clap. punch. jump. / Sunday, 28 August 2011 @ 03:17
Today in theater we basically did the same things as the previous class but with much more improvement and added different elements.

For example, Ms Chan would point to a corner of the room and shouted a number and we had to run and form that number of people in a group. I found this exercise really fun as everyone would run and it was fun to see who made it the fastest. Then later we moved on to creating scenes with our groups. We did many things like The Evolution of Man, Tugu Negara and we even tried to fit all the scenes and poses into one whole storyline. It was fun as the whole game was fast an spontaneous and we were on our feet the whole time.

We also did the game where we stood in a circle and counted from 1 to 3. This time, we used only sound to coordinate ourselves within the circle. At first, we were very shy and were not very loud. Then Ms Chan taught us how to use our stomach to produce louder sounds. After that, the whole game went very smoothly. Previously, I didn't enjoy this game, but now I liked it as I got to shout as loud as I wanted without being in the wrong ;)

There was one game that I particularly enjoyed that Ms Chan called the bomb and shield where we had to chose one person to be our bomb and another person to be our shield. The purpose of the game was to create space as we had to ensure that our shield was always in between ourselves and our bomb. It was fun as you could tell who was avoiding who and eventually the room was split into two groups.
Next we played a short game of throwing the ball, but this time, there was no ball. We had to imagine the ball was there and pretend to catch and throw the ball with different styles. It was fun and everyone had a good laugh stretching our bodies and all. The eye contact game was next, and I kinda dreaded this game as it made me very nervous and wary. But it seemed like the whole group had improved drastically and we all did it very smoothly. Kudos to everyone! Personally, I felt quite relieved that we managed to improve.


Can't wait to see what happens next week, hopefully different exercises!

claim your space. / Wednesday, 24 August 2011 @ 07:41
Today was the second class for theater and we had a few other students join us and a few left for different sections. I was excited to see what Ms Pat had in store for us today. When we gathered round in a circle and took attendance, I was glad to see Reuben and Chris in my class, two good friends I've had since the first semester.

Our first activity was to walk fast around the class room then freezing and introduce our self to someone nearest to us. Then we increased the pace and continued until we were all close to running. Then we were told to make eye contact while walking/running which was really quite difficult to do as we were all almost bumping into each other.

We continued walking but this time in slow motion. We were told to claim a spot in different poses, like a sculpture. As we continued, we had a lot of fun trying to guess what someone looked like while 'claiming' his or her spot. We progressed into getting a partner and using our body parts to depict something. I teamed up with Reuben and we pretended that we were getting into a fight. In the next round, I pretended to be seducing Jing Han. At first I felt quite awkward as I didn't know what I was doing but I ended up having a lot of fun looking at how my other classmates were posing.

One game that I thought was quite nerve wrecking was when we were all standing in a circle and had to make eye contact with another person. Once the person acknowledges you by nodding, you have to move to their spot. The person then must make eye contact with someone else. This game was very amusing yet quite difficult at the same time. This was because I got really nervous when it was my turn, I had to look at someone and try to get their attention before I can take their position in the circle. Ms Pat then explained that being nervous was normal and she explained how to get over stage fright, by taking deep breaths, relaxing our muscles and looking around to be calm again. 

Another activity was similar to one we played last Monday, throwing the ball at someone after calling out their name. Today however, Ms Pat brought in three balls and made us use different styles of throwing and catching the ball. This made us concentrate even harder as there were a lot of balls going around and we had to use different methods to catch the attention of the person we were throwing the ball to. Lastly, we had another activity where we all started by counting 1 2 3 in a circle. Then we replace the number 1 with a clap, then number 3 with a star jump and lastly number 2 with an air punch. This was quite difficult as I felt quite shy and Ms Pat wanted us to express ourselves by jumping higher, or using a different kind of stance when air punching. After a few rounds, we all got the hang of it and learned to coordinate ourselves with one another.

In today's class, I learned that concentration is key to acting, as well as coordinating with your friends in a play. Also, claiming our space and using our body language to express how we felt or a different scene was part of what I learnt today.

walk the talk. / Tuesday, 23 August 2011 @ 02:02
Yesterday was the first theater class for this semester. To be honest, I wasn't keen at all as I had previously wanted a different class and it was a new lecturer. To top that off, it was a 8am class and I was stuck in Monday morning rush hour traffic. However, my mind was instantly changed when I set foot into the Experimental Theater.

Ms Chan was seated among the other students in a circle on the floor with their shoes off. As I was already late, I quickly found a spot in the circle and caught up with the introduction of the course. As the students read the course outline, Ms Chan would occasionally elaborate and even stand up to act out examples of how people usually performed in a way that was pretty hilarious.

After the introduction, we all stood up and started walking around the room. We were then instructed to use different parts of our feet to walk. We used our heels, the inner and outer parts of our soles and even tip toed. It was awkward at first as I was more accustomed to the conventional way of learning and that hardly ever included moving about the class. When we were asked why we walked that way, Ms Chan explained that we can get into character by simply changing the way we walk. Being in character isn't only your dialogue or facial expression, it included your whole body posture and the way you carry yourself.

Later, we had a round of ice breakers where we threw a ball to each other while calling out each others names and standing in a circle. At first, many stumbled and the ball fell down many times. Then Ms Chan told us to focus and make eye contact with the person we were calling. Then, the ball hardly fell on the ground. Truly, focus and teamwork can get the job done.

All in all, I felt really relieved that I decided not to drop the class and instead attended on the first day. I felt refreshed and Ms Chan herself was a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the semester (:

Layout by Gabby. Images from here and here. Inspired by tumblr.