Dear All,
Apologies for the delay in putting up this post.
After the extreme physical challenge of last week's work with Jasmin Vardimon Company, this week it was time to expose ourselves to emotionally challenging material. As discussed in the session this morning, this emotional challenge manifest itself at various levels and in various ways.
1. Social barriers: the intensity and embarrassment of the eye exercise brought with it the need for you to re-evaluate and get over the ways in which you interacted with bodies through the eyes. This was also a physically demanding task in order to keep the connection dynamic and exciting.
2. Emotional barriers: we tested your ability to trust and be trusted through the various techniques of falls and catches. These once again required a greater level of engagement with the spine, weight distribution and a precision to technique to carry out the work safely. As pointed out, this work also made you incredibly responsible for your partner's safety at all times. It required to read their intentions through your eyes and through observing their points of balance and weight distribution.
3. Physical barriers: for a lot of you, once again the fear of being too heavy got in the way of trusting the correct technique to carry out of the fall and catch smoothly.
We've got to stop the brain from controlling what we are capable of! It's vital that we use the warm up to shut the brain down from getting in the way and then to keep this level of focus through the session.
You were pretty awful this morning at keeping your discipline and focus sharp and centred through the session. This made a lot of the work simply harder to achieve.
Questions for this morning:
1. What are the different kinds of risks we experienced today? How did you respond to these risks?
2. We have been working for 6 weeks now on a very specific training programme. Evaluate the point you managed to reach in this journey after today's session. Reflect on both your physical and emotional growth through the work so far.
3. Three words to describe today's session.
4. As we move our training towards the surfacing of narrative and relationships through the use of technique, what are the new challenges you will need to meet in the work?
Looking forward to your response.
Royona
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1. We were asked to commit to a greater risk level today, taking full responsibility for another person’s complete body, the fall and catch was physically challenge but emotional frustrating, Gemma and I struggled with the technique which stifled our connect, thus losing concentration and trust. On a positive note the ‘Eye Gaze’ work initially was incredible; it added the layer of quality we need to connect feeling with physicality.
ReplyDelete2. Over the past six weeks I feel I’ve grown to understanding the genre at different levels at different times. It has been a quick and steep learning curve which I have applied enormous commitment to. I feel very strongly that the only way I will learn to embrace such a phenomenal discipline is to commit heart, mind, body and spirit. “Leave it at the Door!” I work very much following this ethic, I can’t afford to allow my personal problems, Physical aches and pain stand in the way of my development of this subject. I know this is easier said than done, but we only have 2.5 hours a week to understand this new challenge. Physically I feel stronger and more confident in my own ability to apply the palettes skills, emotional I still feel I have a long way to go in developing layers and qualities to my work, as it feels more technical and I am not moving to the next stages, intent, emotion and character.
3. Disappointing, unattainable and ingratiating
4. The new challenge for me will be to keep practicing the technique and be completely confident with it to allow the creating of a character to come through, I have however felt some unearthing of a character come through in the play session, the character is purely experimental at present. I feel the play session is imperative for my character to develop as this is the only time I have really felt this happen.
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ReplyDeleteAs a group, we were challenged to a series of risks from breaking down social barriers with intensive eye contact with our partner to a number of physical risks where we became responsible for our own partner’s safety. I found the eye contact work difficult at first because it is unnatural and requires a great deal of discipline to not break out into laughter. However, I soon realised its effectiveness of establishing narrative and relationships when observing other pairs intensively at work.
ReplyDeleteThe physical risks were challenging and required trust, concentration and responsibility in order to achieve the falls correctly. I realised that these had to be practiced quickly right from the beginning which heightened the responsibility of the catcher to be alert and in control of their partner. The eye contact work together with the lifts and falls gave another dimension to our work to add to the palette.
Over the past six weeks, I feel I have learnt so much about the genre of physical theatre as it is always a difficult term to describe, from the sessions it seems to be a hybrid genre of dance, movement and dramatic narrative. I have also really enjoyed the process and because I have never been on a similar programme before, I feel it has enlightened me to new approach to my work. Each week we are guaranteed to be challenged and learn something new which is why I always look forwards to the sessions.
Although the process is both physically and emotionally demanding, I feel on top of the work so far and always eager to move onto the next stage. I realise it is going to get more challenging, however I feel the process will gradually build on our palette and lead us a group to greater understanding of physical theatre both mentally and physically.
I would sum up the session in three words:
Developing relationships, narrative and responsibility.
"(Physical theatre) is more than simply abstract movement – it includes some element of character, narrative, relationships, and interaction between the performers, not necessarily linear or obvious.” http://nycphysicaltheatre.com/definition.aspx
To achieve this we need more concentration, enthusiasm and stronger discipline in the sessions to produce work of a high standard and to communicate meaning. In turn, this will make us more creative when experimenting with characters via our narrative and relationships work.
Rachel O'Connor
1. The risks we experienced in the session had increased, because not only did you have to make sure that you were keeping yourself safe, you had to keep your partner safe and keep the environments safe energy and respect. And it was a hard task, to take on all the responsibility of the risks, because the brain began to surface and make my decisions for me. I panicked, because I felt unsafe and thought that I would hurt someone.
ReplyDelete2. After 6 weeks, I know that I have come a long way, especially from the first session, where I could barely do some of the warm up, let alone the actual work after that. I have noticed my warm up ability and strength, not only in my body, but both mentally and emotionally has grown. I have learnt not to let the progress of others affect me. Again, I have mentioned before, the purpose of doing the training is showing what you body can do.
3. Disappointing, draining and frustrating.
4. The new challenges arising focus more on how your relationships with other members of the group work and how they evolve to become something that can reveal emotions at a strong and performance based level. With some members, there is an instant connection and for others, there is work needed to build this connection. Using techniques, you can begin to explore the emotions that you feel with someone and build on them, taking bigger risks. The challenge of this, is knowing how to keep safe in when the relationship and narrative is brought in and making sure that the connection is kept intact when mixing all of these together to create a performance.
Toni Alonzo
This was the first session we have been asked to make an emotional connection using the eyes. We usually have to connect with the body and even work with our eyes closed. I believe the eyes are indeed the window to the soul and you can really engage with someone using eye contact. Working with Ellen helped to build a relationship, as I don't remember working with her before. Plus it tested both of our concentration levels and helped us to keep focused; by supporting one another we were able to reap the benefit of the task at hand. The other risk was taking someone's weight using your arms - usually we support weight with our back or body. I found this really hard to grasp, as I was more concerned with supporting my partner, rather than executing the move. I’m hoping next session it will be easier, but I don't really feel I overcame the risk - I just learnt the stages of it. Naomi was very trusting of me and I felt I didn't want to break that trust.
ReplyDeleteTo be perfectly honest I feel I hit a brick wall today - I wonder if more people in the group are sharing my sentiment?! I didn't feel the eye contact task challenging to complete; I do feel this is now in the palette too, but the supporting and shifting of weight in a space and time was extremely difficult to execute.
This week was demanding, exhausting, draining.
I feel that I/we will need to delve deep in to the coming sessions. We need to not be scared of eye contact, or weight shift or trusting one another. This way we can let character, emotion and relationships come through without them being blocked by our conscious mind. Controlling the talking and instead interacting with the whole of our mind and body will enable the work to develop and flourish.
Gemma
Today’s biggest risk factor was the responsibility of taking someone else’s weight and also trusting yourself to give weight to someone else. This is full of risks as it relies on maximum concentration and reveals the potential of being hurt if something should go wrong. We are shown thoroughly how to perform each movement before we perform them ourselves therefore we should be safe. Therefore I feel it is just learning to trust in: yourself, your partner and the technique. Once this is achieved the risk element is far lesser if not removed.
ReplyDeleteEveryone seemed to feel very deflated and frustrated in class as they struggled with the new, more demanding technique, which is being introduced as we enter week 6. However, I felt it was pivotal as the work began to move at a pace more suited to me. I felt the work was achievable, which I thought was particularly striking as I have never even spoken to Sarah before, let alone worked with her, and yet we worked extremely well together. I feel this is because we trusted each other, realised the trust was deserved and worked with it.
The work we did with adding the layer and the eye contact was much more strenuous for me as it is adding emotion to technique which always feels clinical to me. Therefore this sensation is very odd.
Exciting, demanding and insightful.
I will need to try and separate my personal feelings in class from the emotional feelings of a character as this will give me a greater palette and variation. This will also help me to avoid thinking too much and ending up totally emotionally drained.
Emalene Hickman
1). we experienced very different kinds of risks today, by incorporating the emotional concept into the work. The first task- exploring the importance of eye contact, proved to be more challenging than I would have initially perceived. It seemed easy enough but overwhelmed me by its severe intensity. Because of the intimacy and openness involved in eye-contact, within society it is something we generally struggle to maintain. Yet, the eyes serve as a basic tool for communication and are extremely significant in every day situations…let alone performance wise!
ReplyDeleteI responded as well as I could to the task, and found that by working with different partners the chemistries altered quite vividly.
The second part of the session- training of ‘falls and catches’, was both emotionally and physically perilous. The responsibility is immense when you’re the ‘catcher’ which can be quite a daunting feeling. I personally felt terrified that I would drop steph, I knew I wouldn’t because we were in a disciplined environment and she isn’t heavy! But the emotional barrier really does surface in exploring such techniques. I particularly felt vulnerable as the ‘faller’, even though the weight transference when distributed equally is accomplishable (regardless of size) I still struggle to accept this and unfortunately block myself from completely letting go when attempting these exercises.
2). I suppose my above comments generally reflect my individual process in the growth of this work so far. I find that, when the work doesn’t involve people dealing with my weight as such I can really get into it and progress positively. However, referring again to the falls and catches activity, I have a mental block which prevents me from overcoming the emotional barriers and inevitably impacts my progression. I definitely have gained more strength from when we first started the module, as I now find the warm-ups less physically challenging than 6 weeks ago!
3). Three words to describe the session- exposing, difficult, uncomfortable (to a degree).
4). as we have now started to move the training towards the surfacing of narrative and relationships through technique, the challenges are vastly increasing. We no longer specifically rely upon ‘body memory’ to carry us through the work, we have to become emotionally involved, which surprisingly amplifies the intensity of the work to the point where we become emotionally drained. This takes a lot of commitment and dedication, and is a challenge I am aiming to productively adhere to.
Sophie Horton.
We were introduced to the risk have having to support the whole of another persons weight, but also the risk of trusting another person to catch us when we fell. I experienced trust exercises during my time at college, so I felt fairly comfortable with holding Rachel's weight, yet not as confident with Rachel holding mine. Throughout the session I couldnt shake the thought that I am heavier than Rachel, and so I was worried that she wouldnt be able to take my weight. Once we had tried the exercise a couple of times, I became more comfortable with Rachel, and i was able to experiment.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the session was the best I have experience so far, and I have come over leaps and bounds since the session with Jasmin Verdimon company. For the first time since the beginning of the module, I was able to hide my frustrations and accept the fact that I'm not going to be perfect first time. And I found that once I stopped caring how good or bad I may look to others, I began to improve. The journey for me has been extremely difficult and emotional, but I feel now that I am through the worst. I hope to improve week by week and prove to myself that I am capable of good work.
3 words to describe the session:
Enjoyable, strenuous, Emotional
As we continue on our journey, my aim is to continue with the mental attitude I had last session. I am extremely excited about bringing narrative into the equation, and I look forward to discovering a character within me. During play sessions I have felt moments where a character has emmerged, and I am interested to take this further and to see what happens. As we include characters and narratives, I think that keeping focus will be a challenge, as the excitement of something new may be a distraction. After the workshop with Jasmin Verdimon, I am determined to stay positive and work through any challenges that are thrown at me.
In last week's session it was like we hit a brick wall. The high level of emotional resonance of the work, left many feeling drained of energy and drive. This affected the entire room and caused the lack of participation in the 'play session'.
ReplyDeleteThe reason for this deflation, is very likely related to the high content of emotional risk of the work. The exercises challenged our inhibition of giving in. Looking into each other's eyes is perceived in our culture, to be something very intimate and thereby also exposing. Both this and the 'Fall' exercise, take so much trust from one another – and trust can be a very big challenge.
This 'brick wall' we hit, is something we have to work through, because we will encounter the issue of trust even more when we move further towards the performance.
The past 6 weeks have been filled with challenges. Some big, some small. I am surprised to see how positive my attitude has been in this process, knowing that I have a previous tendency of getting annoyed if my body will not or cannot do is I want it to.
Unfortunately I feel I have had a physical set-back due to health problems, so I don't feel my body is as strong as it should be, and I still feel self-conscious about my bony structure. But all are very much in a state of improvement.
3 words: Exposing, challenging, exhausting
Mette