Toeing The Line

CLASSES
Movement:
We danced again for warm-up. I was really awful for a while, then got better. About the same time I reminded myself it was fun. We did an interesting exercise, which had some surprising results for me towards the end. Not so much an exercise as a chat. We were working on an element of our choice for a character of our choice. I picked the narrative character from Robert W. Service's The Ballad Of Blasphemous Bill

We talked a bit about our choice as people weren't really prepared with texts and characters yet. Luckily for me I picked something that required refreshing rather than new memorization, not knowing at first we were to have the text memorized. It was interesting and informative to hear how people worked with the text and elements. I tried several things as kind of a warm-up and one I'd used earlier in a short class exercise, the flame at a Concord, CA refinery I saw as a kid. It was a big and constant, and kind of bent with the wind. It somehow resonated with the steadfast determined nature of the character, and the fire within him. Like some of the animal work I've done, this was not anything like what I'd expected. I was thinking of something cold and/or hard, given the subarctic climate of the story.

People picked from scripts, short stories, and novels fiction and non-fiction. I was the only one to pick a poem. This poem has some sentiment for me, so it was a little funny feeling. A couple people found that talking about the character and element work made them uncomfortable, akin to being asked to reveal a character's secrets. I thought about it, and it didn't make me feel uncomfortable at all, but with another group likely it would.


Combat:
Geof was a little late, for a fight call for Pillow Talk at ACT. He very strongly recommended the show. I'll try to see it next week.

We started with Casey, going over the unarmed fight for the first half of class. Then reviewed the single sword for the rest of class. We have homework. To go through the choreography and write done what we are trying to do at each step. I may add that to this post later.


Tutorial:
No tutorial today, and Lori and I scheduled time at Antioch for working on Wednesday, so I made a normal evening of my Tuesday. That doesn't often happen.


OBSERVATIONS/CLICKS
Both my knees are feeling a little bruised or tender. I'm wondering if it is the rope skipping. It is a quick way to get the blood and sweat going, and the tenderness feels like it is one of those things which is a strengthening and toughening. I'm going to be just a little cautious anyway, until I'm more sure. It's challenging for me to do, but I don't want to get myself in injury prone situation again. Don't have time for it.

It is nice to be enjoying classes more. I think it was a combination of getting sufficient rest and letting myself have fun.