Movement in performance - Exploring 'torch-ography' and verbatim theatre

Verbatim theatre is a form of theatre based on spoken words from real people from real events (like interviews, for example). We really like the idea of this, and thought it would work very well with our theme. We thought of having recorded voices (I suggested we use my multi-track recorder to record each of our voices through one track, just to make things much easier for ourselves) saying words or phrases related to common insecurities to have in the background of our 'torch-ography' movement piece. We thought of some phrases that could be included:

'Torch-ography' piece:

We used a instrument version of Bastille's 'Oblivion', which works really well with the piece because it sets a nice and mellow atmosphere, but also has provides lots of opportunity for stylistic movements and visuals, and also helps to create the hard-hitting message we wish to get across. 

For this piece, we were inspired by the musical number 'Blackout' in the musical 'In the Heights', where the only lights are from lighters and phones from the cast:

(A clip from the professional production couldn't be found, so this an amateur dramatics company called Spirit Young Performers Company)

The part where we shine our lights on the ground and we walk around the spot light shows that we don't to be in the light - as young, insecure, and media-controlled young people who suffer from body dysmorphia, we wish to stay out of the centre of attention, out of the light because we don't want to look at ourselves and we believe we do not look good enough for others to us too.

In terms of RADS, we hit a fair few aspects of it. We cover: 

• Canon, with the lights (Relationships, 0:40-0:47, done poorly here)
• Meet and part (relationships, 0:30-0:33)
• Side by side, waiting (relationships, 0:40-0:47)
• Levels (space, 0:40-0:46)
• Pathways across the floor (space, 0:17-0:28)
• Travelling in a group (Actions, 0:34-0:39)
• Travelling as a transition (Actions, 0:38-0:40)
• Pivoting turn (Actions, 0:32-0:33)

Movement in performance - New final idea

After a few lessons workshopping our initial idea, we decided that trying to present a storyline within a 5-10 minute movement piece would be quite hard, and would require a lot more time than we have. So we looked at the stimulus again, and began to brainstorm alternative ideas:

I particularly liked the idea of gun crime, and showing how the matter is viewed very differently in different countries, and recent gun crimes in the USA - also possibly showing Donald Trump's views and then have an underlying message of how he is damaging the country with his views.

However it the majority went towards the idea of social media and how it is damaging the one's self confidence, increases insecurities, makes young people think they have to advertise themselves to be someone they're not in order to 'fit in', and the general impact it has on our lives. This is a very interesting idea because there are many aspects of the matter than you can incorporate and tie in/link together to form one big message. We researched issues such as body dysmorphia, using make up to cover up what you really look like, and feeling like you can't win no matter what you look like.

When discussing ideas for movement, we watched the following clips for inspiration:

From these, we decided we wanted to use mirrors to show how girls constantly look at themselves and judge how they look, believing they are 'ugly' or 'fat' etc...We wanted to present a girl suffering from body dysmorphia. We used the song 'One more light' by Linkin Park, because it set a depressing atmosphere and the lyrics really help tell what this person is going through.

This mainly focuses on using space and actions, but also possibly the relationship the girl has with who she thinks she sees in the mirror.

Movement in performance - Devising our final performance

Group 1:

• Cameron
• Will
• Alice
• Owen
• Chloe

Group 2:

• Henri
• Warren
• Taylor
• Tyler
• Joe

Stimulus:

Ideas drawn from stimulus:

For our opening movement piece, we wanted to show Alice giving birth and how Chloe's character (who is, ironically, a mid-wife) obviously longs for that moment of her own. 

Thinking of RADS and other stylistic and abstract movements, so far we have included the following:

• Answer and reaction (relationships, shows that we are all friends)
• Canon (Relationships)
• Round-by-through
• Waiting (Relationships)
• Elevation (Actions)
• Free flow (Dynamics)
• Travel (Actions)

Movement in performance - Slapstick comedy routine

Today we moved away from RADS and looked at applying slapstick comedy to a movement routine.

We watched a clip from the film 'Singin' in the rain' where the character Cosmo (played by Donald O'Connor) leads his number 'Make 'em laugh' which is simply about making the audience laugh in a performance. We observed that through his song/routine, he throws himself about a lot and he is very silly (which is the art of slapstick comedy), and all his expressions and movements and body language were very big and he committed to everything with massive energy. This made it all the more fun to watch.

This was the song we had to use for our routines. We put into groups, I was with Taylor and Owen, and we decided to do a 'love-triangle' themed routine where Owen likes me, I like Taylor and Taylor likes Owen. The initial comedy coming from the fact that Taylor is after a gay person, Owen is after a straight person and I am after a girl who wants a gay person. We also played on and made comedy out of the fact that the person each of us are after doesn't want us back at all.