Friday, January 9

Ballroom Workshop
We started with our Jazz and Rag warm-ups. And then we went into the waltz, using music of various tempos.

Our instructor told us that we should have what amounts to an inner-monologue while dancing. You're playing a character, and in having that present, you're less likely to be hyper-focused on your body, and more natural with things. When I was dancing with D-Train, he suggested that we should be a couple who have been married for 40 years. Just the idea of adding character to it made it more fun and less stressful.

A couple of the new things we learned today were tricky for me to process. The way we did some turns across the floor seemed entirely counter-intuitive, so it took me a few tries going at snail pace to pick it up. But once I got it, I was fine.

One of the trickiest things for me with partner dancing is not to lead. And then, while not leading, to still keep my weight forward. But I'm getting the hang of it.


Voice
Our professor gave us some text that we'll be working on for our "sending and landing" work. The text is a snippet from Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard. We practiced with the first few lines, and are supposed to have the first page of dialogue memorized by Tuesday.


Acting
Today was all observation projects (people, objects, animals, and professional skills).

- Two-Shots-Up was a masseuse and a bluetooth.
- Big Show was an 87-year-old man, a street crossing light, and a bowling pin.
- Thrill was a puppy and an arm chair.
- I was a flamingo.
- Newbie (she will get new nickname later) was a stapler.
- Wifey was a lightbulb.
- D-Train was a cigarette and a lamp (he also guest-starred as a client of the masseuse).
- Killer was a pumpkin spice latte.
- O.D. was an electric pencil sharpener.

(I think that's all of them... I just wrote that from memory)

These observations are really fun to watch. I was trying to control my laughter through most of them (because when people nail these things, it really makes me want to laugh for some reason).