Saturday, July 2, 2011

DAY FIVE


I am so sorry i am a bit late. BUT you get a two sweet blogs today. The one for today will come later tonight after I see Mary Jane: the Musical. 
SO! As I reflect on this amazing week, I can honestly say that I feel an earthquake inside of me. I feel a change going on that I can't quite articulate yet. One of my roommates/classmates/new friend put: 
Everything comes back to rhythm and ritual. Learning to play is a lifelong journey. Theatre exists to vibrate the silence and keep us awake in the world.
This is such a perfect reflection on the week. All week we explored the concept of Play. So, we played A TON of games and as I talked about in a previous blog, the use of song in play. 
We started off our Friday with our normal body warm up and movement exercise. My group was chosen to play in front of the class. The exercise we do in hard to explain, but I will try. We are a group of five. When Ronlin gives us the GO, one person does a series of movements with a clear beginning, middle and end. This movement inspires someone else's which inspires someone else's and so on. The 'inspiration' could either be in the energy, weight, direction, etc. As in Dell'Arte fashion: IT NEVER SEEMS LIKE I AM DOING IT RIGHT. One thing that you never ever hear around here is "Good Job, You got it!" When you do a thing, the instructor automatically goes into how it can be better. So, when my group did ours in front of the class, we were made an example of of how it could have been better. This is a hard adjustment of thought that I had to do. As hard and frustrating as it is, you hear love in the teacher's voice, so it lessens the blow a bit. 
Words of Wisdom from Ronlin: 
WE NEED TO ALWAYS BE AWARE, AVAILABLE, AND RESPONSIVE. 
STILLNESS IS IMPERATIVE UNLESS AFFLICTED
Our next class consisted of some body mapping and then HEADSTANDS! The biggest thing I got out of our body mapping session was that we are really just spines. Everything else is an extension of the spine. Also, I don't know if I have mentioned this before or not, but every single person that works for this school is passionate and compassionate. You can tell that they love what they are doing and have a vested interest in us. It is really awesome. There is no sense of ego at all! LOVE LOVE LOVE
OKAY now back to headstands. It took me a couple tries and some embarrassing wipeouts, BUT I got it!  
Step One: Child's pose. Arms a little wider than shoulder length apart. Index fingers pointing foreward.
Step Two: Pull pelvis up. Walk legs to arms. Arms at a 90 degree angle. 
Step Four: When bringing legs up -  lift from the pelvis. When legs are up keep the focus on the front of your legs. This will keep you from falling back. When everything is aligned and balanced it feels like you are floating. It is AMAZING!
Step Five: Do fun stuff.

One major thing that we are constantly reminded that we can just put our mental energy into a part of our body and it will listen to us. We don't have to force our body to do anything.
Today = PERFORMANCE LAB This is when we present our assignments. Anyone can come to these. So....guess who came? DREW! YAY! It was so nice seeing a Bradley family member. I was super nervous to present our game. In addition to ALL THE OTHER PROFESSORS and classmates, the other students of Dell'Arte (PTP and Master's students and graduates) come to these too. EEP! TALK ABOUT PRESSURE! But they were so responsive and supportive, it was awesome! 
So we all did our different games. My group's was last. The old saying is true: You learn more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation. OH MA WURD. It was so funny!!! When someone would cheat, there was an honest uproar in the audience. We wanted to see justice. During our talk back after the games, Joan compared the games to Commedia. Clear characters emerged and our need for Justice. She believes that Justice should be included in the things we fight for, but it is often left out of the things that us, humans, want. But it is, at least in the Western Hemisphere such an intregal part of who we are. 
The game my group came up with was more of a thinking game than everyone else's. The judge had a list of wacky sayings from all over the world. EX: Stop putting saliva on your eyebrows (meaning: don't take things too seriously). The two groups had about 10 seconds to figure out what it meant and come up with a scene to use it in context. The audience (without knowing the true meaning) has to vote on what side they believes to be right. They are then told the meaning. In case of a tie, the group has to make up a saying that has the same meaning. One representative from each group delivers the line. It was a fun improv game!
Afterwards, it was nice seeing Drew and talking to him about what he saw and his reflections on it. We then met up for some drinks at the Tap Room. This is a microbrewery that is attached to the school. That is right, the Dell'Arte building is attached to a bar. I CANNOT tell you how grateful I am that I have Drew here. It is awesome how close our Bradley theatre community is. It really has felt like a family when i think about what we go through together and how we are still there for one another after Bradley. 
view from the bar
guess which one is mine





now bradley and dell'arte family members

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