Monday 12 December 2011

Have Fun!

"I always retain the capacity to laugh at my own serious intentions, even while those intentions remain serious."

This was something we were regularly reminded of while working with Matthias.  I really like this idea, as it reminds me to enjoy what I'm doing and have fun, instead of concentrating on getting it perfect.

Influx - Voice Tasks

Here are the some of the 'tasks' in our piece that involved using our voices...

1. "Round the Chimneys!" - We had to shout this while dashing around each other to get into our places.
2. Groans - We had to groan while crawling under a shelf.
3. "Spritely!
     Tightly!
     Slightly!
     Nightly!
     Sightly!
     Brightly!
     Rightly!
     Politely!" - We had to complete this sequence of words 4 times by saying a word each, getting faster.
4. Describe an object for the audience to guess while performing 'turntable'.
5. "Over the Rooftops!" - We had to shout this while dashing around each other to get into our places.
6. Tongue Twisters - We were each given a tongue twister from the list below and had to challenge each other with them.
                                 "Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry"
                                 "Eleven Benevolent Elephants"
                                 "Six Sleek Swans Swam Swiftly Southwards"
                                 "She sifted thistles through her thistle sifter"
                                 "Which wristwatches are swiss wristwaches"
                                 "Plain bun.  Plum bun.  Bun without Plum"
7. "Here" and "There" - A sequence of movement, adding different sequences of the words layered on top

Performance Week - Done!

Our Performance Projects module is rapidly coming to an end now with just our Vivas to go.  It has been such an intense, full on term but it has been so much fun.  It really allows us, as students, to get in insight to working in a professional company.

I've loved being part of Influx!  We were a very varied company but all very enthusiastic about our work.  I have to credit our company manager because she really has been amazing! 

As I've previously mentioned, our piece was called 'Walking Piece' and involved the performers moving in a loop around the edges of the Lanchester Gallery negotiating tasks along the way.  Some of the tasks required us to use our voice.  This is something I haven't really experienced before.  The thought of it was quite daunting at first especially because at times, the performance space would be silent apart from your voice.  The good thing about this piece was that the some of the tasks were so complicated,  I began focusing on doing it correctly and completely forgot about the speaking.  I would definitely like to do more work like this in the future.  I will post some of the voice tasks later, it will be good to look back at this blog in months to come and see if I can still remember them.

The performance week was a tough week for us all.  It was the week we had all been working so hard towards.  Unfortunately, I was only able to participate in 2 of the 5 performances due to being very unwell.  I was so disappointed but at the same time I was grateful that I had managed to perform twice and that I had a great company to be there to support me and make sure Influx still gave a brilliant performance.  It would be great to hear what others thought of our piece as it was so different?

I'm not sure whether I'm sad or glad that I'll never have to repeated the words 'here' and 'there' again!  But I do know that I have loved every minute of this module and I'm really going to miss being a part of Influx.  I'd like to say a BIG thank you to everyone involved especially the other company members, Matthias Sperling and Katye Coe.

Sunday 27 November 2011

Performance Projects

Things have got so crazy recently, Performance Projects have really kicked in and we're all very busy.

A couple of weeks ago, Influx had our intensive with our choreographer, Matthias Sperling.  It was a hectic week, where we were set a variety of tasks including creating evolving walks, learning tongue twisters, singing songs as well as lots of stuff.  Eventually, Matthias pulled together all the little elements to create our piece.  The basic concept is, our company is split in half each peforming the piece after eachother.  We travelling around the edges of the gallery twice performing different tasks at each 'station'. 

Some of the tasks in our piece really involve involve using your brain.  We really have to think about our movement.  Something that required a lot of time and effort was working on the 'clock faces'.  We had to rearrange the numbers 1 to 12, three times.  My number sequences are the following:

A)  4, 5, 7, 2, 8, 11, 3, 9, 12, 1, 6, 10
B)  3, 6, 9, 12, 10, 7, 2, 5, 11, 8, 4
C) 2, 7 ,9, 5, 11, 8, 3, 4, 12, 10, 6, 1

We then had to imagine a clock face on the floor and step to each number in our sequence to create a phrase.


I'm really enoying this module but its a lot of hard work.  We have our performances next week and then its all over.

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Influx Rehearsal 1

This afternoon, we had our first company rehearsal.  Although only 5 of us turned up, it was still a productive session. 
The day before, we found out that Matthias had changed the whole idea about the piece and the superhero theme went out the window.  We are now working on something called 'Walking Piece'.  The basic idea is that we will be walking in a continuous loop around the edges of the Lanchester Gallery space.  There may be some obstacles in our way and will be talking as well.

Earlier, we tried out the idea of walking around the edge of the space talking and trying to maintain an equal distance between each dancer.  I found it really difficult.  It may seem easy just walking and talking, but trust me, it isn't.  The first time we did it, there was mainly silence and nervous giggles, but this felt really natural and a genuine reaction to what we were doing.  The second time, we decided to talk about our weekends, and although it was easier to talk (because we actually had something to talk about), I found it quite forced.  It felt like we were in our own little worlds not acknowledging the other company members.

It was interesting because Jenni sat out the first time and watched as an audience member and she said that it made her feel quite uncomfortable.  As if we were all sharing some kind of private joke that she wasn't part of.  This is definitely something to consider as we continue with this piece.

We spent some time at the end of the session writing in our company journal.  We have another rehearsal tomorrow so hopefully, there will be more of us there and we'll have a different experience.

Sunday 6 November 2011

Influx - Red Disaster

This is my red disaster.
A volcano is about to erupt when a plane full of people is flying right over the top of it.



Influx - Orange Disaster

This is my orange disaster.
A car has broken down on a train track.  The doors won't open and the train is approaching.



Influx - Yellow Disaster

This is my yellow disaster. 
A child is chained to a tree when lightning strikes and sets the tree on fire.  His mother is locked in the house unable to help.

First Session with Matthias Sperling

On Tuesday, 'Influx' (Our Performance Project company) had our first session with our choreographer Matthias Sperling.  We'd been set some tasks before he came but we still didn't really know what to expect.

We spent some time working with the concept of 'what lights, leads' so whichever body part lights up for whatever reason, leads your movement. 

Towards the end of the day, we started working with 'yellow, orange and red disasters'.  We each had to come up with 3 different disasters and create some movement.  The idea was that if we were dancing superheroes, how would we rescue or solve the situation usinf our skills as performers?  I'll upload my disaster images and explanations soon.

I really enjoyed our first session and I'm very much looking forward to working more with 'Influx' and Matthias over the next few weeks. 

Organs

Polly's Experiential Anatomy class last week focused on the organs in the body.  When moving, we never really consider the organs so this class gave us the opportunity to experience something totally different.  We did some partner work to further explore the organs, and below are some of the notes I wrote in my journal.

- Feel the weight of the organs
- Lots inside the body
- Understanding their texture, function and location
- Moving from the organs is difficult, its easier to move from the pelvis or limbs
- Hands on makes it easier to understand
- Feel a pressure and warmth which draws attention to the organs
- Rolling felt heavy and laboured.  Feel the weight slowly shifting within the organs
- Never think of the organs when moving

Journal Entry


Here is the journal entry from Katye's class.  During the session, I became really interested in the lines of the space we were in.  These lines became my focus for the whole score.  I found it really difficult to include another person in my moving because of my strong focus on the lines.  I really enoyed this class and would love to do more work like this

Sunday 23 October 2011

And Year 2 begins...

After a long 4 month break for summer, I'm back at Uni to begin my second year.  In all honesty, I'm quite surprised I'm actually writing a new post voluntarily.  Last year, I hated blogging and never thought I would visit and update my blog again but for some reason this year, I'd rather do this than write in my journal.  During my presentation towards the end of last year, I remember saying how my journal felt more personal and I didn't enjoy the blogging process at all, but now this has completely reversed.  I have a feeling I'll be updating this blog a lot more often from now on!

I'm so glad to be moving again and working on something completely different like Performance Projects.  Its also nice to be taking part in a technique class which is more similar to what I did before I came to Uni.  The first week or so was a shock for my body but now I'm used it again and its like summer never even happened. 

I have a page from my journal I'm going to scan in in a couple of days from Katye's class last monday...

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Duet Score

Siobhan Davies

While looking through my scrapbook on the Siobhan Davies Replay archive, I began watching some work.  I studied Siobhan Davies in great detail during my AS/A Level so it was nice to re-visit some familiar works that I haven’t seen for a couple of years.
One piece that really interested me was Plants and Ghosts (2002).  I had seen it once before but had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.  Wyoming (1988) was my set piece at sixth form and in terms of appearance, the two are extremely different.  The set design for Wyoming is very vast and light whereas Plants and Ghosts is much more confined.  There are clear boundaries and although there is a fair bit of lighting (provided as always, by Peter Mumford), it feels much darker and intense.
Plants and Ghosts was one of the first of Davies’ pieces not to be performed in a theatre setting.  It is performed in a variety of locations including a warehouse, with the audience sat down both sides of the performance area and the lighting at the ends. 
The movement is also very intriguing.  Plants and Ghosts, opens with a dancer vigorously shaking from side to side.  The whole piece feels very energetic and the movement can be detailed and intricate.
While reading about the piece on the Replay website, I read that it was about “the reciprocal play between the finite world of blood, bone and tissue, and the unbounded realm of mind, intention and imagination”.  After reading that statement, I watched the piece again and saw it in a completely new light.  The movement becomes more relevant and interesting.  For example, the forearm lay flat on the floor and moved left to right.  This movement feels like it now has meaning. 
I would definitely like to watch more of Davies’ work and re-connect with it. 

Duet Rehearsal Footage 5

Duet Rehearsal Footage 4

Duet Rehearsal Footage 3

We were planning on repeating this short phrase of movement shown here, over and over again.  It will be the only movement in our piece.  Is it enough to make a 5 minute piece with?

Duet Rehearsal Footage 2

Duet Rehearsal Footage 1

The video below is from our duet rehearsals.  We are working with the idea of repetition and how 8 counts of movement can be repeated over and over again to make a piece.  We've looked into Yvonne Rainer's work, where one critic described it as 'excruiatingly painful repetitions' and used this as inspiration.

More videos to come . . .

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Siobhan Davies Scrapbook

The image below is of my scrapbook on the Siobhan Davies Replay archive.  It is mainly made up of images that interested me from her various works.  I am really interested in dance photography, and the lighting design in Davies work leads to some stunning photographs.  I particularily like the images from Bird Song as the lighting is so prominent.

It can also be viewed by clicking the following link,

http://www.siobhandaviesreplay.com/lightbox.php?zoom=none&activelightbox=Abi%27s+Scrapbook&newlightboxname=


Sunday 13 March 2011

Duet Feedback 2

Below is the second feedback form we received.

Duet Feedback

Above is one of the feedback forms Cheryl and I received on Friday after showing our work in progress duet.

Thursday 10 March 2011

Duet Advice

Play around with the movement til your hearts content.

Don't force creating movement if it is not there.

Sunday 16 January 2011

Term One = Done

I've officially completed my first term at Coventry University. Its been a hard but very enjoyable few months. I've definitely noticed a change in the way I move. I am more aware of my body and its structure when I'm dancing.

My solo assessment went well at the end of term. Despite not being able to dance for the two weeks prior to my assessment and performing with very painful fractured ribs, I received a great result which I'm happy with.  One of my peers spoke to me afterwards and told me that she really enjoyed my solo.  She said it was really interesting to watch and the movement was really intriguing.  It was so nice to hear that feedback.

Fingers crossed that I've got all the illness and injury out of the way during Term 1 and I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here.

Below is an image from my journal that I'd like to use during term 2.  I need to stop controlling movement and trying to make it look pretty.  I should just go for it and not think too much.