associations. This discussion allowed me to consider the experience of others in the exercise and therefore my perspective was accompanied by that of other people. This is what I wanted to get from this course, to know how to work with actors by drawing on the expereinces of others not just my own. I want to have a varied understanding of the expereince of the work of so that I am more likely to resonate with them differently on their different journeys. We jumped in and out of the states which was a good training and we did them all from standing and moving positions, which I think is very useful for the actor. When it comes to the application of this work the actor should be able to transfer the tension of all of the levels in all positions. Previoulsy I had found that students felt confused when I taught the tensions beginning on the floor, to then adapting them to the different exercises. They were thrown into their heads to figure out the change and became disconnected from the sensation as a shape shifting experience.
Neutral Mask
Ahhh to be here again is another treat. It is always a nerve racking expereince and rightly so. To put on this 'neutral' mask feels a bit like taking off your clothes in public. The fact that everyone will be taking off their clothes one by one does nothing to ease the situation. So I find this a really active, challenging, refreshing experience. Again the teaching approaches are always different with a few constant codes of behavior. I put the mask on and turn to see my group, informally as 2 others are doing it at the same time and I have no instruction but to stand there. They gently laugh at me and my tutor commented on how this will be hard for me, as I have done it before. Damn there's no escaping this desire to want to be good, the neutral mask is so cleaver and it works to remove your ego or at least expose it to everyone! so cheeky! in the words of one of my teachers ' it's a cheeky mask, this one' yes cheeky in that it looks like one thing and it reveals another. So the first thing that struck me after wearing the mask for a few minutes as they looked and tittered at me was how grounded I felt. That was lovely, maybe new for me? I didn't feel self concious and I held something in me, or it left a trace of it's self in me. It, me, ah it gets a bit confusing when I start to write about this work but I think it is the experience that stayed imprinted on/in me when the mask was taken off.
So with the echoes of previous notes from previous teachers and the pressure of everyone knowing I had studied this before, which of course is not necessarily a benefit, I continue. I wake up for the first time, I walk through the mist, see the ocean and throw a pebble. I had a pleasant and inspiring mask experience today. I will look into this more from the perspective as a performer and a teacher but not I have to go and meet my mate fishy!
Performer or teacher that is the question?
For those that don't quite know how to take that statement I will explian. Jaques Le coq was a theatre practitioner that trained actors and creatives to use their bodies first and foremost to expereince acting. He focused on the physical over the physcological. The physcology was left for the spectator and the actors were free to inhabit movement in relation to space. It is more complicated than that but also his work was very simple, revisitng basic human actions inorder to discover physical freedom and physcial control. His theory and philiosphy is massive and interrogated human nature, while his exercises/forms were rooted in simplicity.
The 7 levels of tension is something that I have encountered in different ways over the years. Recently I have began to incorpate this work into my teaching and I am very interested in it at the moment. To revisit this today in class after teaching it and exploring it with another Le coq trained teacher in the space of 2 months was fantastic. I had the sandwich effect of the being the student (the bread) either side of the meat (the teaching) in the middle. That's an interesting thought, to have the students experience close to your teaching is a good combination. It needn't be that you work on a level so to speak with the students as you must assume the role of teacher but to keep their experience close to you is useful. I like to see the different approaches of teaching this work including the use of language, the time given, the imagary and labels attached. This time we moved through the states quite quickly and we didn't as I previously experienced break into a sweat and feel the body working to it's limits. We analysed each state after we had attempted to embody it, the states had numbers and the odd reference but a version of the titles for each were given to us at the end. In groups we discussed each state in terms of weight, breath, space (internal and external) and general associations. This discussion allowed me to consider the experience of others in the exercise and therefore my perspective was accompanied by that of other people. This is what I wanted to get from this course, to know how to work with actors by drawing on the expereinces of others not just my own. I want to have a varied understanding of the expereince of the work of so that I am more likely to resonate with them differently on their different journeys. We jumped in and out of the states which was a good training and we did them all from standing and moving positions, which I think is very useful for the actor. When it comes to the application of this work the actor should be able to transfer the tension of all of the levels in all positions. Previoulsy I had found that students felt confused when I taught the tensions beginning on the floor, to then adapting them to the different exercises. They were thrown into their heads to figure out the change and became disconnected from the sensation as a shape shifting experience.
Neutral Mask
Ahhh to be here again is another treat. It is always a nerve racking expereince and rightly so. To put on this 'neutral' mask feels a bit like taking off your clothes in public. The fact that everyone will be taking off their clothes one by one does nothing to ease the situation. So I find this a really active, challenging, refreshing experience. Again the teaching approaches are always different with a few constant codes of behavior. I put the mask on and turn to see my group, informally as 2 others are doing it at the same time and I have no instruction but to stand there. They gently laugh at me and my tutor commented on how this will be hard for me, as I have done it before. Damn there's no escaping this desire to want to be good, the neutral mask is so cleaver and it works to remove your ego or at least expose it to everyone! so cheeky! in the words of one of my teachers ' it's a cheeky mask, this one' yes cheeky in that it looks like one thing and it reveals another. So the first thing that struck me after wearing the mask for a few minutes as they looked and tittered at me was how grounded I felt. That was lovely, maybe new for me? I didn't feel self concious and I held something in me, or it left a trace of it's self in me. It, me, ah it gets a bit confusing when I start to write about this work but I think it is the experience that stayed imprinted on/in me when the mask was taken off.
So with the echoes of previous notes from previous teachers and the pressure of everyone knowing I had studied this before, which of course is not necessarily a benefit, I continue. I wake up for the first time, I walk through the mist, see the ocean and throw a pebble. I had a pleasant and inspiring mask experience today. I will look into this more from the perspective as a performer and a teacher but not I have to go and meet my mate fishy!
Performer or teacher that is the question?
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tuesdays are hard
Tuesdays are hard and of course because of that they are my favorite day. I love to work hard and I get annoyed when I am not learning. So much of learning of course is in the mind of the beholder and there is always opportunity for it should you be willing to see it. On this course, in this place in my mind I am in a constant state of analysis, I notice so much and it swirls around my head like a whirlpool of self reflection. I find meaning in everything, I constantly think in metaphor and draw parallels between random acts and calculated plans. I find significance in the things I do right down to the way I fold up my bike. So I am learning that my brain and my being communicates ideas at least internally through metaphor and often in non linear thought patterns. When I communicate ideas, be it feelings, teaching, or responses to a provocation I am often very true to how I feel. This however doesn't always come across as I would want it be it in performance or teaching I think i'm saying I want more control over the way I communicate.
And ah I feel flat today and a bit like what's it all about! what am i doing? I know it's because Tuesdays are hard and I have high hopes and aspirations but also because I miss my man. From being so full of the feeling of closeness and touch to be apart again feels hard, like tuesdays but worse.
And ah I feel flat today and a bit like what's it all about! what am i doing? I know it's because Tuesdays are hard and I have high hopes and aspirations but also because I miss my man. From being so full of the feeling of closeness and touch to be apart again feels hard, like tuesdays but worse.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
My Practice
Here I am week 6 daring to add thoughts to this section!
I am pretty goggle eyed from the computer so this may be a bit brief
I am interested in the playful body, how play can help performers be bold, brave and alive all over. How they can access a wide range of emotions through play. Putting themselves in the moment using impulses to aid them.
Where is humor in the body?
The role of game - visable and invisable
Children play with freedom and move with everything they have, can we ever do that again with such ease?
Suzanne Bing?
John Wright
Le coq
Laban
Alexander technique
Joseph Nadg
Dario Fo
Kantor
'the architype of stories and games'
I am pretty goggle eyed from the computer so this may be a bit brief
I am interested in the playful body, how play can help performers be bold, brave and alive all over. How they can access a wide range of emotions through play. Putting themselves in the moment using impulses to aid them.
Where is humor in the body?
The role of game - visable and invisable
Children play with freedom and move with everything they have, can we ever do that again with such ease?
Suzanne Bing?
John Wright
Le coq
Laban
Alexander technique
Joseph Nadg
Dario Fo
Kantor
'the architype of stories and games'
No prizes for big circles!
Interrogating systems is the name of the class where we investigate different practices and then compare them to our own. The question always is how can each technique be useful for working with actors, to increase their body awareness and eftfiectivety onstage.
Moshe Feldenkris today
If I were to extract what I find most useful in this work, from what I know at the moment, it would be as follows. It's fitting that Feldenkris exercises are referred to as lessons!.
Firstly as a teacher or director to find a deep grounding before you meet your class or actors. This is obviously in an ideal world as mostly life happens right up until the moment you start and have to be brilliant at holding a space and practicing what you preach. Nevertheless to find ways to centre yourself before encouraging others to do so is useful.
This practice promotes so many fundamental principles that will support the actor, such as the challenge to be completely in the moment, focusing on how you feel now. The act of being realistic and tuning into sensations that you experience rather than the ones that you want to have and accepting, not judging them.
The importance of rest.
This is a big one, as humans we do best after rest or at least we tend to do badly very quickly without rest. If we don't stop and have a fixed point we can't notice changes. Stillness is when you notice the most activity in this work, and there is alot more than you might think.
Being as effective as possible.
Get there in the smoothest and most efficient way our teacher says and a voice in my head says 'there's no prizes for big circles' I must loose that competitive streak and focus on my journey to efficiency. To be good is a big part of a performers nature, actually to be the best, most intelligent, beautiful, graceful, engaging, mesmerising, passionate, agile, responsive, intuitive, versatile, resilient, poignant..........the list goes on and yes we want those things from great actors but they must happen with inner calm and ease.
Moshe Feldenkris today
If I were to extract what I find most useful in this work, from what I know at the moment, it would be as follows. It's fitting that Feldenkris exercises are referred to as lessons!.
Firstly as a teacher or director to find a deep grounding before you meet your class or actors. This is obviously in an ideal world as mostly life happens right up until the moment you start and have to be brilliant at holding a space and practicing what you preach. Nevertheless to find ways to centre yourself before encouraging others to do so is useful.
This practice promotes so many fundamental principles that will support the actor, such as the challenge to be completely in the moment, focusing on how you feel now. The act of being realistic and tuning into sensations that you experience rather than the ones that you want to have and accepting, not judging them.
The importance of rest.
This is a big one, as humans we do best after rest or at least we tend to do badly very quickly without rest. If we don't stop and have a fixed point we can't notice changes. Stillness is when you notice the most activity in this work, and there is alot more than you might think.
Being as effective as possible.
Get there in the smoothest and most efficient way our teacher says and a voice in my head says 'there's no prizes for big circles' I must loose that competitive streak and focus on my journey to efficiency. To be good is a big part of a performers nature, actually to be the best, most intelligent, beautiful, graceful, engaging, mesmerising, passionate, agile, responsive, intuitive, versatile, resilient, poignant..........the list goes on and yes we want those things from great actors but they must happen with inner calm and ease.
Claiming Space
Space
In London and in my life and training I have become more and more interested in the use of space. In terms of efficient use of space for an activity, space within the body for characters and tasks and how to transform spaces.
In London it seems you have to claim your space and commit to what you want into order to get it. I did find people a bit robotic when I arrived especially those in transit, which is all of them. Everyone is going somewhere that is far more important than where you are going. Along with this slightly absent quality there is an efficiency of movement. I stand at the top of the escalator in the tube and watch the patterns of the rushing bodies and it is actually beautiful once I stopped being scared of it. Like a well trained ensemble they rarely collide, they are responsible for their own bodies in space and the effect is mesmerising.
I started to be bold with my use of space and to make my shape and use of space clear so that London could move around me. You have to have a constant, a fixed point so that the rest can be in movement. Sometimes I would stand still in a place that I wanted to rather than constantly adjusting for the flow.
Watching Rian by Fabulous Beast, a dance piece fusing Irish and African movement, I was amazed by how the cast of about 14 negotiated the space full of instruments, bodies, furniture and cables. They really put themselves in the space that they had and knew how to organize their bodies accordingly and no doubt organically. This was a joy to watch. I love precision more and more.
Studying the nervous system yesterday I was taken by my ability to walk backwards in a room full of others doing the same and not collide. Again once I focused on my body committing to my movement in the space the movement pattern from the tube came into play.
This is interesting to think about now that my feedback from tutors is that I have a big presence as a teacher and in an exercises that I was leading I occupied half of the space in the room and the rest of the group had half between them. This was unconscious, well not really but I didn't say anything about it even if I thought they were far away. So the implication is that my confidence in moving possibly or my presence makes students take a step back when really I want them to take a step towards me. I think anyway? do I? This is an interesting question.
So maybe it is my small complex that makes me project big vibes and my petite nature that draws me to the grotesque/ comedic/ crude ways of playing. the oppositions that I battle without knowing it. Or maybe none of that I'm just scary or i'm just human? I do want to be a human tutor, not a robotic, neurotic, over sensitive, softly spoken.
SPACE I take up alot!
In London and in my life and training I have become more and more interested in the use of space. In terms of efficient use of space for an activity, space within the body for characters and tasks and how to transform spaces.
In London it seems you have to claim your space and commit to what you want into order to get it. I did find people a bit robotic when I arrived especially those in transit, which is all of them. Everyone is going somewhere that is far more important than where you are going. Along with this slightly absent quality there is an efficiency of movement. I stand at the top of the escalator in the tube and watch the patterns of the rushing bodies and it is actually beautiful once I stopped being scared of it. Like a well trained ensemble they rarely collide, they are responsible for their own bodies in space and the effect is mesmerising.
I started to be bold with my use of space and to make my shape and use of space clear so that London could move around me. You have to have a constant, a fixed point so that the rest can be in movement. Sometimes I would stand still in a place that I wanted to rather than constantly adjusting for the flow.
Watching Rian by Fabulous Beast, a dance piece fusing Irish and African movement, I was amazed by how the cast of about 14 negotiated the space full of instruments, bodies, furniture and cables. They really put themselves in the space that they had and knew how to organize their bodies accordingly and no doubt organically. This was a joy to watch. I love precision more and more.
Studying the nervous system yesterday I was taken by my ability to walk backwards in a room full of others doing the same and not collide. Again once I focused on my body committing to my movement in the space the movement pattern from the tube came into play.
This is interesting to think about now that my feedback from tutors is that I have a big presence as a teacher and in an exercises that I was leading I occupied half of the space in the room and the rest of the group had half between them. This was unconscious, well not really but I didn't say anything about it even if I thought they were far away. So the implication is that my confidence in moving possibly or my presence makes students take a step back when really I want them to take a step towards me. I think anyway? do I? This is an interesting question.
So maybe it is my small complex that makes me project big vibes and my petite nature that draws me to the grotesque/ comedic/ crude ways of playing. the oppositions that I battle without knowing it. Or maybe none of that I'm just scary or i'm just human? I do want to be a human tutor, not a robotic, neurotic, over sensitive, softly spoken.
SPACE I take up alot!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Week two flys by
Yes it does, but not without tears!
With my head fully into study and keep fit mode life is great. Well one part is missing, one BIG part but he's never far away. This time to reflect, interrogate and make connections in my practice is just what I need. There is nothing like a good old deadline to provoke answers and more questions about what makes you tick. I remember in an audition once I was asked what makes me tick, and I replied tall people! amazingly they still employed me. So yes I am ticking over nicely, in the land of academia. My movement heritage presentation went with a bang, and I managed to talk for 24 mins which I was shocked at. Here are some snippets....
With my head fully into study and keep fit mode life is great. Well one part is missing, one BIG part but he's never far away. This time to reflect, interrogate and make connections in my practice is just what I need. There is nothing like a good old deadline to provoke answers and more questions about what makes you tick. I remember in an audition once I was asked what makes me tick, and I replied tall people! amazingly they still employed me. So yes I am ticking over nicely, in the land of academia. My movement heritage presentation went with a bang, and I managed to talk for 24 mins which I was shocked at. Here are some snippets....
My name is Alice and I love to play....
i'm competitive to a degree but most of all with myself. Which is actually much harder as me and myself spend most of our time together. It is actually a great thing as it makes me my own motivator, which I why I run best alone which suits me fine. I have always had the ability to have confidence in what I do and the belief that whatever happens I will learn and also that nothing is ever that bad. I love to debate and investigate ideas, fighting for what I believe in at the time, often through action. By action I mean by being there and doing something I can stand up and be counted. To put my body where my mouth is, is very important to me. Hopefuly one day i'll work that statement into a little clown/burlesque number.
I used to find it hard to accept that sometimes I was wrong, but more and more I find the most fruitful discoveries are found when I make mistakes and live with them for a while. I find a new perspective.
I am a doer and I make myself available for things to happen and thats how I learn.
So thats me
GROUNDED EMOTIONAL PHYISCAL & DYSLEXIC
I can see it now on my grave stone!
DYSLEXIC - And I mention dyslexia because it is definitely linked to my movement heritage. As I think through movement, rather than follow those colourful wiggly lines that they call maps, I get lost and learn that way. Rather than learning dance steps I make them up and convince people I am doing it right because I have pleasure to do it my way.
I have dipped my toe into the following....
ELF-GYMNASTICS- YOGA- TAI CHI- CAPOERA- CONTACT IMPRO- ACROBATICS- CONTEMPOARY DANCE- THEATRE and CIRCUS at Greentop Circus in Sheffield my eyes were opened and have stayed that way ever since. If I loose faith in what I do for a split second I think back to this stage in my life when it really became exciting.
I discovered the
CLOWN
Which brings me back to play. Playing children's games became my work.
(read john wright p80 theatre as game)
I started to perform outdoors doing walkabout and interactive characters at festivals which taught me so much about my audience. Taught me about sensitivity, risk taking, optimism, complicity, stamina, spontaneity, pleasure and so much more... all of these principles are still key to all of my work be it performance, teaching, directing as well as life and relationships.
So people ask me
Are you an actor? ….I say No
Are you a dancer?.....I say No
Em I'm a playful, physical, performer....yes that right I use my body to make people laugh and feel moved and invigorated and to let them dream.... and that usually shuts the taxi drivers up!
In 2009 I adapted my first solo show ALICE with Peta Lily (roots in mine, very experienced international performer) with arts council funding. I wanted to get the right director, someone who would be in line with all of interests in Clown, movement, would work with what I had to say...she was perfect and did all of that and more. The biggest thing I will take away from working with peta was her physical control and attention to detail, which came from the mime no doubt. I learned that being a physical performer isn't necessarily about throwing yourself around which I used to think, and yes don't get me wrong I love to do it and still get urges to fling myself at strangers in the street and climb on tall people and tussle and fight, but there is more. Just as there is more to play than comedy, it is everywhere and so it should be.
So with this is mind earlier this year I saw John Wright's 'The Summer House' which wasn't the big interactive spectacle of Slava, No Fit State and De la Guada, it was a small scale play and it really engaged me and excited me and showed me how game and play can exist in theatre without the style being overtly Clown, spectacle or interactive. I realised that the most successful productions are the ones where the style is hidden, it is not defined by a code that we recognise it just works and we love it and often don't know why. ALICE did this too, it was intimate and epic the same time. The story was about one girl and the themes were massive and it did what I a lot of those big shows did for me in a different form. This realisation affirmed my belief in what I do and my reason for being here at central. It doesn't matter where you trained or what you know, its what you do with it that counts.
CLOWN LAB my baby, set up by myself and my now boyfriend
Through Clown Lab I have trained, taught and performed learning so much from
working with Mick Barnfather, Gerry Flanagan, Peta Lily, Aitor Bassuir- Spymonkey, Jon Davison, John Wright, Philippe Gaulier, Jef Johnson, Debra Stych & Hereberto Montalban and Pablo Ibarluzea all haven given me so much!
3 things stick in head after all of this..
- Celebrate your differences – don't try to be the same, do it your way with your body. (I knew I would never be a beautiful aerialist so my trapeze was comic and involved falling off alot)
2. Revisit the same path – through repetition and covering 'old' ground which really doesn't exist because its new ground every time you visit it, you get the chance to go deeper into what you know and see the changes.'Only on the path that you walk everyday do you see the flowers blossom' Pablo Ibarluzea (Yin de Yan), 2011, Bilbao
3. Enjoy the impossible – If something is impossible to achieve maybe just maybe you have the freedom to enjoy the journey, whilst secretly dreaming that you will be the one to make it to the end! Neutral mask and a lot of Le coqs work is about this experiencing something and always trying to improve and get closer to reaching it, but really that is the work there is no end. Students say 'can't you show us then we could do it?' and I would have said the same, now I know that they won't 'get it', they will get a watered down version of what I got in that moment of time, it means nothing and they won't own it as their own.
I am reminded of my movement heritage everytime I warm up and teach and perform, as the exercises I use come from all parts of my past. I notice the more I go on that things start to make sense and at the same time become re defined and I discover I know nothing. I embrace this 100 percent! So many wonderful people have really seen me and believed in what I do over the years and they are in in my movement past, present and future... thankyou.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
2 year old's
My adorable and fascinating second cousin, O.J Reminded me how the Clown exists and how his whole body enters into his games and quests.
He spent today absorbing his surroundings and churning them back at us adults who were exhausted and amazed by the speed at which he processes life. He goes on ad 'ventures' and holidays all over the house getting in boats and flying whilst warning us of potential hot things and to stand back! later when he realises we don't have his favorite dvd, instead of getting upset he pretends to put it on and commands us all to stand back and watch it in a very theatrical way without an ounce of disbelief and full of the pleasure of watching the real thing. He is a constant generator of games, often the same ones played as if he had just discovered them. The pleasure to play is instant. We ask him to sing incy wincy spider and he does so whilst drinking his juice, the proposition of this game gets an instant response and there is no time or thought to stop the first activity. Every moment is so complete and alive and responsive it's no wonder they get tired and eventually cry, which he didn't do this time!. He has the room transfixed in whatever he does, we are so far removed from his freedom we sit in awe. We ask him to shut the door and put the coaster down on the table 'carefully' and his body transforms as he commits his full troupe of muscles and a gallon of his angelic grace to this task, on completion he instantly looks to us to punctuate the end and receive his praise. It's the lack of judgement that strikes me the most, as he plays and talks he discovers life giving most things an equal level of importance.
When asked what his new baby brother was going to be called he replied Umpa Lumpa, so if O.J was in charge Umpa Lumpa Robinson would be the next baby of the family which I think is brilliant.
wow my hip just completely ceased up and I was paralysed just as I was thinking about how Feldenkris said the most complex thing we do as humans is learn to stand up, we'll thats certainly true for me! where's the glucosamine when you need it.
How is it that my 60 year old uncle can run 3 times a week, faster than me, do no stretches and feel fine. How does that work? Feldenkris, Le Coq, anyone?
I'll ask O.J i'm sure he'll fire back a pearl of wisdom he has stored in his sponge like brain that will put me and my silly blog to shame.
He spent today absorbing his surroundings and churning them back at us adults who were exhausted and amazed by the speed at which he processes life. He goes on ad 'ventures' and holidays all over the house getting in boats and flying whilst warning us of potential hot things and to stand back! later when he realises we don't have his favorite dvd, instead of getting upset he pretends to put it on and commands us all to stand back and watch it in a very theatrical way without an ounce of disbelief and full of the pleasure of watching the real thing. He is a constant generator of games, often the same ones played as if he had just discovered them. The pleasure to play is instant. We ask him to sing incy wincy spider and he does so whilst drinking his juice, the proposition of this game gets an instant response and there is no time or thought to stop the first activity. Every moment is so complete and alive and responsive it's no wonder they get tired and eventually cry, which he didn't do this time!. He has the room transfixed in whatever he does, we are so far removed from his freedom we sit in awe. We ask him to shut the door and put the coaster down on the table 'carefully' and his body transforms as he commits his full troupe of muscles and a gallon of his angelic grace to this task, on completion he instantly looks to us to punctuate the end and receive his praise. It's the lack of judgement that strikes me the most, as he plays and talks he discovers life giving most things an equal level of importance.
When asked what his new baby brother was going to be called he replied Umpa Lumpa, so if O.J was in charge Umpa Lumpa Robinson would be the next baby of the family which I think is brilliant.
wow my hip just completely ceased up and I was paralysed just as I was thinking about how Feldenkris said the most complex thing we do as humans is learn to stand up, we'll thats certainly true for me! where's the glucosamine when you need it.
How is it that my 60 year old uncle can run 3 times a week, faster than me, do no stretches and feel fine. How does that work? Feldenkris, Le Coq, anyone?
I'll ask O.J i'm sure he'll fire back a pearl of wisdom he has stored in his sponge like brain that will put me and my silly blog to shame.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Running!
Alice's running tips
1. Wear clothes that you wouldn't be seen dead walking in
2. Wear as little as possible of the aforementioned clothing
3. If you're not beetroot red by the end go further next time
I did more but realised they were really boring and these get to the core of the matter!
GOOD LUCK
1. Wear clothes that you wouldn't be seen dead walking in
2. Wear as little as possible of the aforementioned clothing
3. If you're not beetroot red by the end go further next time
I did more but realised they were really boring and these get to the core of the matter!
GOOD LUCK
Friday, October 14, 2011
End of week one
I'm sitiing in bed as I reflect on the end of my first week.
My body feels alive, or broken depending on how you look at it.
Sleeping is not working out so well at the moment as I spend the night teaching a class of students that I really believe are in my room. This vivid dreaming is something that comes out most when I am over tierd, times of change and when i'm focusing on being good I think. I can't switch my mind off from my daily tasks and my future dreams! I wake up with a stiff neck from all my jumping up and down, ahhhhhhhhhhh this is a bit of a curse of mine as my nearest and dearest know oh too well. I know its a good path to be on and I will adjust to all my changes and come out stronger for it. Well thats what usually happens....
London is the city of movement I quickly adapt to the city speed and always move with purpose. I enjoy the constant pace, and the thick blanket of commuters taking steps towards their goals. I ask for directions alot which of course isn't a great help as none knows anything about the area they are passing through! Why does none live anywhere? i'll never understand that about this city....not even the shop keepers can help. Maybe it's some government enforced rule on being too friendly.
Cycling in London is very liberating if not hell raising! I feel great on the bike and accept that the way I learn routes is by getting lost and learning by doing rather than looking at those colourful wiggly lines they call maps.
There is so much movement and space study to do here. I Just sit back and watch the patterns and use of space before me and i'm hooked.
To study the body and it's movement both functional and creative in London throws up completely different questions to studying in the country or the basque country for example.
I see people in london operating inside a overpowering landscape, the factory of their life. In areas of natural beauty and landscape the person reflects their surroundings differently.
My studies have begun well I feel stimulated and hungry for more. The task of doing presentations, leading and analysing classes, preparing papers and group conferences with me and my practice at the centre is well suitably challenging. I'm tuning back in with how I like to work and the kind of worker, leader and person that I am.
I run best on my own.
My body feels alive, or broken depending on how you look at it.
Sleeping is not working out so well at the moment as I spend the night teaching a class of students that I really believe are in my room. This vivid dreaming is something that comes out most when I am over tierd, times of change and when i'm focusing on being good I think. I can't switch my mind off from my daily tasks and my future dreams! I wake up with a stiff neck from all my jumping up and down, ahhhhhhhhhhh this is a bit of a curse of mine as my nearest and dearest know oh too well. I know its a good path to be on and I will adjust to all my changes and come out stronger for it. Well thats what usually happens....
London is the city of movement I quickly adapt to the city speed and always move with purpose. I enjoy the constant pace, and the thick blanket of commuters taking steps towards their goals. I ask for directions alot which of course isn't a great help as none knows anything about the area they are passing through! Why does none live anywhere? i'll never understand that about this city....not even the shop keepers can help. Maybe it's some government enforced rule on being too friendly.
Cycling in London is very liberating if not hell raising! I feel great on the bike and accept that the way I learn routes is by getting lost and learning by doing rather than looking at those colourful wiggly lines they call maps.
There is so much movement and space study to do here. I Just sit back and watch the patterns and use of space before me and i'm hooked.
To study the body and it's movement both functional and creative in London throws up completely different questions to studying in the country or the basque country for example.
I see people in london operating inside a overpowering landscape, the factory of their life. In areas of natural beauty and landscape the person reflects their surroundings differently.
My studies have begun well I feel stimulated and hungry for more. The task of doing presentations, leading and analysing classes, preparing papers and group conferences with me and my practice at the centre is well suitably challenging. I'm tuning back in with how I like to work and the kind of worker, leader and person that I am.
I run best on my own.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Alice's Movement Studies
Wow a blog! i'll try anything once. Typing instead of talking to myself will make a change.
So I plan to put down my thoughts and discoveries as I progress through my masters in the hope that I will learn from what I write and be able to share my experiences with anyone who wants to follow me.
"I'm going away to study movement" is usually greeted with a luke warm response from friends, family and colleagues, which is partly because the term movement doesn't mean alot.
My quest for the next year to define the term movement for myself.
I know that I am happiest and at my most expressive when I am moving.
I know that I am deeply moved by the movement of others.
I now that I am fascinated by how our bodies change and respond to life and how resilient and unique they can be.
I know I think through movement or at least I find answers in motion.
So far on my Movement Studies course at Central School of Speech and Drama I have been told that my systems of movement will be interrogated in order for me to learn about what I know and gain a deeper knowledge of what I want to know. This really excites me!
At the beginning of this journey I am asked to consider my movement heritage and the factors that have informed my path so far. To consider the environment that I grew up in, my early memories of moving and the stand out moments of inspiration that may have brought me to where I stand now. This task began as many do, a little forced and without much joy, however it grew into a topic that I can't get out of my rather apple shaped head. The idea that a chain of seemingly random events have been joining together to form a passion from deep within, a Alice shaped jigsaw of how I have literally moved through my past is giving me great pleasure and clarity at this stage in my life.
Enough for tonight... off to plan my commute avec brompton fold up bike!
So I plan to put down my thoughts and discoveries as I progress through my masters in the hope that I will learn from what I write and be able to share my experiences with anyone who wants to follow me.
"I'm going away to study movement" is usually greeted with a luke warm response from friends, family and colleagues, which is partly because the term movement doesn't mean alot.
My quest for the next year to define the term movement for myself.
I know that I am happiest and at my most expressive when I am moving.
I know that I am deeply moved by the movement of others.
I now that I am fascinated by how our bodies change and respond to life and how resilient and unique they can be.
I know I think through movement or at least I find answers in motion.
So far on my Movement Studies course at Central School of Speech and Drama I have been told that my systems of movement will be interrogated in order for me to learn about what I know and gain a deeper knowledge of what I want to know. This really excites me!
At the beginning of this journey I am asked to consider my movement heritage and the factors that have informed my path so far. To consider the environment that I grew up in, my early memories of moving and the stand out moments of inspiration that may have brought me to where I stand now. This task began as many do, a little forced and without much joy, however it grew into a topic that I can't get out of my rather apple shaped head. The idea that a chain of seemingly random events have been joining together to form a passion from deep within, a Alice shaped jigsaw of how I have literally moved through my past is giving me great pleasure and clarity at this stage in my life.
Enough for tonight... off to plan my commute avec brompton fold up bike!
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