PMD1/2/4 Masquerade Scene CKR

During this lesson Bella , Courtney and Megan devised a dance motif by collating their individual movement responses tour stimuli. This was the foundation of our Masquerade dance that was then taught to the rest of the group.

The 3 with direction from the rest of the company developed their individual movement into one piece.

http://youtu.be/KZB5VnoyONY

This video shows us suggesting performance possibilities for the scene and you can see the material created from the three individual motifs has been combined into movement to be taught to everyone in after school rehearsal sessions.



Development of the Masquerade scene:

This lesson consisted of the company developing the masquerade ball scene to link to our ideas of hidden identity and contagion. Refining needed to also be added to ensure the piece is detailed and fluid enough.

http://youtu.be/JJ6Rjep1pf0

Above is Courtney and Bella's development of the corridor suction of the scene. We decided that Courtney's puppet character should have some devised movement for moving through the "corridor of death". In the clip you can see suggestions were made to take a few small steps then into a crab. Contortion of the body was suggested and effective as it emphasised the fact she has no control.

Iyla and Megan worked on creating a more appropriate monologue for the corridor section also, in the style of Brecht, with the context focusing more on death and disease.

Matthew worked solo and researched and devised a monologue for his "Doctor" role to recite later in the scene. Below is a collection of the steps, I also added images so for development that we can learn and add as gestures whilst Matthew explains the procedure.

Lastly myself, Hannah and Charlotte. Discussed ideas about the "ring a ring a rosies" section whilst Matthews Doc. character delivers his hand washing monologue. We decided reciting the song was irrelevant and too much time was wasted on the timings of the song. Additionally the last verse "we all fall down" in the writers original intention signifies the death. As this is a middle section scene it didn't make sense to have the participants of the ball die at this moment. We removed the song entirely and moved Matthews monologue to come afterwards during when we courtesy and death travels around us leading us to feel uncomfortable and dirty, hence the need for a thorough hand scrub. We decided to build the intensity and speed as Iylas "Death" character moved closer to her "Puppet" Courtney.

After sharing this with the group we found it to be a successful development. From this discussion we decided Iyla to portray death and Courtney her puppet, being a friend by utter force. This links more effectively to our idea of "hidden identities" as it shows deaths evil, cunning and ruthless nature however her choice of companion shows infact she is alone, isolated and unloved by anyone and has to force a friendship for company in a world of isolation.  

Below is a completed rehearsal schedule for this session.