Week 6 at UCC

Monday began with the routine warm up massages with the added acrobatics and yoga that I’m still trying to get the hang of. We moved onto a new exercise named the “7 levels of tension”. Basically we moved around the space according to the number we were given from 0 “pure exhaustion” (I’m an expert at embodying that one) and progressed to through to the level 7 climax of a bomb scare. I found great enjoyment in the exercise out of how we’re given free reign for whatever stage we were given without having to plot our next movement. This was formulated into the 7 stages into an improv exercise at the train station and as you can imagine if you’ve been reading my previous posts, I had slight trouble maintaining a realistic approach.

Tuesday further delved into brief voice work with Jools. We manipulated our yawning into a character who unintentionally became some sort of English beggar/whiny teenager. We added other forms of character to the exercising of our facial muscles also. A new nonsense/seriousness contrasting exercise stood out for me that day, a number of the ensemble moved across the space humming from the depths of their vocal chords only for a handful to make random succinct movements with equally weird voices to test their focus. Unfortunately before we could have more fun with this we moved onto the step sequences which at this point is starting to become slightly monotonous at this point. However the redeeming aspect of sort is we split up into new groups to try a new routine based off these movements.

Friday was casual and feel good in the beginning with the addition of music to the background of our massages. We then ventured into the deviously simplistic yet impossible exercise of…naturally sitting in a chair. The exercise titled “Actor moves to center stage and sits in a chair” is what it is really, an actor sitting in the chair. However being asked to do this required us to be as natural as possible, not leading to anything bigger or foreshadowing in body movement. Throughout people struggled with entering as the actor and being natural at the same time (including myself). This exercise can be described as having a sadistic element as to restricting the individual way we sit on a chair, so naturally I grew to love this exercise. Over the weekend we are tasked with studying an animal of our choice to observe in movement and behavior. I look forward to seeing the outcomes.

(I had a great image for this entry but for some reason wordpress won’t allow me to)