#jbschool

A huge Congratulations to JBS student, Elijah in Grade 8 who is the CHAMPION of the UAE Spelling Bee 2025! 🏆

This success is a testament to the talent, dedication, and hard work of Elijah, alongside the support he has received from JBS’s educators.

To honour his achievement, Ms. Rebecca Gray, Taaleem’s Chief Education Officer and Mr. Vishwa Mohan Babbar, from the Spelling Bee Championship presented Elijah with his winning trophy today during their afternoon assembly.

Also congratulations to Dana who came in 4th Place after a tie-breaker for 3rd place!

Well I’m dumb and I had a ruckus weekend then went to school all week and now I have laryngitis. What a rookie. BUT lots of cool things have been done in class. 

- masks- We’ve been working on making our own masks!! While I was sick last week they made casts of their faces (super spooky to see, like dey dead) then filled them with plaster of paris. Once those were set they plopped clay onto them and moulded them to whatever they felt like. (Some insane snozzes were sculpted let me tell you.) After that it was layers and layers of paper-mâché, then you lift the dried paper-mâché off and boom!! Mine’s a little hopeless because it hasn’t been moulded to the shape of a human face, so it may be a smidge flat. But we shall see!!!

- John’s class - We’ve been working on embodying colours this week. Our first exercise was to cut one long strip paper to our height. We then had to colour in the paper corresponding to what colour we felt different parts of our body were feeling that day. // Like my mind (the very tippity top of my strip) was a purple and orange zig-zaggy mess because my mind was a bit chaotic and hungover lol. My entire chest and torso was green because I was still feeling sick (eep.) My hips were pink and purple splotches because I’d been having a good ole time dancing on the weekend. But yeah, it was tricky. I don’t often think in colours, so to choose colours to express parts of my body was hard. // But so nice to hear about everyone’s strips and how they’ve been feeling. Also that people have such different ideas on what colours mean for them. Purple had no significance for some people, but for others it was home. Red was passion, love or pain. Green was sickness for me but vitality for others. 

- neutral mask fun - I had FUN IN NEUTRAL MASK. I know. What is this madness. // So once the class had explored red and yellow (red was tricky, a mix of deepness and passion and fire; yellow’s a cutie. really fickle and warm and sweet) I volunteered to do an exercise where I moved across the space transitioning from red, to orange, to yellow. I was stopped quite a few times by John. First up that I was playing too much to the audience, performing the colours to the audience rather than being them, also that my head wasn’t involved in the image. But yay for those colours!! Orange was fun. (one of my favourite colours of course. I love its funness and vibrancy.) He liked that mine was quite jazzy. // Blue was interesting. It was quite watery, but also had to be vast. Oceany. // And the transition between blue and green was quite hard. Green seemed to be more zesty with a sense of growing?? //

But honestly embodying colours is utterly impossible and none of us know what we’re doing. Lol. But it’s cool to see people’s interpretations. And that everyone’s getting a lot more comfortable in their bodies, way more expressive :) 

Yoooooo so I’m feeling vaugely sick after some of us went to the night market and gorged on stuffed roti and oreo milkshakes lol... keepin it classy ;) But class was suuuper fun today.

- states of tension -

in John’s class we broke out of neutral mask (omg!!) and worked with the seven states of tension. I’ve worked with them before but never in such depth. John explains them really well!! // 

1st state: Extreme relaxation. Takes a lot of effort to move. All the life is gone from your limbs and eyes and face. Practically catatonic. (So funny to see a group of people like this coz they look like a shuffling group of zombies haha.) //

2nd state: Relaxed. This is vaguely Southern (i.e. Australian not European..) Gestures don’t end abruptly. John warned us not to get too stoned with it haha. We did an exercise where you paired up with someone and walked with them, then had a disagreement, and it felt like you were drunk?? Like Rob and I would push at each other but our limbs were so relaxed it felt like we were outside a bar having a half-hearted drunken fight haha. // 

3rd state: Pragmatic. This state allows you to make decisions. You had places to go and things to do. More English than Australian?? I loved interacting with others in the room. Everyone was businesslike and busy. Really able. John then asked us to keep this pragmatic front, but lose all of the able-ness. So Lily and I met and it was the most awkward encounter, like we’d both forgotten each other’s names and had nothing to talk about and didn’t know when to say goodbye although we obviously both wanted to go. So funny. Very John Cleese. //

4th state: Neutral Mask. (It strikes again!!) This is a silent state. The intelligence is carried all throughout the body, and so you walk a little taller. The world is interesting, everything seen and felt for the first time. //

5th state: First State of Tension. So this is the first state where there is actually tension in your body. It’s excitement. A little Commedia dell’arte. You want to tell people things, show them things. We did a funny exercise where we were a group devising a piece where people listen and are totally enthused by everyone’s ideas. Just so much excitement and doing!! (and very outrageous ideas hahaha.) // 

6th state: Second State of Tension. Things that would trigger this state were things like a serious accident, a catastrophe about to occur, intense stuff. We had a maximum of three gestures. John told us to brace ourselves against the wall in order to get that tension in our body, then race into the middle of the room and react to our . Hahahaha mine was seeing Harry Styles from 1D. That insanity that comes from seeing a celebrity you’re in love with. It was fun. John got a group of us to do it. We had to hold the tension as we waited for them to come on stage, and then bloody exploded when they did hahaha. Another one was to have a group of rugby fans behind a fence and the referee (who made a shit call that caused their team to lose) walk past them. This quiet tension as they waited, and this INSANE wall of anger explode out as he walked past haha awesome. // 

7th state: Rigidity. This is where the tension is so strong in your body you are completely rigid. John says this is very rarely seen apart from in Japanese Film. So there ya go.  //

Other Stuff: Two other interesting exercises was having a line of tired workers (2nd state) sitting around on break, then their pragmatic boss (3rd state) enter and see how the worker’s state of tension rose. Such an everyday thing, where we naturally match the urgency and energy of the person we’re talking to. Another one was where a person with urgent news (5th state) comes into a group of relaxed people (2nd state) and their state remains the same. Hahaha I came in announcing my engagement and I felt like I had to keep pushing the point and getting more excited so I could get some sort of reaction from them. //

Time for bed haha!!

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!!

MOVEMENT YEAH!!!

Movement with Steph was interesting yesterday. We were exploring how to fill the space when in neutral mask, coz so far we’ve been working in large open spaces like the ocean or a mountain range, and it can be hard to fill it with your stage presence!! Plus looking at how to achieve that feeling of being on the cusp of doing which is apparently the quality of energy you want to have when in mask. 

First off we moved around the room being aware of the space behind and on either side of us. She told us to imagine there were parachutes behind our shoulder blades that filled with air as we walked. We sped it up and slowed it down. Then Steph would clap and we would have to freeze, but keep that same energy. A suspended moment of almost doing.

Then we had to move around the space and like, tag on to someone else as they walked. Feeling what it felt like to take up double the space.

The main exercise was in pairs. One person massaged the other, getting them nice and warm, and then lowering your centre of gravity, sort of lunge behind them, so they could out their weight on your bent knee. You had to get into the rhythm of their breathing and then with a little push on the exhale, push them up to standing. The next part was kinda Titanic-y where you’d hold the person by their hip bones, and while you were still maintaining a low centre of gravity, they would lean forwards and stretch their arms out. (Hehe.) Then you’d gently pull them back in. They were allowed to lean so far forwards that you lost balance because Steph said there was a moment there when the energy was just perfect. A moment of suspense just before you both toppled over haha!! 

Then after that exercise, the person in front would walk around the space, but the person behind would be holding them back by their hips. So there was this huge pulling force that you had to fight against. After doing that for a minute or so the person behind would let go and woooah there’s this amazing momentum that pushes you forwards and carries you around the space for ages. So cool!!!

From this Steph talked how good it was to engage those pelvic muscles in order have your body be alert and ready for (theatrical lol) action, and also about knowing as an actor when that natural momentum and energy runs out, when you should stop. Not to push anything past its natural stopping point, because in neutral mask it’s blindingly obvious when a movement loses its motivation. A cool exercise to explore those things!!

THEN LOL IT WAS GROUP DEVISED 

Soooooo yeah our group’s performance wasn’t that fab. Though none of us corpsed (laughed inappropriately while acting) so that was good haha!!! Yeah, John said there was no theatre in it. And that out of all of us, only I had some life in my narration. He said the characters had no life or guts or anything in them. It was all very demonstrative. And yeah, I totally agree. We really lost the interest and joy in telling the story because we were so hung up about being serious and playing it straight and ‘true’. John says its imperative that you tell your group when you’re bored with what you’re doing and DO something about it. Because if you are bored doing it, the audience will be too.

COOL THINGS OTHER GROUPS DID:

// Using some of the exercises in class to show the storms Pericles got caught in. Lots of awesome movement. // Using moments of stillness really nicely. Like after the storm when Thaisa’s body is thrown overboard, Pericles emerged holding his baby, and it was so quiet and still. NB: you’ve gotta earn the stillness!!! // Using clever conventions so they didn’t parody the story or characters (like in one where there’s a jousting competition, it was all shown in the faces of the King and Princess that were watching it… their eyes followed the imaginary jousters and then lit up when one of them won and started clapping. The whole class started applauding with them it was so exciting haha!!) // Lots of the groups used music really nicely. Especially with Marina. Created awesome atmospheres. // Transitions were smooth and interesting. (At one point four actors formed a boat, complete with a ridiculously funny figurehead maha, and sort of swept Marina into it as they passed her.) 

STUFF THAT WE CAN ALL IMPROVE ON:

I think the whole neutral mask thing, and last week’s devised pieces, kind of paralysed us in a way that we’re scared of the text. Scared of disturbing the story or go too deep into it in case we make a mistake and parody it. NO John says!!!!!! Don’t be vague or reverent. Be specific and go deep. Because therein lies the truth of the story and characters!!! Steph was saying how Mataara (who at one point played the goddess Diana) has amazing god-like hair haha and could definitely and totally play a god/goddess convincingly. He has the capacity to take that impossible role and do it. Yeah, telling us all that it’s an honour as actors to be given this near impossible roles. And that we just have to be brave and believe that we can do it and then do it.

Gosh yeah. I feel that doing all this work in being still and natural and strong under the mask has like, made me scared to act??? To have fun and be creative and not precious about every move I make…. hmmm it’s such a hard line to walk. All the things we’re learning and being told are conflicting in my mind. Because with the neutral mask there is a sense of reverence. There’s a whole respect thing around it. We have to hold ourselves a certain way when we wear it. The neutral man/woman that we become when we wear the mask is very unhuman; they are composed and otherwordly. So it’s hard to acknowledge the ‘neutral’ world we’re being immersed in, and then go into this very human, flawed, crazy story and tell it with specifics and soul. 

Hmm. I shall ponder.

Love, Bron xxxx