Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Aren't You

-| Masterclass |-

In response to the Ranters' Theatre workshop held two months ago, Jo Stone of Stone/Castro has hosted a series of master classes over the past few weeks to answer the following questions:

Who aren't you?
What defines your identity?
What defines your physical language and performance language?
How far can you get away from it?

Defined as an 'attempt to define your natural physical habits,' Jo's classes have been an attempt to define natural movement tendencies [i.e., keep dancing alone in front of all 25 of us until you run out of things to do, then keep on going until you're paralyzed from having nothing left to do], and push into places of performing that don't sit right with the body.  You know, things that feel wrong.  A space that goes against all of your natural instincts.

-| 3.5 Weeks Ago |-

Philip [referencing a freestyle session with Restless a few days before]:  It's interesting, actually.  You put up this wall - physically - and keep people from interacting with you.  You don't allow yourself to go to their place.  It's like you just want to initiate the relationship with someone, but you don't want to receive it.  At least, that's when you're dancing.  Compared to your real world, where all you want to do is receive and not initiate...  It's just interesting how this part of you is manifesting itself.

Cass [in an email]:  It's just like Bisbee [professor] back at Bowdoin, Magno.  Sometimes art reflects the inverse of your behavior.

-| The List |-

Jo:  Now let's go around and try to describe Josh's movement in as few words as possible.  Feel free to explain why you chose that word, or those words.

chicken
Jo:  Kind of like how a chicken has that outer layer of feathers, your shirt was kind of hiding what you were doing.  Like, you know how those muscles are moving underneath all those feathers but you can't really tell what they're doing?  I wanted to see what your body was doing underneath that shirt...

isolation

panic

warrior
My internal monologue [MIM]:  That... doesn't really go with the last word...  Right?

getting knocked backwards

reaching up to the sky

pharaoh

sacred ritual
Jo:  It just looked like you were doing this for something, someone, up there.  You know, like something was supposed to happen after you finished.

prayer
MIM:  I'm noticing a theme here...

Michael the Great
Had to Wikipedia this one.  Not that it makes much sense, but it has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

ghost
"When you went to the wall, it was like... like... like... like you split into two different people, and you passed through yourself.  I... I... I...  I really felt that, Joshua.  I felt that.  I felt it here [points to chest]."

spirit

stylish

svelte
I had to look this one up in the dictionary:  slender, especially graceful in figure; lithe; suave; blandly urbane.

sexy
MIM:  [Wrings hands in bashfulness.]

love
MIM:  [Continues to wring hands in bashfulness.]

believe in himself
MIM:  [Sweating profusely and finds an interesting mark on the ground to inspect.]

prince
Jo:  Tara, what do you mean by 'prince'?  Like, the singer, or-
Tara:  -the kind to marry.
Jo:  Oh.  Okay.  I'll write that down just so that Josh remembers.  The kind to marry.

self conscious

petite

Justin Bieber
I wasn't the only one to get this comment.  Fortunate or unfortunate, I'll leave that up to you.

karate kids + karate man

fast and slow

dramatic + sudden

James Bond

trapped

angular

Nile River
Matt:  Yeah, he just had this royal theme going on.  But sometimes he was like water, like a river.  So I put two and two together, and it's definitely the Nile.  You know, Egyptian and all that.

sharp

precise

Aztec
Alice:  Yeah, I just wanted to go along with the ancient ethnic royalty theme...

perfectionist

body fix
Zoe:  I just really noticed the parts where it looked like you were trying to 'fix' parts of yourself.  Like trying to replace something that was missing, or something that was broken.

my body reaching out to you

peacock
MIM:  The vainest of the birds.  Am I really coming off like that?

handsome
MIM:  Oh.  I guess so.

thriller
Andrew:  He's like.  Michael Jackson.

pirate

Thomas the Tank Engine in a hip hop competition
MIM:  Compliment?  Insult?

mystery and horror

abandon
Jo:  I just had one more word.  You just remind me of someone who's letting go, letting something inside out, just releasing something.  For someone.

-| Confound |-

For this week, we're supposed to choose two or three words that we really like from our list, think of the opposite of those words, attempt to embody them [our interpretation, of course], and create a solo out of those opposites.  This will result in our 'who aren't you' solo.

One problem:  according to Philip, I naturally move the way I am not in the real world.  If I move the opposite of my movement - supposed to be my 'who aren't you' - won't that actually result in my 'who are you' solo?

Bum bum bummm.


[Not]

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