Tension in Motion

Reflecting on Wednesdays session, and having read Peter Wrights chapter on Lecoq's theory of  States of Tension, I found myself a little disgruntled.  I am not sure of some of the ideas.  The cycular image seems forced, and the starting and ending points of 'exhaustion' and 'rigor mortis' don't seem the same at all to me, and the terminology used is emotionally laden.

In my mind, the most sensible examples of the two points are sexual extasy and death (but only if one is aware that one is dying, which generally, in dramatic situations, one is)  The point of sexual climax, or during death throes, the body may become rigid, unable to move, each muscle tense.  Following this, the point of exhaustion is reached, in release from tension, after the climax, or the death occurs, the body becomes limp and lifeless.  In the first case there may be a great reluctance to move, in the second, one could not move because one is dead.

As far as the other states of tension go, I took the group through an exercise where they first entered a state of neutrality (the 4th state), and walked around the room, greeting each other in several ways.  Making eye contact, then using a brief hand shake (with eye contact), then a double handed handshake.  The effect to me as the spectator was of warmth and regard.  In the second condition, I asked the group to tense up the area between the shoulder blades, and their buttocks.  I asked them to walk around the room and greet in these ways - first through eye contact alone, then through a brief handshake, and then with a hug.  The effect was rather funny - a bit Basil Fawlty - overformal, like people at a business meeting who are trying hard to be friendly but who would rather not be there.  This relates to the 5th State - which Wright calls 'Is there a Bomb in the Room?', the bomb relating to an emotional state, which in this case, appeared to be embarrasment - the state of tension and the actions were in conflict with each other.

Group members commented on the experience of walking through the space, sometimes feeling that connections were not so easy, the unnaturalness of the second part of the exercise.  

The Slow Motion Running Race


Merv found this game in one of the books he is reading - Lecoq I think.  In it, the group members take part in a running race, but in this running race the point is to come last, and the race takes place in slow motion.


One of the first surprises was how hard it was to balance, and this brings us to one of the points of the game - to break a movement down to it's minutest parts.  This was slower than slow motion, and as the race progressed, the movements got even slower.  Group members got gradually better at co-ordinating themselves, and increased thier awareness of their movement.


Rehearsal - Urashima - We got to the End!!

The slow motion running race was very good preparation for the rehearsal of Urashima.  The mood of this story is very still.  The movements, more than any other story, are very slow, and need to be as minimalistic as possible.


Using very simple and being minimalist in the number of moves means that every single movement becomes full of meaning.

 In the running race, the movements where slowed into their minutest parts, and in this session we also reduced movements such as a fisherman hunching over in grief, so that there was acute awareness of his head sinking into his hands, his chest pulling inward, his back bowing over.

 We have discovered the power of making a rule - and then of breaking it.  Throughout this story, the 10 beats between sculpts rule is stuck to.  The beats are slow and quiet.  Then at the end, this rule is broken, as the Fisherman and the narrator move into the same dramatic space, the intention being that the audience is also even more intensely drawn in.

Sometimes we found that actors utilised states of tension without even realising they were doing it.  It was important at times like this to point it out when it was happening, so that the moment could be incorporated into the final choreography.


And so we have finally choreographed one entire story.  It's a nice feeling to have got to this stage of completion.  Of course rehearsals are no-where near finished, as details will be polished up, new techniques of moving and relating and being still will be worked with, right up until the actual performances.