DAY 5 — GRID, BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END & INSTANT COMPOSITION
DAY 5 — GRID, BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END AND INSTANT COMPOSITION
GRID
Participants walked through rectilinear floor patterns.
The work included:
- straight lines;
- precise turns;
- curves;
- angles;
- awareness of centre;
- quiet feet;
- spatial negotiation.
GRID AND BEAT
Music introduced:
- shared beat;
- double tempo;
- half tempo;
- stopping;
- moving with the music;
- moving against it;
- remaining still;
- different interpretations of one musical structure.
Music was not automatically the authority.
BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END
The group investigated beginnings, middles and endings at multiple scales:
- complete performance;
- scene;
- action;
- phrase;
- gesture;
- word;
- transition.
SINGLE ACTION LABORATORY
One performer entered.
They:
- arrived in the space;
- said “Begin”;
- performed one simple action;
- recognised completion;
- said “End”;
- left.
The difficulty was to keep the action:
- simple;
- precise;
- distinct from a complete story.
AUDIENCE CALLS END
In a later stage, the audience could call:
“END.”
The performer accepted the call as information.
This investigated the difference between:
- an internally perceived ending;
- an externally perceived ending;
- stopping;
- completion;
- loss of audience interest;
- continuing development.
TWO AND THREE PERFORMERS
The exercise expanded to several performers occupying the stage simultaneously.
They did not need to construct a conventional scene together.
Their actions could coexist.
Spatial relation could produce meaning without negotiated interaction.
LESS STORY
Participants were encouraged to reduce:
- fable;
- synopsis;
- psychological motivation;
- automatic scene-building.
The group already possessed strong narrative habits.
The laboratory trained smaller, abstract and material relations.
INSTANT COMPOSITION
Afternoon compositions used different combinations of:
- Space;
- Emotion;
- Movement;
- Presence;
- Story;
- exits;
- monologue;
- architecture;
- restricted areas;
- music;
- song;
- dialogue;
- objects;
- thematic prompts.
OBJECTIVE OBSERVATION
Feedback named visible elements such as:
- triangles;
- right angles;
- proximity;
- height;
- entrances;
- exits;
- doors;
- symmetry;
- unison;
- direction;
- voice / movement relation.
The purpose was to provide usable information rather than preference.
OPEN CLASS PREPARATION
The Instant Compositions were treated as:
- demonstrations of the training;
- continuing laboratories;
- opportunities for audience encounter.
They were not presented as completely polished works.