Dynamics

Today in our lesson we started with a very interesting exercise which helped me grow and expand as a physical theatre performer. We closed our eyes and picked a specific area of the body like the elbow for example. We would let the body part lead us into fluid movements and change our physicality and lead us to explore dynamics such as slow and smooth movements contrasting with sharp quick movements. This helped me learn how to let movement flow without thinking and getting into my own head restricting my movement. We also explored dynamics through picking different dynamics and creating a fluid dance like movement to represent them, I chose: strong,smooth and slow. 

Later on in the session we worked on our devised piece"moments" we used the dance like movements we devised at the start of the day to create group movement to perform in a light puddle.

In groups of three we changed our physicality in many different ways varying from gymnastic like moves to simple fluent movements. 

Teacup's

Today in Jill’s lesson we worked on our opening to "Moments." Upon reflection the group we found that the concept of dolls walking across a stage to open a piece is a bit out dated and predictable, so to change it up we started off the experimental stage of the work through doing the "teacup" exercise. The "teacup" exercises consisted of maintaining a flat hand whist doing sharp and smooth movements around the space and intertwining our movements with others. This exercise help us develop more interesting physicalities and widened our minds to more diverse ways to cross the stage. As a group we completely revamped our work by taking the “teacup" work and moulding it into a short choreographed piece for the whole group to perform on stage under the light.

Proxemics

Today our lesson began by focusing on proxemics (spatial awareness.) We took part in an exercise called "torpedoes" this is where you become aware that someone is coming toward you and you have to move before they reach you. In the second half of the days sessions we started to focus on our devised piece "moments." We explored a range of different ways to move across a space in an interesting way. We started by focusing on our walks we have in everyday life. We then emulated Jess's. walk which eventually metamorphosed into an over exaggerated walk which showed Jess's character. As "Phonoballoon" played by Kahimi karie we explored walking across the circular lit space in interesting forms using our physicality. As the music was joyously creepy and depicted a toy/doll like scenario, I walked with a rigid limp and a smile on my face whilst changing into a smoother and faster physicality changing the dynamics of my walk to depict change. Eventually we did this in a large group one by one, then in a group of 3 we traveled across the space using each other to keep it interesting. Over all I think the work I did was good but I think that I need to show more of a contrast between my conforming to society views of how I should be doll walk and my expressive realistic walk. I also think that the over all opening needs to become faster and more complex to give to piece a Mitch faster pace, this will increase the intrigue the audience will have watching it.  

Colombian hypnotist

During this lesson we focused on focus. The columbine hypnotist challenge consists of concentrating on the palm of someone's hand as if its your whole world, no matter where it goes or what position it places you in. I was partnered with Andrew and I found that through concentration we assumed characters and followed through with our characterisation by keeping our facial expressions Stern and changing them to puzzled when a power shift took place, swapping the control from me to Andrew in a theatrical manner. I learnt a lot about concentration through this exercise, such as how you can forget about surrounding distractions through being so deep into concentration. 20 minuets can pass like a flash when focused. If I was to do this again I would vary the movement following the hand to make it more interesting and physically challenging.This exercise will be good to use in our devised piece "moments" the concentration on our faces as we focus on the hand will draw the audience in to make then concentrate on exactly what we do. 

physical awareness

Today in our first lesson we focused on physicality. This was based on learning how our body moves freely, and how to control our movements so they are smooth and controlled. We took part in exercises which stretched the body and contorted it in to different shapes and movements. Daniell devised simple movements and choreographed a short warm up piece changing our physicality drastically. Also in the session we took part in a short activity testing our awareness of others around us, let’s just say I’m not that aware...yet.This activity consisted of facing away from my partner Ryan and turning swiftly around before he touched my back. I found this exercise very helpful because it showed me that I am not that aware of others around me and that I need to work on becoming less self-absorbed when performing.

Spider dance

I found the spider dance interesting, as it portrays how the human body can change into something so different and eye catching. 5/11/13 this clip has inspired me over the course of our physical heater work and it has been used in lots our work, such as the spider and grotesque work. It has helped me overall through allowing me to see how a professional uses their body and how I can use mine in a similar way to make mor interesting work.

Click here to view 

Why i want to be and actress

I have been asked to describe how I fell in love with drama, and why i want to be an actress. for me this is an easy question because I was practically born a drama queen, and after being dragged to my first play at 6 years of age with my nan, i fell in love with not only the concept of acting but the musicality of becoming someone completely different from yourself with NO restrictions. I have always been a drama fanatic mostly focused on the musical side of drama, as I have grown up in piano, singing and recorder lessons. Recently I have grown a special place in my heart for physical theatre I am fascinated by the way actors contort their bodies into interesting and complex positions.

Induction week

During my first week of induction I kicked off my performing arts/drama level 3 course with a good chance to get to know my class mates through a quick naming circle, and a quick laugh. I gained a chance to get involved in a class drama exercises, the aim of which was to steal the focus of the audience through positioning and physicality. During the focus exercise I positioned myself centre stage directly in front of Dan, I struck a confident pose full off sass and power. this was achieved through looking directly at the audience with a focused facial expression and a large outspread body position which pulled focus. On Thursday I had a morning session with Jill, which we focused on physical theatre and fitness. During this class we did warm ups and exercises which worked our muscles to improve our fitness. I learnt from Jill that "If you're not fit someone will steal your job!" Lastly one of the tasks of the week which stood out was the breathing exercises with took part in with Dan, this involved diction work and breathing exercises.

During the vocal session we did some tricky toung twisters, like this: click here