Week Three!!

During the weekend Caroline and Meredith decided that we should rent a wheelchair and go to the park (we went to the Egyptian museum as well). I've been rather frustrated at this point with not being able to go anywhere or do anything so thank you so much ladies for making my life so much better!!

Caroline was nice enough to go out and get me my very own new journal. It is beautiful!!

Day Eight

Acting with Raymond

We used a newspaper as an object today in class. We passed the paper using the body of the other partner and then using the spaces the partner had in their poses. We worked with different rhythms and approaches to our partners. The silence is just as important as the movement. It requires varying durations and poses as well. NEVER lose the tension in the body, even when in neutral. We worked a lot with the fragility of the object.

Day Nine

Physical Preparation with Fabio

Ankle strengthening exercises – standing with both legs bent – one knee up – knees together – hands on waist – close eyes – now open your eyes and jump – after the jump re-close your eyes

Day Ten

Physical Preparation with Fabio

Running – skip with one foot then switch – kick gluts with one foot then switch – skip with one foot, kick gluts with other foot then switch – one arm on heart the other around then switch – arms up in front then out to sides then back and down – leg in front, leg in back, now skip skip – up with knees in circle

Walking – regular – on toes – on heels – on outsides – on insides

Day Eleven

Nothing new to note

Day Twelve

Acrobatics with Fabio

Capovolte – open middle – vertical – over one arm – sideways role from sitting – from one knee to the side, go down on elbow first, end on opposite knee – backwards, over one side, fish -- *decide where you head wants to be before you start the movement*

Hand down, one leg up and straight, jump to the side – now keep going without changing leg or hand (front – back – front – back) – bend knees in between – now add butterfly jump after front – back

Butterfly – up down fast – keep torso parallel to the ground

Put hands where the feet were, turn in air, then put feet back where the hands are now (mano mano piede piede) – body stays in one place – keep butt high – force yourself to stay in that position

X roll

Arms wheel forward, go down so the arms walk backwards, feet go down to stomach – don’t block the movement – legs up to land on feet – hands not in a line – legs step back

Macachi – sit one leg bent (foot on ground) other leg straight out – arm over bent leg is straight over that leg – straight arm and leg twist ¼ at the same time – push with foot and push up bacino – land on feet in ¼ turn

The first week after the ankle

Notable pictures from the second week of circus school. Thank you to Louise Mellor for taking all the pics and letting me use her camera to take pictures!!

Here I am giving advice since I can't walk. This is right after I had the real cast put on that morning.
My favorite picture of Tay Tay.... we call him Perez!!

Katie walking across the tight rope.... our teacher Dario is in the background rooting her on!
Bob's hanging pose...
William, Brian and Louise on the tissue.

Let me just preface this by saying these are the weeks following the vicious ankle breaking. I am counting down the days I have left at this point with my cast on. A whole new start to circus school.

Day One

With Elena we learned some new climbs and falls on the tissue. First, use B climbing method (right leg passes in front of the tissue for one wrap around, then the other foot pinches the tissue on top of the foot underneath). Now you get both feet under the tissue and bend knees to the right while moving the tissue around the foot and pinch again. Next you put your hands through the middle moving your shoulders to the front. Grab right tissue with your left hand and left tissue with your right. Pull tissue into a cross on your back below your shoulder blades. Make sure the tissue is around your thighs. Then your head goes down towards the floor with legs out. Now from the ornament position you fall back and tissue holds feet.

Day Two

Preparazione Fisico got crazy today!! Always begins with different runs, normal, A in-out, skip, one step in front one step in back, walk on tiptoes. Stretch Achilles, now bend back knee, then stretch thigh. Lines are intense – knees up front forward, feet hit glutes, one short one long leg (deer jump), long long long long, jumps feet together arms circle back and up, quattro zampe forwards and backwards, hands on ground – legs in A position – jump forward hands then legs (legs stay straight), plank down roll over back plank up, plank walk forwards and backwards. Next we worked on more stretching and prep. Candle up to the middle then down into a stretch over straight legs, cobra plank, headstands.

Acrobatics with Matteo – Begins with capovolta from standing (STO DURO!!!!); Preparation for Flic Flac.

Aeree with Elena – Work on the trapeze:

First you airplane onto the bar then flip forward and legs wrap around ropes. Reach up and grab ropes, pull yourself up so that the bar is in front of your bacino. Reach high while pulling bacino forward hands go out. Keep closed, do NOT straighten legs, sit back and grab bar while you scende (stringi abdominals).

Acting with Raymonde

Point of contact –

Move around shirt, move around hand, move around finger – move like a predator around finger

Walk neutral – no sounds on the ground – finger emerges – suspicion moves you around with the whole body

Couple work – SILENCE!! Take – move – give – silence! MAXIMUM!! – PRECISION all body in minimum, no stereotypical gestures – DENTRO TUTTO IL CORPO!!

Day Three

Preparazione Fisico with Matteo

Pretty much the same. We added some lunges and sagitale lunges.

Stretching on the bars –

Legs together with hands behind bar, head to feet while partner holds hands. Now feel open, arms between legs head down. Last, hands up and open, you go upside down and slide down between arms.

Acrobatics with Matteo

Trampoline work – walk, lunge, block, 1 2 3 knees to chest, feet to glutes, jump scissor, toe touch arms between legs, capovolta – normal, small push (tuffino), push land on back and return to standing, backwards normal, now land on back and then over feet,.

Day Four

Preparazione fisico was about the same. Some different things added to bar work – with elbows bent hold bar elbows near chest stay teas and swing, hang off bar and pull knees to chest.

Aeree with Elena

The first real drop we learned starts with open legs, right leg in front of the tissue the left leg prende il tessuto per fare il diaper – next step turn over so you are hanging and put it around front – now wrap it around the leg and around the stomach. That is when you let go and roll down the tissue.

Acting with Raymonde

Strike a pose and push with all of the body. Hands straight – one hand for action and the other for feeling

--

I ran out of paper at this point but most of these exercises are repeated on Friday. I don’t have as many notes for acting because I am usually able to participate in either a chair or on the floor. I wasn’t able to participate in many of the other classes the first week but as I continue I am able to do more. I had to stay as still as possible so that the injury was not aggravated. It was quite frustrating. That weekend I laid low. I stayed with my foot up and went out only to do laundry with Caroline and Meredith (or as I call them – the most wonderful girls in the world for constantly being there to help me out).

The vicious ankle breaking...

One group of the many musicians Caroline and I had the pleasure to listen to on Sunday morning before the horrible ankle incident.

At the hospital... that ice pack was on my foot for 3 hours while we waited... I think this is after a guy with a blood bag attached to him walked by and Meredith sang, "Making Memories!!"... classic...

The cast... the signatures make me happy... thanks everybody!!

So, I thought I would share why I am so behind on this blog. I totally broke my ankle! First broken bone ever and it had to happen the first weekend of circus school. I was running as we always do on the gymnastics floor in a circle to warm up for some practice on Sunday night before we continued with school on Monday. During this particular run my ankle just twisted, but because we were on a gymnastics floor which gives underneath your feet, it gave way and all my weight went onto my ankle. That is when I heard a snap... I froze and hobbled to sitting on the floor while repeating over and over again to Meredith and Caroline (who were also running with me), "I heard a snap... I heard a snap". It was my worst nightmare. Meredith came with me to the hospital and kept me company. She also wheeled me all over the hospital. The doctor said I was lucky because I had fractured the bone, but not quite enough to have to have surgery. I was off by a centimeter... yuck. Monday I had to be fitted for a proper plaster cast and now I cannot put any weight on it before June 16th (I cried non-stop for about 2 days... now I just cry every once in a while). For those keeping count, Circus School ends June 15th. Anyways, here I am in Torino figuring it out. Jesse came down to give me some support and helped me figure out the public transport to school. He's a great husband!! Now, the rest of this blog will now be labeled from Day One to Day Thirty-Five (the day I have my cast removed). This will be journaling my experience in circus school on one leg. Should be interesting.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day mom!!!!

Our welcome to Torino from the bar on our corner.

I have had an eventful few days in Torino. Caroline, Meredith, and I had great fun doing laundry yesterday then Caroline and I went out exploring the city. Torino is wonderful because it is filled with artists and museums. There are outdoor markets down every other street and musicians on every corner. Not to mention the amount of museums, my weekends are going to be full for sure. Yesterday I had the great pleasure of seeing the Shroud of Turin - for those of you who do not know what this relic is, it is believed to be the cloth they wrapped Jesus in to bury him after the crucifixion. It was a pretty amazing piece of history to say the least! Then we discovered a giant park which was lovely and the Mole which is a crazy cool structure. The Mole holds the Museum of Cinema inside. Today we were going to go to the Egyptian museum but the line was much too long. We will have to get up way earlier in the day to make that happen. Tonight we will go to see the 1st year circus students do their final performance (Cart-One).

Since it is Mother's Day, I wanted to touch a little bit on mothers... more specifically my mother. She is the reason I am able to do all of these amazing things. Her support and love through out the years has kept me on my feet and running. She always wanted me to travel the world and do what there is to do in the world. And though I know she misses me so much, she wants me to live my life. She is the most unselfish person I have ever had the privilege to know. Because of her strength, I am strong. Because of her wisdom, I grow wiser everyday. Because of her love, I live. Thank you mom!! I miss you more than you could ever know and I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!

Circus School Week One

While we were on Elba Island the girls and I decided to get back in shape and do some acrobatics on the beach before we started circus school. This is one of my many handstands from that day.

4-5-10

Today was much harder than yesterday and much more frustrating. We started with Physical Preparation taught by Matteo. He is a great teacher but the moves are obviously difficult because it is preparation for circus. We went straight into equilibrium class with Dario where we studied tight rope today. It was harder for me than what I expected considering my dance background. Next we met Elena who taught us tissue. Also very difficult, yet much less difficult once you put resin on your hands so you stop slipping. Then we learned all about how to be a circus actor from Raymond.

5-5-10

I hurt myself today… of course I was the first one to hurt themselves. I sailed (literally) through acrobatics, doing fantastic work (I was even surprising myself) then went on to dance where I came down on the side of my foot during a hitchkick turn. Luckily, it was just sprained, but I hit my butt against the floor pretty damn hard and that is definitely going to hurt for a week or so. I was fortunate that juggling was in the afternoon and I was able to participate.

6-5-10

Today in equilibrium we tried the tight rope again, then we touched on the basics of the giant ball (walking on top of a free rolling ball), the free standing ladder (walking on and up a free standing ladder), and the sphere which is just a circular can with a piece of wood on top. This one was my favorite and it was much easier for me to understand than the other pieces. I don’t like the ball because you are always on uneven ground and I panic a little bit, but the sphere is more like a skateboard, you can gain control of the mechanism much faster. We worked on tissue and I climbed all the way up, yay me!! Then we started with basic tricks on the trapeze, which was fun but painful. In the afternoon we did more work on the actor with Raymond. We love him!!

7-5-10

So I almost died during physical preparation today. It is Friday and Matteo decided to turn up the heat a little bit. Since he has trained Olympic medalists he probably could have pushed us even further, but I definitely was at my limit. He began teaching us acrobatic basics but I hurt my neck and back during a backwards roll. Nothing horrible, just need to get a massage to fix it. We went straight into juggling, which is my most frustrating class. I just get really bored with it and I never really wanted to juggle so it is hard to care. But I try as hard as I can to concentrate and Dario is a great teacher and very patient, so maybe I will actually be able to juggle. Whoopee! We went into dance with Erika who looks like she dances on water, is teaching us a beautiful piece that is extremely difficult. It is an acrodance (acrobatics and dance put together). I’m picking up most of it, but with my foot still hurting I have to be careful. I’ll rest over the weekend and hit it hard again next week.

Circus School

Mer and I on the bus to Torino!

I’ve packed up my bags, left behind my husband, puppy, and beautiful new home all in the hopes of learning the art of circus. Excuse the randomness of this entry but it is quite late and my head is spinning from a day of travel. Bad news: I miss my husband and my dog more than I thought I ever would. Good news: I saw the 2^nd year students of this circus school (FLIC) do their final performance… amazing!! I’m very excited to start on this adventure and thanks to my wonderful roomies (Bob and Mer Mer) I am not too lonely yet.

Motorino Crash

Me tonight after unwrapping my knee to let the raspberry breath a bit, I put ice on it to reduce the swelling... stupid!:

I had quite a rough day and I thought maybe blogging about it would help. I have been trying to learn how to drive the motorino (scooter in English - but faster really). Jesse and I spent some time on Sunday practicing together. The bad thing about me is that I am extremely accident prone. Just two Fridays ago I almost broke my toe while warming up in Music class.

Anyways, yesterday morning I was going to take the motorino to school by myself for the first time. I went down to the garage, pulled it out and then for one reason or another it was going to fast towards a brick wall, so I tried to slam on the breaks and the wheels slipped out from under me taking the motorino to the ground. Luckily, I was only jolted, not hurt, but I broke the bottom left corner of the windshield. I didn't want to wake Jesse up with the news and I knew if I didn't get back on the bike I wouldn't do it again... so I got back on and drove on the back roads very slowly to school. I made it there and back. I was pretty proud of myself and Jesse didn't care much about the windshield, he was just glad I was ok.

That brings us to this morning. I decided that it was probably the smooth concrete that messed me up, so I pulled the motorino out into the actual driveway with my feet before starting to ride it. I was doing just fine, then came a big turn and the motorino jumped a bit. I tried to slam on the breaks but I think I had the wheel turned too far so I went down on the pavement. Unfortunately, this time my leg was stuck underneath. The only thing that was hurt (thank goodness) was my knee, which is quite swollen, a little discolored, but got a bit of a raspberry. One of our neighbors came out to help me pick up the moto and dust myself off. He's a really nice guy. I went upstairs to Jesse in tears telling him the story. He drove me to school today where I wrapped and iced it before and during class.

Luckily we were doing more color exploration today in Marcello's class and then had Aesthetics with Mike this afternoon. However, I am not happy at how clumsy I am and it makes me feel vulnerable and helpless when I can't even drive myself places. Jesse says I just need more practice and our neighbor said that this is normal. He said it happens to everyone a few times when they are trying to get used to the moto. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get back on the horse, but we'll see.

Beginning of the End (of the Semester)

I just realized I hadn't put my pictures up from the last time we played soccer. Here are some highlights:

Doug, John, Ilse, and William had a surprise visitor. Hi Eliza!!

William, Meredith, Jenna, and Ilse enjoy some water before game play:

This is the face of a man ready to play soccer. Oh Jesse you fierce soccer player you:

Typical Taylor Italianism -- Talking on the phone during the break:

Tristan, Jenna, and Bob get ready for the game:

We're hardcore!

Me, Caroline, and Meredith before the game:

Taylor made me play goalie, so I spent my time writing a note to my husband in the dust -- 'Hey Jesse, I love you so please quit trying to score against me!' -- he was on the other team at the time:

I know it has been a long time since my last post. We have been repeating and adding a lot of different things in class so I thought I would just give you the highlights.

We are currently working on our solo projects which we will perform at the Aurora in Arezzo city center on November 23rd. My project is based on ritual (we covered a lot of different aspects of southern Italian rituals and presented our own versions of rituals in Music class with Gianni Bruschi this semester). I did not present this particular ritual in class. As most of you know, November 27th it will be one year since my father's passing. This ritual is for him. In the Jewish and Pagan traditions you are supposed to grieve over the loss of a parent for 1 year and then conduct a closure ritual. Though I know that this will not be the end of my grieving process for my father, I do this in honor of him, his life, and our relationship. I will go into more detail about this piece as the days pass. I worked with Claudia today on one portion, my movement piece with a chair while singing. I will be exploring this more over the next few days before my meeting with Mike on Friday.

We have really moved forward in Movement class. We worked on human juggling and back rolls off another person (like a back flip around the partner's arm). We have also been working more with Feldenkrais and restrictions -- once the restriction has been taken away, how does this affect your movement? Very interesting results!!

In Voice class we have been working with the text we chose and our partner. My partner is Caroline (I call her Shakespeareamazing) and I am using the Porter's monologue from Macbeth. Our last assignment was to find 6 different statues in which 3 of them we were each ladies and 3 we were each warriors. Caroline and I had a wonderful time coming up with our statues and the transition between them by using play and improvisation. While we do this piece we speak our text, sometimes at the same time, but it is always interesting where the stops and starts of the movement versus the text happen. 

In Acting with Marcello we have begun working with colors. This has been a frustrating exercise because we are supposed to present the color so that the audience can understand it, but colors are so subjective it is difficult to know what will be right or wrong. Today we also did the veils exercise (also difficult): you go to sleep in your bed at home, when you wake up you are surrounded by veils, you find your way through these veils to suddenly come upon the ocean at the end. How do you portray this for an audience without being too descriptive? It is difficult but interesting how each person goes about it. We added color to this (you are a color) and then we got in groups of 3 and 4 to make scenes out of colors. Bob, Meredith, Taylor, and I made a scene where a tree (Taylor as Brown) is struck by lightening (Meredith as White) at night (Me as Royal Blue) and catches on fire (Bob as Red). 

Before Fall Break

Picture of the week: This is Bob, Brian, me, and Meredith having some fun before our last film lecture night (before fall break). We are silly!

Hey everybody! We're back from fall break. If you want to hear more about what we did during the break check out our couple's blog: http://sibleystories.blogspot.com/. Now I am catching you up on everything we have done since my last blog post up to the week of fall break. We had a wonderful visit from Peppy Biddy, Professor and Chair of the Music and Theatre Department at Mississippi University For Women (our graduate program is accredited through this school if you didn't already know that). Thanks for everything Peppy. We miss you already so come back soon!!

In movement we started in a circle doing some rolling on our back then coming up from this first into launch then lunge then leg in air and balance. Remember to fold into the ground letting it be soft but controlled. After our Yoga break, we run around then do poses lifts, counter balance spin drops with partners. We worked on sacrum scoop and rolling off the partner's back. Rolling on butt, back, partner push/pull, group push/pull, bench roll, standing bench roll, barrell roll, gun holster roll -- see-saw. We did some contact work starting out walking in pairs arm to arm and really explore that (stopping, walking backwards). Heightening the listening between you and your partner. While maintaining contact we support weight, support weight while the other slides off or rolls off, lead a peripheral body part to the ground and back up, lift standing, use movement to life and travel. We took all of these and created choregraphy in our pairs to perform in groups of threes. Then Claudia added music which was a very interesting change in our pieces. More intentional.

I was sick during Music but we did some breathing, vocalizations, worked on the song 'Troubles of the world' and some individual ritual presentation.

In voice with Kevin we worked with tension, making our bodies tense in each part (right arm, left arm, right arm, left leg, etc.) then letting it go. We repeat this with right side, left side, whole body. We worked with feeling our pubic bone and moving our sternum then sacrum moving through space. Next we imagined that an elastic band was attached to front teeth, molars, elbows/heels, crown/tail, collarbone/chin, sternum/sacrum -- the feeling of moving with that image in our head. We began working with our text while moving with or against the elastic band. On the day I was sick they did some partner work where one person would use their own weight to rub and open their partner. Working with the pant, stretching forward in a diagonal. Let out sound while lengthening and moving forward once you lose your balance. Then they would react to words from The Suppients.

We had Acting with the wonderful and talented Andy Crook. We worked mainly on group listening and building which is something we really need to focus on in these beginning years. On the day I was sick they played the name game, learned the Akash (Meyerhold -- Biomechanics), Physical awareness of self on the floor and awareness of ourselves in space (residual space), balancing stick on one hand -- allow this to fall, you aren't going to succeed all the time, celebrate your failures -- throwing the ball exercise, bamboo sticks, and rhythm with clapping. DO NOT APOLOGIZE!! We repeat these exercises throughout the week giving us a good reference point within the group. We started most exercises with equalization of the space. A whole walking exercisen (The Game) stopping, changing direction, tempo, weight or sense of weight -- paying special attention to different parts of the room -- exploring the wall, then the ceiling, then the floor. Walk around now and observes what it is like. We did these in halves then adding text we wrote (a journey). We used these key words from these stories to continue through this work. We worked in a similar way with music -- free movement, music moves you, you move the music, have nothing to do with the music, and then switching between all of these. Then we added the music rules to The Game.

Our final day with Andy we reviewed everything we had done that week and added the twisty foot (happy feet is what I call it) NOT EASY!! Then we sat in chairs changing focus from one thing to the next. We did a kicky kicky exercise and then added arms to it (very difficult but interesting). We oiled the body (rolling through our knees, hips, chest, shoulders) before choosing an occupation. This occupation had to be a repeatable action during which we became distracted at moments and changed our focus then return back to work. In two groups we discovered going from The Game into a construction (ours was The Duomo) and into a landscape (ours was a swamp). We used all of these elements (I mean everything we learned.... EVERYTHING) to make a small improvisational group piece that we performed for Kevin and Andy. I felt very successful at the end of this workshop being able to put all of this together with my group. It was very satisfying as an artist.

Sick days

My picture of the week: Taylor quickly figures out a way to be supported in our movement class. Good picture. Thank you Katie for uploading all of these pictures from movement class so I could add them to my blog!!First of all, let me apologize for slacking on the blog. I am trying to get back on track. I had a headache from last Monday until last Friday. The doctor thought it was a compacted disc in my neck vertebrae but on Saturday I woke up with fever, the chills, sore throat, runny nose, and achy muscles. A virus has been going around and has hit most of the undergraduate theatre students... yuck. I'm still sick today but hoping to get back into the swing of things tomorrow. This blog will include everything the highlights since my last blog through last Wednesday the 7th.

After warm up in Movement we ran through the room leaping and hopping. Then Claudia said that when she clapped her hands we would either support someone or be supported. It started in two's then three's then half and half, then the entire group. We decided to call these lift portraits. Once we arrived in our portraits we would come out of them in slow motion and go back into them in slow motion. This really helped us find our balance and how to pose without momentum. We did this again on the next Wednesday. Here are some pictures of our second run through this:

Courtney, Bob, Ben, and I making a quick portrait:


Louise, Caroline, and me; this one was not so easy to reverse without momentum:

I accidentally clocked Bob in the chin with my knee during this pose... sorry Bob!:

All of us in our first poses:

Louise and Mer Mer:

Louise, me, and Taylor:

We started working on Downward Dog walking in pairs (one on the other) then rolling over in pairs. Next we went back to one of us being the bench the other now doing a handstand on their back only using the upper arms. We tried walking as a group blocking different areas of our bodies one at a time starting with sternum, pelvis, knees, feet, neck, shoulder blades, then teeth. It was very interesting to understand what blocking these parts will do to the way you walk and feel on the inside. We also explored intrograde and retrograde (doing a movement and reversing it). We did improv contact dance. Making our partners aware of their lines, joints, where they place their weight, and give the partner suggestions and then let them move on their own while you observe. We did some more partner lifts using the sacrum scoop and working towards rolling over the back.

The biggest highlight of voice class (something new that we weren't revisting) was the 4 emotions wheel. We had four different points in a circle and you had a different emotion you sand in at each point. The transition was most important. We worked in partners 'kneeding bread' on their backs into a full person lift using a person at each limb. We did some rolls across the floor (REMEMBER YOU HAVE TWO LEGS). We did some rhythm work 4/4 on top of 3/4 call and response. Then we did one of my favorite exercises: Gargoyles. This brings something out from the inside that is unexplainable and sometimes a little scary, but it is extremely interesting all the same.

In Music we worked on ritual. We improved a ritual with objects in a sacred space. Then we made up our own rituals or create what ritual is to us to present in the next class. Taylor came up with a great one for us to do together. He's working out in the fields while I'm washing clothes by the watering hole. Then he comes in from the fields to get water and begins pickin' and singin' a Robert Johnson tune. I begin humming and making a rhythym with my laundry bin. It was fun!!

The long and winding road

We went on a hike in the Pratomagno on Sunday with Scott and friends. Here are some notable pics (above is my favorite pic from this trip - Ben Sota on top of the Pratomagno):

William, Meredith, and I are about to start hiking:

Meredith and I take a water break.... seriously straight up:

YIKES!!!!

Even Persey is tired and she has four feet:

Ben and William make it to the top:

Lunch spot!

I'm tired:

My feet and legs take a rest during lunch:

Taylor and Jesse enjoying the view from the top:

Persey enjoys staring at her Daddy's sandwich:

Jesse being silly on top of the mountain:

Classic picture of Scott:

Jesse and I at lunch:

Meredith, Me, and Caroline on top of Pratomagno:

Jesse and I on top of Pratomagno:

A close-up on Ben on top of the cross:

The cross that Ben climbed (he's at the top):

Louise, Jesse Dunn, and Me:

Meredith and I coming down the serious hill:

We practiced the Greek Chorus on top of the Teatrino after the hike:Well, we have been busy again this week. If we have a week full of Acting, I won't be able to blog during those days and do homework, so I have to choose the homework because it is the priority, obviously and catch up on my blog when I can.

We started with Voice this week doing a warm-up that consisted of a self rub down, dry shower, and vertical shaking into jumps letting out sound. Then we worked on some tongue exercises. These are very good for me because I have a control issue with my tongue and it's connection to my jaw. I have a problem releasing both or using one and releasing the other. We went into some panting work with the nose, which is very good to build control in the lower stomach. Moving into stretching our lips then leaving them while humming. We worked with the difference between holding one nostril and humming then holding one and half closing the other while humming. We learned two new songs: Water Boy, a negro convict song, I knew this one cause Daddy used to sing it; Yo E Ma Mo, an african song, we used this as call and response.

In Acting this week we worked on the 4 ages on man: baby, 20, middle-aged, old. We added to the Boatman: fluid with repetition, Object in three different sizes - huge, small, toothpick - and improvising with a problem of some sort. For the Greek Chorus we added a second entry option, entering where the hero was before, telling a story, singing, and simultaneous movement. The simultaneous is harder, figuring out how to lead the group with your intention. You cannot waffle! 7 levels of tension - all released and no energy, sleepy walk, neutral, bubble inside, suspicious, angry tense guy, complete tension then release to the floor. We worked on the improvisations this time in threes... very interesting... now we are adding climate and characters. The newest thing we started was mannequins. Two and two for instance. You decide who these people are and what is there relationship. Then using as few movements as possible in the most efficiant way, you sculpt your partners. The point is to put two mannequins in a scene so there is some realistic qualities but there is always something just a little off. We decided to do this in Cabaret last night. Our mannequins were Meredith, Bob, and William who we made stand outside until we asked the audience for the scene. Courtney, Brian, Caroline, and I were the ones forming them. We asked our audience who Meredith is... they said Foxy Feline... Courtney took that to be a stripper named Foxy Feline. Then we asked, where are they... a shed... fantastic. Then we asked what is Bob and William's relationship to Foxy Feline... they are her cousins... wow. So we called our victims back in and made a pretty beautiful scene of Bob and William holding eachother scared - but William kind of wanted to look - while Meredith grabs her boob (poor Meredith - she was blushing hard) and looks are stripperesque. It turned out very nice I have to say.

In Movement today we started with three different speeds to music. First we gradually sped up as a warm-up, then we moved in slow motion exploring the a-semetric world, finally we had a free for all which was very nice and I found myself drawn to the wall for some reason. I really don't know why. We worked on rolling next. First as salmon rolls alternating front and back - difficult but interesting because you cannot use your hands or legs against the floor to move you - second sitting then a backwards roll - easier on my right rather than my left - third kneeling rolling backwards into another kneeling position then reversing the movement- fourth walking backwards then rolling backward and then continuing to walk back on the way up - we used a partner for this one as motivation and eye contact, the partner walks towards you as you walk backwards, it was very helpful in the dismount of the roll to keep walking backwards. We reviewed the bowling positions we used for handstand but modified it for cartwheels. Then we started doing cartwheels, first how we are used to doing it and then using the bowling position as our launch. I like cartwheels and have always been able to do them on my right side, but I have trouble on my left for sure. We presented our homework in pairs and started working on kinestetic response. Meredith and I will be working on ours together which will be really fun!