Word of the week: Contrast

15.10.2013
 Putting the performance together, we discovered how to work well as a technique that we tried did not work well for us. We then worked in little teams, but still with an assigned person to give out the orders of sequences and timing. In my opinion, this worked really well because it got the work done faster and easier, and it was very well organized. So far for our piece, we have put together 3 sections only lasting around 7 minutes altogether, we now know that we need to work on this more as it is not enough time for the whole 45 minutes. As a group we have created the start and also the end of the performance and both have been mainly paired work, which then turns into a group piece. I thought that this worked really well for 'Moments' and it made us all realize how to work well and what actually looks good.

 I really liked the paired work that we made, working as 3 contrasted married couples with completely different statuses. This in my opinion looked great and was very grotesque in movement and structure. The three couples were a controlled and abusive relationship, a loved up relationship, and also a relationship where the 'spark' had gone. I really liked this idea and thought that it changed up the whole piece in a good way, it brought real emotion into it and would get the audience involved too. The music also worked really well with the piece because it fitted in nicely and it was very soft and moving, which then violently turned cold. This factor helped with the emotional side of Moments and shown exactly what was going on if the audience got lost at any point.

 As the theme is Relationships, I really enjoyed working in pairs as I thought it made the theme more obvious and a lot more could then go into it giving the overall performance more variety and depth. However, I would say that my weaknesses so far is probably my timing so my target is to work on that in my own time and get it perfect so that it then fits in with each routine more smoothly. Apart from this although, I really like the piece and think that it so far works really well.

 List of 'Word of the week' so far:

• Physicality
• Proxemics
• Organic
• Motif
• Grotesque
• Contrast

11.09.2013
 Word of the week: Grotesque.
"Grotesque: A way of moving in a disturbing, and horrific way. This involves facial expression, body language and also movement." It is always over the top and very extreme, it is exaggerated and reflects a horrible movement in any way. A good example of this could be an animal like the dog in 'A dogs tale' of Complicite theatre.
 In tutorial, we discussed our up coming performance 'Moments'. We said that it will all be based on the theme relationships and but not just one type of relationship, all different types and ranges otherwise it would be a lot less experimental. This differs from our original intentions because at first we decided on being creepy and abstract, this then changed to a theme of relationships as we naturally joined each other in partners which gave off the impression of couples. I thought that this was a really brave idea as when relationships are used in performances they are usually very easy to guess what will happen and get very boring as they can be quite repetitive too. We will improvise around out text quotes that we have overheard, but will use a lot of dynamics over the text so that it is more expressive and better to watch. It makes it more interesting if we take out speech because you have to think more about how to be more obvious in what you are trying to say. This shows the audience a whole new range of organic movements and can make them feel more involved as they are trying to figure out what you are doing.
 This also makes the performance a lot less restrictive and more based on real life. This then brought us onto making the decision of working in pairs in sync with each other. This is because it will then vary the piece and will show contact and physical activity, but with no dialogue. It will be abstract and also really grotesque in the way that we move around.
 We started to play around with this idea and came up with mimes, clowns and weird creatures. I really liked this idea because it made everybody come out of their shell and be more involved in the piece altogether. This was also really positive because it made the performance a lot more interesting and funny to watch, rather than being all serious in my opinion. Being over the top gave the piece a bigger variety in what you could do, which then made it look really great in the factor of a performance.
 We also decided to use motif in breaking up the scenes, small pieces of different groups to keep the piece flowing all the way through.
 We are now putting the scenes altogether and creating our final piece. I really enjoy it so far, it is fun to work on and we have so many ideas to work with we are not lost at all. My strengths in what we have so far is probably working in groups and creating a piece for the performance together. My weaknesses in my opinion however are my confidence when working alone as I do not then perform to the best of my ability.

 We then worked on our poems, reading them out individually and gaining feedback in what was good and what we need to work on. I read out 'Love songs in age' by Phillip Larkin, which I later changed to 'Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. The feedback I got from Love songs in age will still make an impact on reading out my final chosen poem. My feedback from Daniel was that I need to be louder when performing my poem, and also that I need to vary my tone in speech because I was quite monotone. I will remember this when reading out my poem again and will hopefully be a lot better too.

 I created a Star which was my task for the week. I chose my task to be 'to keep up with blogs', as I was starting to forget to do them as much as I should be doing. I feel that I have so far kept to my target and I am up to date in blogs and everything else that needs to be done on my course. All of my coursework is up to date so far and I hopefully am not behind on anything that should of been done. Creating a task has really helped me remember to do my coursework because it made me think about it and really push myself to work harder to achieve my final goal. I will make more Stars if I ever feel I am behind because in my opinion, they really help!

4.10.2013
Word of the week: Motif:

• Things that are repeated (music, movements, images, etc.)
• Often changes

This week, we were really trialling out different things to see what worked well with 'moments'. For example, when working with Jill we created some scenarios by story telling in a big group at random. This meant we would all say a part of the story then finally put it all together. Our stories included a man watching TV as his wife dies next to him. The confusion of this would make the audience think that it was really strange but mysterious and enjoyable to watch to see what happens next. We also made up a scene of a man watching a scarecrow outside of his window that comes to life, all of our scenarios were thriller/horror based to make them a lot more quirky and therefore a lot more enjoyable for the audience to watch. It keeps them on their toes and makes sure the attention is kept all of the way through the performance.
 We then split the class into two and each had to decide which created story they wanted to use. My group chose to use the husband and wife story because it was really weird and a lot could come out of it. We decided that Jess and Danny were going to play the husband and wife, whilst the rest of us in the group acted out as demons trying to get the husband back for the crime that he had committed. The demons were Ryan, Sian, me, Beth and Lauren. I thought that it really worked well in what we did because it looked strange with so many things happening at one time. It reminded me of a Pina Baush performance, 'Cafe Muller' because it came across as a tragic, and unwelcoming piece but with a lot of love and passion secretly shown. It was a very strange piece but I liked that side of it. It made it different and unique, however there were some weaknesses throughout. These were the fact that we did not have too long to rehearse each of our performances but this can easily be solved by rehearsal being taken part in on days to come. I would really love to use this in our final piece because I thought that it really worked well in the quirky theme that we have.

 We also created a mimed piece. This in my opinion worked really well because it left out speech which made us work extra hard to get across exactly what was happening. It was also funny which would put a lighter side on the dark piece that we are showing. It would then overall show a big contrast in the emotions the audience would in the end have towards the performance.

 I found this part of the abstract piece to be very fun to rehearse and easy to make look good because the whole thing is based on facial expression and body movement, everything is over exaggerated so that it looks good and the audience know exactly what is going on throughout. I enjoyed making this and really hope to put this in our final piece because I know that it could get a lot of laughs and confuse the audience as to what is happening when they have gone from miserable and fearful, to happy and enjoying what they are seeing in a really positive way.

 In a discussion, we decided to get rid of the doll movements from our final piece. I think that this was a good idea because it did go on for quite a while and dragged the performance on negatively. This could however be exchanged with the mime performance which would allow a slapstick comedy side to the piece. I really like this idea because it confuses the audience where they would not know how they are supposed to feel which would have a big impact on the overall viewing of it. This is a really great idea to me and I hope it is featured!

 We also researched Steven Berkoff. I found that Berkoff trained in London and Paris, then formed the London theatre group. He has featured in plays, films and is also a big influence to many. He was originally influenced by Lawrence Olivier and his role model was Edmond Kean. Steven created the two plays, 'West' and 'East'. In West, the dynamics were very strange. His voice was based in the present, yet his body was in the past with his actions. There were some controlled movements, and also some rapid and erratic movements which was all completely different. It makes the atmosphere very confusing but also intriguing. The blood on the screen in the clip made the scene more intense and quite gruesome also. I would imagine that this would cause a lot of controversy throughout the audience, and would be very effective in emotions with shock, anger, and more. I feel that this would be what we are aiming to also achieve in our final performance of moments. A lot of controversy throughout the audience and also a sense of confusion too. This makes the viewing very versatile and organic. By this, I mean that all of his work is completely different every time and forces you to make your own judgement and not being told what to think about each piece. Allowing the audience to make their own judgement on a piece gives a completely different approach and outcome against other performances. I like this about his work because nobody will then have the same final decision on the performance which gives it a lot of versatility and additionally, a different view for yourself even if somebody watched one of the pieces several times it would be a different experience each time.

 I have also been collecting some random quotes that I have over heard to act out and use in our final piece. Here is what I have found so far...

"I'm  going to wear your shoes when you go."

"Well, that's a dog of a treat."

"That's the longest skateboard I have ever seen."

"The weird smells that you like."

"I think it's a big meaty place."

"The boys think he looks gorgeous without a beard."

"Do spiders have noses?"

"The ones with fins."

"Terry... the slush!"

"No one squash me because I've got it in my bag."

"Come near me I'll eat ya."

"Let's just give them the uncle Bens!"

"I'm going for a bath, I feel like a piano has landed on my head."

"They take it's teeth out so it is friendly."

"Kinky pigs."

In our final piece, from my quotes we used the quote "Do spiders have noses?". However we extended it a lot and also made it very grotesque to watch. In the final piece, my group decided to all come on one at a time shouting different spider quotes that repeat then overlap and finish on a bang. The quotes that came out of this first quote were all very different but still came from the same sentence. I liked how that happened because it shown a lot of creativity from us and what we could actually come up with from one quote. I thought that it really worked well and the progression we made from the start in my opinion was a massive improvement and I really enjoyed it too.

Pina Bausch

Pina studied dance in 1973 in New York then went back to Germany. A director of dance for Wuppertal theatre. She created an unfamiliar form of dance which struck a lot of controversy among many. The new way of dance was also a theatre performance, it gave the audience a chance to use their emotions with laughter, sadness, anger and many more. Pina influenced and inspired many and gave her performances meaning in what she portrayed. It was quite edgy for the time and made the audience use their own opinion in what was going on in each play.

 From research, I have found that the title of this play came from the fact that her dad owned a Cafe called Cafe Muller. The play was first performed in 1978 and the emotions it portrayed were quite sad, angry and confusion. This play is different because it shows many different things going on in one time and does not look choreographed at all. It comes across as quite mismatched and altogether very abstract. The story is about a woman in two halves but both showing quite different expressions in how they act."A man holds a woman in his arms then drops her, whether through tiredness, carelessness or cruelty.  At once she gets up and clings to him.  Again he holds her, lifts her up into his arms but drops her.  And again, after she falls, she stands up and clings to him.  It is cruel, funny, pathetic, indescribably sad – all these at once.  The cycle goes on for so long that eventually you pray for it to end." (http://jildysauce.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/Cafe-Muller/)

      I thought there there were some awkward movements and many different emotions performed and also, that it altogether had quite a natural flow but also some quick sharp movements too. There was a change in pace quite a lot and this kept the audience interested when Pina knows that the play could be quite boring and continuous. This play lets the audience guess what was going on without telling them anything to let their imaginations tell the story, this could also be allowing the audience to be involved with the story and let them write it for themselves. At first, I thought that the story was about each character telling their own story because of how strange it looked to me, I thought that the story kept changing showing all of the changes in Pina's lifetime. Some parts were a lot more dramatic however and many different emotions were shown throughout the piece. I also found many different genres within the play such as love, fright, sympathy and worry. I found the play overall quite confusing but it also did give off a message to everyone, even if they were all different messages. I like the way it was different and gave off many different impressions.

 When watching the clip of '1980', I discovered that it was at first quite dark, gloomy and mysterious. I first thought that it was going to be a beauty pageant, which then turned into the thought of it being a hypnotist class. I thought it was meant to be a comedy, until I realized that it could also be Pina showing the hate that she had over men's dominance in the world. The men in the performance were very over powering to the women and they could tell them to do anything and they would do it straight away. It portrayed many different emotions from the audience, and it shown that the women of that generation were being treated like puppets for the opposite sexes entertainment. All of the girls in the clip had to all perform different tasks and this shows that Pina thought that men discriminated women and they made them feel embarrassed and silly. Pina was a feminist and this really shows in 1980. She thought that men controlled women and that they had no say when even doing the stupidest things. It was a different genre and it shows a big difference in today's society. It gave off that women could not be themselves, they could never be their own person if men stayed as they were and that she felt disgusted in generally, men's behaviour throughout society. However, I would say that this piece was more comical than the earlier 'Cafe Muller'. It also was very different and quite funny, yet still had a bold message to it. 1980 defiantly had a clearer message than what Cafe Muller did, she wanted to get it across to the audience quite clearly that men could control women by hardly doing anything and that needed to change. So whereas Cafe Muller did have a message, it was more hidden away because it must not have been as important as it is in this piece. There was no music in the clip, this shows that it was not needed because men did not need any extra guidance in power, they had enough to do what they wanted at any point. Usually music helps a piece because it can easily move an audience in any way, but the fact that it was not played shows that it could not of been wanted by the men so it was not played (power). Also, the movement was quite stiff compared to Cafe Muller, this was more straight forward and got to its point a lot easier because of how structured in was in comparison with Muller. It was less abstract than Muller, yet it still shown a lot of different meanings around the main point. The proxemics were very tight and the girls stayed in the same place all of the time, like dogs being trained.

 I found that we used a lot of Bauch's work in our final performance. When watching her videos I can see a lot of similarities in our piece to hers, this shows that she influenced our style and way of thinking when creating the piece. Her style is very abstract, with no words and a lot of movement too. She uses frantic movements, some soft some harsh and I see this in our piece too. This really represents our performance and what we used came a lot from her work. She is a great influence to us and we were glad to create work that was similar to Bauch's.

17.09.2013
 Unit 1: Performance Workshop.
Word of the week= Proxemics:

• Awareness of space
• Crossing the space
• Contact
• Real/abstract/character/dynamics
• "The empty space"
• Different ways of moving from one place to another (different dynamics)
• How you fill the area in many different ways

A reflection on 'Moments' so far...

 To create our performance we used a lot of experimentation for weeks. This process took a while to do but it made us come up with many different quirky ideas that we could then use in the final stage of putting the piece together. Using experimentation helped a lot in my opinion because it didn't leave us stuck at the last minute because of that fact that we had generated so many ideas over the few weeks that we had so we always had something to work with. This also made the process a lot easier too because when it came to creating the final performance and deciding on what bits we were planning on using we had a lot to choose from with all of the variety that we had created. This was all from the experimenting that we did and I would say that it was a really good idea to start that in the process of 'Moments'.
For 'moments', we have created a piece in which we move in a sort of doll like way across the space. This in my opinion is very abstract and dynamic because it can show a lot of versatile moves to escape each side of the spotlight. Everybody has an individual way of moving already, so making this more soft robotic it shows all different types of ways to move in a dynamic way. This also gives more individuality to the performance because nobody looks the same, this is because everybody has different images of dolls in their heads. Some people broke down in the middle of the stage, some danced across the spotlight, some moved at different levels. This all made the performance quite dark and mysterious in how it looked because of all of the different types of doll that there were. I really liked how this looked because it was different and weird, however I would say that it did go on for a very long time which could loose a lot of the audiences interest in 'moments'. If we were to do it again but alter anything, I would say to change the slow pace. I would either put more individuals on at one time so there are lots of dolls on the stage doing completely different things at one time, or I would put people into pairs to be a sort of duo act of a doll and its master. I think that this could work really well because it would keep the mystery in the performance, but also make sure that it did not run on for too long and still keep it quirky. I would also keep the energy up so that it is still fun to watch and an overall strong performance. More rehearsing is needed, but with this and keeping it energetic and tight it could really work.
 On the other hand, I really liked how the dolls then turned into humans again. On my performance, I would say that I could change what I did if we went over this again because I feel that I could do a lot better than I did. I would make it more realistic so for example, I could come 'alive' one limb at a time, instead of all at the same time quickly. I would still make my performance straight to the point, just more steady in the transformation.
 I really liked working in pairs for this performance. I worked with Ryan, and we came up with a sort of mirrored movement. We did everything at the exact same time but also kept it interesting with some strange movements (e.g. crossing paths in a lunged leg movement, but always keeping eye contact). This in my opinion really looked cool and worked well in moments, but all I would say is that it really could be rehearsed with timing from the both of us. My favourite part in moments is defiantly the paired work, I think that it would look really good once the timing is perfect.

 I thought that the choice of music was really interesting because it worked well with the overall performance. It gave the audience a clear idea of what was going on and did not leave them guessing, but still worked well with the image of confusion and strange things happening on stage. It gave a great illusion and a mysterious atmosphere for the audience to see. The piece of music was called 'Phonobaloon' by 'Takako Minekawa', which then changed into 'Black lounge' by 'Baltic Fleet'.

 I would say that overall my strengths in the whole performance was the paired work because it looked really abstract and different. It also kept everything at a good pace so that it did not over run or not have enough to watch. The contact made it look weird and I really liked that, mirroring each other in my opinion worked really well for this piece. It also fitted in really well! However my weaknesses were probably my timing throughout because I need to choose whether I am going to be stiff and study, or weak and limp as I did both but I don't think it worked well so I am going to change that. I could also do a bigger range of levels because I was mostly all at the same level which was quite boring to watch and it also didn't look very different or quirky as much as I wanted it to. Also in the grouped part of the piece, the positions were not exact which made it not look right. To resolve this I would suggest that some people stepped forward and some back so that everybody is align and ready to move in sync.

 I would say that the momentum needs to be up and also the transition from doll to human should be at a faster pace to ensure that it looks more hectic and more things are going on at one time, because this then looks a lot stranger which will keep the audience puzzled about what is going on. I really like the idea of this because it is different and will make a great final performance piece to watch.

Blog week: 1.
This week the word of the week was: physicality.
  Physicality describes how you move. It is what you say to an audience in how you use your physicality, it is what you convey with your sense and usually describes yourself or your character. An example of the word 'physicality' could be, "My physicality indicates an 5 year old little boy having a strop." This would mean that how you are acting would be quite bratty, annoying and possibly very emotional. By using the word physicality, you do not have to explain any of this so it makes it easier to understand how exactly you are acting.
 In our performance 'Moments', we have created a short piece on different ways of moving across the stage. This included being abstract, grotesque, dynamic and many more weird and wonderful ways too. We also used verbatim text which is a piece of text that is used word for word. This was used in the quotes section that we chosen from our research in verbatim text. These included: "The monkeys not there any more", "Do spiders have noses?" and "His is bigger than mine!" I really enjoyed using verbatim text because it made the performance really quirky and strange, I have never seen anything like it before and I am sure most of the audience hadn't either! The overall style of the piece in my opinion was mainly grotesque and abstract. It had elements of dance featured too and also a bit of drama which caused controversy throughout which gave the final piece a nice solid ending. It also shown that drama is not all speech which is what most people think but our performance differed this and I really liked that factor and thought that it worked really well. It made the piece very individual.
  When taking on physical theatre in class, we had to be aware of our own fitness. We were tested on what we were capable of achieving within our fitness by doing a wide range of activity of running, jumping to the floor, jumping on the spot, jogging, etc. This also was with our strengths and weaknesses involved. I would say that my strengths in this exercise were that I was able to keep up activity for quite a long period of time without getting tired or out of breath. However, I would say that my weaknesses were that I did not do the exercise quite fast enough, this will be a goal for me for the future when doing this exercise. I will make sure that next time when performing this physical activity, I will make sure that I do it properly and do not perform it half heartedly.
  We also had to learn how to be aware of the space around us and also other performers. We did this by getting in our own space to perform an abstract performance on the floor that was choreographed. Everybody did the same thing to a song named 'Via Con me' by 'Paolo Conte'. I really liked working with this song because it is quite flexible I would say in how it makes a person look like they move, it gives them grace and a soft way of movement. After this exercise, we then had to walk around in a circle and move onto the floor in our own time in any abstract way that we wanted.

  This then was followed up by individual group exercises to make different shapes. The shapes given to us were; a thrown, a microwave, a monster and some sort of a machine. Our group made the thrown shape by somebody curling up in a ball on the floor as the seat of the chair and two people connected an arm each to make the back of the chair then held the other arm out to make the arms of the chair. Megan then did the bridge at the end of the thrown as a footrest and I sat on the thrown with my feet up and arms on either side of the "arm rests".

  To make the microwave, our group put somebody in the middle of the floor curled up and span them round at normal speed by their hands, they were popcorn. The rest of the group waved their arms around to make the heat waves inside of the microwave and somebody was explaining that the microwave was some sort of prize.

  To make the monster, our group had somebody to stand in the middle as the main part of the monster, somebody on their back to make two heads and two people either side of the 'monster' doing the bridge/crab with one leg up each to make some sort of tentacles on either side of the monster.

  We finally made the machine. The machine that we chose to make was a sausage maker machine and we accomplished this by everybody holding hands next to each other in pairs then a person in the middle being thrown around vigorously to then be thrown back on their feet, as if they were meat and now a full sausage.

  After this figuration, we had to then make a story out of our shapes and narrate the story. Our story was that a queen sat on her thrown and was offering a prize to her minions if they were to slay the monster that has been bothering her for years. This then led onto the microwave scenario as it was the 'prize' for slaying the monster, which then obviously led onto the monster, to the sausage maker as the monster states that he is hungry and this is then the monsters dinner.

  I would say that our performance went really well and it shown everybody that we could make a story out of pretty much anything we put our minds to.

  Columbian hypnotist. We had to pair up and label ourselves A and B. A had to hold a hand up towards person B's face, and person B had to keep their face close to person As palm. Partner A would then guide person B anywhere they wanted, this could involve on the floor, towards or away from the person and anything else as long as the guiding hand had full control. This was all based on total focus and had to be taken seriously and slowly. We then switched roles and the other person had to take control. After both partners had had a go, the guided partner had to try and snatch the power away from the guide. Control was also added into the exercise with a way of holding your partner by putting the guiding hand into a fist which would make the other partner have to freeze exactly where they are, this would then be un paused by opening out the hand again but it could then be in a different position. The guided person would then have to get back to the hand as soon as possible, until they could start to rebel in anyway they wanted to try and take back the power.
  The thing I liked best about what I did in this exercise was when I had the power, I controlled my partner onto the exact same level as me by lying on the floor and making them lie down with me. This showed that I had total control over them and that I could put them in any position I wanted. I had full power over them and could do whatever I wanted to alter them in anyway possible.

  Trust exercises. In this exercise we had to stand in 2 separate circles with somebody in the middle with their eyes closed and just fall around the circle with everyone holding them up and around the circle. Both little groups had to do this and it really showed a lot of trust within the whole group. We then stood with a partner of quite a similar height difference and had to do trust falls with eyes closed, switching half way through. This again showed a lot of trust within each other in the group. The next exercise in this department was to slowly walk around, casually falling and if seen people had to rush to you to catch you in time. The people who fell shown a lot of trust in the rest of the group that they trusted they would catch them in time.
  We then did a numbers exercise game, standing in a huddle when a number was called out that is how many people had to step out of the huddle. The people that stepped out had to be at the exact same time or we would have to start again. This exercise made me feel like our group were very connected as we got the game going quite well first time.

  The main exercise we then performed were to pair up and perform an emotional performance on one of us getting bad news from a doctor. I really liked this exercise as it shown me that I did have a strength in showing real emotion without trying to think of something sad. It came quite naturally and worked really well in the performance.
  I worked with Zoe and we made up a scenario about one of us getting a serious illness. With this, we had to show a lot of different emotions such as; anger, sadness, guilt and also grief. Doing this particular performance gave me the strength to go through with a scene with an actual real emotion in my head. Also, it showed me that I could show emotion to move an audience with speech rather than emotion in the face. I always thought that emotional scenes move people with expression but this exercise made me realise that it is not the only thing or really the most important. I did however show a weakness which was the fact that I needed to hold in some emotions when performing, I feel as if I got to involved in the scene which is good in a way but is also very bad when you have to be different in the next few minutes of change in scene. My next goal from this would be to keep the emotion, but to also not be fully focused in it just in case I have to do an immediate switch in what I am feeling.