#flippinlongpost

Helloooo!! Hope you are well whoever you might be!! Had a fab weekend but ‘twas back to class yesterday :)

ALL OF THE CLASSES WITH JOHN!!!

- pulling and pushing - this is part of our ‘mime and analysis of movement’ class. // In the beginning we pushed against walls and pulled on each other’s arms; being aware how our muscles worked. So hard to mime it coz all the tension in your body has nowhere to go!! // I got feedback on my pulling to carry on the movement past my hips; I was stopping the movement before it was finished. Also taking notice of the moment of relaxation between pulls. 

- prison break -  a solo exercise where the neutral man/woman is in a prison cell, but then escapes!! // discovered how the neutral man deals with obstacles. Directly and without hesitation. You see a man? Ya kill him. You don’t know where to go? Look one way, then the other, then choose. No worries. // I loved Cato’s beginning. You could sense her intense awareness of her surroundings, but not being overt with it. This amazing tension without being panicky. Her movements were small and purposeful.

- PLAYING // grandmother’s footsteps and wink murder with masks // skipping rope // tossing bouncy balls -  omg so many games yay!!! I think it was about finding that playfulness and alertness needed when in neutral mask // I was a lot more daring wearing the mask in grandmother’s footsteps than I normally am in that game. Just going for that damn jersey. Suppose it’s that thing that the neutral woman has no fear and knows exactly what she wants. // wink murder was a funny one because watching it there was very little tension in the room. It was a little pedestrian, when normally it’s tense as hell haha. maybe it was because the deaths were silent and less dramatic so there wasn’t that feeling of terror in the room?? I think more stillness and watchfulness from the players would’ve raised the stakes. // skipping rope yaaas. the funnest exercise was when the class was split in two and stood on opposite ends of the room; the two ropes swinging in between. two people would step forwards and enter their rope at the same time. simultaneously jumping four times and keeping eye contact. After that leave the ropes and meet in the middle, making some sort of movement of play together. Hahaha just the amount of fun and play that went on was awesome. The ending movements were always so cute and playful. (I also liked having to read my jumping partner’s body language to know when to enter. Once you got that cue you just had to go for it otherwise everything screwed up haha. more fearlessness!!!) // with tossing balls in a circle, one person would be in the middle throwing the ball to someone, and right away receiving a ball from someone else. The pattern of throwing and receiving was set and a rhythm started. Someone from the circle could then come up behind the thrower and say ‘change’; then the middle person had to quickly get out of the way so the new person could catch the ball and continue the pattern. it was so hard to obey when someone said change!!! I instinctually went to catch the ball instead of surrendering my position. Suppose that means I need to work on staying sharp and handing over the spotlight when it’s needed haha!! Lots of fun though when the rhythm was kept. 

- elements of fire and air -  Yesterday we worked on fire: sparky and unpredictable and dangerous and full of movement. There’s this never ending energy in it, this constant consuming of oxygen. // This time when doing my solo I was able to keep my eyes open and let my imagination really go which was cool. I guess having performed an element in front of an audience for a second time lessens the freaky-ness of it a little. (Only a little haha.) // And today we focussed on air!! Lighter and less substantial than water. The ability to be effortless and almost still. John kept telling people off for working their bodies too much. He didn’t want to see their muscles working. And he told me I wasn’t allowed to get back on stage if I wasn’t going to use my hips and legs hahaha. So that’s a lesson learned!! It’s easy to focus on certain parts of your body and forget about the rest. // I did have a thought though.... My experience of the wind in Wellington is mean and incessant and pushy. So I was wondering how you can be insubstantial, yet powerful. My performance sort of explored that. Yeah, my feedback was that I was very gusty. Perhaps not strong though. 

- water, fire, air - In groups of three we prepared a piece where we started out as water gushing out of a tap into a pan, the water was brought to boiling point, which then evaporated into the air. // we found the water really had to boil, not just simmer or something, otherwise the transformation into steam was anti-climatic. The transformation from one element into another has to be significant. // I may think of other things later but my brain is fried lol it was a cool exercise though xx

- singing with Jo yeeah -  Did a cheeky gospel first up (yaaas.) And then worked on our four-part French song. So cool how everyone is giving it a go and listening to one another!! Takes me back to me choir and barbershop days <3

GOODNIGHT AND SLEEP TIGHT!!