We began the day with a discussion of nervousness and heightened space, followed by an exercise designed to help streamline the performances into Olio form by reciting vivid imagery from our prepared stories, taking turns and associatively building off of our classmates.
Rebecca began with a piece from Caterbury Tales, I told "The Brave Little Tailor", Fynn recounted the story of the elves and the shoemaker, Chris told a Hawaiian myth, and Danielle told a story entitled "The Light Princess," drawing on a literary source.
This was followed by a feedback session, where we were encouraged to own the space by deciding on stylistic elements such as choosing whether to sit or stand. We were encouraged to work on eye gaze, voice work (with an emphasis on the problem of "losing breath"), and orienteering. Professor Novak suggested we consider ourselves leaders on a journey and and emphasized the discovery of personal story, citing a blog post by author Neil Gaiman and advising the storytellers in the class, when receiving feedback, to "focus on the problem and discard the solution."
The suggestion was made that we as artists must discover the solutions to the issues that arise and should be wary of taking the solutions offered by other people. However, at the same time, a problem perceived by an audience member is a valid concern that must be addressed, although our method of addressing it remains a stylistic choice.
Professor Novak revisited the concept of losing voice as an example of a choice that can be utilized effectively to convey extreme sentiment and demonstrated the technique. He also focused on centers of tension in individual performers, encouraged us to watch for distracting habits, and guided us through a discussion of making deliberate choices, drawing illustrations from Delsarte and demonstrating ways of conveying emotional and intellectual ideas through gesture and posture.
On the subject of making choices, text selection was also discussed as a topic of importance. Novak cited Ed Stivender's work with Mark Twain as a solid pairing and complimented Danielle Bellone on her selection of George MacDonald. The class then attempted, through guided discussion, to determine which pieces of Danielle's story were her own invention and which pieces were MacDonald's.
We concluded with a brief discussion of analyzing, overcoming, and utilizing tension, physical, topical, and textual, before ending our class for the day.
On the subject of making choices, text selection was also discussed as a topic of importance. Novak cited Ed Stivender's work with Mark Twain as a solid pairing and complimented Danielle Bellone on her selection of George MacDonald. The class then attempted, through guided discussion, to determine which pieces of Danielle's story were her own invention and which pieces were MacDonald's.
We concluded with a brief discussion of analyzing, overcoming, and utilizing tension, physical, topical, and textual, before ending our class for the day.
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