Katie Foley Friday's lesson

We decided to go over our latest dance that we have learnt. The dance is a fast - moving dance to the song 'Braveheart' by Neon Jungle. The dance involves types of grotesque movements, hand gestures, twerking and floor movement.

We went over it today so we could improve it. Although I can do most of the moves, I sometimes feel as though I look lazy performing it because I can't keep up with the rest of the class. Three of them are good dancers because they have had past experience in dance, so I sometimes feel like I am not as good as them because they can do it perfectly. Sometimes, it can give me a type of anxiety because I don't feel confident enough and I will end up looking like I am not putting any effort into it.

We have also started to begin a rough run - through of the performance from start to finish. It has all been going rather smoothly up to now. However, we do need to remember which scene goes where. So apart from that, everything is still okay.

We have had to change some elements in the show. So for example, Chloe will not be singing in the show because the backing track for the song she was originally going to be singing will be taken out because the backing track is not as intense as the original song. So Chloe will possibly be singing another song but for a new scene, and for this one she will be doing ghostly movements, because her character is meant to have died.

We have also added a new element in the grotesque dance. This element is when we get closer together, we start to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. I enjoy doing this element because it is something different to add in the performance and it is a funny element. The audience will not be expecting this in the show and they will enjoy watching it. This is another reason I enjoy doing this part of the show.

Yesterday's lesson (20th November 2014)

20th November 2014

Yesterday's lesson we had to do a run through of our upcoming show. We did a run through throughout the lesson and did not stop at any point. The run through roughly about 25 minutes.

After we had our run through, we decided to look over at what needed fixing, what we needed to work on more, and what needed changing. We decided to go over the cheer leading scene because we have changed the jumps in the scene because some of us couldn't keep up with everyone else and we were finding it difficult. Apart from this, everything else seemed to work fine.

We also decided that we needed to extend some scenes.

Tmesis Theater Company Workshop

Tmesis Theater Company Workshop

We started off with our usual warm - up and training, however 2 people, a man and a woman, came into our lesson and told us they were from 'Tmesis Theater Company'. They were here to teach us a bit more about physical theater techniques.

We began by walking around in a circle and stomping our feet on every fourth count. This was to get us prepared for the upcoming techniques that we had to do for the rest of the workshop. I found this warm up fun and laughable. It was also very easy for us to do.

Secondly, we had to get into 2 lines and do 2 different emotions. One line had to do a happy emotion, and the other line (the line I was in) had to do a sad emotion. When we finished this, we all had to get into one big line and do both emotions. This was a good experience because I now know how dramatic the emotions should be sometimes if I'm performing them.

Next, we got into pairs and had to come up with some ideas of different movements. Most of the movements we needed to interpret were movements that were animal - like and inhuman. Most of the animal - like movements were shown to be birds or wild animals. I worked with Eleni for the exercise. When we performed, I felt dissapointed because I felt like I hadn't done as well as I thought because the woman who was working with us kept pointing out little things that I came up with and saying they weren't good enough, so I didn't enjoy this part as much as the others.

Afterwards, we had to get into new pairs. This time I worked with Megan, from Year 2. We had to come up with an idea of love and connection through movement. We began the sequence to show that we were very close and for some reason something was breaking us apart. 

8th October 2014

8th October 2014

We started to look at ideas for our devised piece which will be called 'Letters'. We decided to look at how different types of letters can make us feel and show the emotion through physical theatre.

However, before we did this, we began to learn about Pina Bausch's techniques. We improvised one of her ideas called 'Café Muller', which is about revisiting a childhood place. So I decided to act like I was in the park. I found this idea interesting.

18th September 2014

18th September 2014
Today we learnt about Steven Berkoff's work and what his techniques are. We also discussed about what films he has starred in, which includes 'Octopussy' and 'A Clockwork Orange'.

We also learnt about Frank Kafka's 'Metamorphosis'. This involves a lot of things about physical theatre. Also, a lot of Steven Berkoff's techniques are involved too, so that's why we learnt about these two methods.

A good example that involves a lot of Physical Theatre is DV8's 'Enter Achilles'. The physical theatre that is shown involves people lifting others on to their shoulders and throwing themselves around the room. The performance is set in a Men's Pub, and includes scenes in the pub with men's music playing and football showing on the T.V set. 'Enter Achilles' only has men in the roles and no females.

17th September 2014

17th September 2014
We did grotesque movements and learned about 7 of Steven Berkoff's techniques. We also learnt about Stacatto's techniques. We did weird movements that were show to be rather scary. We also did a newspaper article and the was the stimulus.

Proxemics:

Narration:

• 3rd Person
• 1st Person
• Out of character

These are all marking the moment.

Physical theatre

Physical Theatre
Physical Theatre is a type of theatre performance that pursues storytelling through primarily physical types. A number of performance traditions all describe themselves as 'physical theatre', the unifying aspect is a reliance on physical theatre on physical motion of the performers rather than or joined up with text to tell the story. In usual sense, you talk usually through hand gestures, body language, thought tracking and a lot more physical techniques. In basic sense, the actors talk through hand gestures, body language, thought tracking and a lot more physical features.

10th September 2014

10th September 2014

We did another piece of work which was similar to a set of still images in the previous week. This time we worked in pairs and created dramatic effects. Firstly, we would stand in a neutral position and create the image. At the end, we chose out of the both of us, who would create an image of losing and the other person would do an image to look as though they had won a battle. I thought the work was both fun and weird. It was also interesting because it wasn’t like anything I had done before.

Letters scene

Letters scene

17th October 2014

Today we did a new piece for our devised performance. We had to work in partners and swap 3 times and do three different abstract movements in each scene. The scene which we were supposed to be acting out was meant to be the funeral of the girl who has killed herself.

Firstly, I worked with Meaghan. We came up with an idea that because I am playing the deceased girl's younger sister and Meaghan is playing the girl's friend, that she was offering me support. We started off by walking up to each other, hugging, and putting our arms round each other's shoulders, and finally walking off. Secondly, I worked with Eleni. We both came up with an idea that because our characters don't know each other that much, we came up with a movement of us putting our arms round each other, moving side to side, and finally letting go of each other but our arms are the last to leave and they slide across both our arms. Finally, I worked with Demi. We came up with an idea that maybe my character knows Demi's character more than Meaghan or Eleni's character. We decided to reach out to each other and then hug, and slowly walk away.

I thought the work was a good and interesting. It was also different. I enjoyed it because it was something new and it could come in useful for the future, so I would enjoy to do this type of work again.

Letters Stimulus

Letters Stimulus

9th October 2014


Yesterday we got a stimulus that involved letters for our devised piece. We got into 2 groups of 4 and 3 and brainstormed ideas of what our performance could include, and we came up with ideas of what the letter could be about, and we came up with ideas which included a person leaving home,someone who is in the Army and test results from a hospital. Eventually we came up with an idea about a girl who is writing a suicide note to her mother.

We have decided to add elements of comedy in this show. Such as doing a cheer-leading style dance for one scene to the song 'Everything is Awesome!'. We enjoyed doing this scene because it is fun, entertaining and different. This will also be good in the show because the audience will not be expecting it. We have also added a new scene where we all get closer together and begin singing 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. This will also be a funny scene because once again the audience will not be expecting it and they will find it funnier.

Ambition Lesson

Ambition Lesson

 

3rd October 2014

Today's lesson we had to come up with an idea of ambition through movements and gestures. We looked at an image of a circle that had a lot of colours involved. We came up with ideas including craziness, eyes/vision, a range of different emotions, confusion, peace and the idea of ambition and triumph.

Firstly, we had to stand in a neutral position and come up with an idea of what would be our greatest ambition. I decided to come up with an idea of going to one of the best Universities in the country. Secondly, we had to think of what would be the worst thing to happen if we couldn't achieve this ambition, so I came up with the idea of going to a University that wasn't the best and that I didn't enjoy, and this was causing me to become stressed.

We had to come up with 4 different gestures and 3 different movements. Firstly, I decided to do a gesture to make it look like I was getting ready to go to Uni and I was waiting for a friend as I acted as though I was waving at someone. For the movement, I took 2 big steps. Secondly, I did a gesture to look like I was handing a piece of work to someone and then I spun backwards and did another gesture to show that I was starting to get stressed, I didn't like where I was, and this was causing me to pull my hair out. The last part was me having an argument with someone about work and suddenly put my hand up as though I couldn't care about the work, and later I cupped my head in my hands and began to cry because I was showing that I couldn't cope with it anymore.

I found this work to be not my favourite type of work that I have done in college. Although it was rather interesting, I wouldn't want to do it all the time but I would do it unless I really had to for whatever tye of work was better with it.