9/24/09

Today we worked with space and tension. We played with building tension between people and visualized the rubber band between each other, and we worked with the little box on the floor (I don't remember what it's called. we had to create a beach in that little seven foot box. We tried to create the motion of the tide by walking back and forth subtly. Our plan was to be the waves while Ben sat "on the shore" and eventually we would reach him and wash over him but we never got that far, because the motion of the waves was taking too long. I was a little disconcerted that people laughed at our beach. I guess it probably would look pretty hilarious watching us tip toe back and forth together. But when they laughed at us I thought, "Aw crap, we've blown it, this must not look beach-like at all." That's kind of a thing with me, if people are laughing I've either hit it on the nose or I've royally blown it. I feel like our idea was really original, and captured the feeling of the beach, but we did take too long to figure out what to do. It's hard to think of what to do with your body. It's easier to draw on something like an animal or something but even something like the beach is hard to characterize because it has so many parts that you wonder if you should look like a beach or do what you would do at a beach or characterize the essence of the beach, and how do you do that? How do you move like something you can't see? You can't. You have to pick an action, you have to make yourself look like something you can see, and usually it comes out looking more like the way you think of the thing you're trying to imitate, not really like the thing itself, but maybe it works. It's like how candy flavors don't really taste like the thing they say they're supposed to taste like, but because they taste good and they're the right color we accept it. We suspend our disbelief and say, "Okay this is banana flavored." But in acting the audience doesn't have to walk away saying, "Okay he looked like fire" they just have to say, "this is good."

9/21/09

Man, this blog thing is working out great for me. Too bad I just realized a journal wasn't assigned for stage combat. Oh well, still fun. Plus I sometimes feel like sometimes I learn more about physical acting from stage combat than I do from movement. I mean I'm glad I'm taking movement, I'm learning stuff in movement but, sorry, but stage combat is more fun. So I'm gonna blog about it one last time. Kaitlin and I started to work on character and dialogue and stuff today. The whole commie/nazi fight was a bit obscure, so we're going with like an alias-inspired secret agent sisters thing. It's really good I think, I'm just worried about the technical stuff like falling in the same place every time and making it the same slow as up to speed. But it's gonna be good. Kaitlin's a great partner!

9/18/09

Stage Combat: So, I'm really excited for my fight combo with Kaitlin. We've decided that this is an ideological street-fight from Germany in the 1920's. We came up with it because for reasons that would take too long to explain, Kaitlin and I always wind up talking to each other in Russian accents that sound remarkably German. So I proposed this nazi vs. communist street fight. I got the idea from a documentary we watched in my Hitler and Nazi Germany history class about Hitler's rise to power. They had really nazi and communist party members from the 20's and 30's talking about how the storm troopers and the communists used to through-down in the street. I'm not super sure how well it's gonna play since we're both women and storm troopers were typically men. But hey, it was the age of the female bachelor, who knows, right? I also have an awesome idea for my final fight which I'm really jazzed about but I'm not going to explain it now in case I don't get to do it.

9/16/09

Movement: We worked more with elements of nature today. I don't think this element thing is for me. I feel really lame trying to think of things to do that look like fire. I run out of stuff to do and I feel like I'm falling into cliches and not really staying true to the nature of the thing I'm trying to imitate. Um....I'm not sure what animals I'm going to study. I feel like I kind of trudge when I walk because when I'm walking I'm usually carrying my backpack, or walking a really long way. I also kinda stand with one shoulder lower than the other and all my weight on one side. But if I'm going somewhere in a hurry or I don't have to carry anything I kinda clip along at a choppy pace. I can't think of an animal I can identify that with. I've also noticed (and this has nothing to do with the animal thing) that sometimes I imagine what I look like when I'm walking. Or I'll start thinking of a person or a character and start walking like them, or I'll imagine an objective or destination that's different from where I'm really going and for what reason. And it really informs the way I move and the faces I make. I've done it since I was little and it's one of those weird child-hood habits I never lost. Hm.

9/15/09

Movement: Talked more today about the qualities of movement. Started mixing them with the diagonal scale, we started talking about movement in nature. We did the fire exercise where you imagine yourself as a flame and you burn up a bunch of stuff. At first I was kinda okay with it, but when the fire is supposed to get bigger I sort of ran out of stuff to do. I was sitting there flailing my arms and swaying and trying to remember how fire looks and how it moves and I was pretty happy with what I was doing and I kinda thought, alright, this is it, this is what fire does. No matter the size this is how it looks can I stop now? and I was looking around at everyone and I kinda had a sense that maybe they were like me, they were kind of grasping for stuff to do, and just moving around in what might have been a fiery way, and I thought, should I be doing that? But I didn't just want to make any old slashy flicky movements I wanted to find stuff to do within my pattern, things that were characteristic of fire, not of it's connotations or just words associated with it. But mostly I was kinda self-conscious and I kinda thought, geez we're just a bunch of dorks flailing. So I guess what I'm saying is I still have a hard time suspending my embarassment enough to benefit from some excersizes. But even if I'm alone, imitating fire feels pretty goofy to me though I can see how drawing from nature would be helpful in establishing a set of manerisms for a character.

9/14/09

Stage Combat: Friday we started learning shoulder rolls, we also had to do those killer frog-jump things and then my legs were stiff and hurt all weekend. At one point I had to have my friend Ben help me up off my couch. It's better now, but if this is the way it's gonna be I better have the most amazing legs you've ever seen by the end of this! Hahaha anywho, started learning the great combination today. It's really hard to get the reaction for the slap and make it still look like a natural part of the fight. After the shove they're not really ready to defend the slap so it always takes a while to get their attention and make sure they're ready and it slows the progress of the fight and makes it look kinda hokey. I also find that when I'm getting kicked in the face I tend to move my hands together when I see the other person's foot move, so the nap never comes when it should. I think that's why it's so hard to stay in distance when someone is coming in for the hit, because when you see someone moving toward you you have an instinct to move away. This makes it super important (I think) to practice it in slow motion, so you can get used to trusting your partner, because you know exactly what they're gonna do.

9/10/09

Stage Combat: Worked on punches yesterday, started tumbling to get over everyone's fear of spinning and the ground (a healthy fear if you ask me). It surprises me the stuff I can make myself do. I didn't think I'd ever get used to running and doing jumping jacks and all that stuff every day but it's happening. I didn't think I'd be comfortable doing half the stuff I've done in this class, like running and jumping on a huge mat or tumbling across a room with everyone watching me or letting someone lay on top of me while rolling across a floor. And getting used to doing that stuff has made taking risks in other areas much much easier.
Movement: Strangely enough, I'm not as comfortable in movement. Maybe it's because there are so many people or the fact that there's a mirror and I have to actually watch myself do stuff or what but I have a harder time going all out in that class.
Going back to stage combat: I started working a little bit on my first project today and I'm jazzed. I'm doing it on the duel at the end of the Scarlet Pimpernel. I think I can answer all the questions about it, but I'm not quite sure how "why they fight" is different from "why do they continue to fight". Is "why they fight" the same as "why they start fighting"? That's kind of how I'm leaning right now. At any rate, it's gonna be great!

9/9/09

Oooo special! That's the last time we'll see repeated single digits for a hundred years. Anyhow,
Movement: worked with qualities of movement yesterday. They're quite different than you'd think they'd be. Didn't really go all out with the rest of the class. Found it hard to focus on movement, too pre-occupied with other junk. Not a great post

9/4/09

So today we learned slaps. And it kinda reminds me of the one time I actually slapped someone. I was in seventh grade and this kid called my friend a bitch. I told him to stop and he looked right in my face and said, "she's a bitch" so I slapped him. I slapped him a lot harder than I meant to and then I felt really bad. You think it's gonna be like a huge relief just to deck someone, but it's not, especially when it doesn't shut them up, or when they act really shocked or cry or something. Because when you actually hurt someone it's like, "Holy crap, did I just really physically hurt someone on purpose?" That's something to think about with stage violence. It's easy when you're just practicing in class to be all angry and stuff, but when you actually do it you have to think, "why does this piss me off enough that I would actually hit him? And how do I feel aout having done that?"

There's also some interesting psychological insight to that phrase, "the victim has control." You can batter someone and hurt them and manipulate them physically as much as you want to but when you get angry enough to act out on someone it kinda gives them a power over you because they've seen you act rashly and crazily and now they can play the victim card adn gain the advantage over you by making you look bad. I think that's some interesting status play right there.

9/3/09

Movement:
I don't really have any cool new insights to put down today. We went over gestures again and did some Alexander technique with the massage and stuff. I find it really hard to touch people. I don't have like any moral or emotional qualms about it but it's hard to know what it feels like to them so you never know like if you're hurting them or what. I was massaging Meredith and then when she was massaging me I was like, "Is that what this felt like to her?" so yeah, it's weird. But it felt good. I wanna start doing something like that as part of my warm-up. But I don't think I'll be able to find someone to massage me before every show. Maybe I'll pay a swedish guy to do it.

9/2/09

Stage Combat:
Did throws and grabs today. It's really hard to let the victim be in control. I've been thinking lately of a clip from arrested development when this guy comes into Micheal's office and slams him up against the wall and Micheal's all cowering and stuff, and he says, "I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt me." and the guy says, "actually I'm a stage combat specialist, you're in complete control of the situation." So Micheal just moves out of the choke hold with no effort and suddenly everything's okay. If I could find that clip I'd put it on here but I can't find it anywhere. It's a good gag, but it's so hard to make it look real and let a victim just drag you around, and knowing how much coreography would have to go into that one little clip to keep anyone from getting hurt kinda ruins the joke for me because I sit there going, "there's no way you can give someone control without their knowing about it." But that's also why it's funny I guess. Hahaha, nevermind, still a good joke.

9/1/09

Movement:
I did my movement assignment last night. I don't draw so I had tons of fun printing pictures off the internet and cutting them out and rubber cementing them to the paper. Rubber cement is my friend! Anywho, nothing about the assignment really surprised me. I wasn't sure what to put under what I wanted to learn to do with my body. I put that I want to be stronger and more flexible so I'd have more options. That's kind of a jumping off point for me. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with my body except be strong enough and comfortable enough with myself to take more risks and be able to experiment with a wider range of movement. Under what I like about my body I put "the fact that everything works." Then I couldn't think of anything else. I wrote a couple things I liked but I kinda thought, "Hey, if everything works, that's a pretty good body right there, done and done." Anywho so experimenting with planes. We never really just use one plane. It's like every motion you make uses two or all of them. I was trying to tell a story about a couple who talked to me at work and I was trying to isolate my hands, but there just weren't many things I could do with my hands that would add to the effect of the story without distracting from it. And with each movement plane there were parts of the story where movements in that plane helped and other parts where moving in that plane didn't help. And the parts changed with the planes. It was kinda cool because it felt like a puzzle. Like you could snatch different pieces from different planes and turn the story into a really interesting movement picture that all looks like one image but is made up of differently shaped pieces.

I really liked the idea of the three different types of gestures and I think the next time I do a monologue I'll try it first using all descriptive gestures, then all punctuative (is that how you spell that?) gestures, then all personal gestures so I can see which pieces go where in my little movement puzzle. Same with the plane isolations. Now I'm jazzed!