Sooooo.... for one of my classes i have to write about time.
yes, thats the only instruction we were given... so imagine the magnitude of possibility... but of course, yours truly cant think of one decent thing to say! Trust me to go into my writers block, frozen ink, drifty minded, useless phase... JUST when Iv been given the chance to write about something awesome!! Grrr... There are time i just wish i had a remote to work my brain so i could have slightly more control over whats going on in it... and more importantly, what its capable of, when!
I know i can write... relatively well at least... and at times... pretty damn well... but i just don't know how to access that... that... material? Skill? PLACE... inside me when i need to! And i really want to be able to... because there are ideas... there are beautiful words... there are so many things just waiting to be written... and they just wont step out of the darkness...
and im tired of this now... lets just keep our fingers crossed and hope that time inspires me...! Both literally and otherwise!
Friday, 23 October 2009
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Beginning Improvisation on tuesdays...
Something i wrote first in my head while i was still in class... lets just say it counts as a personal reflection piece...!
Tuesday - the 6th of Oct.
Once a week I take a class called Beginning Improvisation, a requirement for freshmen who are dance thirds. Now, I am no stranger to improvisation exercises. Both in theater and dance I have explored the mind/body space that improvisation allows you to tap into. I have found a voice of my own in that space, which, let me clarify, is and hopefully always will be growing and transforming into newer things.
While I do believe the self-awareness and learning one gets from these explorations is limitless, I find myself bored and more importantly, unchallenged in these classes where we are discovering places I have already been. Spaces I have already created and re-created many times over.
I wonder when I think about it, if having to learn how to improvise is in fact as much of a contradiction in reality as it seems in my mind. How can you teach something that by definition is meant to be spontaneous and almost entirely self-generated? If improvisation in the performing arts context means to create something that you have never rehearsed before and do something without any preparation, then how can you learn it?
Unlike me, most of my classmates have never done this kind of thing before. And while the questions I posed in the previous paragraph seem reasonable, if not obvious, to me, I understand the need for these classes and this process. For my classmates this class is an introduction to their spontaneous selves. An icebreaker for them to get comfortable with a side of themselves they have probably never had to interact with in a serious, formal manner before now. And while this is usually a completely personal journey of discovery, a well-intentioned push at the starting line can’t hurt.
Tuesday - the 6th of Oct.
Once a week I take a class called Beginning Improvisation, a requirement for freshmen who are dance thirds. Now, I am no stranger to improvisation exercises. Both in theater and dance I have explored the mind/body space that improvisation allows you to tap into. I have found a voice of my own in that space, which, let me clarify, is and hopefully always will be growing and transforming into newer things.
While I do believe the self-awareness and learning one gets from these explorations is limitless, I find myself bored and more importantly, unchallenged in these classes where we are discovering places I have already been. Spaces I have already created and re-created many times over.
I wonder when I think about it, if having to learn how to improvise is in fact as much of a contradiction in reality as it seems in my mind. How can you teach something that by definition is meant to be spontaneous and almost entirely self-generated? If improvisation in the performing arts context means to create something that you have never rehearsed before and do something without any preparation, then how can you learn it?
Unlike me, most of my classmates have never done this kind of thing before. And while the questions I posed in the previous paragraph seem reasonable, if not obvious, to me, I understand the need for these classes and this process. For my classmates this class is an introduction to their spontaneous selves. An icebreaker for them to get comfortable with a side of themselves they have probably never had to interact with in a serious, formal manner before now. And while this is usually a completely personal journey of discovery, a well-intentioned push at the starting line can’t hurt.
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