The War Memorial Park

Facts:

• it is coventrys largest park
• it opened in July 1921
• it is a tribute to the fallen soldiers of the First World War
• Every tree in the park represents one of the fallen Soldiers
• the war memorial is 90 foot high

As i only live 15 minutes away from the city centre i do visit the memorial park often to remember. although my family dont live in coventry i do have strong links to the city. my grandfather layed the final piece of the Coventry Cross. also during the reconcilliation operation in coventry and other areas my grandfather and his reg adopted a young boy whos german father sadly died during the rebuild of my church. the boy was in their care until it was time to leave.

Performance, Finding Abbey

so i went to see some of the 3rd years performances and this one was basedv on Site Specific work. this was ideal to watch as we are currently doing our own site work and assessment. although we did not see it live we watched it on big screens in an installation which we could view from any part of the room. there were multiple screens to watch and on each were different films of the site work. the work focussed on exploring woods and trees in the local area. there were some interesting view points and areas that the performers explored and documenting this would be an excellent way to look back and see how you could develop the practise.  

Another score, Orientation

so this score we focussed on just orientating round our chosen space and we were to draw the space and to write down what we notice and feel when we do the score. this is my drawing of our site and the site we chose is slightly closed in and had some delicate trees and plants. we chose a familiar site to work with because we wanted to expolre it deeper and to see whether we felt any different about it on a different day. i love this area of the

The RSVP Cycle Anna Halprin

so to help us in our assessment in our SR project we were introduced to the RSVP CYCLE that was made by Lawrence and Anna Halprin.

It stands for

R, RESOURCES, which is what we have to work with i.e human resources
S, SCORES, which describe the process leading to the performance
V, VALUACTION, looking at the results and evaluating what workas and what doesnt work
P, PERFORMANCE, the resultant of the scores

this is a great way in developing our score for our SR project and i intend to use this as its a great template to work from to get the best possible outcome.

Dorner, Bodies in Urban Spaces

Dorner: Bodies in Space

Austailan artist Willi Dorner squeezes human bodies into nooks and crannies for his bodies in urban spaces project. groups of dancers and climbers wear brightly coloured clothes run through busy malls and high streets and cram themselves into doorways and gaps in any public buildings. the attention of the police hasnt been positive and have stopped performances there and then.

i think this is fantastic and i wish i could have been part of the project. i think its so out there and in the public eye that it presents a great message that everyone can enjoy and be apart of.

A group Score in the Park

One of our first group scores in the park was,

Focus on the Spine, levels and working with limbs for support, breath practise seeing with moving and offer pauses with points of contact with one and other. move with intention of Bones and Muscles.

the image above maps where i moved around in the space. at first i really did think people were looking at me and i felt really exposed. also it was raining and was aware that i was cold and wet. this made me reserved and not commited to fully use the trees and ground around me. another problem for me was that others in the score obstructed me in my pathway and i had to adapt and change what i wanted to explore. i think i am getting there with trying out new things and not being afraid but i still have reservations .

Staircase Score

to introduce us to other places to perform in our SR classes we conducted a score that involved us being on a staircase. for me my main focus was to open up my senses to see what i could hear, feel, see etc.

i found myself making sound withour realising and then i would move to different textures and how the sound differs. for example the metal bars made a loud echoing sound whereas the carpet was dull sounds that were quiet.

at first this was challenging for me because its not the dancing im used to but i think as i stuck with it i found new ways to dance and found myself giving myself to the environment and how i could move.

Bedroom, Lounge, Garden, Street

we conducted a score in class to help us in our SR classes. this score took me through all sections of my body and how i can transition into them when i felt more confident. there are 4 elements to the score and are represented by a room in the my make believe house. the 4 areas are,

1. BEDROOM, we start here and the main purpose in this room is we explore our fingertips and toes by layign down and only moving these areas. the aim is to not move the air around me.
2. LOUNGE, here we take the movement a bit further and explore the edges of my body, here i can lenghthen out and reach out and explore my own dance bubble
3. GARDEN, here the movement gets bigger and we can now move to 4 limbs for a while and eventually onto 2 limbs but still not traveling through the space
4. STREET, here we can move freely in the space travelling through the other people, we notice the community around us but still be aware of what i am doing and staying with my movement practise

personally i found the GARDEN most clearly as i really understood what was required and was able to experiment with more movements on different limbs. i would say this is my comfort zone and i would happily stay there for a while

the BEDROOM i found a little more difficult to concentrate and to fully give myself to exploring i think becasue there isnt much movement involved i found it hard to concentrate because i like to move in a big way and so paying attention to the smaller movements was harder for me

i found transitioning between the rooms was nice going in 1,2,3,4 but i didnt really enjoy it when it came to reversing the process. i think this is becasue i prefer to move on the floor and then get up as i feel like i grow and i will be ready to move. however going the opposite way i felt a little restricted and i found it difficult to transtiton back down to the floor

this is something i will develop into my movement practise as i feel it will enable me to understand my body a little more .

Score with Skin

During one of our SR classes we conducted an indoor score focussing on the skin. the skin is the largest living organ that we own and has thousands of tiny receptors which allows us to feel and sense things. this score made me focus on just how sensitive my skin is to the simplest little touch or even just laying down on the ground and allowing myself to feel the ground on the areas of skin that connect. the iimage here shows how i felt when i had finished the score. i did feel like an avatar a little in the sense that when they touch the ground it lights up and i had this imagery when i was in the score i felt clearly the exact parts of my body that were in contact with the ground.

this score made me realise just how much we take feeling to granted and that we need it to survive yet we dont think about it at all. for instance now i am sitting on a chair and until i really think i dont pay attention to the contact i have.

What is Site Responsive Dance?

so our next module is site responsive so i thought i would just have a think at what it means to me

• Working Outisde
• Chance for the public to see work
• moving out of the conventional space
• Marc Brew has done work outisde
• Trisha Brown also likes working in unconventiaonal spaces
• we conducted our Red Letter day performance at the start of the year
• i have had previous experience in working outside in my A level Performing Arts