WORKSHOP 3 ACDT

WORKSHOP REPORT - Sunday, October 12 2014

4.30 – 7pm

Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre 

20 Commerce Street, Asheville NC

Participating in the workshop were: ACDT Founding Director Giles Collard, plus Company members – Sara Keller, Sharon Cooper, Alexis Miller, Caroline Althof and Megan Jackson.

Physical exercises:

Vibrations / Joint Spirals

I combined the vibrate/shake/throw exercise with the Joint Spirals exercise – as they are now familiar with both exercises, it was nice to combine the two in a way that felt natural to the body and could be achieved in a fluid manner that kept the motion moving along as a quick yet effective warm-up.

Voice

1.     Deep breathing with exhalation on “sshhh”, “sss”, blowing through lips – then short, quick bursts blowing through lips. Then a series of short exhalations through the nose. Then exhaling on “hahaha” like a laugh.

2.     Hanging forward and humming into the nasal resonators.

3.     Open from “mmmmm” to “aaah” while shaking arms with fists.

4.     Facial gestures with sounds “wow-wee-(kiss sound)-blah”.

Breath – (Natural cycle / Rhythmical)

Beginning on the floor, expanding and releasing the body within the natural cycle of the breath. Then consciously altering the rhythmical pattern of the breath and exploring resulting responses of the body.

(A full description of this exercise is given on my PHYSICAL EXERCISES page.)

(No discussion or feedback for the above physical exercises was given at this workshop session – but will be a focus of discussion in a future session.)

Creative Response exercise:

Creative Synesthesia

Assignments:

Further developments on “Place” assignment.

Video documentation of Creative Synesthesia exercise / game

and of Place assignment.

VIDEO LINK

http://youtu.be/O65mJqmlGiU

Detailed report on documented section of workshop.

Creative Synesthesia

The goal of this Creative Response exercise / game is to explore the effect of sensory stimuli on creating a performative action.

In this particular exercise, the action choices were Motion, Sound and Word.

The qualities being responded to were those of: shape, color, sound, texture, smell, taste, word and association (meaning a literal association with the function of the object – or even a personal association, perhaps connected to memory).

There were a number of objects, each holding at least two of the above qualities.

For example: dried flowers, a dictionary, construction paper & chalk, tea-tree oil, coffee beans, dark chocolate, a foam disc, a stick, Christmas ornaments, a rubber duck, a squishy rubber toy, a stripy fabric tube etc.

I invented several structures in which to play the game – ranging from simple to complex. We tried three of them.

1.     Sit in a circle, one item is passed around to each person and one single instruction is given. For example: Pass around chocolate – Respond in Motion to the Taste. OR: Pass around a pink rubber duck – Respond with Words to the Color.

2.     Sit in a line (as audience). All objects are placed in a line in front of “audience”. One person is handed an object and given specific instructions to carry out. For example: White tissue paper – Respond in Motion and Sound to the Texture. (Then that person creates instructions for the next performer.)

3.     An interactive group improvisation. In this case, the rules were:

No more than 3 people performing at a time.

Enter and leave the scene at will.

Audience can place into or remove objects from the scene at any time.

Performers respond to any of the qualities of the objects they wish.

Performers can use Motion, Sound and / or Word as they wish.

Assignments (PLACE)

So far, the assignment has been:

1.     Go to a place and spend time absorbing sensory impressions without analyzing.

2.     Gather together any objects that represent those sensory impressions in some way.

Last week, the participants described the sensory impressions of the place they had been to. This week, they brought in objects and explained why the objects represented those sensory impressions.

This week, during the workshop, I gave them instructions to use the Creative Synesthesia game for inspiration on how to use their own sensory objects to create Motion and Sound related to the Place. I gave them about fifteen minutes to create a short Motion and Sound phrase that contained sensory elements of the Place, using this Creative Response method.

We ended the session with a showing of these explorations.

Summary

There was not enough time for Discussion and Feedback during this workshop session, as I felt it more important to move immediately into connecting the Assignment work with the Creative Response exercise while it was still fresh.

For the “Creative Synesthesia” game, I had invented a number of structures of varying degrees of complexity. I feel they all have the potential to work well, but I need to clarify the delivery of my instructions better.

I am also open to more ideas on how to structure the game and will ask the participants for their input on this.

I also want to change some of the vocabulary for better clarity.

In Actions – I want to say “Language” instead of “Word” (as a word can also be used as an abstract sound with no intentional meaning)

For the PLACE Assignments, I want to now try to encourage the performers to use the objects they have collected for sensory triggers as a tool to find more abstract and less literal modes of movement and sound exploration.

There is rather a tendency to “mime” in order to communicate an idea – which I would like to now try and steer them away from.