Corpse - Body
Corporeal - Of the Body
Corporeal Connections - Connections Between/Through/Of the Body
Dear All,
Another intense session today, with good engagement with practice and even richer engagement with conceptual discussions through the session. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with honest reflection.
We introduced three new concepts today.
1. body-memory
2. play
3. palette of skills
We also explored in greater detail and with greater risk factors, our relationship between gravity, the floor, the spine and our distribution of weight. We worked on our individual experience and understanding of these relationships before moving on to work with a partner's. We filled the gaps created by our partner's body and worked to generate both creative dialogues and tensions. We discussed how vision hinders and reinforces our inhibitions and accepted that we still have a long way to go before we stop thinking through the brain, stop wanting our movement to look good and stop wondering what others are thinking as they watch us. This journey must become an individual and to some extent an internal journey. There is no place for judgment here.
Questions for this week:
1. What is your personal understanding of the concepts of body-memory, play and palette? Feel free to do some research and find some quotes to support your view/s.
2. What are our bodily inhibitions we collectively discovered in today's session? Are these inhibitions in our minds or lodged in our bodies? How can we train our brains to stop thinking?
3. What is the importance of technique in the initial part of the session? How did it support/allow the 'play' sessions to become productive?
4. Identify two bad habits of your own and think of ways to overcome them in the weeks to come.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
Royona
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Body-memory is a wide concept consisting of many components. For example: If you close your eyes for a moment and imagine that you take a bite of a lemon. You are likely to feel your spit glans reacting. This is your body remembering and reacting on past experience.
ReplyDeleteIn our sessions we only use a selection of the different types of body memory so far. We have mainly been focusing on movement memory. We use our movement memory in other situations every day, when our bodies remember how to walk and shake hands and so on.
But in these sessions we are expanding our movement vocabulary or “adding to the palette”. We do this mainly through “play”. During “play” the floor becomes our playground, where we are free to explore our bodies' possibilities, potentials, restrictions and so on. Having a partner during “play” can be a source of great inspiration.
It is important that the playground is a place without judgement. Both external and internal judgement. We are most likely to achieve a broader movement vocabulary by letting go of “brain-thoughts” and giving in to “body thoughts” or in other words: intuition.
Other aspects that can add to the palette is the element of technique. This will provide some of the skills we need in order to move more freely. Through technique we can learn more about how to work with gravity, take bigger risks and to “play” safely, so we can avoid injuring our own or our partner's body. Technique is also an important part of “play” because it inspires us and it can give us the opportunity to move in ways we would not have thought of ourselves or would have dared to attempt.
These “brain thoughts” are the ones invoking our inhibitions. Their purpose is to constantly try and tell us about the world around us. Unfortunately this causes thoughts like: “People are looking at me”, “I look ridiculous like this” or “I am no good at this”etc.
I wish I had a simple answer that would make all those thought disappear. But I think the only way to let go of all the “brain thoughts” is to just hard work. The more you work with your body and rely on your intuition, the easier it will become in time. And remember: you are not the only one who feels that way.
I, as I'm sure many others, feel self-conscious at times. I want my movements to look beautiful and controlled. This sometimes inhibits me from exploring my body's full potential. I will try and fight this by possible leaving my brain outside the door from now on.
I am also afraid of crossing the personal boundaries of my partners or team mates. This will probably slowly solve itself as we are all progressing and we will gain a better sense of each other.
Mette
Daniel Harris's Comments:
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday's session i felt very optimistic about the range of techniques and genres we would be discovering. I know there was a lack of discipline in the session which on my behalf i felt i contributed towards. "Apologies".
On a happier note the session opened up a new meaning and depth which was to be one with yourself and not to judge others as well as yourself. Its given me an understanding on how not to think in situations when using physical theatre. Today's session has taught me to open with my body and to let go of any negativity which i feel i might express.
One thing i am going to consider now is the gym as i feel i have used muscles i didnt know i had, and therefore would like to get my fitness levels up which will motivate me even more in future sessions.
ROLL ON NEXT WEEL :)
"Daniel Harris"
Naomi-
ReplyDeleteBody Memory/Muscle Memory is the way your body i.e. the working muslces reminds the memory how you moved in certain situations. It is something I have come across alot in my job. Understanding and listening to your body will put you at a huge advantage in this work. Your body will remember the moves instinctively if you allow it. Play - This was a pivotal moment for me, when i finally made sense of all the components, I first went into play thinking I will just try out the skills we've learnt, I stopped at one point hoping someone would join in, Emma did and for the first time I discoverd an emotion relating to the moves, (this had not happened to me before, i had just been doing what i thought i should be doing) Something, (not sure what!)CHANGED!I began to feel emma wanted something from me and "I werent given it up!!!". I then developed a different relationship with Liz, but was amazed to find Emalene. The Palette(Skills learnt this session and before)and Play go hand in hand, as the play gives you the chance to express the skills you've been taught treat it like your a kid again and being aloud to just PLAY....
The inhibitions brought up in the session where something we all feel at some point in our lives, we should try to put to one side, just for these session, it is really hard but we can train the to do this mind aswell as the body.
YES... We can train the brain to stop thinking, if we allow it to happen. I teach body balance in the session we meditate and relax for 10mins. It helps to focus mind and body.
If you haven't got the technique right, you won't feel it, your body memory won't respond to it, and you may injure yourself. Technique and discipline is the key to helping you feel the moves and build relationships. You are able to practice and perfect your technique it the play session they are invaluable, please don't allow inhibitions to hinder you, go into the play session with an open mind, you never know you might like it.
Lack of Concentration - Need to work on this, I am awful at chatting and wanting to engage verbally. Will try harder next time....
Thinking - Agin, area to work on.... Just need to begin to use skills learnt to turn of the mind...... Will try harder next time.....
NAOMI CHAMROO
Body memory is when our body remember certain movements. Just as our brain remember certain thoughts our body remembers how it has moved. Play reminded me of being in primary school and being on a playground just after a class where you can do anything. From watching people during play, especially Naomi, i felt that they were school children. Naomi would move and then come to sit on her own for a while and it reminded me of a child sulking and then forgetting all about it and carrying on. Palette reminds me of an artist. The artist has all of his colour on the palette and we have all of our movements. Combining play and palette is like combining the artist with his palette and a canvas; something is created.
ReplyDeleteI think with the arrival of new people in the group, it resurfaced the thoughts such as "i'm on show, i need to stop people seeing me", and one which i thought was "i can't do it right, i must look like a right pillock". These are deffinately in our minds. The more we learn to let everything go, the easier it will be to just focus and forget about things like that. One thing that helps me is pilates. When i go to a pilates class, most of the time i'm in my own bubble without a care in the world. I think that even just by meditating at home will help people to let go.
Technique is vital. I'm proof that if we don't do a movement right we can hurt ourselves. The more we remain on track and focus on the task, the more we will learn and the more bonds will be able to form through the means of play.
The first for me was thinking too much. I remember thinking "oh no, my top has rissen up" but i resisted the urge to move it during the warm up. The more i stop thinking, the sooner this won't happen anymore. Another was finding a new partener. After working with Lauren last week i felt like i didn't want to work with another person. I know that i need to work with everyone in order to feel the benifits of our classes.
Victoria Power
As I didn’t do devising with you last year, the first session was particularly difficult for me and the idea of my body having a memory seemed impossible. Although, I have only had another session, I feel as that my body seemed to remember a lot more easily how to get into a neutral stance. I think this makes particular reference to the well-used quote, “practice makes perfect.”
ReplyDeleteThe previous session has allowed me to voice a lot of my personal inhibitions about body image. As a teenager myself it is obvious that I would love to have a perfect body but what necessarily defines perfect? We all see people in magazines with flat stomach and then we blame the magazines for publishing these images. Personally, I don’t feel that it is the magazines fault we all want to fit into a category…I think that as society this is what we like to see.
We also discovered, as Andy pointed out, that it be acceptable for two men to work together as two girls do all the while. As a group, I feel that we all expressed that it’s not fair that people shouldn’t be judged by gender and that our bodies should be used to suggest something and not to be used to sexualise something as discussed in last week’s session.
I think we can stop thinking about all these inhibitions by becoming more confident with our work and if something hurts during the session we can train our brains to stop thinking by breathing through it.
I feel that technique is going to play a huge part in this module. As Royona said, it’s not the strength of someone used to life another, it’s the technique that makes the lift work. Most people were pleased to hear this, especially the ones who are mostly used as a base in other subjects such as dance. The techniques used over every session are supporting the play sessions as this time is used to practice and try these techniques out. The play sessions are productive because many techniques are combined to create new shapes.
The two bad habits I need to overcome are….
Not trying to make my movements look “beautiful” I now know that even if the movements look “ugly” they can still send a beautiful message to the audience as Royona mentioned in the session.
One that I feel is a terrible bad habit is moving my hair out of my face when coming in to the neutral stance. I shall try and stop thinking about this and just let my hair fall where it needs to.
STEPHANIE DRURY
Like the brain, the body is capable of storing memory. This could be for example, a series of movements that a person has attempted before which feels less complex the second time around because the move has been remembered by the body.
ReplyDeleteA palette brings images of a painter, our movements or techniques are the different colours. As the weeks progress we will have more paints to add to our palette to play with.
The word 'play' immediately takes me back to my childhood, when playing dominated my free time. Relating this to our work in the sessions, 'play' is a way of experimenting the techniques learnt from our palette which in turn creates body memory.
A common bodily inhibition is thinking too much about what we look like when we perform, its so easy to get carried away with the portrayal of bodily image in the media. This factor however can in fact hinder our performance, leading us not fully explore ourselves in the sessions. These inhibitions are locked into our brain and as the module progresses and we become more familiar with the work, it will become easier to be more free in the 'play' sessions.
Technique is important as it allows our work to appear more choreographed. It is also important in the initial part of the session so we could then utilise and adapt the techniques in the 'play' sessions ourselves.
One bad habit would be to stop fidgeting with my clothes and playing with my hair during the session! I shall try and tell my brain to concentrate on the work instead.
Another bad habit would be to not care so much what my movements look like on the outside but instead use the sessions to explore what my body is capable of and where improvement is needed.
Rachel O'Connor
Body Memory is the process in which the body reacts automatically to certain situations, through past experiences, without any aid from the brain.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of what we have been working toward in the sessions, i.e adding various techniques to the palette, if these techniques are done correctly the body remembers the process in which it goes through. Focusing on what muscles are working when, and where the tension is at different points of movement.
This can then be applyed during the 'play' session. Instead of thinking what the body can do and where it should go in the space, the body will move through the space on its own naturally. As demonstrated in our last 'play' session, applying body memory will create much more interesting images whithin the space.
I find it ironic how it is called 'bodily' inhibitions, when really it is the brain and what society have enforced upon us that creates these inhibitions. The body is a seperate element, it is our tool and we can do whatever we want with it, but our own thoughts hold us back.
In the session we discussed our own inhibitions, the main ones bought up were; "whether I look good", "what were people thinking of me" and weight issues.
To train our bodies to stop thinking, I believe all focus should be applied during the warm up at the start of the sessions. This is an oppurtunity to become focused through the body by remembering neutrality through the body and letting go of all previous initial thoughts. It is a training session to prepare our body memory for the tasks/palette ahead.
Techniques used in the session are also training us to become more comfortable with our bodies. For example, fear of bodily contact was confronted with exercises such as; placing our hands on our partners to study their movements, and applying wieght on eachother and filling spaces they had created for us. Also we were learning to trust our bodies by exploring the relationship with gravity and the floor.
My personal bad habits are worrying whether my body will be able to create interesting enough movement, and worying what people watching are thinking.
To overcome these habits I will focus alot harder in the warm up, by not getting distracted and focusing soley what my body is doing and not other people's. Only then can I fully let go to body memory, ensuring I wont hold back during 'play' sessions.
Hayley Rockley.
Body memory is a concept I am very familiar with as a dancer. I believe it is the bodies ability to remember certain things without any input from the brain. In classes we do things that move and challenge the body. The body will remember how it moved and what it felt like, so when you perform that movement again it feels comfortable and even natural. This also allows us to know when a movement is incorrect as it will feel uncomfortable. Thus meaning we should listen to our body over our brain in order to correct the movement.
ReplyDeleteI think play is a very useful way of consolidating a session of work. It incorporates all the elements and allows more freedom which can cause some thought prevoking ideas for you to leave the session with.
I think a palette of skills is a lovely expression to encompass what we are learning. The metaphor of adding skills/tasks to a palette like an artist adding paints until the masterpiece is created was particularly prominent for me as it emphasised how the masterpiece would never be created without these tasks we are partaking in now.
As a class there are a lot of inhabitions about size. Some people thinking they are too heavy to be lifted. Others thinking 'I am strong enough to take your weight' The discussion we had following the play session was particularly interesting for me. Especially as Naomi said if she had known she was working with me she never would have put her weight on me for fear of hurting me. But as she didn't know it was me, she did put her weight on me, and we're all still alive! I feel this very clearly shows how we let the brain rule our decisions and actions far too much. I think having the eyes closed is a good way of introducing the idea of overriding the mind.
I previously mentioned the importance of the techniques we are learning when talking about the 'palette of skills'. I feel each and every session brings something new to every person and the play sessions bring many of these together and I am very much looking forward to what second semester brings already!
I personally feel I don't know very many of the other students in the class very well as I dont have as many lectures with them as others. Because of this I tend to try and work with people I know slightly better, which I shouldn't. I will try not to do this anymore.
Emalene Hickman
I believe body memory is your body working independently without any correspondence with the brain. It’s when your body operates “to achieve true freedom- to be able to make conscious choices about the movement the body alone initiates”. The body remembers the ways in which it moves, in what order and to what standard you are capable of moving at to make it feel like a natural impulse. The body is able to highlight you its insecurities, weaknesses and challenges that you then work to rectify to make any movements from then on effortless. Play allows to truly explore everything your body has registered throughout the process and a chance for it show you its other capabilities that you are free to explore perhaps at a later date. It highlights just how free the body can become to go off its own impulses not from any other ones e.g. from your brain. It just goes to show how after very session we really are adding so many various skills to a palette that will eventually carry us on into creating a true effortless physical theatre piece and prompting us to keep these skills with us into future careers.
ReplyDeleteI think collectively as a class we share many inhibitions about varying weight and sizes which showed me throughout this process many of us will have to over come some insecurities relating to this by just been open, honest and trusting of the work and the people around us. I and a few others seemed to be conscious of having to be lifted due to the fact through dance, me personally, have always been told that I was too heavy to lift. So throughout the practical session this ‘voice’ stayed in my head when I had to place my weight on someone. So because of this I did hold back and I didn’t let my body take over because my mind was saying ‘you’re hurting this person here’. This will be something I will eventually overcome hopefully in time but it did reassure me to know that many others had similar issues and everyone seemed like they will have to overcome some minor problems like that. This problem for me however is defiantly lodged in my brain but I do feel it will be possible to stop my brain thinking about the technicalities of the task and just let my body do it in time.
My first bad habit is that I tend to work with the same people due to the fact I know some people better than others however as the weeks progress its becoming easier to work with others as I get to know them more. My second bad habit is been too reserved about the task ahead basically thinking about it too much rather than letting it become an impulse. Due to this process been in the early stages however I know I will overcome this in time so much so it won’t be any kind of issue.
Charlotte Swaby
Body-memory is when the body remembers a movement without your brain telling the body what do to. When we do a movement our body registers how to do it so it is important to do it right. For example in dance a dancer should never really mark anything, this means if your arm is meant to be straight don’t bend it because the body would start to remember it like that. So if you do the movement right your body will remember that and tell you if you are doing it wrong next time because the body will remember how it is suppose to feel.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear the word palette it makes me think about a painter’s palette where they put all their colours on to see what they could create on a blank piece of canvas or most of the time they just start painting and let the end product unravel. Which I think is amazing because in art I use to have to know what I was doing and if I didn’t like it I would stop and start again. This idea of the painters palette can be interpreted in the ‘play’ session, all the exercises we have been doing in each class are the colours and when we enter the ‘play’ session without thinking we begin to paint. This is what I need to do, I need to stop thinking and just let the colours start to blend on their own.
In today’s session I was surprised at how a lot of us have the same inhibitions and that we don’t like giving our weight to other people in case we hurt them. I think these inhibitions are in our minds because I hate giving my weight to anyone and after the session I asked Charlotte if I had hurt her when I went over her and she said that she didn’t feel a thing. I think my mind is always telling me that if I do give my weight to someone I will hurt them. For example I know I am always saying this to myself because I am normally the lifter and once I did give my weight to someone they said that I had hurt them. I think a lot of us will have to stop thinking we are going to hurt someone and just trust our partner and ourselves because we can do it, we just have to stop saying we can’t.
The Importance of technique is there to help make sure you don’t injury yourself or another if you are working with someone for example having the right technique in the press up position is very important. If you were in the right position and someone came and gave their weight to you, you should be able to hold yours and their weight and prevent injury, but if you curve your spin and let go of your centre you could cause an injury to your back. The technique supports/allows the ‘play’ sessions to become productive as you are able to test new things as you have the right technique and you know the limits you can go at that specific time.
One of my bad habits is thinking of what move to do next instead of just letting my body move and go where it wants, I think the way I’m going to have to overcome this is by thinking back to when I closed my eyes the first week and I stopped thinking about what I was doing. I will also try and close my eyes when I can in some exercisers to try and get use to it.
Another bad habit that links in with the first one is not transferring my weight to someone else, I’m worried I might hurt them, I think to overcome this is to stop thinking and just try and let go and not think about it.
Catherine Hollies
Fantastic range of responses so far. I am waiting for more before writing back substantially for this week. Keep them coming - it is very productive for us to read what you are thinking about or experiencing through the sessions.
ReplyDeleteRoyona
Body memory is when our bodies and muscles will remember warmups and movements which we have done during a session, when at times our brains may not remember. For example, we have done alot of work on neutrality, if someone was to forget exactly how we had learnt to move from being on the floor to standing in a neutral stance, their body will remember what was done and the person will know when the movements they are performing are correct.
ReplyDeletePlay is the process of using all of the skills that we have been taught up to now and experimenting with them in the space, and even adding our own movements. This part of the session allows us to experiment with space, allowing our bodies to travel through the space whilst we move rather than remaining in one place.
Palette is all of the skills we have been taught, and this palette of skills will help us to create performance at the end of the process, just as an artists palette helps them to create art.
One huge inhibition that we discovered during the session was weight. Many of us were hesitant about placing our weight onto other people, being scared that they would not be able to support us etc. This inhibition is one that I hold personally, whilst studying physical theatre at college, I usually ended up being the person performing any lifts rather than being lifted myself. It was always the smaller and more petite students who were lifted. For this reason I initially felt uncomfortable with placing my weight onto other people, especially people with a smaller frame than myself. The session made me realise that weight isnt a factor in being lifted of supported, it is more about skill, learning to hold you're body in a rooted position so that you could take the weight of another person without injury. There were many times during the session when i found it extremely difficult to not think whilst moving. I found myself constantly worrying about how the movements looked, did i look stupid? Whilst working with Naomi during the play session, we were both told to close our eyes, during that short time, I stopped caring about what other people thought, the only thing that mattered was my relationship with Naomi, and my body appeared to be thinking for me.
Technique is extremely important, it gives us the foundations to experiment. If we hadnt spent time learning techniques and how to work with the floor and gravity, I most likely wouldnt have entered the space during the play session. Learning the initial techniques gave me the confidence to participate, as I wasnt entering the space having no idea what movements i would do. I then began to create my own movements.
One of my bad habits is thinking too much, worrying about how I look and trying plan my next move. I managed to stop myself doing this when I closed my eyes whilst working with Naomi, so i need to always try and stay in that mind-set.
A major bad habit of mine is lack of confidence. But i have found that in the last session expecially, this is already improving. I usually find myself getting worried in the first part of the session when we are introduced to new techniques, but once I stop worrying and just do I have suprised myself with the things I am able to do. In order to face the problem of confidence, I just need to stop thinking and go for it, if there is something i cant do, its not the end of the world.. I just need to keep working on it.
Liz Nuttall
In just the same way our brain is capable of storing memories, our bodies are too. When you drive down a road for the second time,your brain/subconscience will recall your previous journey and eventually take you to where you need to be. When you allow your body to "play", to enter into a childlike state, not being held back by adult inhibitions, but to simply be free, and play, your body memory will recall this. So, being in a certain position, or stance, or holding a certain pose/frame, your body will let you do so, due to the storing of this move from the last time you attempted it. The more you allow yourself to play, as you allow your mind to study more and the brain soaks the information up, your body does also. The bigger your body memory becomes; the more you have in your "palette" to play with. An artist cannot paint a mural with only red, he will need every colour imaginable! We need to train our bodies to become artists, and draw upon any colour when we need it.
ReplyDeleteThe last session revealed that most of us had bodily inhibitions. These were all stored in our minds, not our bodies. Our bottoms are not telling us they are too fat - we are. Our legs are not complaining they are too short - we are. Our faces don't compain they are not beautiful enough - we do. The most important thing to remember in orer to be an actor, is to be a child. With no rent or bills worries and with no hang ups about our bodies. To play is to be child like - with no cares. When we change in one room and enter the other, this gives us the chance to forget or adult lives, and leave our cares along with our bags and coats. That way the practical room is free for unprohibited discovery.
The initial part of the workshop always proves to be vital through to the end of the session. Simply holding our body weight was something we quickly had to get used to, and then recall on for the rest of the session. It became a very physically demanding session and quickly pointed out this was an area of weakness of mine. I've been trying the plank and press ups at home, so I'll see if my body recalls any of this extra work tomorrow!!!
A major major flaw of mine is that I'm too hard on myself. If I don't get something right, or pick things up as quick as everyone else I get frustrated with myself and instead of opening up, I clam up! I shall try really hard to be open and not be hard on myself - there is no right or wrong way in these sessions, so why bother trying to be "right"?!
Confidence is an going thing with me and dance. As a female people automatically compare you all, and that stays with you into adulthood, so I'm always trying to make myself more confident and not listen to anything I've heard in the past!
Gemma Sage
Sorry for a late response!
ReplyDeleteAs many of the group have already stated 'body memory' is the idea that our body is capable of storing memories (as oppose to the brain).
When i think of the term..'play', i initially think of children playing a game and in doing so discovering ideas creatively and actively. Regarding the techniques we are exploring in the sessions, we can see how we 'play' with these new skills and create individual ways of toying with them. We are all embarking on different discovery paths both mentally and physically. Technique is a huge part of the learning process in this module. When attempting the techniques i struggle a lot with the physical demands, it then becomes apparent that in need to work on my upper body strength in order to discipline myself during the sessions. As the weeks go by, we will gain strength and our 'body memory' will seperate our thought process of the activities from the 'pain' we are enduring more intensely at this early stage.
Although i did'nt take part in all of the activities in the session, i do understand how bodily inhibitions can have a huge impact on an individual within this style of work. These derive from our preconceptions of what is beautiful?...therefore in the 'eyes of society' acceptable? I think everybody has to outline their specific 'issues' they may have with themselves, and find a way of overcoming these issues that are only in our minds because of the way society conditions us and our opinions of 'perfection'...which in reality does'nt exist.
Two bad habits i acquire are 1). giving up too easily when i find something difficult.
2). Allowing myself to get distracted from the work, which really disengages your concentration for the remainder of the session!
Sophie Horton.
Those of you who have not responded with comments in week 1 and week 2 so far are falling into the trap of not taking this part of the learning process seriously. Don't let this happen. The blog is and will become increasingly, an invaluable space and tool for your learning in the module.
ReplyDeleteRoyona
Just from two weeks sessions I’ve already realised that our body is capable of storing memories. I felt this was evident just after getting into neutral stance as I could feel where I was going wrong after having to do the neutral stance in devising last year. A palette is a brilliant way of describing our work as we are learning something new every week and adding it to the palette to store so we can recall it later on. Being able to play is a brilliant concept also as it allows us to put aside time to just explore the use of the body and its connections with gravity.
ReplyDeleteAgain our bodily inhibitions are really controlled by society and the stereotypical movie star images we see in magazines and on TV. As a group we are all growing in realising that we’ve got to have confidence in our bodies and in each other when we are to do body lifting in future sessions. I think this is going to be very hard so training our brains to stop thinking will help us grow as a group in self-belief.
Play sessions are very useful for us to try out and to push ourselves to the limit, and it doesn’t matter if we don’t do something that tests the body or something we will use again because we are just experimenting. Although I didn’t go into the centre of the circle during the ‘play’ session, I still felt I was a part of the work in some way as I was still focused and still in the room for work. Technique is really important when doing certain moves as we are going to be responsible for other people and ourselves so cannot afford to do moves incorrect and injure ourselves.
Like other people I need to stop thinking about what my body looks like and what it is doing but just let the body do things without thinking about it, I also need to focus on staying in ‘the zone’ and not allowing things to distract me.
lauren walker
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteThank you to those of you who have made an effort to comment once again this week. I hope those of you who are using the blog to reflect upon your practice and share your thoughts, are starting to see the benefit of not only recording your own progress, but reading about others' too. This is possibly the richest thing about the blog - you get to see where you are at in relation to everyone else. And this can be very reassuring. Particularly for those of you who don't tend to speak out loud in the sessions themselves, the blog can become a very useful and powerful channel through which you can make yourself heard. So keep doing this.
Some generic feedback to everyone first of all:
1. Try to write out your posts in a word document. Run spell check and make sure the post is written with correct grammar, punctuation and divided into paragraphs. Then copy and paste onto the comment box before you post it. This will get you into the habit of writing academically even in a medium like an online blog.
2. To make your posts that much more academic (and you will need to do this for the semester 2 blogs when you get assessed on them), start reading books and articles on your reading list. Start using quotes to support your own views so that it isn't just reflective but also academically contextualised. Use the harvard system for referencing and put down a bibliography at the bottom of your post before your name.
3. The posts are going to get harder - so you will need to engage intellectually with the questions as the semester develops.
4. All of you capture your understanding of body-memory, play and palette very accurately. I particularly appreciate the references to childhood and the importance of play within this time of ourselves. Play is vital for growth. And you seem to have captured this beautifully.
5. You all also seem to realise the importance of technique. Not only is it to make the play safe and productive, it is also what makes the work look effortless and clean. Strive for control and fluidity in the physical work we create and build on this from week to week.
6. Finally, it's great to see your honesty in identifying your own weaknesses. It's the first step towards losing inhibitions.
See you all bright and early tomorrow.
Royona