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'
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
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!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)