Aesthetics week 1- #2- Vocal Extension and Great Room Effect

http://vimeo.com/29931725 Rug Monster

1)      Invisible Dance

Title- Vocal Extension

Intention- To repeat a common spoken phrase , turning it into song.

Objects and Tools Needed- One dancer using his/her voice

Description- When the person decides the person will say a phrase and repeat the phrase over and over again until it builds to a song.  Then the script is done.

Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances-
I built to a song fairly quickly; I would like to take more time, gradually building the phrase into a song.  This way the text will be more invisible, and less obvious. 

2) Movement Assignment

Title-The Great Room Effect

Intention- To embody being in the great room in a new way, unique to a pedestrian’s way of being in this family room.

Objects and Tools Needed- Rug, chair, telephone

Description- Person when ready, and after looking at his/her watch to note time beginning, will move around the Great Room and use the rug, chair and telephone in new exploratory ways, different than the way the dancer has ever used those objects before.  Based on looking at the person’s watch, the script will be done in 15 minutes.

Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances- Success. 

Sitting with my head in my chair like Mork, from the TV show “Mork and Mindy,” slowly shifting to take away the weight of my body off my neck while viewing my son playing spaceships upside felt great.

Turning the balcony pillars into a momentary jail cell, holding onto them with my hands and yelling “help” through them, created a brand new perspective of the use of these pillars.  (This caught my son's attention).  He joined in and we both slid our legs through the narrow pillars dangling them as if outside hanging over a cliff.  Sky, my son, said “This is dangerous”.  Then we played the pillars as musical instruments.  Then we used them to measure ourselves. I'm 17 pillars in length, Sky is 11.  River is 15 pillars.

Purple monster chair began rocking and talking to us as we lay underneath it and watched his magnificent underside rock and rock and rock.

Then we climbed underneath the rug. This was my favorite, the kids use the blankets all the time for forts, but this was keeping the rug as a rug.  It became rug monster and Sky climbed under it too. We made our way toward the piano, hiding under the rug, until we went over another rug that wanted to play too.  We allowed that rug to join in and ended up rolling, getting stuck and tangled in the rugs.  My son wants to play rug monster again.  There is a video clip of Rug Monster on my blog.

3) Repetition

Title- Shove

Intention- To touch someone physically while walking.

Objects and Tools Needed- 2 people, area to walk

Description-  Person will check watch and begin walking and touching the other person that is walking for 5 minutes.

Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performance

My 10 year old daughter got off the bus and I began walking next to her up the gravel driveway, lined with grass on either side.  I began to lean into her, pushing her to the side until she provided enough resistance to push me back.  We continued walking like this up the driveway, around the mud puddles, until it became a game.  We began trying to push each other off the gravel driveway into the grass.  We did this back and forth pushing swirling around, pushing swirling around until one of us got off balance and fell into the grass. We did a small hero dance and then repeated the movement again and again.  I think if I was going to do it again, I would walk even further on a straight path so the visual affect would be more clear for an audience viewing it from behind.