·         The use of strong symbolic gestures (inspired by Balinese dance).

·         The use of sick, shocking and cruel portrayals. This was in order to show the 'truth' of the human subconscious mind and meant that the actors had to be honest and  cruel to themselves, their fellow actors and the audience to create a true sense of emotion. 
Artaud's work makes me feel inspired to create theatre and evoke strong emotions within my audience.

These techniques aim to transform and manifest bodies into other materials, for example a tree and its seasons. I find this incredible to watch and hear of other people’s interpretations of pieces: some might see a woman going through her life rather of a tree through its seasons. Another example might be a person manifesting a melting ice cube, however many people may view a person who is grieving. A piece of art like this is so personally interpretive to the viewer as no narrative, speech or facial expression (in some) is given, just a physical movement. 

We did an exercise called the Spine Roll, in which we slowly, vertebrate by vertebrate, lowered ourselves onto the floor to a laying position. On our back we breathed into our heads, then to our shoulders, our arms, hands and fingers, into our chest, hips, bum, lefts, feet and toes. And as we do this, we relax our whole body and we feel ourselves on a comfortable beach, sinking into the sand with every breath. When we slowly got up, we were told to focus on something. I looked at a bit of black curtain. We then had to focus on our peripheral vision at the furthest things we could see, whilst still looking at the original place. And then finally we were to look at everything at the same time. This exercise/technique is called ‘actors glass eye’. For me my vision was tinted with white and although I could see everything, paired with my relaxed body, I felt like my whole body was a blank slate which was peaceful, and my body felt like a vessel rather than something I had full control over. 

We then did an exercise in which we walked toward the audience, slowly, as it we were walking out of the sea (not acting this but imagining coming out of the sea). When I did this, I felt like I could feel when the ‘water’ wasn’t on my skin anymore as my skin felt cold as if the cold air was hitting my wet skin. I felt this exercise to be very spiritual however controlled. Personally, I feel like my body works best as a performer in this state.  

Watching it back, there was a narrative although maybe not to a a passer-by, they would just look like they were zombies or sleep walking. They looked like they were in a trance. It was so organic to watch, everything was so natural and stripped-down. We were able to view everyone’s real expressions and it was quite beautiful and moving. It was so rich and filled with so many stories but at the same time completely empty and blank. Their stories changed as they moved, some of them looked like children. It was as if everything they have learnt to be adults, they lost and they returned to their natural state, untouched by society, culture or responsibility. 

 His work reminds me of lost souls. Figures who can’t find purpose and have given up doing so. The paintings in which there are groups of figures are almost cult-like. A group formed of empty-vesseled humans, each other the only things they have left. The lone figures look lonely and as if they are fading away and the close-up paintings show some form of a pained expression. We also discussed the idea of using paint or chalk or material that we could incorporate into our performance as Butoh technique does in many performances and Melegari’s work reminded me of this. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3GheRRfoVs Igorr, Unpleasant Sonata. This piece of music is extremely piercing.

We began using a piece of music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaVEe4UMGww but due to the piece being short, it always ends before the piece. Also, certain parts of the music highlight scenes that we don't want to be associated with the emotion the music evokes.

Towards the end of our process, we decided to experiment with cave echos and dripping. This links back to the story and sets a eerie atmosphere, similar to both Butoh and Artaud but in our own alteration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2AAR9jRc7I

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Fraleigh, S. H (1999) Dancing into Darkness. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Press.

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