Day ElevenMagic Kingdom

CLASSES:
Combat: More sword work. Using cuts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and parries. 1 is towards the mid thigh of the leg opposite the sword hand, 2 towards the other thigh, 3 toward the sword shoulder, 4 towards the opposite shoulder. 5 is to the top of the head. You're actual target is two inches away from the body for those regions, so if the parry is not met the illusion is lost.

This and the parries were done with partners, in place and with passing steps and advance/retreat steps. We're to practice on our own with butter knives at home.

Voice: We worked with partners, doing some breathing and observation exercises. Demonstrating among other things that when telling stories or talking our bodies know how much air to bring in without thinking about it. This was something the observers noted while watching the partner on their back tell about the last time they got together with their family. We had worked on isolating the transverse muscles, as those are the primary muscles we want to use for speaking. As the course progresses we'll work to use them more and strengthen them, as well as increasing rib movement to provide more lung capacity.

Acting: We discussed the analysis our groups did during the week. This was great. In talking to a classmate we commented on how much sense it made, even though there was still a bit of an arbitrary feeling regarding interpretations we made that were good and would work, and those which were not so useful. For the first time I see it logically with the reasoning, and that arbitrary feeling is just a relic which will fade as our skills improve. Overall the class was outstanding, in the military sense where that is the highest rating anything can get. The learning, and sharing of everybody's insights and feelings was tremendous.

We got our cuts, and this is totally cool. The play, The Dumb Waiter has been split into seven pieces, one for each group so that we will see the entire play, except for the bit we're in. My scene partner is Ben, who is playing Ben. I'm Gus, and we're doing the first five pages of the play. I am looking forward to this in a big way. We're going to do table work on Sunday, and by Friday we're to have the props and costume we need to do the play.


OBSERVATIONS/CLICKS:
The acting class discussion really was amazing to me. The combination of artistic interpretation and logical analysis melding with a group, in which the instructors guided us. It was a very different experience from other classes or shows I've worked on. It is still an instructor/student relationship, but the statement John made about us not being plain old students any longer, but being artists applied in a deep way. It felt more like a partnership with mentors.

Like our group's discussion at Caffe Vita's as we went through the seven analysis questions, the questions bled over one another. They aren't discrete, and talking about language will lead you back to character, stakes, events, vice versa, and so on. The things we talked about were right in line with the class discussion, and though some of our conclusions were off, they were in the right direction and wandered to other questions in the same manner. It was a validation on many levels. I was thinking how I need to work my chops a lot more to really take advantage of the analysis work, then "Doh!" It will be part of my chops, so a great deal of it will be incorporated simply by the doing of analysis.