Theatre for Dance Class One*

Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart)- Dune (1984)

 

I took my first Theatre Techniques for Dance Performance class (one of four,) with Jon Herbert on Friday. I meant to blog then while my impressions were fresh. I am going to try and make up for lost time and do better over the next 3 weeks. 

"This course is designed with dancers in mind and covers combining physical movement with emotional presence. Dancers will go through a series of exercises geared towards bringing about a true and powerful stage presence, one unique to the individual. "

The first class Jon spent mostly in a dialog with us about what acting is and that we would be focusing on finding and using our "authentic selves" in order to better express ourselves through dance. We did a light physical warm up and a couple of group exercises. I do not really want to talk about the exercises in detail as to not give away the technique used in class. I will say the last exercise of the class felt oddly like group therapy because it forced us to think about our private lives and who we are as individuals. It was a strange feeling to go from focusing on a task to focusing deeply on myself in the matter of 5 minutes. This class was geared toward Jon learning more about us as a group and how best to focus his circulum around our personalities and needs. He then gave us some reading homework on presence and we are each to bring some music for a 1-2 minute dance demonstration for next class.

That pretty much wraps up the first class. I will add that I had an oddly placed feeling of seriousness mixed with anticipation. I found myself wanting to laugh and be goofy to break the tension I felt inside myself but I also was trying super hard to pay attention and stay focused. I think in part it was due to not knowing what to expect. We started our first class off with the goal of finding the "authentic self." Um...o k a y ? I'll get right on that.

"Behold, as a wild ass in the desert, go I forth to my work!" - Gurney Halleck

~N

Now listening non-stop: IAMX - Volatile Times
*This post brought to you with a random reference to Frank Herbert's Dune (1984). My teacher's name is Jon Herbert. Coinsidence? I think not.