Videos

Okay, with the help of the wonderful Wayne at Circomedia, I think I may have finally cracked uploading videos to this blog.  You'll have to watch them on YouTube, but essentially it's the same as the ones that have gone before (i.e. click and watch.  Easy, eh?)

The first is our presentation for the Lecoq based movement technique that we studied in the first 8 weeks of last term.  Lecoq would have called each of these movement and mime phrases 'etudes', and they're great for increasing physical precision and articulation.  The presentation called for us to choreograph all of the movements in a sequence, with as much of an eye for spacing and creativity as possible.  They may seem strange, and/or a bit dull, but here's the link anyway:

http://youtu.be/hLOEyk087Gs

And the second is much more fun: our end of term acro presentation, where we were free to delve into character and theme.  We also had to work with a prop from a choice of a chair, a school bench, a rope and a gym horse.  We chose the chair, and this is what happened.  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/VTvgtHM5-hw

Taking Risks

First of all, many apologies.  I've been much too long in writing this blog entry.  I'm still having problems converting the videos that I want to post onto this site, and I'm such a technophobe that I have to wait until my partner is free to help me.  He's currently doing two pantos a day in Newark right now, but still, it's no excuse.

So what was supposed to be a very relaxing Christmas break has been erm... not quite so relaxing.  I've been working Front of House at the lovely Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham for their Christmas show, Red Riding Hood, and was also booked to do a photoshoot for the new Center Parcs spa brochure.  Apart form the 6.30am start it was a great day - I had a foot spa, chatted to some lovely actresses and was eating antipasti and drinking champagne at 9.45 in the morning.  All for the sake of my art, you understand...

And the last few days have been no less hectic.  On 27th December I received a call from Lakeside asking if I fancied being the Wolf in Red Riding Hood, as the actress playing the part had lost her voice.  Entirely.  And the show's a two-hander.  And there's LOADS of songs.  And the music is really complicated.  So obviously I said yes, had four hours rehearsal and went on with script in hand for the second show on Wednesday.  And despite being absolutely terrified, and wondering if I'd completely lost the plot for agreeing to do it, I really enjoyed it.  Someone said to me before I started at Circomedia, "It's only worth doing something if it scares you", and I'm beginning to think that that may be a good life motto.

So I'd just like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Matt Aston, director, and Samuel Wells, the other actor in the show, as well as all of the wonderful Lakesiders, backstage and front of house, for holding my hand throughout the experience.  Couldn't have done it without you.

Progress

Three very exciting things have happened today.

1.  The piece which my group have been devising in our Physical Theatre class has been chosen to go in the Christmas show.

2.  I went on the swinging trapeze for the first time.  Wheeeee!

3.  After over a year of trying, today I finally did my first full tricep chin up, unassisted.

Sometimes it's the smallest things that just make you feel great.

Telling stories

What I really love about this course is the precision we are being taught to use when devising in physical theatre. The mantra that Bim seems to refer back to, as I think I shall be doing for the rest of my life, is 'Was everything clear?', and really, that's the absolutely crucial thing.  Because despite theatre being an artform, open to interpretation and development, if your audience doesn't get the story and empathise in the way you'd like them to, then you're probably telling it wrong. 

Stories are how we live and learn.  They are the way we pass down information from generation to generation, how we learn to be responsible as children and adults. I'm starting to feel excited about the stories I think I could tell, and even more excited now that I have a way of telling them.

And here they are...

So here's a couple of videos from our last 2 presentations before the half term.  The first is the E & M presentation - we had to use a found object to manipulate to 3 minutes of Rossini's 'Thieving Magpie'.  We looked in particular at 3 different ways of manipulation - the object in the air (i.e. throwing and catching), the object in relation to the body, and the object in relation to the ground.  This is a really good way of starting to work with objects in general, I think.

And the second is the aerial presentation which took place just before half term.  Again, the brief was very basic, and about displaying what we had learnt technically during the first 6 weeks.  We were allowed to choose our own music and were required to use positions above, on and below the bar.  Can I just add here that I rehearsed and performed this whole piece with what I now know was a bruised rib.  Thank you.

Frustrations

Rather annoyingly, in this blog I wanted to post a couple of videos from presentations I did before we broke up for half term, but I can't get them onto the site because they're MOD files. Ideas, anyone?

So instead I'm going to have a whinge.  I really miss my partner!  I knew that coming away from home to go to Circomedia wouldn't be easy and that being apart from Matt was obviously going to be part of that,  but it really is hard.  I'm staying in lovely digs in Bristol with a lovely family, yet I'm getting to the stage now where I'm feeling fed up, because it's just not home. 

So here's to my beautiful boyfriend Matt whom I shall see on Friday, and here's to anyone else currently indulging in heartache.  Thanks for listening.

 

Ramblings

Half term, aahh.  I'm having this weird feeling of really wanting to relax and enjoy not training, mixed with absolute guilt at the thought that I'm not training, mixed with actually quite missing training.  I don't really know what to do with myself...

On Friday I attended a conference in Birmingham called 'Activating Circus in The West Midlands'.  It was a real eye opener, and to be honest, I felt completely out of my depth, surrounded by wonderful people who've been working in circus for over 25 years.  It was also a wake up call to what I'm going to have to get stuck into to market a show or act - the networking, giving out of business cards to strangers and general producer's terminology of which I'm currently completely ignorant.

And today I've been to see my physio, who is totally wonderful and so perceptive with the body.  Apparently I'm training the stronger side of my body too hard, which is resulting in a weak left shoulder and slightly smaller right buttock.  Fancy that!  Who would ever have thought that one of my buttocks would be described as 'small'!