Paper Portraits Feelings and Thoughts ...

I found this session really emotionally difficult. We started the lesson by drawing a portrait of how we feel we physically look to the world. However, we couldn't use our hands to draw. It was extremely hard to use other parts of my body. (I tried mouth, underarm and toe). When we had an outline of our bodies, we then had to fill in personal emotions, feelings and thoughts with coloured pastels and chalks. I used red and orange to show feelings of pain and sadness through my body. This lesson really made me question : AM I HAPPY WITH MY BODY?

Paper Portraits Week Two

Theatre Skills Puppet Work

We worked in partners to create a puppet out of a mask and pieces of fabric. We then worked together to pass objects. (Tried a broom and cup). I found this extremely difficult at first but we then practiced this and it became more natural and easy.

Puppet Work

Paper Portraits - Gallery

After everyone had completed their own 'Paper Portrait', we stuck up each piece of art, and made a gallery in the dance space. From our own pieces we then created movement from these and performed this to the rest of the dancers. My portrait had lots of flowing lines and curving shapes. I felt it reflected my personality and dancing style. I decided to concentrate on a particular shape on the portrait, and created representation of this through movement.

Paper Portraits Week One

In this session, Florence Peake introduced us into her work 'Paper Portraits'. We began by imagining we were on warm sand and making imprints, deep into it. From this, we began to explore improvising with the idea that the movements we made, could leave markings on the ground and in the air. We then each were given a large piece of plain paper and stuck it to the ground. Using our previous movement ideas, we danced on the paper. While doing this, other dancers used coloured pens to draw on the paper. The markings we made with the pens reflected particular shapes, sounds, movements, dynamics and feelings we saw and felt.

Group Newspaper Scene

Theatre Skills Object Manipulation Workshop

We looked at object manipulation, and talked about how this can lead into puppet work. We each had a sheet of newspaper and experimented with the different ways it could be moved. I scrunched it into a ball, dropped it from different heights, folded it into shapes and flipped it round in the air. We then had to find three actions and movements that the newspaper could do and then presented what we found to the class. After doing this, we got into small groups and created objects and scenes from newspaper pieces.

Review of Eden Dance Company's Performance

I went to see the Eden Dance Company perform ‘Where is the Garden?’ on the 10th December. Before entering the performance space, the audience were asked to make a journey through and around the dancers, and then to sit down. While we were doing this, we could see each dancer exploring an aspect of the space. Bird song music was playing in the background, and this immediately made me think of nature and being outside. The area was filled with large pieces of fabric and plastic. There was a heap of fur coats and eleven pairs of wellingtons neatly lined up by the door.
All eleven female dancers were dressed in simple, green and light pink dresses, with beige and pink coloured t-shirts underneath. The combination of colours was very effective and complimented the naturalistic music.
I noticed the dancers took it in turns to feel the walls and textures of the materials. Suddenly one dancer made a circular flowing arm movement above their head. This movement was repeated by the other dancers.
All of the dancers then began to explore the clear, plastic sheets. Lots of interesting shapes were created when the dancers expanded, pulled, moved and stretched the material. Eventually each person was underneath and covered in the plastic. The dancers and music stopped and everything was completely silent and still. This made me think of animals hibernating and also reminded me of the cocoon process of a caterpillar growing into a butterfly. They then all emerged from the wrapping and performed lots of energetic movement. This could suggest fresh starts and new life and beginnings.
The dancers walked over to the pile of fur coats and wellingtons. They each put on their own coat and footwear. This was a signal to the audience that we were then going on a journey somewhere else.
We were lead out of the Ellen Terry Building and walked to the outside of Coventry Cathedral. The dancers explored the space with energetic jumps, leaps and turns. The performance ended with all the dancers huddled on the Cathedral steps.

Eden Dance Company - Where is the Garden?