Thursday, January 15

Ballroom Workshop
I have to say, I think we've come a long way with the waltzing. It still isn't perfect, but we've improved a great deal. If any of us gets famous enough to be on Dancing with the Stars, I don't think we'll be kicked out in the first week. :)

We started choreographing a routine a bit, but I don't know how much we'll get done. Tomorrow is our last day of this workshop. Apparently we're going to learn a little snippet of polka, so that should be fun.


Voice
I tried to send-and-land the text today as my Voice Professor had one hand on my stomach and the other on my ribs. It doesn't sound like a huge deal (and is actually minimally invasive), but it makes you hyper-aware of every movement in your body. It's a bit jarring. I'm actually doing pretty well with my rib swing, as it turns out. I don't seem to have a problem with landing final words, which is a common issue. Rather, I occasionally invert my rib swing or take too many rib swings, breaking up the text more than I should.

As a side note, while I'm learning how to breathe, send, and land, all my acting goes completely out the window. One thing at a time, I guess.


Acting
Just showed observations, as usual. :)

Inanimate Object:
D-Train - Vacuum Cleaner
Iceman - Emo Hoodie
Two-Shots-Up - Claw Machine

Person:
Killer
Two-Shots-Up

Professional Skills:
Iceman - Painter
Newbie - Cake Decorator
O.D. - Gardener
Thrill - Fisherman
Wifey - Hair Colorist

So if my notes are correct, we have a lot to get to tomorrow before we decide what our exam is going to consist of (each of us will show two of our things at an exam on Tuesday). Five animals (All-The-Way, Big Show, Killer, Newbie, and Wifey) and two people (Wifey and me). Hopefully it'll all go swimmingly.


Analysis
My group presented the book The Elizabethan World Picture by E.M.W. Tillyard. If you (or someone you know) is interested in Shakespeare, tell them to read it. I'll be honest, it's not a "fun" read; it's dense and complex. But it's pretty short and once you read it, you really end up with a better handle on Shakespeare's world (and the audience for which he wrote). More than that, you'll understand more references he makes in his plays (e.g. when Lady Macbeth says, "Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?", the audience would've understood that Duncan was sanguine).

O.D. did our introduction. I specifically focused on "Order" and "Sin", as well as the Elements and the Humours. All-the-Way & Killer focused on "The Chain" and "The Links of the Chain". D-Train spoke about "The Correspondences". Miraculously, we presented on the entire thing in about 50 minutes (we were originally supposed to have 90). I'm pretty pleased.

We spent a long period of time talking about the sonnet paraphrasing that we had done. It's important when reading poetic text that you don't ignore anything in it, and also that you don't add things into it that aren't there.

As this is probably the first homework assignment I've had that can actually go onto a blog with relative ease, I'll share mine with you. The assignment was to research every possible meaning of the words in the sonnet, and also to look at past interpretations. Then, we had to paraphrase it in a way that kept the original meaning in tact as much as possible (with a sense of flowery language), but made it easier to understand.

Sonnet 54
O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses.
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade;
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made;
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall vade, my verse distils your truth.

And this is how I paraphrased it (broken down into the three quatrains and the couplet):

O! How much more attractive beautiful things appear when they are enhanced by the decoration of a delightful spirit! Roses are beautiful, but we believe them to be even more gorgeous because of the lovely fragrance that they exude.

Wild poppies are just as red as sweet-smelling roses. They have similar thorns, and they are just as seductive when breezes unfold their disguised petals.

But they are only as effective as roses in appearance. They are undesired, and they are ignored when they lose their beauty (just like what happens to handsome shallow people as they age). They die alone. Sweet roses do not die alone. When they leave for heaven, beautiful perfumes are made out of them. They live on, even more beautiful than they were before.

You are like the sweet roses, my handsome and lovable young friend. Your beauty will fade, but this sonnet I wrote for you will preserve the essence of your spirit, which is even more lovely than your physical beauty.


I actually thought that assignment was a lot of fun. We're going to be reading a couple of Shakespeare plays this semester, and I'm stoked. It's like playtime for my brain! (Yes, I'm a huge geek.)

~A~