Week 10
Year 1
Day 1
Objective:
The day is used for rehearsals for the movement assessment: 'creating an abstract movement piece devised from the essential qualities of the character taking place in a scene outside of the play'. Today's work is about devising a personal warm-up, rehearsing the movement material for the assessment, and working with the performance partner.
Areas of Bess:
Body- fundamentals- 3 dimensional warm-up
Effort - effort elements
Shape- all aspects
Space -attention to spatial considerations
LMA principles:
Finding availability and openness to a performance challenge by connecting to aspects of the piece that can be fine-tuned through LMA theory, notes, and experiences that can support the embodiment of the material.
Day 2
Objective:
The day is devoted to the performance of the movement piece. Students will perform in pairs. Actors will set up their prop, take their place, and begin with the material. The event will include performing the 'task' the abstraction and elements that are exaggerated, all within a continuity of a beginning, middle, and ending. The piece will be videotaped.
Teaching thoughts and observations:
Students were apprehensive as this was their first substantial movement assessment that was determined through their own devising. The source of the inspiration was an acting class performance whereby each actor played one of two characters from a scene. The overlap with an acting class project was intentional. The instructors’ goal was to push the actors' understanding of their role in the scene by giving them the opportunity to explore abstract movement as a vehicle for defining the inner life of the character in its most physically manifested state. The performances were marked by a strong presence, through-line of intention, and interesting manifestations of character through a prop. Categories of assessment fell into the following three areas: through-line of intention, quality of physicality to support the intention, and development of the material (eg. variation and modulation).