DAY SIXTEEN

 

 More embodied voice. Today was a lot like Steve's Voice class. We worked on letting go of the tensions in our body and feeling the vibrations of our voice throughout our bodies. We partnered up. Our partner put their hands on different parts of our body and we had to send our voice and vibrations to their hand so they could feel it. We then worked on their back. We threw our voice and vibrations into their back so they would feel it and produce a sound in response. I wasn't very good at it, but my partner did a great job of finding a good spot on my back to throw the vibrations. When I opened my mouth, it was like his voice was coming through me. Stephanie equated this to character work. We need to allow the character's voice come through us. 

We then worked with our memorized text. We were told to memorize a poem or monologue. We walked around the space reciting the text. Stephanie then gave us different prompts about what we should focus on while speaking the text. Some of the prompts were: lead with the head, lead with the heart, lead with the pelvis, you are fire, you are water, you are air, you swallowed a ball, you swallowed a stick, you are a cow, and you are a kid holding a red balloon. This was an awesome exercise. For anyone working a new piece, DO THIS. Some of the movements were TOTALLY against the intention of my text, but some brought out new colors in it that I didn't know where there. IT WAS SO COOL! 

In daily practice we learned back shoulder rolls. They are pretty fun and easy! I will be happy to show you guys how to do these, if you are wondering how. And if you already know, then we should do some together! While we were doing our workout...which Joe doesn't like to call a workout instead inspiration and reflection...we were all pretty fatigued and sore. Well, at least I was. He said something that was totally cool: 

Cultivate a love for every movement you do. Find the joy and game in everything so that only THAT movement can satisfy the craving.

So AWESOME! Especially when you have to do 40 tricep pushups and 15 back bends and more. Finding the love and joy in the soreness it causes. WOOF. 

Some words of wisdom from Ronlin: Theatrical conventions deny the fact that we are human and continually striving for perfection. They do not acknowledge that the audience is an active partner in the work we are creating. Here, we acknowledge our imperfections and invite the audience come with us on our journey. 

"The genius of clowning is transforming the little, everyday annoyances, not only overcoming, but actually transforming them into something strange and terrific. It is the power to extract mirth out of nothing and less than nothing." ~Grock

CHECK IT OUT! Another way to get to the blog!

I am cutting this one short. I am totally exhausted today! But i promise i will have videos next time! WOOOoooOOO!!!