Friday, November 21

I met with my Acting Professor after blogging last night, and he made me feel a lot better about everything. He said that my work in class wasn't bad yesterday, it just wasn't as strong as other work I've done recently. He said that I'm getting a lot more consistent, and that I shouldn't be hard on myself for having one off day, as I'm now having three good days for every bad day.

He said it's good that I know when I'm on versus when I'm off, and that I recognize my own problems before they're raised. He said that I have to start looking at that as an advantage.

I've gotten a couple of notes as of late that I haven't been loud enough in my etudes (which is so funny to me, as I'm always loud enough once I'm on stage). My professor said that he thinks I'm speaking softly too much in my everyday life, and that's why I'm not always on-voice in scene work. He thinks it would be a good idea for me to start speaking louder on a regular basis.



Movement
Today's class was all about harmony. We did flocking exercises (in which we move as a group, and there's a rotation in leadership) to "Fanfare for the Common Man" (which I will forever and always mentally associate with the Olympics). I think we listened to it about 8,000 times. Luckily, we get a few days before having to hear it again. :)

We also tossed handballs around for awhile.


Voice
My Voice Professor said I had a breakthrough with my breathing today, but I have no idea what she was talking about. She says that my body is no longer confused, and that it'll communicate that to my head soon. I hope she's right.

Right now, it feels weird to breathe in the way that we're learning. It involves "swinging" the ribs, and opening the back of the mouth wide. Most of the time, I either get light-headed, or I get an attack of yawning instead of being able to speak. I'm sure it'll click into place soon enough, but at the moment it's just weird.

We started trying to use text with our Rib Swings. Our professor says we're going to work up to the entirety of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Today, we were only allowed to use "star", "how", and "wonder".

I had a really great release with the Standing tremor today. When I was done, my rib cage felt completely different. I felt like I was breathing more openly. So woo-hoo for that.

I'm kind of jealous of my classmates who end up having emotional releases during destructuring as well as physical ones. Some have laughed hysterically. Some have wept. I get nothing. I feel like I'm being cheated somehow (which I know is ridiculous, but that's how I feel).


Acting
We started off with a discussion which I found rather upsetting.

My class has had our problems coming together in the first couple of months, but I think we've had a great deal of improvement. Especially in the last few weeks. And I'm not just saying that. Something really started to gel. We're on the right track, we're positive, and we're supportive of one another. But people still treat us like we're the same way we were before. I can't tell you how angry that makes me. It's frustrating to work as hard as you can, make progress, and have no one notice.

We moved on to our Scene Etudes. And they were AWESOME today! People are growing by leaps and bounds. They're taking chances. They're following impulses. They're living on stage. And it's GLORIOUS! It's so fascinating to watch the scenes. And it's so wonderful to be able to observe the progressions of each of my classmates. I'm so very, very proud of them. Of us.

We've had a hard road. And we've suffered a lot, both at our own hands and at the hands of others. But now I know that we're going to be ready for whatever gets thrown at us. I look forward to being able to show the other classes what we can do. Maybe someday they'll be as proud of us as we are of them.



Off to tech!

~A~