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‘Gaps, and lifting, and slow-mo, oh my!’

Thu 11 Oct 2012

‘Gaps, and lifting, and slow-mo, oh my!’

The first Lakeside Theatre Student Company session started with a bang. The new Artistic Director, Tid, brought everyone on stage to begin an energetic session. Now was not the time for introductions,

we explored the space in literal leaps and bounds. And lifts. And turning upside down. And crawling on all fours. Nothing is more important than awareness; of your space, of your own body and of the bodies around you. ‘Hello, My name is’ is overrated, tonight was about getting stuck in. But this first session also taught us, that stepping into the unknown is just as informative.

 

Once we were warmed up, and rather sweaty, we began making. Treading wildly into our creativity with nothing more than simple commands. “Sharp contact”, “slow movement”, “resistance”, “lift” and finally “tenderness, aggression and absurdity”. A rather eclectic collection of verbs. Once a sequence was established, we were asked to share. But not just share, experiment. We were shown a pair’s sequence and asked what we saw. We didn’t see all those commands, but a child and his imaginary friend, the effects of Stockholm syndrome, a sculptors fight with his masterpiece. It is amazing what the right music, narration or quantity can do to a simple piece of choreography.

 

“There is no such thing as wasted time in the rehearsal room.” Every small change and altering of theatrical ‘ingredients’ can result in happy accidents. No longer a lie told by parents, ‘happy accidents’ are the fruits of your labour during rehearsals. When one sets out to create a devised piece, with goals, aims and the all important ‘message’, you are immediately limiting yourself. Over thinking leads to many artist’s downfall. I walked away from the session knowing two things: the importance of accidents and never wear a skirt to a Lakeside Theatre Student Company session.

By Charlie Emma Hay

http://nextdramaticstep.blog.co.uk/

To let us know you can’t make a session or for more information please email stucomp@essex.ac.uk

 

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