21st Sept - Storm Dance, Rai Den, Long Black Robes

It seems a long time since we were in the Fire Station for a rehearsal.  It was good to have a room with a bit more space in it.  We have another Storm Demon, and spent half the session working on perfecting the 3 basic dance positions - with more instructions to practice several times a day.

The first position is high - with legs and arms held at an angular stance, hips tucked in and shoulders straight across.  To help with balance and centering, and to practice returning to this stance, we practiced gently pushing each other, in position, and the person in position becomes like rubber, firm yet pliable, and returning to the original stance once the pressure of the push is removed.  This involved also a pressing gently against the pressure of the push, so that the body is trying to return to it's original position, without actually straining.

The push came from each side, and front and back.  After a few tries, the person being pushed closed their eyes so that they could focus more on the feeling of the position, the pressure, and the movement.

After some time practicing and perfecting the positions, and moving between them, we practiced in a group, each taking a different position at one time, which is how it will be in the actual dance.

Following this, we robed up Ray Den, and worked on his part of the storm dance.

The robe is made from layers of black cloth.  We cut a strip off the end to make a belt.

This was starting to look a bit Japanese, but the actor could not raise his arms!

So we untied the tie, and he raised his arms first, thus ensuring full range of movement when the garb was again belted up.

Now Ray Taro can move his arms as much as he likes, tho we may get a wider kimono style belt.  We also had some discussions about hair, and so far the favourite plan seems to be to shave his head and paint the whole head with the face paints that will be used to mask up each character.

Ray Taro's robe from the rear.

We spent some time working with the movements for the bringing of the storm.  First the actor spoke through the moves, and showed the group, the group reflecting them, and having much discussion about how each move would be made.  We also spent some time setting the scene, as the visualisation that each character goes through in developing their sculpt adds to the intensity conveyed in the sculpt.

The energy is captured and held, ready for the bringing of the storm.

Beating the Great Drum of the Thunder

Preparing to give the gift to the peasant.

After we had worked on the physical movement sequence as a group, the rest of us all got onto a chair and watched as the actor finally got the opportunity to take centre stage and show us the complete sequence.  And we finally got the chance to see the Thunder God in action.