And how does it feel?
Last week I was talking about how my body is feeling different..and so it should!
In fact, the next day, I was talking to one of my teachers and he said I looked taller! So there you go.
This week marks us being half way through the class. We couldn't believe it when one of our teachers said it was our last lesson with him! In some ways,it feels like we have just started !
In week six, next week, we present our monologues and our Stage combat fight scenes, as well as our scenes. So, it's a huge week! And then, we begin rehearsing our major plays.
So, basically, week four has been really getting into the nitty gritty of these things and week five and most of week six are going to be more of a rehearsal mode, than a learning mode.
Although learning happens all the time! Ha!
This past week though we have focussed a lot of Elizabethan dance. We only get one week at it, and we present it this coming Wednesday.
Our teacher Darren, has been marvellous! It really has been a joy doing the classes with him as he has a high energy about him and has lots of knowledge in this field.
At first, I presumed, having done dance before, we would probably learning some set moves straight up and then just practising them over and over and that would be it, but that has not been so!
What Darren really knows is all the history of dance, and the origins of the period, and what were the French, Italian influences of the time and where and why the moves derive from. So, instead of us just learning a bow, for the sake of doing a bow, Darren has gone in steps of reverence to another and explained what the social implications of the bow and practical reasons of a bow may be ( etc. Bowing to your superior, asking permission to dance, and the practical reason that you stretched your calves while bowing, as most dances were based on lots of calf movement).
We have been doing a partner dance, so with our scene partners and acting out the scene, but in a dramatic way with dance. It actually really helps you understand the drama in your own scene and how to use your body to communicate what's happening in the scene. It also makes you realise, just like stage combat, it is not just movements, just like in acting, lines are not just the lines- they are structures and you have to play within those structures and find the dramatic meaning. So every dance we're learning is really showing a dramatic, joyful, or playful moment with your other members of society.
It's actually been really great for the class, it just seems to put everyone in such a communal mood as you share your embarrassing moments or great moments of skill with one another...I guess you are just learning together and it makes the moments more special.
We have also been looking at our sonnets again, in our Character in text classes with Michael, another teacher who runs his own theatre company and directs just about everywhere. He asked us to go through the sonnets again, but to make our own personal story to them. This means we can find more impetus to start the sonnets and to feel what's really going on in them- having a purpose to speak them. We also concentrated on a few speeches of characters, and looked at one by Feste in Twelfth Night. Fesete is a Shakespeare Fool/ and or Clown and these characters are scattered everywhere in Shakespeare. They are usually there to be companions of our leading characters and make them think upon their situations. They're usually very smart and can play on words very well, and very quickly. As one teacher says, these characters are brighter and smarter than us.
In the speech, Feste talks to Olivia. Olivia is a countess and has just lost her brother, she is in mourning. Feste has been gone for a short period of time and Olivia is angry that he hasn't been around when she needed him ( which actually indicates how fond of him she is). When she gets angry and tells the servants to take “The fool away” Feste responds by asking them to “take away the lady”. Olivia then tells him “ Go to, you're a dry fool: I'll no more of you :besides you grow dishonest”
Now, how will Feste reply? By corrupting her words, of course!
Feste: Two faults Madonna, that drink and good counsel will amend: for give the dry fool drink then is the fool not dry: bid the dishonest man mend himself;if he mend,he is no longer dishonest: if he cannot let the botcher mend him. Any thing that's mended is but patched :virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue. If that this simple syllogism will serve, so;if it will not,what remedy?As there is no true cuckold but calamity, so beauty's a flower. The lady bade take away the fool;therefore, I say again, take her away.
Ah huh! Not only has Feste been funny, insightful, cunning, mischievous, he's also managed to make a great insightful view of humanity and still show Olivia that she is the greater fool, all while being charming and showing exactly what she likes about him! Here he is saying that no human is entirely good or bad and that as time goes on, her grief and sorrow about her brother's death will end. And so, she should enjoy her beauty while she can and possibly insinuates she should get married. It's a sure thing beauty fades,so you better make the most of it. She is the fool because she is not enjoying all the good things in life but focussing on what has passed- take her away!
Continuing to talk about characterisation ….For my monologue I am working on Goneril from King Lear. In my scenes I play Lady Percy. Both are strong women, but they are very different women. I am trying to investigate more about what I can do to find my own inner strength with these women. The challenge is, as for most women, is the voice ( not going shrill, nasally, as lots of women do for possible loud, demanding characters and I know I have done before), and having a grounded body,being ready in the moment...that I could strike at any time! I find I can feel “grounded” or what I think is grounded, but realise I am actually stiff and not free, which means I am not truly connected to my centre and my breathing, but in the end, you always know when you are fully present because you won't be stiff or worried, you will just be doing it!
To help with monologue characterisation, we've been doing some awesome walking and spine exercises with Katya in body classes. What if everything comes from the spine? It really changes everything if you think like that.
Anyway, I must go to bed, I have early dance class tomorrow and dance presentation in front of all staff! Bit nervous as there are lots of steps to remember, but it will be fun!
xClaire
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