Dell' Arte: Place and Event

Fourth Week.

We began this week working more with elements, movement, and masks.

I received some feedback while I was playing with fire: that I need to be grounded.  Once I'm up on toes, the tension goes into the thighs, upper chest, and neck.  I also felt it in my jaw.  All of this would be avoided and make the play clearer simply by being grounded though the foot to the earth. It was also made obvious that no one would ever "get" the elements and it might be that no one ever has. This week made it perfectly clear that the things we do it class are exercises. There is never a right or wrong way.  You just have to play and experience through.

As humans, we are all different in our own ways.  BUT if you strip down everything, we are made of the same stuff and no matter what we have individually, rhythm is our saving grace.  Through a common beat, we can get to the base and out of that we are unified and can engage in a more dynamic theater.  Dynamic through contrast and levels.  This concept was played with during a movement game.  We had to listen to one another and the tempo of the group to play in something engaging for an outside eye.  I do not know if we ever achieved this task, but that is not the point. While moving, there was a beat or structure we needed to follow.  Our challenge: not to be just on the beat but IN it.  What does that mean? and How does one do that? are questions we all had, but no answers.  Here there are no problems and no solutions. Only proposals.

This week was another struggle.  Our p-lab was that we needed to create a place and event.  That was all the instruction we received.  Oh yeah, also, no words. We had an epic fail.  Our concept was in a field when a tornado hit.  This is all well and good, but our situation needed words.  The fact that we didn't use words takes the audience out completely.  Normally, people would be yelling get in the shelter, ya-dee, ya-dee, ya-duh.  So our challenge was to create an event that words were not required and through the event a place would be established.  Ours was very unclear to the audience and did not create a thrilling theater.

The mask focused on listen to it and letting it effect you.  Knowing that when creating a mask, it is a partner ship.  You are learning how the material works and allowing it to move rather than imposing on it your ideas or what you think would look cool here or there.  Being curious and just playing.

Still having trouble breaking out of this shell I'm in.  I'm having trouble taking the risk to fail, to hurt, to love, to cry.  So I continue forward into week 5.