RSAMD summer course - Day 2
Oh wow, today was even more fun than day 1!
My group started off with a morning of voice exercises, taught by Sarah, a graduate of the RSAMD from about eight years ago. This involved, believe it or not, pairing off, with one person from each pair lying on the floor while the other essentially rubs them down, shakes out all their muscles to loosen them, massages down their back, lets and arms, and shakes them, using their bum and their thighs, to shake the air out of them. Oddly, the bum shaking bit didn't even feel at all embarrassing, although I'd only met the girl yesterday!
The person on the floor was working on a breathing exercise created by Nadine George, who founded Voice Studio International (ugly link for I am being lazy - http://www.voicestudiointernational.com/). We then worked on some of our lines. Let me tell you, the results after the exercises compared to before were so different as to actually be almost frightening! Amazing stuff, really. I've never felt like I did at the end of the morning before... it's quite intoxicating really.
In the afternoon we were working with Ali again. We were playing games which work on your focus and concentration, and your communication with the rest of the 'cast' through the use of eye contact rather than gestures and words. We also worked a lot on movement with your eyes closed, the aim being to have a 'link' between you and another person you've hugged just previously. You then walk backwards to the wall, then forwards, the idea being that your link will bring you back to the right person. It did work really well, and we swapped partners a lot, so I now know what most of the group feel like by touch, lol.
We then worked on our lines some more. We each have learned a speech, and we were working on it in the morning, using voice only. This time we were adding in the movements we would need for our interpretation. So much fun! We were all called upon at various points to be the other characters who would be present in the section the other person was reading out, so I got to be both Helena, Hermia and Lysander at various points this afternoon. When you weren't the person actually doing the performance, you were watching and giving a critique afterward, looking for any of the persons 'tells' so that they can work on them (mine is standing with all my weight on one leg when I'm not actually moving somewhere), and generally providing encouragement.
It's really odd writing all this down. I realise it sounds very anti-climatic written down, and folk are probably thinking 'you're doing what? That's fun how exactly?' But it really is! It's hard to describe, but it's so good, and so changing, and so intense!
My group started off with a morning of voice exercises, taught by Sarah, a graduate of the RSAMD from about eight years ago. This involved, believe it or not, pairing off, with one person from each pair lying on the floor while the other essentially rubs them down, shakes out all their muscles to loosen them, massages down their back, lets and arms, and shakes them, using their bum and their thighs, to shake the air out of them. Oddly, the bum shaking bit didn't even feel at all embarrassing, although I'd only met the girl yesterday!
The person on the floor was working on a breathing exercise created by Nadine George, who founded Voice Studio International (ugly link for I am being lazy - http://www.voicestudiointernational.com/). We then worked on some of our lines. Let me tell you, the results after the exercises compared to before were so different as to actually be almost frightening! Amazing stuff, really. I've never felt like I did at the end of the morning before... it's quite intoxicating really.
In the afternoon we were working with Ali again. We were playing games which work on your focus and concentration, and your communication with the rest of the 'cast' through the use of eye contact rather than gestures and words. We also worked a lot on movement with your eyes closed, the aim being to have a 'link' between you and another person you've hugged just previously. You then walk backwards to the wall, then forwards, the idea being that your link will bring you back to the right person. It did work really well, and we swapped partners a lot, so I now know what most of the group feel like by touch, lol.
We then worked on our lines some more. We each have learned a speech, and we were working on it in the morning, using voice only. This time we were adding in the movements we would need for our interpretation. So much fun! We were all called upon at various points to be the other characters who would be present in the section the other person was reading out, so I got to be both Helena, Hermia and Lysander at various points this afternoon. When you weren't the person actually doing the performance, you were watching and giving a critique afterward, looking for any of the persons 'tells' so that they can work on them (mine is standing with all my weight on one leg when I'm not actually moving somewhere), and generally providing encouragement.
It's really odd writing all this down. I realise it sounds very anti-climatic written down, and folk are probably thinking 'you're doing what? That's fun how exactly?' But it really is! It's hard to describe, but it's so good, and so changing, and so intense!