July 18, 2012
Hello everyone!
Yesterday’s class, Movement and Physical Theatre, went so well!! Mariko was wonderful and the whole class had a great time.
Physical Theatre and Butoh, the Japanese dance form that Mariko
specializes in, are both super abstract. They’re full of pretend and
imaginative exercises that require letting go of your inhibitions and
stepping completely into a different reality. It’s hard work! But our
students poured themselves into it and really had a blast.
Mariko started with breathing exercises that centered the group,
asking students to breathe slowly in and out on her counts. She woke up
students’ bodies with stretching and slow movement exercises, then
started asking students to make sounds as well. The whole group used a
beach ball to connect with each other and send sounds flying across the
room!
Matthew and Mariko during warm-up
Mariko leading breathing exercises
The whole group tossing the vowel ball
Ella and Kendall
After the warm-ups, the real fun began! Mariko talked the class
through a series of movement exercises, where students were asked to
pretend all sorts of things! We pretended we were each small seeds in
the ground–when spring came, students slowly sprouted, then grew into
trees that were tall, strong and swaying in the wind. Then they got to
pretend to be different kinds of animals!
We ended with some dance games: tossing the ball while singing
favorite songs, putting together movements that whoever catched would
have to mimic, and eventually cooled down with some calming breathing
exercises.
Here are some more pictures:
The group’s trees all growing together
Kendall, Emily and Ella as worms in the grass
Matthew and I as snakes
Dancing with the group
And you can see the video of the highlights from class here:
Hope you had fun following along! Tomorrow is Dance with Michelle Kuchuk! I know I’m excited. Are you?!?!
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Can’t wait to share,
Jenna
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