Acting Training: 4/28/15

Acting Training: 4/28/15

Answered the questions about my caharcter, and wrote them down on scrap paper. More or less the answers are that my character is named Joseph, a well educated solider of fortune. I am avenging the death of Robin, my mentor who had been betrayed by "budd" (short for buxton). I've put some thought into where the "budd's" body is as well. In adition, my professor advised that I split it into 3 beats, one that is "conversational" second is a "you gonna die" in a rather sinister tone, third is a full blown "this is why you gonna die"

Acting Training: 4/24/15

Acting Training: 4/24/15

Started practicing my monologue in earnest. While I was doing so, one of my classmates, James, who is quite skilled at acting recommended to me that I focus on answering some questions about both the phsical/narrative scene before continuing, such as who my character was, where  Iwas in space, who the other characters referenced in the monologue are, etc. I'l give it a think.

Dance Training Journal: 4/24/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/24/15

Adaptation:

Activities Involved:

Warm Up: Hula-hoop passed through arms. 'normal', 'artful', 'fast and artful' and 'slow and artful'

Pass the airplane: Airplane passing, increasing distance.

Pass the movement: passing movement in small groups, demonstrating to class

Restrictions: Restricted Hands, 1 foot, restricted pelvis, 'wild card'

Goals:

Stay in character

Always be ready to adapt

Spontaneous adjustment to the situation

Questions:

How would one train a group to pass a hoop through the arms, fast, efficiently, and artfully?

How to transition a airplane without stopping the motion?

Ways to use the idea of 'restrictions' out of class?

Ideas for further exploration:

Hoop pass training:

I imagine, that one could practice training a small group of dancers to pass the hoop, and attempt to enforce exactly ONE technique for passing it. What I noticed worked, mechanically, with the hoop in between hands, the person receiving it, raised their hand, pulling both their partner's and their own hands above their own head. They then would put it over their head, and step through, preferably in a quick, concise stepping manner, and then let the hoop slide to the center of the hands of the next person. I imagine, if one were to train that motion, and then practice consistent execution for several laps, one could gradually increase the speed of the passing, say using drumbeats or a metronome as a reference point to train the skill to be fast, and artful, for a large group.

Non-stop airplane transitions:

I would accomplish this, by having the partners involved start spaced out. That way when you approached a partner for a pass off they would see you coming. As you passed off the paper plane, you should have a very predictable line of motion, that the receiver can see, at least 1-3 seconds before you complete it. Then they could match your speed, and 'take' the plane and continue an new motion without interrupting it's movement.

Using 'restrictions' out of class:

One could self restrict certain body parts, or motions when performing mundane tasks, in a pool, on a walk, or realistically in any environment where any amount of motion is possible. It seems like it's the sort of thing that favors thinking 'out of the box', very, very often. One could say, resolve to find 4-6 places a day to practice using 'restrictions' on motion, and develop a keen sense for such matters. One could even try doing certain things without furniture, like typing in a seated position with no chair, or such. I've also noticed that carrying certain objects on my person, like backpacks, training equipment, or weight also creates 'restrictions' to my motion that can be explored. Alternately training a pool where you have more options, rather than fewer is another way to explore this mindset. 

Dance Training Journal: 4/22/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/22/15

Narrative as Inspiration

Activities Involved: 

Folk Dance with Jazz hands, 

Evolution: cell, to worm, to 4 legs, to human, back to cell. 

Places: No sleep, No touch, location I return to

3 part stories: drought, to river, to flood, 

Questions: 

What are some explorations of showing character that I can do, that do not involve face, or voice?

What are some ways I can explore narration using location?

How can I avoid 'rushing' like I did in the 3 part story during this class?

Ideas for further exploration:

Showing character with gestures:

I think I can use level, posture, and methods of using my joint to show character. For example by stiffening joints one way, I can be a marionette, or a robot etc...

Showing character with location:

In this class I used "the place I return to" as a location to help tell a story. I suppose I could also have a place I avoided, as an exploration, or have an area that I performed a certain motion or gesture every time I got near it, or saw it for whatever reason.

Avoiding 'rushing':

As far as 'timing' control I could pay more attention to the progress of my fellow dancers  when in an exploration, particularly a staged one. This would allow me to 'sense' the timing a bit better and avoid rushing.

Dance Taught Class Reflection

Jason Shirtz
Improvisational Dance: Robin Collen
Improve Dance: Student taught session reflection paper

Class title "Expanding comfort zones"

Taught by Jason, Justine, and Aisha
Lesson Plan:
Warm-up activities:
 Lead by Justine and Jason
-opposing motions/uncomfortable motions, lead by Justine.
-Meditation on increasing comfort zone, lead by Jason
Activity 1:
Lead by Aisha
-Walking across room as a class.
-Walking across room, Threading.
-Walking across room with a partner, eye-contact
-Proximity with an partner with their eyes closed
Activity 2:
Lead by Justine
-Personal comfort zone open improv
-Discussion
Activity 3:
Lead by Jason
-opposing motions/uncomfortable motions, with eye contact.
-improv of 'safe' actions
Bonus Activity:
lead by Justine
-'take it literal' open improv

Learning goals:
-Acknowledging personal comfort zones.
-Confronting areas of discomfort.
-Expanding personal comfort zones.

Warm-up activities:
Lead by Justine, and Jason

Opposing motion:
The plan was for Justine, warm up the class to both physical motion, and the idea of doing uncomfortable activities, by incorporating various unconventional motions into a routine. The class seemed to respond enthusiastically to Justine's energetic movements.

Meditation:
The concept her was for Jason to read a meditation on increasing comfort zones to prepare the class mentally to work on self-developing the concept in their minds first, before executing it in class. While the concepts in the meditation were well worded, and received by the class, many found Jason's reading pace, and abrupt shift after the end of the meditation jarring.

Activity 1:
Lead by Aisha

Walking across room as a class:
Leading the class across the room in a straight line was intended purely to warm up the class, and start with the simplest possible comfortable motion, before introducing more complicated ones. This seemed to work as intended.

Walking across the room, threading:
Every other person stepped back to the other end of the classroom. They then, crossed each other by one group walking forward, and the other back, building a sense of positional 'trust'. This was repeated so both halves of the class had the experienced walking backwards. This activity seemed to be successful at causing the class to feel slightly uncomfortable, and helped to prepare them for greater expansion of comfort zone later in the class.

Walking across the room with a partner, eye-contact:
This activity forced the partners to traverse the room, while keeping eye contact with an assigned partner. The assigned partners were intended to be people that the person did not necessarily have frequent contact with. This activity succeed in forcing eye contact with partners, and lead the way to introspection among the class about personal comfort levels outside of the classroom.

Proximity with a partner, with eyes closed:
This activity, where each assigned partner took turns hovering near the other, silently without the touch, while the one stood eyes closed emphasized acceptance of lack of information, trust in a stranger, and in a new situation. It turns out that some of the group found it very uncomfortable, while others felt a great sense of trust while doing it, either from prior experiences, or from noting how it worked for their partners immediately before them.

Activity 2:
Lead by Justine

-Personal comfort zone open improv
The goal of this improv, was to run two groups of the class where they were to explore their personal comfort by performing actions that defined them, or made them comfortable whether or not they were 'dance moves.' It was this section that surprised us the most, as we learned in the discussion afterwards, that much of the class was not 'comfortable' doing daily activities outside of their normal context, and that they were not comfortable performing mimics of them inside the dance studio.

Discussion:
we spent a significant portion of the time after this improv, discussing how comfort zones worked, why we were comfortable doing some things, in certain situations and not others. The class was very introspective, and we made a point of discussing some strategies/tips for expanding comfort not only of dance movements but eye contact, and miming everyday activities on the dance floor.

Activity 3:
Lead by Jason

-opposing motions/uncomfortable motions, with eye contact.
The goal of this improv, was to repeat the same opposing motions/uncomfortable motions introduced in the warm-up with Justine, but add in the 'extra' element of maintaining eye contact with the assigned partners at the same time. This one took several elements of our class, and put them together in an excellent activity that challenged the class to put together what they had learned into a new technique. The class found it daunting, but rose to the challenge quite well.

-improv of 'safe' actions
The goal of this was for the class to default into a routine of "safe" actions that they had explored while in the prior improv lead by Justine. This worked fairly well, and seemed to be a success.

Bonus Activity:
Lead by Justine

"make it literal" improv
In this impromptu addition to our class plan, Justine lead the class in one more 'personal comfort' improv, but this time told them to 'make it literal' and perform physical actions as if they were in the actual environment that they occurred in. This lead to a much stronger response from the class than the prior improv, and did much to expand both their knowledge of where their comfort zone was, as help them to see how to expand it further.

Class Final Discussion:
At the end of the class session, we had many, many questions and comments concerning how to recognize, and improve personal comfort levels. It was apparent that much of the class had taken certain things for granted, such as contextual comfort with day-to-day activities, and where they put their eye contact in ordinary social situations.

It seemed that the class had a very robust discussion of the activities of the day, and that overall they left the room with a greater knowledge of how to self-improve their ability to feel comfortable both doing new things, and become more comfortable with old activities.

Personal Insights:
One of the things that truly struck me in this class, was how many of my classmates opened up about having been shy or uncomfortable in social situations, or  with eye contact. While some seemed like they had been naturally comfortable in those areas their whole lives, that seemed to be the exception rather than the norm. Additionally, the class discussions were possibly the most lively of the semester with the greatest variety of participants. It seemed that Justine, Aisha, and I needed to put considerable effort into both interpreting, and the answering their questions in terms of comfort zones, as well as composing new follow up questions and activities for situations and needs we had not anticipated. Overall we did so with a high degree of both composure, and seemed successful as teachers in adapting to the needs of our class, which was very fulfilling as instructors.

As far as team dynamics go, I could not have asked for better partners than Justine, or Aisha for this project. All three of us contributed actively to the planning and formation of each activity. During the planning processes, we frequently built on and expanded on each other's ideas, while making sure to edit out and trim any excess complexity from our lesson plan. Aisha was very helpful in keeping up with the notes and paperwork, and Justine was good at keeping the group in contact with each other.

During the actual teaching of the class, I felt we worked well in adapting to the needs of the class, as well as coming up with new activities, questions, and thoughts on the subject matter on the fly. If there was any weakness in our lesson, it was my occasional foot-in-the mouth, which while slightly detrimental to the class, did not seem more than a minor, if not regrettable  weakness to our presentation.

Overall, I felt the class was a rousing success in terms of concept, planning, teamwork, execution, the  growth our students, and our growth as teachers.

Monologue Beat version I

Monologue from Kill Bill v.2 by Quentin Tarantino.

Beat version I

Mmm. I'm sorry, Budd. That was rude of me wasn't it? Budd, I'd like to introduce my friend, the black mamba. Black mamba, this is Budd.

You know before I piced that little fella up, I looked him up on the internet. Fascinating creature, the black mamba. Listen to this: "In Africa, the saying goes, 'in the bush, an elephant can kill you, a leopard can kill you, and a black mamba can kill you. But only with the black mamba--and this has been true in africa since the dawn of time--is death sure.' Hence it's handle--'death incarnate'" Pretty cool huh?

"It's neurotoxic venom is one of nature's most effective poisons, acting on the nervous system causing paralysis. The venom of a black mamba can kill a human being in four hours if, say, bitten on the ankle or the thumb. However a bite to the face or torso can bring death from paralysis within 20 minutes"

Now you should listen to this, 'cause this concerns you. "The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bet can be gargantuan." You know I've always liked that word gargantuan? I so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence. "If not treated quickly with anti-venom, ten to fifteen milligrams can be fatal to human beings. However, the black mamba can deliver as much as 100 to 400 milligrams of venom from a single bite."

Now.... in these last agonizing minutes of life you have left, let me answer that question you asked earlier more thoroughly. Right at this moment... the biggest "R" I feel is regret. Regret that maybe the greatest warrior I have ever met, met her end at the hands of a bushwhackin' scrub, alkie piece-of-shit like you. That woman deserved better.

Acting Journal: 4/21/15

Acting Journal: 4/21/15

Training for: 

Kill Bill V.2 Monologue

Observations: 

This piece is designed to be witty, grim, and sanguine. 

There are multiple ways of intoning for it. 

Questions: 

Where are the beats in this monologue? 

Where are the most effective combinations of intonation?

 Are there alternate sets of beats that are viable? 

Which would be most effective for me to use, if so? 

What is a 'alkie'?

Is an "intellect voice" usable for the dictionary sections?

Discussion:

Where are the beats in this monologue? 

To answer this, I should diagram the monologue in terms of beats

Where are the most effective combinations of intonation?

Are there alternate sets of beats that are viable? 

Which would be most effective for me to use, if so? 

To discover this, after diagramming the beats, and variants, i should experiment with multiple intonations. I should then seek audience reactions to several of my proffered ones, and feedback on my performance.

 What is a 'alkie'?

An alcoholic.

Is an "intellect voice" usable for the dictionary sections?

I should try each major 'beat variant' with and without an 'intellect voice' for those sections. I should also try using it in some portions of the monologue but not others, for dramatic effect.

Dance Journal: 4/20/15

Dance Journal: 4/20/15

Activities involved:

folk dance containing Roll, slide, pivot, push. Back to back containing pivoting, and rolling. A-Frames, Leaning/sliding, grazing, ledging/draping, 

Questions:

How to properly keep track of shifts in weight by use of hands, while keeping in tune of stepping?

How much weight can I hold, and how much weight can my partners hold. Is there a way to tell by sight?

Ideas for further exploration:

Weight shift, and footwork:

I think a method, i could try to keep track of shifts in weight, by use of hands, while staying in tune of stepping, would be to "tie" the motion of my hands to my footwork. In kendo, it is proper form to connect a sword strike using the arms, the instant that the foot comes in contact with the ground. I think I could re-purpose that sense of hand/foot contentedness for this exercise.

Weight holding, and giving:

I think I could first, get a table of approximate weights of dancers per height in inches. I found on yahoo answers, the following "typical" shortcut method for determining a female dancer's weight, compared to height.

Ballet dancers typically range from 5'3'' to 5'7'' in height. This is to allow for 3'' of additional height, when they stand on point, as they are likewise expected to always be shorter than the male dancers they are partnered with. The base weight of a dancer is considered to be 85Lbs at 5' with an additional 5'Lbs per inch of height. Allowing for a 5LB estimated 'standard deviation' above or below due to differences in body frame/muscle mass, That gives us the following table.

5'	80	90
5'1''	85	95
5'2''	90	100
5'3''	95	105
5'4''	100	110
5'5''	105	115
5'6''	110	120
5'7''	115	125
5'8''	120	130

I'll also assume, that a dancer can only resist a horizontal force back-to-back that is slightly greater than their own weight. I suppose I could do some research, but for now, I'll assume that with my weight currently being 260 pounds, I should, at most give a dancer of a height 5'-5'4' between a quarter and a third of my potential weight, and a dancer from 5'5-5'8'' between a third, and one-half my total weight. A dancer of my approximate height and weight should be able to resist my complete force.

This would also indicate that under ideal conditions,  I should be able to resit between 2-4 dancers putting pressure directly on my back, depending on our relative masses, combined strength differential, and positioning.

Dance Training Journal: 4/15/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/15/15

Today's class was on Initiation. We covered several basics again, impulse, breath, weight shift, and endings. One of the things I wondered, as we did it, was how to stop mid spin, and hold it. As in, if one leg is spinning on an axis, with the other extended, is it possible to stop in the middle? Stopping at the end of the sweep is trivial. Fading to a stop, is doable. Is a sudden stop possible? What kind of muscles, and motion would be required to create that, smoothly, and without any loss of balance? On the plus hand, I'm starting to take away more and more of an ability to follow, and work within a group on the dance floor. It is a constant struggle for me, to not just do my own thing, and to try and sense the "group energy" Part of why this happens, is inside me, I crave acknowledgment, as an individual. That leads me to focus, and center on my actions, and my goals. This is an extreme limiter in the dance world, as the most striking phrases, and motions are invariably caused not by individual dancers, but by dancers working and collaborating with each other. In terms of mindset, I need to let go of the need of accomplishment, in order to find accomplishment. Let go of the desire for victory to find victory. Falling into samurai/zen logic here. Probably is the smart thing to do though. Erasing my need to feed my ego when dancing, is definitely something to work on, then.

Dance Training Journal: 4/13/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/13/15

The shift in how we approached walking 8 steps in each direction during the warm-up dance was new. For this one, I chose to approach levels, which brought me to some new places. I noticed that Robin, was doing some very low-to-the-ground crawl work, and that affected my motions, by bringing my hand to the floor more often.

We had a brief review of Intiations, specifically, Impulse, Breath, Weight shift, and falling to gravity. We also reviewed Fading, Follow through, sudden stops, and ending in strange shapes.

Our exploration of rhythm, in open improv was a lot of fun. I noticed that i was very, very comfortable in the free, constant flowing mode, and that while I was capable of swift, sudden changes, that overall, I preferred flow in my work. 

Exploring different ways to fall, such as directionally, fast or slow, sliding, or spirals, got.... freaky. even though I have explored falling like a ragdoll, both in and out of the class multiple times in the past, I discovered, there are many, many, more ways to fall than I had considered before today. 

Our "walking, running, falling" improv was a hoot. I tried lots of new things, and I noticed that my outer awareness extended into the room better, which allowed me to do better with synchronizing with others during the group work. 

For the "dramatic action" exercise, getting free, dramatically was pretty simple in the literal sense. Imaging I had on handcuffs and leg irons, going through the motions of forcing them off was fairly simple. Making it more "abstract" involved me making motions impossible to do with actual bonds on, and towards the end, I explored the idea of one half my body being artificially 'weighted' down by bonds that were not there, while the other half, was 'lively' and free.

Prior action to “love and death” scene

Jason Shirtz.

Prior action to “love and death” scene

Today feels REALLY good. my 6 PM meeting just got canceled, so I spent a little 'quality time' with my secretary, Lara. Such a good girl. Keeps my schedule, makes my appointments, does so much of my paperwork that I almost never actually have to do work, and even better is entirely infertile, constantly horny, and keeps her mouth shut. Hmm, that reminds me. Meredith has been nagging me again. I suppose I should have Lara send her some flowers. Lara! could you send some flowers to my wife! “Of course sir”. How I adore hearing that. She obeys my every whim! God take me, this is just too easy. I'm not even trying to be good at lying, but ever since I got this job through Meredith's dad's connections, it's just been too easy. I should do something CRAZY to spice it up. Lara! I wanna try something new! Do you think there is a way that we can get that new receptionist, whats-her-name up here? You know, the one with red hear, and the rack? “I'll see what I can do for you James!”

Dear god that was freaky. Kinda went longer than expected too. Celia was expecting me at the motel at 6:30, and I won't be able to make it till seven now. The hell with this. She has a nice ass, but she's not very creative, and I've known that this “pretend I'm going to die” thing had a limited shelf life since the beginning. The good news, is that she's an honest, caring girl, who is going to feel very, very guilty about the whole thing. She'll either going to 'woman up' about our little arrangement, and start having adultery with me for the sheer fun of it, or she'll run off like a little, innocent schoolgirl, and never admit to having been 'bad' to anyone but her priest. In hindsight I don't even know if she's catholic or not. Guess in the years I've known her I never bothered to ask. On the plus hand, if she sticks with it, she might start to get better in the bedroom. I've been of the opinion for years, that adultery only gets good, once you abandon the idea that you are doing it for a 'moral' reason. Guilt, and the self-realization that you have betrayed your honest partner, are powerful, powerful aphrodisiacs. Celia, poor girl, still thinks that she's somehow doing the 'right thing' by bedding a dying man. Never could make sense of that girl. Not that I need to. She's the sort who's really only good for one sort of thing.

Lara! is that taxi here yet? “no sir” How the hell am I gonna get to the motel then? “I can't drive you today, I have something else to do. How about you ask becky?” Who the hell is becky? “the receptionist who we just had the threesome with, sir” Oh, ok. Call her up for me on the intercom ok? She's still in the building right? “yes sir”

In hindsight, this redhead, was one of my smarter ideas. She's barely 20, never been to college, and looks like she got hired mostly due to her clear, girly voice, and her habit of not wearing a bra, and leaning forward a lot when she talks. “Here we are.” Thanks a lot Becky! you can let me off here. Before I go in to speak with my associate, how about something to remember me by?

Oh, gods, that redhead knows how to kiss something fierce. It's a good thing that I've become an expert in removing lipstick, and discovered that removing my suit-jacket, and switching my white shirt eliminates the need to be wary of “incriminating hairs” ah, here I am. Time to string Celia a new one.

Showtime!

*note* This is done as an assignment for my rendition of "Love and Death" by Kathryn Cherkovich for my acting 101 class. It's intended to be a 'journal' of sorts for my character, leading up to the instant before the scene starts. As you can tell, my 'character' is an absolute asshole. 

A meditation on increasing your comfort zone

A meditation on increasing your comfort zone

Close your eyes, or allow your eyes to empty of focus

Think back to your childhood. 

Think of a basic skill, lesson, or activity,

That once made you uncomfortable, but you are comfortable with now.

Perhaps it was a food you didn't like to eat,

Or a kind of homework that you hated,

A exercise that you disliked,

Or a tradition, or ritual that you didn't like.

Think about how that uncomfortable thing, felt the first time it made you uncomfortable.

Now consider how long you were uncomfortable with it.

Was it weeks? Months? Years?

Now recall how you overcame your discomfort in the past.

Perhaps, a family member, friend, loved one or mentor helped you deal with it.

Perhaps you confronted the problem head on by yourself.

Perhaps you studied the problem carefully until you learned to overcome it.

Perhaps you needed to "fake it until you made it"

Regardless of how you overcame it,

Think of how it felt to conquer the situation, and become comfortable with it.

Give your past self a "thank you" from the current you. 

Think of how your effort, and persistence overcame the issue.

Now, consider what things in your current life, are making you uncomfortable.

Allow yourself to receive a "thank you" in advance from your future self,

In exchange for the commitment to attack the problem until it is resolved.

Perhaps you will need a friends help.

Perhaps you will need to attack the problem head on.

Perhaps you will need to study the problem.

Perhaps you will need to "fake it until you make it"

Regardless of how you choose to overcome it,

Accept that just as you overcame the problem in the past, you can overcome problems in the future.

Realize, that not only have you received help in the past overcoming difficulties

But that you have given help to friends, family, and cherished ones in the past

That has helped them overcome similar difficulties.

The ability to challenge and overcome life's hardships, is a power that you inherently possess.

You have used it many times already in your life.

Continue to use, and strengthen this ability.

With it, you can help your cherished ones accomplish their hopes, dreams and goals.

With it, your cherished ones can assist you in accomplishing your hopes, dreams and goals.

With it, you can pursue your accomplishments, hopes, dreams and goals with your own power.

Acting Training Journal: 4/9/15

Acting Training Journal: 4/9/15

Today was our "rehearsal" so to speak for our scripted scene, our last time to get feedback on it, before we get our graded version on it. The good news, is that i've relaxed considerably, and am in much better emotional control of my responses right now. A lot of the training for body flow control from improv dancing has applicability here, so I'm carrying over the lessons from that class for this one. The challenge, is that since this is a dramatic scene, my character is supposed to be an aggressive dick. I've shied away from that form in practice, more or less out of it being the opposite of my personal temperament. However, I'm gonna put in the elbow grease, and do it right. No excuses. No surrender. No Quarter. Gonna knock it dead on Tuesday.

Dance Training Journal: 4/10/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/10/15

I really learned a lot in our exploration of Initiation today. For one ,the exploration of impulse, falling due to gravity, breath, weight shift, with an ending fade, formed an excellent base of movement for us to work off of in class. Once my base movement for each was down, adding a second quality to each was relatively simple. I felt that the next segment, practicing rhythmic phrasing was an excellent preparation for the final activity, where I combined my existing motions with different rhythms to match different needs and styles. As I mentioned after class, I felt that this overall pattern for improv, exists in other disciplines as well, such as cooking, where once you can deal with base ingredients, like rice, meat and beans, you can combine them, into new dishes, and experiment with new spices and flavorings at will.

Dance Training Journal: 4/8/15

Dance Training Journal: 4/8/15

When I visualize the passage of time, I picture a line passing through my body, from head to toe, and then repeating itself. For me time is about passage of breath. The faster I breathe, the faster I move, the faster time is for me, and the slower it is for anyone not matching pace! The timing of our sun salutations was interesting, my two partners JD, and Tristian, rather lingered on the plank portion as a matter of pride. Whereas, I decided that since typically I move either explosively, or with great stillness, today I would practice moving at "normal human speed" I was told my pacing of the sun saltuation was "Brisk". 

In the stop and go portion, I instinctively focused on minor, more controlable movement paterns that were derivations of my Kendo footwork. In Kendo, footwork is barefooted, and is more of a glide on a hardwood floor, than a step, or a leap. Likewise, my dancing footwork is more focused on moving deliberately and accurately, with strong balance, over large flashy motions. (although i do do some of  those too) I found the advice to keep opposing weight opposite of the direction of travel to be quite interesting advice, and explored it a bit. It seemed like it did rather help me stop moving, quickly, and moreover helped limit my stamina consumption. :)

The stop and go game was fun. I noticed that since I had focused on efficient footwork, rather than flashy, that I lasted to the second-to-last round of my group, and that the footwork that elimiantaed me, was that I had allowed myself the extravagance of a motion that required two steps to finish. I also noticed that the person who won our group, had also intentionally focused on motions that she knew were 'safe'

The active/passive stillness was fun. I got good at holding my "active motion" and noted that while it was easy to hold in my arms, that I had to shift my weight to be able to do so in my legs while standing. Passive stillness was easier by far. going limp, and ragdolling to the ground was a lot of fun, and it lead me to do some pantomime acting.

Culminating experience. I took my words "stalking my prey", "immobile" and "explosive" a tad too literally for the music. Was kinda embarrassed. Next time I get thoughts/ideas that are incompatible with the actions around me, i'm gonna shave off the analogy till it fits a bit better.

Dance Training Journal: 3/30/15

Dance Training Journal: 3/30/15

I really enjoyed our exploration of gaining in this exercise. After the sun salutation warm up, the Graining practice was a lot of fun, The idea of focusing all of my body's energy into a single point was a new way for me to tackle improv. Having to follow a partner's touch, made me move like a marionette, which really inspired some movement modes. After that, the syrhronizing movements with tristain, starting with being back to back, followed by the head to head, and arms to arms, lead to some amazing movements. We really went all-out on the arm-to-arm movement, and were able to do some really tricky balance shifting improv movements. Following that, the open improv I was able to use the techniques I had developed with Tristian, with the whole class. Was a lot of fun, and expanded my range by forcing me to do things I had learned with a partner with a similar, with a partner of any body size.