response to our Rural Residency
Orleans was amazing. The people were warm and friendly and personal. We were invited to a party thrown by some growers, in the mountains next to the river. Whew! The land was spectacular. The sunrises and sunsets doubled by the surrounding mountains. So great.
The kids we taught in workshops were delightful. They ate up the Pirate Game. They learned acro and voice using this game. They played with us outside of school. They learned our names and were sad to see us go. Just fun!
At the end of the workshop with k-2, I had a child on each arm and leg pulling me back into the classroom. Awesome.
And the show, which pulled together in the last few hours before performance turned out to be great - but it's not the way I want to work. One week. Six days to take in a community and present a piece of theatre that was mostly fluff, but fun. Three character musicians, in half mask, enter to tell the story of Zaza the Clown, and her encounter at the Klamath River. She falls asleep and dreams she is on the top of a mountain when a rock slide sends her into a river where she almost drowns. A salmon (made of two people) saves her and is then chased off by a great bird. The Bird and Mountain Lion argue about their prowess of perception when they both notice this stranger Zaza in the forest. The band tells her to stay by the river, which she immediately loses. She is followed and trapped by driftwood, poison Oak (three people who think they're a rock band: Poison Oak), and Mountain lion, and then taken to the Bark King - who rules the forest. When Zaza reveals that she is friends with the "LAST SALMON" all want to helpe her. They have not seen salmon in many many years, for they thought the salmon were all gone. (This is a reference to the 70k salmon that have died because of the dam upriver) In the end, all work together to trap the bird who would satisfy her hunger rather than conserve for the future. At that moment, Zaza finds the salmon who splits apart, allowing tens of children in Salmon head costumes to burst from the figurative womb of our Salmon hero named Lox.
Oh yes, my friends, the audience applauded our climax. Wonderful.
I was in the band. We underscored almost the whole show. We created themes for each character. Danica played accordion; I played chimes, flute, pan flute, alligator clip, frog, and an Balinese bamboo instrument; and Jamie, with his broken hand, played a shaker and a rain stick and the chimes. We wore our instruments and were characters and it was so much fun. I realized in the last five weeks just how important music is to me. That my sense of dance lends itself to character and music very easily, that I can sense more the space when I can fill it in different manners on different levels.
I also discovered that I am a natural leader, and that is not always a thing against which I should fight. There were a number of rehearsals and conversations that I did not speak my mind bluntly, but steered us back to the course of forward momentum. Especially this became important in the first and last group rehearsals where I was already an outside eye, and I had the ability to see a course of movement that made sense for everyone. It was really important when I was in these situations to listen to what people were saying when they all started talking with each other. If there were three groups of people talking after we just tried a new movement pattern, it was likely that they were fixing their own problems and only needed time to get back into position one to run it again. Then I became less of a person who was getting people to start again already, but more of the person there to make sure that they started after everyone was ready. It was great. At one point Iben said to me that she does not learn as well when she is cued, so that I should let her figure out the timing on her own. Okay, I said. Great. And she did. And we both felt better for it.
I felt pretty guilty for taking over rehearsal, but a few of my classmates thanked me for taking over when I did, because we were going nowhere, and I was strong enough that people listened to me and moved. I had a vision and that was important. My vision could be influenced by suggestions from the group, which was even more important.
If I never thought about directing before, I certainly do now.
I can't possibly write a wrap up now. Analyze and understand this all now. Come back to me in a year.
The kids we taught in workshops were delightful. They ate up the Pirate Game. They learned acro and voice using this game. They played with us outside of school. They learned our names and were sad to see us go. Just fun!
At the end of the workshop with k-2, I had a child on each arm and leg pulling me back into the classroom. Awesome.
And the show, which pulled together in the last few hours before performance turned out to be great - but it's not the way I want to work. One week. Six days to take in a community and present a piece of theatre that was mostly fluff, but fun. Three character musicians, in half mask, enter to tell the story of Zaza the Clown, and her encounter at the Klamath River. She falls asleep and dreams she is on the top of a mountain when a rock slide sends her into a river where she almost drowns. A salmon (made of two people) saves her and is then chased off by a great bird. The Bird and Mountain Lion argue about their prowess of perception when they both notice this stranger Zaza in the forest. The band tells her to stay by the river, which she immediately loses. She is followed and trapped by driftwood, poison Oak (three people who think they're a rock band: Poison Oak), and Mountain lion, and then taken to the Bark King - who rules the forest. When Zaza reveals that she is friends with the "LAST SALMON" all want to helpe her. They have not seen salmon in many many years, for they thought the salmon were all gone. (This is a reference to the 70k salmon that have died because of the dam upriver) In the end, all work together to trap the bird who would satisfy her hunger rather than conserve for the future. At that moment, Zaza finds the salmon who splits apart, allowing tens of children in Salmon head costumes to burst from the figurative womb of our Salmon hero named Lox.
Oh yes, my friends, the audience applauded our climax. Wonderful.
I was in the band. We underscored almost the whole show. We created themes for each character. Danica played accordion; I played chimes, flute, pan flute, alligator clip, frog, and an Balinese bamboo instrument; and Jamie, with his broken hand, played a shaker and a rain stick and the chimes. We wore our instruments and were characters and it was so much fun. I realized in the last five weeks just how important music is to me. That my sense of dance lends itself to character and music very easily, that I can sense more the space when I can fill it in different manners on different levels.
I also discovered that I am a natural leader, and that is not always a thing against which I should fight. There were a number of rehearsals and conversations that I did not speak my mind bluntly, but steered us back to the course of forward momentum. Especially this became important in the first and last group rehearsals where I was already an outside eye, and I had the ability to see a course of movement that made sense for everyone. It was really important when I was in these situations to listen to what people were saying when they all started talking with each other. If there were three groups of people talking after we just tried a new movement pattern, it was likely that they were fixing their own problems and only needed time to get back into position one to run it again. Then I became less of a person who was getting people to start again already, but more of the person there to make sure that they started after everyone was ready. It was great. At one point Iben said to me that she does not learn as well when she is cued, so that I should let her figure out the timing on her own. Okay, I said. Great. And she did. And we both felt better for it.
I felt pretty guilty for taking over rehearsal, but a few of my classmates thanked me for taking over when I did, because we were going nowhere, and I was strong enough that people listened to me and moved. I had a vision and that was important. My vision could be influenced by suggestions from the group, which was even more important.
If I never thought about directing before, I certainly do now.
I can't possibly write a wrap up now. Analyze and understand this all now. Come back to me in a year.