Brit School Mini Site Specific Performances

Will put everybody  into groups of 4 or 5 and asked us to look around the school until we found an interesting place to perform in, when we found this place we had to ask a teacher or anybody who knew about the area we had chosen the history of it. What was there before? what was it used for? how long ago was it changed into what it is now? and then create a performance based on its history.

My group chose the TV room in the library, as it was closed off from everything else and seemed like a nice enclosed area to perform in.
We asked Amanda (library teacher) what was the TV room used for before, and we found out that the whole of the library used to be a dance studio. Taking this into account we decided to create a performance piece which was kind of like a routine, doing things in cannon, in sync with one another and then have our own soul parts.
Looking at the space we thought it would be a good idea to have our audience watch through the window into the room which we was performing in.

Sitting in the TV room we thought of 20 words which described the room;

• Trapped
• Animalistic (being an animal watched)
• Plain
• abandoned
• outcasted
• alone
• empty
• watched
• disowned
• different
• enclosed
• perfect (trying to be perfect)
• clean
• ordinary 
• incomplete
• independent 
• crazy
• mental (mental hospital)

Taking the words we came up with on board we looked around the room and wanted our piece to be based upon the television screens, we decided to get 4 different DVDs and act out the key actions in each film.

Romeo and Juliet - Held hands to symbolize family

Beauty and the beast - Picked flower to symbolize love

Titanic - drowning to symbolize the end scene

Despicable me - running around to symbolize the hyper minions and fun

While we done these actions the films would be playing and we would be doing these actions sitting underneath the table of our screens.

In the beginning we decided to do our different actions at the same time and then went in order doing each others actions together, to keep the routine idea still there. When rehearsing we realized we didn't know when to do the next action in sync with one another, so Nora came up with the idea to knock on the table which meant to change actions. 

To end our piece we all thought it would be a good idea, to in cannon get up eject the DVD and hold the case up onto the window with no emotion, to symbolize that when alone we have no character.

Zach, Daisy, Nora and I wanted the piece to be far from linear as possible which we succeeded in doing.

Audience placement..

We placed the audience outside to look through the window into our performance, to give it the affect that were at the zoo and there pedestrians looking in at our cage fascinated on what were going to do next.

Performance opportunities...

• TVs - your emotion, character, stimulus - can be visually seen on the screen
• Under the Desks - trapped, scared, sounds, scene can happen
• Transparent Window - Audience
• Chairs - levels(hierarchy), transport (getting around the space) 

Sounds...

• People outside the room
• Silence

Overall my group's performance was far from linear, there was no begging, middle or end and we wanted to make our piece as abstract as possible. Doing so this worked very well with our audience and even though they said in our feedback they didn't really understand anything that was going on in the performance, they said it was very engaging and had you still interested and awaken by what was happening.

Crystal Centre - Site Specific

Interviewing the site..

What are some important properties about the site you might use when devising?

• Fire escape stair case
• Red fencing
• Doors leading outside
• Wall of stones
• Grass
• Wall of vine
• Concrete wall
• Dividing fence
• Stairs leading into a ditch

What performance qualities could the site have?

• Good view for the audience
• Different levels (hierarchy)
• Dividing fence - split scene or something abstract (angel and demon)
• Mirrors - how you view yourself, image, morals
• Doors - artwork, knocking, sounds
• Trampoline - jumping into scenes

How does the site create meaning?

• Safe feeling
• Security
• Dull
• Not well funded
• soul less
• Fire escape - nanny state (affecting your freedom)
• Trapped

Write down any immediate dangers concerned with the site..

• Fall/Slip down fire escape 
• Area too busy - trip over toys
• Blocking fire exits

Audience stand in grass area, inside the red fencing

Split scene - abstract work

Family Tree

Vine - Fantasy/Fairy tale

Fire escape - performance is based on

Fantasy, Monstrous fencing 

Stone Wall - Adventure, Tough lifestyle

Audience can sit inside and watch performers outside 

Animalistic ditch, danger, trapped, no way out, outcasted

Mirror - image

Performance Ideas - Based on the site 

Cassie, Jake, Nora and I where put together to come up with ideas based around the crystal centre

 Looking at the performance space I was really attracted to the tree and got an idea of looking at the tree like a family tree, by having the main character up in the tree and having her/his family surrounded it, symbolizing 'you can't chose your family' 'stuck in society'. We also gained more knowledge about the tree and was told it might be an apple tree which was even better, as we thought it could also symbolize 'the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree'.
The performance being site specific we had to look at every area and we was all drawn to the wall next. The concrete wall we thought would be good to have all her/his family members lined up against the wall and train them in an army military like way, which would show her/him  trying to change them into the perfect family.

Having chosen where to set our performance we thought it would be good to have the audience placed up where the stairs where the wooden wall is.

Arts in the Community

What is community arts?

Community arts is about coming together with people fortunate and less fortunate in performing. With different social and cultural backgrounds, it is a time to mix people together to make them realize they have similar interests and that they aren't as different to each other as they think they are.

Community arts is a learning process, you learn skills in performing and even unlock some talent which you never thought you'd have, it makes people become more confident with in themselves. But most importantly its a learning process for you aswel, you learn from your clients each time you facilitate or teach as they have a great impact on you as you do on them. You learn how to deal with different situations in society and gain more knowledge on the different people and  how inclusive you can make things in the community.

By running workshops or creating a piece of material you give your clients a different outlook on life and also make citizens have a different outlook on there lifes, I.e; people with disabilities or youth offenders. Making people see that they do have talents and are able to put them to work and create amazing performances which they never themselves even thought they could do.

It is by - working with a client group to help them perform their own piece, for - to perform for your client group, this can be interviewing them to get memories or events that's happened in their life and perform it to them i.e; reminiscent theatre and with - working with your client group to create a piece together.

 

Community arts is all about believing that performing means more than just performing, you believe that performing can help you and those around you.

Using my own experience in community arts looking at the skills, rolls and responsibilities needed to run a project. One of the projects I had done was based at 'Age UK Thornton Heath.'

First of all to break the ice and to not patronize our clients by jumping straight into the performing sides of things, we sat down 5 facilitators to each client and spoke to them introducing ourselves and getting to know one another. 

In different groups we ran workshops, these being; a dance warm up, vocal warm up, a short performance piece which would later be adapted towards the big performance at the end and another dance warm up.

Having in mind that our clients where the elderly we had to take in consideration that some of them would not be able to stand for long and be able to do certain things others can do, so we made sure we was flexible within our workshops. In the dance warm up we adapted it by asking if anybody would like a chair, so they could do the warm up sitting down. While showing everybody the dance warm up examples, we would then afterward show another way to do the move in a more subtle manor which would be more easier for them. By not being bias and thinking that every old person could not do the same things that we could do, we would ask them instead of tell them, so they could have the chose to do it either the original way or adapted way.

After 4 sessions with the clients we finally came to the final workshop; the short performance piece. We decided to do this workshop last because performing is about confidence, working together in a group to get ideas and knowing what each others good at. So we done the warm ups first so we could gain more of a relationship with the clients, not pressurizing them into doing anything they didn't want to do.

We got given newspapers which we would then read to get a story from for our stimulus, not forgetting our client was there we asked her/him if they felt this was a good story to use or not. Having got our story we shared ideas and treated our client like one of us to make them feel more comfortable and like they wasn't put on the spot, but remembering that they was still our client. With all the ideas intact we got up on our feet and start rehearsing our piece and bringing our ideas together, seeing if our client wanted to be in the limelight we asked her/him if they wanted to be the main character or if they was too nervous to do so which was fine, making them have a choice rather than us giving them a role without seeing if they was happy with it or not. 

After completing all workshop tasks and gaining a good relationship with our clients, we started the process of our main performance piece (reminiscent theatre).

First of all in the same groups we was in for our 'short performance pieces' we had to interview our clients on there childhood memories, and also ask them questions on how they think things have changed from back in there days to now. Making sure no one hit a nerve or asked too much of a deep question, we made sure we had our questions ready a week before hand in lesson, making sure they where appropriate to ask.

When we finished the interview process we went away for 2 weeks not seeing our client group, to rehearse our pieces. As our piece was based on their memories we had to make sure the way we performed it didn't look like we was taking the mick and look as if were not taking it seriously enough. It was hard to do so but in the end when we showed our client groups our performances they loved it and was laughing all the way through.

Working with age UK I learnt a lot; how much the elderly is actually able, how to use my voice not to be patronizing, how to present myself in a manor where I seemed polite and confident and how to teach the older generation with having the same knowledge to respect my elders and to take in consideration that they are older.

When I worked with age UK I worked for and with.

Cerebral Palsy.

What is cerebral palsy? 

Cerebral palsy is a impairment of muscular function which is usually caused by an injury to the brain either before, during or after birth. Cerebral palsy is not progressive therefore the injury to the brain does not change however the effects may change for better or worse.

Possible Causes of cerebral palsy...

• Infection in early pregnancy
• A difficult or premature birth
• Bleeding in the babies brain
• abnormal brain development in the baby

Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the brain, which normally occurs before, during or soon after birth. 

Symptoms...

• Epilepsy
• learning difficulties
• incontinence
• visual impairments
• difficulties speaking or understanding other people speak
• delayed growth
• curved spine
• drooling

How common is cerebral palsy?

1 in every 400 children in the UK are diagnosed with this condition. Approx 1,800 babies are affected by cerebral palsy a year.

Cure...

Cerebral palsy is not a progressive condition. It will not get worse as the child gets older, however it can put a great deal of strain on the body, which can cause problems in later life.

There is no cure for this condition, but a range of treatments can help relieve symptoms and increase a child's sense of independence and self-esteem. These include; physiotherapy, occupational therapy and medication to relieve muscle stiffness and spasms.

3 Main types of cerebral palsy...

Spastic Cerebral palsy (bilateral spasticity) -  Is the type of cerebral palsy where muscle tightness is either the dominant or exclusive impairment present, and is the most common type of cerebral palsy.

Dyskinetic/Athetoid cerebral palsy - Is a movement disorder where damage is taken to the brain in the form of lesions during brain development. Physical therapy and drug therapies are used to treat the symptoms

Ataxic cerebral palsy -  Patients experience problems in coordinating muscle movements and balance. Ataxic cerebral palsy is known to decrease muscle tone.