Combined arts skills workshop 5- Rash dash 04/10/21

 

4^th Oct 2021

Physical theatre workshop, combining movement, contact and words.

Rash dash- devising through improvisation movement text and spoken text.

Content of lesson: (the first 3 activities are to get us out of our comfort zone, play and explore and to encourage original movement)

·      Mirroring  exercise- This included me and my partner mirroring our right hands in a mirroring relationship. This included different levels, moving around and a lot of focus to make it unknown who the leader was. 

·       Contact/weight duet- In this short activity we used a weight related trust exercise including pushing against them or pulling away, while staying balanced and on the spot. This built trust and broke the ice between having a lot of close contact.

·       Looping exercise. This included me and my partner weaving in and out of eachothers arms without touching them.

·       Rash dash devising movement material (under under, over over). For an example, this exercise included my partner first going under my legs, for me to then go under and through her arms so I was laying beneath her. She then went over me and I responded to her by placing my legs on top of her.     

Develop speed- fast or slow. We then developed the duet by considering speed. For an example, I placed my legs very slowly and carefully placed my legs on top of her, for her to then lash out in a quick movement to be on top of me. It created a nice contrast.       

                                                                                                        

Flow- transitions to be smooth. At the end of our final video, you can see I turn my back on my partner, for her to then go through my legs again and kick me off. We changed this so I didn’t have to scootch to get to the perfect position for her to kick me away. This made our piece look more flowy and no awkward breaks.

 

Focus- consider where to look (at or away from partner). We made the decision to have very strong and close eye contact most of the time during our duet. This created a tense scene, it looked like we were lovers in a heated argument .I basically followed my partner with my eyes throughout the whole duet, apart from when I turned my back on her. Even then, I turn back to look at her after being kicked away.

 

Adding spoken text. We then introduced the spoken text. (See script). Our interpretation of this text was to have one partner (me) be desperate for love from the other. My partner came across as annoyed and irritated that I wanted to resolve our argument and make up. 

Script

Final performance:

Knowledge

They key practitioner that I studied in this workshop was Rash dash and we watched them in a masterclass that they held at the national theatre about devising. We also watched a frantic assembly master class, building blocks for devising. This followed a similar approach as rash dash by simple instruction and developing the movement every so often by giving even more simple instructions. Their instructions were ‘round, by, through’. They layered more complex tasks such as lifting. Both companies believe in simplicity in starting material. The building blocks to the end products were not complex choreography. Another practitioner we worked in the style of was DV8 physical theatre company, with the looping exercise. The extract we watched was from ‘strange fish’ the eye contact trio.

 

Understanding

 The use of play and exploration, and losing your inhibitions helps to create original movement. This is why we did the activities at the start of the lesson before our rash dash instructions. It enabled us to move out of our comfort zone, focus with our partner and to improvise. The improvisation inspired me and my partner to keep some of our movements and include them in our actual choreography. Having simple instructions that get layered on top of each other (e.g. under over, add speed, add focus etc) can create interesting physical theatre. To be a student in these workshops, you need to be open to creating your own movement and not relying on being taught. You need to understand that playing and letting go of your boundaries is part of this type of theatre.

 

Storytelling through movement:

 The moment we added the very close and intense eye contact, the activity completely changed for me. I felt like I was telling a story, other than just going under and over each other. Michael was the one who pushed us to get really close during our eye contact moments and I think that is when the relationship of our characters came to life.

 

Historical understanding

 Pina Bausch was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as Tanztheater. Her work, regarded as a continuation of the European and American expressionist movements, incorporated many expressly dramatic elements and often explored themes connected to trauma, particularly trauma arising out of relationships.  "In contemporary dance today the influence of Bausch is seen in its rawness, relative freedom and willingness to explore a variety of forms so as to expose an internal world. Her influence is also seen in the way choreographers work with their dancers – a 2-pronged process where through improvisation ‘tasks’ the choreographer allows the soul of the dancer to enter the process." - The Ongoing Influence of Pina Bausch - Dance Informa Magazine (dancemagazine.com.au)