Week 12

We had our assessments this week including the performance of the Mozart and Cat-Like Tread, as well as an improvisation activity and a cold read.

Because we hadn’t been able to practice with Simon for so long and had been starting the music in the wrong spot, our counts were out and the whole thing completely collapsed. I was so confused and I was kind of expecting Nell to stop up maybe, but we kept going, and did the bridesmaids duet and went through to the end of the performance. Fortunately we were able to do it again and it went much better the second time around. We never really got to run the end of the piece so we all came in early to figure it out before the assessment and while it wasn’t perfect we at least had something to show.

I felt confident in knowing the choreography and what was coming next and I think this course has helped me prepare to memorise more choreography, but I know I need to do more work on dance, especially in strengthening my body so I can move more easily and gracefully through movements.

Cat-Like Tread is so fun and I felt like Grace and I did really well and playing of each other in this performance. I finally worked out my box step for this one, but I was slightly less confident with the order of the choreography because I spent less time on it thinking it would be easier. I felt like I got to do more acting in this one and I really enjoyed the piece.

I found the improvisation interesting. I like improv and I’m quite comfortable with it, but I put myself in a position on stage where I actually didn’t get to do much or interact with the other characters in a meaningful way that contributed to the plot. Everyone else in the group was great, but in hindsight I think I need to find something else to do so I could contribute more.

I felt similar about the cold read. I just didn’t really know what to do in the character of the policeman and I while I was still able to take direction and got through the scene okay, I think something I can really work on is knowing how to make acting choices to stand out. I think looking a little more into Laban will be good for me and my development, and really should have been something I looked into more before our final reads.

Week 11

VSAO3601

While exploring movement and emotion with the Laban technique, I found that each movement was effective in creating a different emotion for me. I’m used to letting the emotions I think should be happening guide my movements, but it was really effective to focus on the movement first and then see what arose from it emotionally.

Using the movements to then change our dialogue was especially interesting to me, and helped us to explore different intentions and tactics. We performed the line ‘I don’t know what I want for lunch’ over and over again with each of the Laban efforts — Glide, Float, Dab, Punch, Wring, Slash, Flick, and Press. It was interesting to explore how the same piece of dialogue could be performed in so many different ways, each creating a different subtext and meaning. This evolved into performing a 6 line scene, using some of these efforts. Despite using the same dialogue, each pair of characters had such different relationship to each other, thanks to the use of the Laban efforts.

Dialogue:

A: Did you watch the coronation?

B: I’m not a monarchist.

A: I didn’t say you were.

B: I don’t even know what I want for lunch.

A: This calls for a toast!

B: Only if there’s jam.

In my first scene I used glide, which I chose because I thought it would be appropriate for this dialogue. It was fine and relatively easy. In the next run through I had to perform with punch. I did find it difficult to disregard how I thought a character ‘should’ behave in each scene and just perform with my focus on the punch feeling. The first time I did it my sentences were very short and quick, and the second time I tried to slow my pace a little and put more ‘punch’ on each word, using the consonants more.

Weeks 6 and 7

(coming a bit late, but better than never :)

VSAO3601

In week six we did some work on the fandango and put some new movements into cat like tread, including some commando rolls which was pretty exciting. Even though we didn't do much work on the fandango, I felt really confident with it this week and felt like I was keeping up really well.

We spent most of the lecture this week on looking at individual pieces and how we could act in pieces we already knew without doing unnecessary 'singer' things. I found it really difficult -- I sang Adele's Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus (which I absolutely should not have done, I hadn't sung it in months and it was not my finest) but I sang for about 10 seconds before Nell told me to stop, and improvise the scene, but spoken. I liked the idea and it was fun to see how it could give me a different kind of intention, but it didn't feel like a correct representation of the character. The scene I ended up with gave the character this frantic, chaotic energy, but I've always thought Adele was a little bit smarter and more measured. Even though I didn't think my song panned out the way I wanted, it was really great to watch Erina and Tharushi's scenes develop. Tharushi has a wonderful stage presence already, and the direction from Nell to have her act as though she was laying in grass and feeling the ground around her was really interesting. In week 7, Erina seemed a bit nervous at first in her song, but when Nell directed her attention onto Grace's hand she developed the really interesting softness. Both scenes felt much less representational, but also much more intimate with the added direction.

In week seven we spent most of our time on the Figaro Fandango and I felt really frustrated because I just couldn't seem to pick up what was happening. I arrived a few minutes late, but when I came in it seemed as though lots of things had been changed and switched around and I just couldn't seem to make sense of it. The first second section (we began with) I feel really comfortable with, but the sections don't feel connected at the moment, and the first section before the bridesmaids duet kept changing structure with different countings each time we ran through. I really struggled to keep up with this, and even though I find each of the individual movements fine, I found it hard to be flexible and keep up with the changes. I'm hoping the next week Lorena will be able to go over it again and I'll understand a bit better how each movement interacts with the ones before and after it.