Clowning Around

Today was fun. The first group that went did actual sporting events.  They were caught in the spotlight and "asked" to do three events.  There was much harm to several of the clowns though no actual harm occurred.  From what I recall, there was a front fall, a back fall, a back roll, a front roll, a side roll, a cartwheel, a collapsed pyramid, and a lot of humor.  The events were well defined into the shock-put, the pole jump, and the human pyramid.  Each participant worked the event differently and had their own difficulties completing or not completing the event.

The second group, surprisingly, did fishing.  Each clown walked out and pulled out a fishing rod in their own way.  The last clown to produce a rod caught an enormous fish, I'm assuming.  It was definitely creepy to all the clowns.  There was a few falls and rolls but the amount of motion on stage swallowed a lot of them.  The part where they all lost the fish in the water after catching it on their hats was funny, especially when the last clown was the only one that didn't seemed bothered by the fact that the fish was lost to the waters to maybe be caught again someday.

Project and Readings

Paul Hunt 

           Motion is everywhere.  It is often most controlled on any sort of stage.  The more dangerous the motion in context with the stage, the tighter one’s control has to be.  Paul Hunt is a prime example of this.

            Hunt has been part of gymnastics for a very long time and has competed – and won – in many competitions.  He now coaches others in gymnastics in Utah.  His clowning is in a gymnast’s routine.

            It is amazing to watch him work either on the equipment or the floor.  The tricks he does as a clown are well controlled and never an actual slip of balance or loss of momentum.  The first time I had seen his act upon the balance beam in a YouTube video, I was flabbergasted at the precision it took for him to keep himself on the beam and keep himself within control, even in moments where he was falling.  Having been a part of ballet and gymnastics myself, I instinctually want to join him on the beam and “horse around” in a very controlled manner.

            Each move has to be precise. A miscalculation means an actual face plant with the mat.  A true slip of one’s grip means a nasty collision with the bar.  Not once can you be out of control or you lose control.  And yet, with this control, Hunt moves as if he’s not restricted by these limits.  He most likely isn’t.  The body learns how to stay balances if trained properly.  The motions become second nature if done enough times.  A well choreographed dance can seem like utter chaos to an audience when it truly isn’t.  Hunt shows that well.

            He has a floor routine that he does where he has quite a few leaps and a lot of movement about.  Quite a bit of it looks like motions thought of on the spot or half practiced.  The leap he breaks at the top of the act looks like it hurts when Hunt would have learned how to do it properly so as not to truly harm himself.  The video I watched was too fast for me to catch just how he was breaking the roll.  I’m sure it was with meat and not with bone for all his breaks.  With the seemingly incongruent motions, the entire piece – or, at least the sets of motions themselves – would have been practiced and practiced, choreographed well in advance as to give him time to perfect it so that the audience, regardless if they have been trained or not to watch for the way clowns work, can still appreciate the humor behind each motion that he does.

Personal Space

            I never realized there were so many spheres that we live in.  Makes sense, once you think about it.  Auditory, Visual, Vocal, Travelling, these I hadn’t realized existed but they make sense.  It’s a sphere of influence in a way and we’re larger than just the physical space we fill up by existing.  And along side these, there are a wide variety of motions through them, different points of being. It’s wicked.

Posture and Alignment

            Who knew there was so much to how one stands?  This is kind of ridiculous, to be honest.  It explains quite a bit, though.  Having improper posture or alignment causes kinks in the system.  It’s cool to see, though, that the section isn’t talking about just the base skeleton.  It goes into how use the buoyancy or radiance to readjust one’s form. 

Body Energizers

            This chapter really talked about buoyancy. About half way through – though it was all rather fascinating – I was beginning to wonder when we’d reach the others.  Then we got to the others.  I like the example of the cat getting ready to pounce.  It was a good analogy to use seeing as I own a cat and know how that looks, how that is.  Potency was weird.  It didn’t really resonate with me till it was listing what was learned from the experiments.  Then I was able to really see what the goal was.  The last part seemed to be just a blend of what we’ve already done.

Be a Clown

            I never realized there were so many types of clowns.  It’s cool to read all the different types and be able to put them with acts that I’ve seen. It makes it more realistic and makes me eager to try it out. 

Scene Critique

First Scene: It was fun to do. The movement was a bit sketchy and seemed slightly awkward at points. It would have been nice to rehearse a bit more for it. We were a bit stiff. There was a lack of trust in the scene.

Second Scene: Everyone was brilliant. It would have been nice to see a bit more pure interaction with Absolute and Lydia. It seemed a bit artificial. There was a bit more artificiality during the top of the scene but it vanished when Brian and Gustavo relaxed into the scene.

Third Scene: This was fun. Tatum was a bit off. She didn't seem comfortable with the role. I would have liked to see her pick up the bottle when it fell. The flipping through the books was distracting. It didn't seem much in character. The ending was nice.

Fourth Scene: Lines need to be worked on for Zane. It would have helped his character development to have the confidence in knowing his lines. The movement was entertaining. A little less would have been nice but I liked that they weren't really planted. The volume when Sir Absolute dropped his energy in his speaking to undercut his lines was lost as well. It was hard to understand some of the words. Slowing down just a tad would have helped as well.

These were great. Can't wait to see the next thing we do.

Character Image and Readings

Both the Comedy of Manners and the Personal Body Spaces were cool. Comedy of Manners gave a lot of information on the working of comedy of manners and a good plenty of examples. Personal Body Spaces was beyond fascinating. I never realized we held so much space in so many different ways. It makes sense, I just never thought about it that way. An audio and vocal sphere makes sense once you think about it. Would have never called that personal space, though.

I dance. Not professionally and gods know I don't take lessons any more, but I took ballet when I was little and my body retained the ability to find the music and move with it. My mom does social country dance regularly so she's taught me the two step, a handful of line dances, and other dances. My youngest brother does ballroom so I've had a bit of a taste of those dances as well, though I am less familiar with them. The chapters in the book - well, the first chapter in the book was understandable and helpful. The dances would be different for on and off stage. Different layout, different reading. The dances in the book were interesting to read. I liked the dialogue with the Questions For the Experts. It was nice to see more than just a single opinion about things. The Rehearsal Notes were a good reminder for what we had learned as well as a nice introduction to what we're starting.

Also, I'm gonna be late. ^_^

Presence Excersice

I've done something similar to this before, this whole playing with one's presence in a space. It's rather fascinating and rather easy to do if you know what people pay attention to. It allows one to separate from the situation at hand when things get tight or redirect attention from someone else. This really only works, though, on those not overly aware of their surroundings. Some people just take in everything and, while you attempt to command their attention, they will continue to include others in their focus as well.

Creative Movement Questions

Range of Movement:

A range in movement, be it physical, emotional, and/or mental, is limited by personal image, fear, physical or energetic blockage and ignorance. Movement of any kind can is restricted by our thoughts, be they rational or not. Having a range of movement physically means that you have the ability to move in different ways to different extents; i.e. being able to do the splits compared to not being able to stand on your hands. A range of movement emotionally means being able to flow from one emotion to the next through the amount of emotions a person knows. If they do not know it, it’s not within their range. A range of movement mentally isn’t as clean cut as the other two. This is partially to do with intelligence as well as how quickly one reacts. Even then, a range mentally is merely how open minded one is to new things. To aid in gaining a larger range of movement, one just needs to be open minded and patient. After all, one does not learn how to do the splits in one night. It takes time to condition the muscles to relax and stretch that far.

Seeing Others:

This question set itself is subjective to who you are talking about. To watch another, though, it may take a while to depict just how they move. Some will have restricted movement in their shoulders or back if they have a bit of stress in their life. Some may walk in brisk, sharp motions instead of the fluidity the body is designed for because they are scared or are in a hurry. Any sort of negativity in one’s thoughts, words, and environment only contribute more and more to the restriction of movement. The pain one feels that contributes to the lack of motion is not always the problem nor where the problem is. To increase movement, one is to slow down and relax.

Relating to Others:

If I am myself, if I am truly me, and am simply content with the world, I move freely through the world. This allows others to see and understand what it is like to have fewer cares in the world and to open up to a wider range of motion. To “meet” varies from culture to culture. In America, it’s a hand shake, a nod of the head, or even a hug. There are many things one can depict from a hand shake. A firm hand shake means confident. Too powerful of a hand shake could mean over compensating, nerves, or a lack of self awareness. A flimsy hand shake where it seems you’re shaking fingers could be pretentious to nerves to even a dislike of actual human contact. To produce distance from moving could be actually putting distance between one’s self and another. It could also be created by how one sits or stands. If the body is angled away from the person one is conversing with, this creates a distance for various reasons. Same for sitting. If the body is turned away, this creates distance. There’s also crossing of the legs or arms that creates a barrier between the conversers. A hand over the lips means that the person is holding back something they want to say. The higher up someone is grasping their arm, the more nervous they are. A tapping toe can be impatience or nerves, same with tapping fingers. Being hunched over or hunched inward will also create a closed off, withdrawn effect.