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.

I think I would benefit from experiencing Natashas work from the inside as a student. The specific demands of her work reminded me of places that I want to lead my actors to, even if it is in a metaphorical and less extremely physical way. To be moving alongside other students that may not have a movement background will give me the insight into their experience on the level of a peer that would be different as an observer. As I said in my last email Natasha reminded me of the bold physical work that I have done but maybe not referred too as I present myself here on this course. To be reminded through my own body first and then to pursue elements of this in my research/teaching/directing questions would be a valuable way in for me. It is important for me to keep using my body to experiment and remember that I am bringing my performance experience and that of my classmates to the table in my teaching. I also want to keep my body active and fit in this way so that I can give my all to my classes.To keep both aspects of practice alive is going to keep my body questioning aswell as my mind. I am really turning my focus to research, questions and drawing parallels between new and existing skills which is a good step forward for me and I think this addition would strengthen that process from another angle. The fact that Ioli and definitely Eamonn are taken by this type of work is exciting to me and could produce a possible collaboration that has been in the back of my mind. I appreciate that part of being a teacher/director is to take yourself out of the doing and focus on bringing the 'doing' out of others but to reconnect with hands on work really makes things clear for me. Our course does allow for us to practice on each other and I hope that we find ways to enjoy our teaching in bold and exciting ways as time goes on. At the moment none seems to be bringing an acrobatic angle to explore and maybe that will be me, who knows? It would be completely different if I was wanting to join a period dance class as I would be bringing very little of my existing skills to the table. In this instance I would be a willing member of the group to support the intentions of the class from the inside with one eye on the teaching and application of this kind of physical training. I have to learn something in my body and can't retain an experience through notation. Obviously the observation process is not about taking exercises and trying to teach them but to inform our practice in terms of teaching style and content. I feel that Natasha would be happy to work with me and that I could talk to her about the links I am making with the teaching and practice of her work.   As you can tell I am very interested in the practical work that is being covered on others courses and I am amazed by the subjects that are on offer.  While I am in this school I want to follow my instinct and be led by what feels right and of value to my progression as a practitioner. Having said all of this I understand that I have made the choice to study Movement Studies over other pathways.