Embodiment; isolating body parts; impro in varying group sizes.

Physicality:
We are a physical theatre group.  This suggests a level of physical awareness, prowess and dexterity that I'm not sure we all have.  We have creativity, imagination and playfulness in abundance, however I think, and I have shared with the group, that we could really do with brushing up on our physicality.  That involves:

Being fit and healthy - we engage in some pretty energetic stuff, and whilst in impro workshops it's ok for us to be huffing and puffing a bit, stopping to rest occasionally, in performance, it rather detracts from the enjoyment of watching.  So, we need to ensure that our cardiovascular systems are in tip top condition, eating well and regular vigorous excersise (e.g., brisk walking, swimming, cycling, skipping) should be essential parts of our honing ourselves as performers.

Being strong - ok, some of the positions the creatures and objects that we create aren't very naturalistic in terms of humanness.  
We contort ourselves and hold weird and wonderful positions.  Part of the issue here is bodiy awareness - ie don't hold a position that is going to hurt or even injure us, and don't hold a position that is going to result in a wobbling shaking object rather than a sturdy one.  The other part of the issue here is being strong enough to stretch our physical boundaries without doing self harm.  It's a balance.  Regular weight bearing excersise (Merv does kettle bells, other forms of weight training could also be used).

Another element of physicality is dynamic expression.  I am thinking here gymnastic ability, being, swift, flexible and responsive.  In order to maximise our dynamic expressivity, we could take up regular practice at gymnastics, acrobatics, circus skills, along with, or alternatively, martial arts or wrestling.

I'm being realistic here.  We are not a young group (with the exception of one or two members), but we all enjoy being physical and have a moderate amount of physical ability.  Putting on entertaining and impressive performances of physical theatre is our aim.  The fitter we are, the better will be our performances.  We don't need to be acrobats, but we do need a certain amount of acrobatic skill, physical awareness and control.

Last nights session started very much with this message.  We revisited an excersise that I created last year, called 'energy ball', this is a bit like a yoga or meditation.  It is a single movement that goes through a sequence of positions, and involving a visualised ball of energy, which is given a particular colour.  It is good for focussing and calming energy, in preparation for an activity or just the day ahead.

Isolating body Parts  The machine is planned to be an extravagent, unexpected, smooth, interactive, activity.  In order to look mechanical, we are beginning once again to examine the notion of isolating body parts.  A simple movement, e.g., standing on your toes, involves the whole body.  When we do this, and really think about it, we realise just how much of our body is moving.  The toe and ankle joints, the whole shift of weight, our shoulders and hips, the angle of our arms to our body.  The angle of our head and shoulders.  To appear mechanical, each of these movements need to be either 1) miminised so that it is almost indiscernable, or 2) emphasised, so that it appears deliberate and mechanical.  No simple task, and requiring of much practice. Connected to this is the notion of 'Otkas, Posyl and Stoika', the 'statement of intent to move', the 'movement' and the 'statement of completion of move'.  

When applied to the machine, this can be done in different ways, the ways that we looked at was a slight movement in the opposite direction of the movement to mark the otkas and the stoika, or another way, which is to hold the body quite tense, then slightly relax the part that is to be moved (the otkas), and during the movement retain this tension (posyl), and making a sudden return to the original tension right at the end of the movement (stoika).  This looked quite effective, and again, requires practice.


 Impro by numbers; a variation on the cauldron.
The pics this week are all from the improvisation phase of the workshop.  After physicality, we are working on the group cohesion and the essence of 'complicite' that will give a feeling of real magic to the performance.  Every performer is so sensitive to the actions of the group, and so responsive, that the group ceases to become a set of individuals, and becomes an entitiy in it's own right.


Usually, in the cauldron, two people are in the performance space, free improvising.  When another member of the group wants to join in, they come and tap someone on the shoulder, the tapped person leaves the impro and the new entrant takes over.

In our version, (and thanks to Billie for suggesting this), we use the group complicite for this process.  Rather than the new comer making the decision, the group decide.  This is done in various ways, quite often, one of the improvisers is running out of ideas, and will take the opportunity to run off stage.  Sometimes the newcomer and one of the existing spaceholders will form a dynamic, leaving one out, who will then leave the stage, sometimes there will be something of a standoff, as improvisers each make offerings, to see whose will be taken up.  Occasionally the newcomer will hesitate, part way through making an offering, suddenly feeling that what they are doing is out of place, and run off stage. 
Occasionally, I will tell them to stand their ground, and to carry on negotiating for space in the performance area.  Through simply taking away the element of one person choosing who stays in the impro space and who leaves, and letting the group come to a decision through more subtle means, we managed to get a much more sensitive group, who communicated with each other more subtly and creatively. 
After a while I tell the group to increase their number by 1.  So over the course of 50 minutes, the number of improvisers in the space grew from 2 to 5.  This brings in many different dynamics of performance.  The areas of improvisation centre around things such as conflict, conspiracy, exploration, discovery, danger, sabotage, defence, exhibition.  Improvisers may take the part of characters or objects (with character); objects may become imbued with characteristics (see pics of the incorporation of the table into the improvisation).  Whether character or object, each element of the improvisation adds it's own dynamic, and an infinite variety of possibilities for story development.

Who is the spy?
During the last 10 minutes, I gave the group another task in complicite.  I told them that one of their number is a spy, and the group had to find out who the spy was and arrest them.  I forgot to tell them that they had to produce an ending also, and added this later.  My phone camera stopped half way through this and I have lost some of the improvisation, but the videos shown here demonstrate some of the techniques used by people in coming to group decisions.  It became very much more democratic when I actually named a specific group task.  The processes of negotiation are quite clearly seen here.  
This process will be much less obvious as the group becomes more highly tuned in terms of sensitivity and responsiveness, however it is an education, as well as being very entertaining, to be able to observe these processes occuring. 
 Can you spot the rebel?  The collaborators?  The onlooker?  Which offers are taken up and which go unnoticed?  In a brief moment of disengagement an actor 'loses the plot' and has to reintegrate themself, or be reintegrated, into the action.