Text & Movement #2

Perform in class March 7

 

In Assignment 1, I supplied the text and the words from which to create movement. For this Assignment 2 I will supply the text and you will choose the words. In Assignment 3, you will supply the text and choose the words to create the movement from.

The text for #1 was evocative (or I think it was) because it was a poem. Sometimes we can use text that may not be quite as evocative, but through our selection of words and the movement choices we can create a theatrical experience of mood. It is how you the creator and performer work with the materials.

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ALL TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE, BUT IT IS EXPECTED THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT WILL TAKE about an hour.

STEP ONE: 10 minutes more or less/Select your words

Without thoroughly reading the article (you will do that later) choose 8-10 words using any of the methods above. Be specific about your method, and note the process that you are using. Make a list of your words and put the article away for now.

Here is the text: Article: “Fossils of a Prehistoric Rainforest Hide in Australia’s Rusted Rocks”

Selecting your words: How? Here are several ways:

• Random: Look over your text. Close your eyes and drop your finger to the page. Those are your words!
• This is a long piece of text – will you choose just one paragraph?  Or a few sentences?  What speaks to you?
• Random 2: Use a numerical system. For instance, choose every 12th word. Or count out the date you are working with: Example: the 11th word (For November), then the 24th word (the date), then the 20th word (for 2020). Use your birthday. Or use a date that is referenced in the text. If it is a short text and you have a long number sequence you will keep looping back through the text.
• What about small words like “and” and “The”? “And” is a connector word that connects two ideas, so find movement that connects two ideas… etc.
• Punctuation! Sometimes in the numerical count off it is fun to count punctuation as well. So you might end up with “period” or “comma” as words to make movement from.
• Select words that “speak” to you, that evoke movement ideas for you that you are drawn to. Try not to go for meaning in the text, but rather see the words as isolated from the meaning (for the moment) We focus on one word, but sometimes it is a small cluster as in Assignment #1 “tethered to touch” was considered a “word”

STEP TWO: 1o minutes minimum

Create a movement response for each of your words. Fully create your movement response like we have done before. Love your movement. Be specific and clear. Apply your best movement thinking/performing to your responses. You will string all the movements together to make a string, but pay attention to each “bead” on the string. Use Laban method to explore range by asking questions about: What are the direction choices? (Direct/indirect) What are the timing choices? (Suspend/sudden) What are the weighted choices? (Heavy/light or bound/loose). Also apply Elements of Dance, Siegel, Nii’yaa concepts.

Memorize and be very clear about this string and how the movements connect to one another for seamless delivery before moving on. If you are working with a partner, show them your string and see theirs as well. If you need more than ten minutes, do it! But not less. If you feel like you are done, keep working for the fully allotted time anyway. If you find yourself wanting to take more time to create this string, do so.

STEP THREE: 15-25 minutes

Read the text thoroughly. Choose one (short) paragraph to focus on. This paragraph will end up being your script. (You can choose one paragraph, or write an amalgam paragraph if you prefer.) Use your critical reading skills to look deeply into the text. Paste it in your journal and make notes, drawings, annotations. The amount of time you spend depends on the length of the text, the complexity of the ideas in the text. A poem might take longer to parse than a newspaper article (or not.)

Optional: This text might encourage you to write a parallel text that you want to use, instead of text from the article.  This could be your writing prompt: How is your life like hidden fossils in a rusted landscape?

 

STEP FOUR: 20 minutes

Here is where it might feel like you are patting your head while rubbing your stomach, but follow along! Have fun. Approach this as a direction from a director/choreographer. You are expected to assemble these layers as a performer delivering meaning, communicating to an audience with the parameters set forth by the director/choreographer.

Say your paragraph of text while doing the movement string from Step Two. It will feel slightly odd (maybe, or maybe not), but be persistent. See how the movements provide a subtext for the text. Find places that you particularly like and enhance them, adjust other places to make a fit. The only thing you won’t do is: create new movement or new text.

See if you can create an evocative invitation into the text through your craft – which is your creator (you made these movements) and your performer selves. What do you want the audience to glean because of your performance? What subtext might you project? Will you reveal a contradiction to the ideas? An alignment? Satire? Irony? Humor? Beauty?

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse until you can perform yourself speaking and moving without a glitch. You will memorize the text and your movement and how they fit together.

Post your video and your notes to your webpage.

 

Text & Movement 2 – Carissa

My initial movements were based on the phrases “spindly trees,” “precipitate and encase,” “archaic arachnid,” “crawling with fossilized insects,” and “squishy bags of liquid.” Oddly enough, I chose a paragraph in the article that didn’t contain any of those phrases, so I had to find ways to fit the movement with new words like “parasites” or “clump.” I think some pieces fit together better than others, but I really enjoyed playing with this piece.