quodlibet

three more days

everyone is a little worn: the end stretch requires detailed, and deep focus. the raw energy of getting to this point already depleted reserves.

rosie begins with yoga breathing (like yesterday) before starting a technical class. body and mind need to be tuned for a day of technical cleaning, and editing. there is no opportunity to ‘mark’ at this stage, performances have to be 100%. the soundtrack will be edited this evening so timings need to be accurate/realisitic.

rosie discusses core stability. besides describing abdominal anatomy she draws on a range of practices, tips, anecdotes, and perspectives. her visualizations/metaphors include: ‘holding on’, ‘sucking in’, spinning iron ball, seat of confidence, female power.

the sit-ups that follow this discussion move into floorwork. after watching the exercise rosie comments:

it’s knowing when to use your effort and when to release … [you] make it more hard work than it should be.

a breakdown of effort and relaxation follows. these are the subtleties that the students miss not only in class, but also in performance. there are many things to consider whilst dancing, the order of movement lies at the bottom.

last year brought few opportunities to see my colleagues teaching. it been enjoyable to watch rosie teach, and the students responses. more than ever i find myself wondering what effect (if any) having a male teacher has on the students perceptions / engagement.

rosie reiterates what she wants from the tondu exercise. she articulates the same requirements i expect with similar descriptions … she ends by saying:

it’s attention to detail day, that’s what it is everyone … welcome.

so onto cleaning-up the grand-allegro. i want to keep this phrase as a ‘spark plug’ for getting back into the work. we will probably run it once a week and as part of the performance warmup.

inclement

what do you do when the choreographer is seriously delayed? rehearse and clean fragments. i put on my ‘rosie head’ on and thought about what she wants/needs from the existing material.

block a

«i am» need to think about supporting the delivery of this text over time. a coaching session and a vocal warm-up from the acting/drama staff would be useful.

«parade i» review basic drill, needs to be more military.

«dill 1: split» clarity of commands, no false stepping. «dill 1: silent» timing needs to come from the ‘front’ person, don’t side-eyeball. «drill 2 » needs to contrast «drill 1», should be more quirky but still clean/unison.

«parade ii» wheel & quick march with drop-off (fast pace). back to the quality of «drill i» to set-up «drunken drill».

«squad squeegee» must be precise to counter the «drunken drill» breakouts. alternating patterns of order and disorder. «lads dance» appears, and disappears into drunken unison.

block b

«awesome» (jackie text) into «tyre derby» which is choreographed, but physical/frantic in places. need to work on precise marking in this section, to manic for repeated runs. needs to look impressive and slightly overwhelming.

«circuit! : mini» a brief pt session instead of crazy circuits

«recce» clear signals, direct squad members. staying low but not stuck on ground. (need to do some low level traveling exercises)

«attack i» mixed dynamics; the audience eyes needs to track across the stage. each attack groups should emerge ‘surprisingly’.

«drop-allegro» (combination of asylum drop section and class allegro phrase), and «splat» (remainder of the allegro phrase)

a run-through reveals we have 14 minutes so far.

hemvärnet

(moved to a new studio)

perceptual warm-up, followed by yoga warm-up.

drop-drop phrase from «asylum»:

you actually have to tense your muscles

adding to the grand-allegro phrase (again), rosie explains she would like to use it in the work (if possible).

on the square

reorganizing ‘drill one’ to diverge before converging into groups. silent repeat of ‘drill one’ leads into silent ‘drill two’ (abstracted drill). drill two ending is modified to become a centre weighted (single) squad.

in crisp unison, be the thing … not detached from the being.

drunken drills, recap and capping. students need to edit their work more, what can be discarded to reveal the essence. refining can also hep you perform ‘better’.

breakout drunk duets with a stage-wipe.

disrupting the campus

patrol and ambush exercise, red group (4 people) set two ambushes for the blues (9). teamwork, tactics, patience and lots of moving.

contemporary class

we started with some alexander based body-work in pairs. rosie explained the origins of the technique as she taught/demostrated.

back to the yoga based warmup, the students seem more realaxed/focused today. i think they are learning to deal with the wide range of physical engagement required.

a longer section of core stability work today.

added to the floor-phrase with some of yesterdays traveling movement. i’m wondering if the phrase will make it into the work (in some form).

how much arm/upper body weight bearing do ‘contemporary’ dancers expect to encounter. not all floor-work is floppy and slow, or lead from the legs. i feel that good upper body strength and technique helps to keep your knees safe in floor-work)

devising

attacking sequences, drawing on this mornings exercise to create phrases.

rosie works in a very ordered fashion, lots of planning leads to relaxed (but focused) exploration. each day has generated something, but without a ‘mad making’ attitude. the students can learn more than ‘the work’ from her.

a few groups responded to a task with movement ‘narrative’ rather than ‘manipulations’. rosie clarified this was an exploration of (movement) vocabulary … stories would emerge (next week) from the vocabulary.

a more defined return to the task. the students feel unsettled, they usually work on concept/meaning/narrative before movement. the shift is important; they need to be flexible in their choreographic approaches.

how does ‘x’ become ‘n^x’ or ‘n_x’? rather than metaphors, the clarity of interesting movement is more important. a refined vocabulary helps weave richer narratives.

end of the day: a visualization based narrative exploring the emotional states of being shot.

socket not plug

pt

half mile run, followed by ‘gun run’ style task with tyres and planks. we also invented a ball game with three teams and goals.

morning moving is tending towards the physical/vigorous. it’s not beasting, but trying to give a flavor of military drive.

i’ve noticed some interesting student perspectives on the masculine feminine emerging. i’d rather see how they develop before discussing them.

much of pt was spent in formation or competitive teams. the key to happiness was staying in motion; pauses were draining.

contemporary class

returning to yesterdays class: yoga, floor-work, centre-work, grand-phrase. rose finished the traveling ‘wild’ phrase and explores some material for the work.

a strong focus on performance (again), rosie is giving them a rich (applied) context for her style. she is very explicit about the role of the dancer(s) in her choreographic process. the clarity seems useful.

(i asked the students to write down all corrections they receive during classes/workshops)

devising

students learned some basic marching/parade drill. afterwards developed their own bizarre ‘drill’ using the core principles.

abstraction followed the bizarre variations. embellished, de/re-constructed, and modified drill movements. imagine silent drill and contemporary dance had a ‘child’.

• what is an off duty soldier?

(a discussion followed by ‘theatrical’ representations)

a homework of writing personal stories of the connections to conflicts/soldiers (etc.).