TaDA!

It's been a long day.
My brain is full and my belly is empty.

1) Complicite's A Disappearing Number at the Barbican

• interesting use of layers - set, bodies, video projections
• seamless and thoughtful use of technology held together by a talented group of performers
• some small pieces that were neat, but didn't fit in with the larger movement and themes of the piece and felt gimicky (like the table viewed from above)
• so much stylised choreography that didn't seem jarring
• a full house! at a large venue! matinee! for a very non-traditional production! does it have to do with location? reputation? amazing.
• there was something for everyone, high brow and low brow, visual or textual. there were probably points for everyone where they were really engaged and points where they were annoyed. and those points were different for everyone. as it should be.
• rehearsal style challenging. not knowing what a piece will be until it is up and running and changing even then. interesting at first, but still a technique that once mastered might mean moving past (from actor)
  

Questions it brought up related to my work:
- Video as character/performer vs. video as backdrop/set/environment
- the human form placed in both these contexts too
- How to transition from one phrase/scene to the next? Does it have to be clear?
- How much information is too much? Too little?
- What level of control do I want to have on the final piece?

2) Action Theater workshop at movingartsbase - Class One

• establishing partnership & group dynamics
• allowing us to notice what our tendencies are movement wise (to mimic) when we are playing it safe and trying to establish a new relationship with a group
• doing this without much direction
  
• the instructor pointedly asked us "What did you like about that one?" after each performance. There was no negative criticism. Also was assisting us in clarifying what it was about the performance that made us feel it was funny, dramatic, etc. Body? Face?
  
• eye contact between performers charges the space. I found each sketch compelling, even when the movement was simple or unskilled, simply from the connection between the two people on stage.