Exploring further performance possibilities, location WK 11

Thursday 28th January 2016

This week me and Iyla decided to explore more into other performance possibilities, in particular in different more divergent locations.

At first we had only performed on the table and chairs but decided to use our surroundings to change the direction,location or position of the motifs.

First we tried out chair motif on the staircase...

Then we evaluated whether it had performance potential.

Afterwards we decided to link it to our storyline with 4:48 of split personalities but with Frantic's style of performance. We shown the two personalities by performing facing each other through a glass wall to show the contrast of characters if we chose. Additionally the unique and quirky location and position was similar to that of Frantic.

Then after, again we reflected upon the suitability.

Recapping movement with self reflection WK 10

Thursday 21st January

In today's lesson we began to recap our motifs that we created and developed (chair motif, chair duets and table motif).

In our previous videos in particular mine and Iyla's table motif wasn't in our muscle memory. In the video above you can see we don't know the movement correctly, nor the "Rondo" sequence we chose. This was due to afew missed rehearsal sessions. We recorded the session as an unfocused post show rehearsal and talked about areas to improve upon.
To improve this we both stayed on after school and began to rehearse this motif more, using our dance grids we were able to utilize the annotations and focus on the dynamics too , resulting in the movement looking more clean and interesting.

This lesson we recapped the motif and self evaluated the motif and our improvements...

After this, we read through an extract from "Frantic Assembly's book of Devising Theatre" , shown below..

For the rest of the lesson we kept repeating the motifs to get them into our muscle memory to ensure the actions and dynamics were clean allowing the transitions to flow better.

Then me and Iyla explored other methods of performing our own devised chair duets. We explored...

1) One person staring at the other, maintaining their focus on the other person throughout.

Due to our motif being shorter and sharp, it was easier to maintain a focus on the other person/object if we chose. This possibility can tie well into our performance if we decide to be fixated onto an idea/prop or person.


2)Slow motion

This didn't work out as well. Our duet contains sharp movement. Each action is fluid and leads to the next with a certain level of intensity. When performing all of it in slow motion it lost its aesthetic appeal. Yet we decided that having small sections slow motion can work well. The juxtaposition of fast, intense actions and dynamics to slow, softer movement can become a surprise and enhance the motif.

3) Staring at eachother

Seeing as one person staring was effective last time, we decided to explore both characters maintaining eye contact on each other. Yet this wasn't as aesthetic appealing as we weren't able to concentrate on our movement as we were so devoted to maintaining constant eye contact. This then hindered the movement and dynamics in particular as you can see they aren't as sharp as they have and should be.

4:48 performance development, chair duets WK 9

Thursday 7th January 2016



This week was the first back at term. Our first task was to use our assignment briefs to create a weekly checklist for each lesson. The purpose of this was to ensure we are meeting the criteria and ensuring we do our best to ensure we carry out specific tasks each lesson to ensure the work is fully completed, evaluated, developed etc.  Below is one we devised as a class and its more generalised.

After we individually created our own version more designed to our aims and targets.
For instance I didn't need to list "kit" on the pass criteria, as each lesson I always bring kit. Instead a factor I will include in the merit column is "self assessment", we usually do feedback as a pair, yet I believe its useful to reflect on your own work and see what works well and what could be improved and developed. This allows me to be more aware and conscious of my work and movement and show I'm considering constantly if the work is 1. Meeting brief criteria  ,2. Suitable for the theme, 3. Includes style of Frantic Assembly ,4.Appropriate.

Next we watched a YouTube video of another performing arts group creating a chair duets motif inspired by Frantic Assembly...
http://youtu.be/UJ_9Eaog2yw
We decided to create a similar motif in our pairs to add into our 4:48 motif. We were reminded of the style of Frantic, and from watching their video again we knew we had to keep constant contact with our partner. Each movement was sparked by contact leading into the next action and so forth.

With this in mind, me and Iyla decided to keep the same storyline of the two battling personalities, good and evil. Each pair began to practice different movements seeing how we could touch the other to initiate more movement, each movement was like a chain reaction, it needed another connection to spark the next one.

After continuous trial and error we generated a small motif that we decided to loop twice for our chair duets. I think that the movement is fluid and links well as each action is sparked by previous movement. Also I think its effective in demonstrating the struggle between the two personalities as each fight for attention and to be dominant.