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Today was our first session of physical theatre. We were introduced to Frantic Assembly who are a physical theatre touring company that use the body to story tell using techniques like transferring weight. We looked at a range of clips from frantic assembly to get a better idea of the movements they create.
We did a brain gym ABC exercise which enhanced our focus. We started neutral walking and mirroring each other’s movements.
- Moving in sequence
- Chair duets and added link
We created our own in pairs and shared them with the class. Me and Lewis created a well structured piece and used close contact.
Music - Elliot Moss - Slip
Chair duets - creating strings of material, building blocks.
Strengths
My strengths from today’s lesson was getting mine and Lewis’ piece up in it’s feet quickly and just went with each other instead of discussing impressive moments but instead felt the music instead and guided each other with our bodies.
Weaknesses
Struggled with ABC exercise as I found it difficult to remember which one was what.
Targets
Continue to develop the piece we started today and clean and polish it.

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Today we continued learning about frantic assembly and the techniques they use in their work.

Standing exercises

Round by through in pairs

Focused on moment before, during and after

Me and lewis’ piece consisted of close contact, round by through and transferring weight whilst also working on the transitions between each move.

Picking ooze - delicate movements

Push pull

Music - Patrick Watson - Je te

Tango bacho fondo

We sat and listened to both pieces and chucked adjectives out there to describe both pieces

Creating a chain of material and performed them to both pieces of music

We watched them back and gave feedback on each group
Strengths
My strengths from today was contrasting both pieces with the different music given by changing the dynamic in our movements. We made it slower when moving to the slower song, whereas we made our movements sharper and structured with the faster music. This made it look like a whole new piece even just by changing the tempo, dynamics etc but keeping the same movements.
Weaknesses
I feel like we could’ve made the transitions when doing push pull to make it look more natural and relaxed.

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Push hands - connection exercise, we worked in pairs and were looking at making the contact with eyes open and close, compared and contrasted
We talked about the importance of the contact work, that is key to ever being able to communicate
Learning to fly exercise- using the frantic clips
We did at as a group, then made it smaller and smaller
The person being lifted had to have energy and core strength
Looked at moving the partner through contact work
Strengths
I really enjoyed the flying lift and volunteered first to have a go, I held my core when being lifted and remembered the instructions to achieve the lift from the frantic assembly clip.
Weaknesses
I feel like for the push hands exercise me and my partner could’ve made it more intimate by keeping eye contact and using different levels.

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Today we used text from Kae Tempest’s play Wasted.
From that we looked at some key words in 2 separate groups. We picked key words based on themes of the extract.
We were looking at gestural movements based on british sign language from frantic assembly. We created gestural movements based on the sign language of the keywords:
- song
- tear drop
- massive attack
created 2 lines and made a string of material within our groups
choral effect of the 2 groups and we filmed and watched it back
then we went back into our original groups and we used boxes to create levels and tablo, canons and moving within the piece
we filmed and watched these back also.
Strengths
I came up with my gestural movements quickly and efficiently which made it easier to tell my group for when we did it together.
I also thought of the idea of using levels for the group piece to make it more interesting and to make it look better on stage.

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Today, in our groups we took some dialogue from this text to use as an ensemble and solo. The words in this text are very powerful and can be used to portray many things. We used techniques like round by through, push and pull and thought it would add to the piece to put music in the background.
We also watched a boy read a poem who was playing someone with OCD.
Watched a spanish dance where there was physical theatre involved, this gave me more knowledge on physical theatre and how it can be portrayed in many different forms and ways.
My strengths from today was choosing the music for our piece and picking some movements that would work well within the piece.
My weaknesses was staying focused at some points and trying to stay creative.

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Today we showed videos of physical theatre pieces that we find interesting. I showed this video from the company DV8 which is called ‘To Be Straight With You’ https://youtu.be/PvctLx8H8xs
I found this particular piece interesting as I thought it was powerful how more people joined in as the piece went on, showing a sign of power of men, and synchronising the movements.
•Discussed the
presentation and what to
include
•Put into groups for
physical theatre
performance
•My group (with Lewis, Scarlett and Courtney) decided to create a piece using the music Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez and base it around a family that shows what they put on from the outside in comparison to what actually goes on behind close doors. We were inspired by PUSH Theatre Company.
Strengths
My strengths from today was coming up with the idea of it being based around an abusive home. I decided that the gestural movements at the start of the piece with Lewis behind us controlling over hands would look effective as it shows his dominance over the girls.
•My targets for next
lesson is to come up with
more ideas for my group
•Start the presentation
•And keep looking at
physical theatre
company's to expand my
knowledge.

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Today we started with a list of frantic assembly techniques.
• First person instruction -creating a theme or idea which is abstractly based on the piece your doing also putting them into first person and past tense. This will give a new
meaning and new life which can be interesting to explore. For example
"I cut a ring around the
leg of the rabbit"
• My example of this
technique:
I have always kept a dream journal close to my bed and repeat every night before I go to sleep, ‘I will be aware that I’m dreaming’. When awakened by my dream I drift slowly back to sleep by closing my eyes and focusing carefully. I hold onto this thought tightly and before I know it, I enter into my lucid dream.
Structure technique -
Jealousy has many meanings but mainly wanting what someone else has but you can’t or don’t have it, that feeling is most likely jealously, being in awe of a person but not wanting to support them.

We then were told to complete a free writing technique where the person writes something from a word given. Our word was ‘cheesecake’.
No structure technique-
When i was younger I never used to enjoy cheesecake, but as I got older my tastebuds changed and I finally plucked up the courage to try it. I thought it was going to taste like cheese but surprisingly it had a sweet flavour with a creamy texture and an enjoyable biscuit crunch. I have always wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory but they only exist in America which fills me with sadness, even when I didn’t like cheesecake I wanted to go to there as everyone always hyped it up, isn’t it strange how society’s choices make you want to go to places even if you don’t like the sound of it or what it in-tales. We are all the same, humans are all connected, are we in a simulation? Is this all a game, are you even here write now? Why are you listening to me talking about nothing? but I have to say chocolate cake is my favourite.

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Today I presented a presentation about the company DV8.
• Performed my
presentation about the
company DV8
• Got into our groups to
discuss ideas and start putting them into action.
My strengths from today was
presenting well with a clear voice and confidence, I showed plenty of information on my powerpoint about DV8 and hopefully got their point across about what they create to my peers. I’ve also now learnt more about DV8 and physical theatre itself which is very beneficial. My targets for next time is to try not to look at the board as much to read.

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This text is from a play called ‘Too much Punch for Judy’ and is very humorous and sarcastic which is why we chose it to inspire our piece, and to add dialogue. 

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From our piece today we used the theme of stereotypes of both men and women and made it comedic whilst also showing the meaning and bringing awareness to it. We decided to use text from the play A Night On The Piss for the section where we stereotype the men. We also decided that we need to add more physical theatre movements to it and make the women part longer. We had great feedback like the message sticks more because we took more of a funny take on it. We also used dialogue which was different.
My target for next lesson is to make our piece longer and clean it up. Add more movements whilst also keeping to the storyline.

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Today we developed our piece inspired by PUSH physical theatre by adding more movements that transition well and correlate to the meaning behind the piece. We decided that a canon effect would like impressive and came up with idea of using the SOS code through sign language when me and Courtney’s heads are on the table. My strengths from today was coming up with the idea of using levels and switching from the chairs to standing and also having the ticking effect at the start with our arms. Targets for next time is to carry on cleaning and polishing this piece and making it longer.

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Hey girl, open the walls

Play with your dolls

We'll be a perfect family

When you walk away is when we really play

You don't hear me when I say

"Mom, please wake up

Dad's with a slut

And your son is smoking cannabis"

No one never listens

This wallpaper glistens

Don't let them see what goes down in the kitchen

Places, places

Get in your places

Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains

Picture, picture, smile for the picture

Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?

Everyone thinks that we're perfect

Please don't let them look through the curtains

We decided to use this song for our piece as when listening to the lyrics we realised that the theme we chose was very similar to the lyrics used in this piece of music. "Dollhouse" by Melanie Martinez is about a picture perfect family who hides their secrets behind closed doors, which is exactly what our piece is about, where the father controls the wife and two kids behind closed doors. On the lyrics ‘get in your places’ we thought it would be effective to get Will to bring us forward with his hands (without touching us) to show the trauma and haunt he has left on us. Also on the lyrics ‘picture picture smile for the picture’ we hide our sadness by putting on a smile to the audience showing the contrast between both worlds.

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Today we carried on with our rehearsals on both pieces but focused mainly on Dollhouse as we have lost a member of the group, so we started adapting to this by adding Will as the abusive father.  We also added more to the piece including a new section that me and Oli have which is a chair duet, we decided to use a different Melanie Martinez song for this to show the contrast of both parts. We decided to take the lyrics off this music choice though as we wanted the audience to mainly focus on the movement. We came up with different moves and used a lot of physical touch and levels.
Strengths
My strengths from today was using my ideas on how we could add to the piece, and also making the music for our final piece.
Weaknesses
I lacked creativity towards the end as I was at a mind block to how we could finish it.

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Further Development on the Flip Side Piece

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Further Development on the Flip Side Piece

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Today was a productive lesson for us, we added more movement to the Bob & Nob text and created simple but effective moves to go with it. We worked on the transition which was a struggle as we couldn’t really think of how to make it different and clean, for now we’re just adding a spin which is where the music will change to a typical girls getting ready song. Me and Ella developed our small dialogue part and added round-by-through, push pull and physical touch to it. We thought to not make it look messy, as whilst this is happening to have the girls in a freeze frame at the back. It also shows the contrast from reality to non reality.
Strengths
I tried different ways of making the part between me and Ella look it’s best. We worked on how we could end it and I came up with a few ideas.
Weaknesses
I feel my diction could’ve been better when being the stereotypical man at the start, I need to make sure I’m not too loud to the point where it’s hard to understand.

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Today we focused on polishing and tweaking our girls piece. We’ve struggled in previous rehearsals to come up with movements and story to the girl part, but we managed to come up with a section today that is humorous and full of energy. I feel as though we could still make it cleaner especially towards the end, by maybe making a script so that everyone knows their queues.
Strengths
Used my body and diction well, showed contrast between both boy and girl in body language.
Weaknesses
Need to be more specially aware for the movement part before ‘shots’