It's showtime!

This is it! You are about to make our work real. We have been building our world and now it is our job to make sure it can be your world as well, your adventure with your rules. We take our jobs as entertainers very seriously; so, we will be working to find new truths with every step, beat, and flick of a switch. We invite you to discover with us.

Can't wait to have ya!
-Rach + Andy

A random adventure through my rehearsal journal

repetition
sentencing
variation
stillness
pause
silence
exit
audience
body part
limitation
mirroring

aim to put the studies on the stage

content = location

meditate on the choice, let it happen for a bit

the viewer gives real-time feedback

Cotton balls
Black tape
Newspaper
Styrofoam

the viewer contributes to the improvisation

listen.
EXPOSURE

Deconstruction= we take what is known of the form, breaking down familiarity into its parts, changing the physical identity and then reassembling the pieces in new ways. The form is new; but, the sensory connections to the "known" model remain.

Motivations: a defined set of tools.
Motive: points of interest that create artful weaving of motives through variation into ever changing lines, pre-ordained so the viewer knows intuitively where we are going even though the overall composition is being created instantly through an intricate form of theme and variation.

What is a response?
an acknowledgement
a shift
a welcome
support
a pause
a direction change
an exit
an entrance

-Rach

not the ordinary path...

"...devices that I know that will take me out of the ordinary path" - John Coltrane

With about a month until the show, I thought I would write about how we have been preparing in a bit more detail.  We have our cross-training, of course;  but really, what is it that we do when we come to together in the studio?  The questions is: how do you rehearse improvisation?  You don't.  You can't.  For us, rehearsal is the practice of performance, not for performance.  We take our cue from Mr. Coltrane and we create "devices", intuitive and technical, that we use to carry us from what we know; so, we can discover and uncover things. 

Some sample devices: who is leading?  is this a solo? a duet?  a rug.  pause, exit, repetition, enter, stillness, mirroring.  who is following?  last week's subway ride.  body parts.  lamps verses flashlights.
the radio.

We apply limitations and freedoms, keeping in mind that these devices, can and will be lost in the spontaneity of the real-time compositions.  They are simply a beat that one can always return to... 

So, rehearsal goes: 
1. arrange the space
2. discuss what devices we will employ for the practice
3. GO

The most important thing is that we react to our immediate environment.  We are practicing how to address our own thoughts and the thoughts of the collective.  We aim to deliver "on the spot" responses.  And, what we get is newness: new patterns, new structures, new moves, new shadows, new shades. 

Improvisation is a practiced.  It is technical.  It is its own technique.  
But, really...it is magic.  :)

-Rach
 
STAY TUNED AND SEE YA AT THE SHOW! 

We're back and we're improvising

It is so good to be back! Andy Dickerson and I have devised the “pause, flow, and exit” of our first truly collaborative work, arrangement. (Andy's genius lighting design has been a part of Launch since 2006.)  

So, Andy and I go into rehearsal with our separate mediums, him on lights/me on moves,  and we blend them.  We are working on creating  spontaneous, valid compositions that display the element of choice, real-time choice.  Each rehearsal we explore improvisation not as the antithesis of composition, but as the place where compositions become compositions. 

We think about our tool kits, what we can use and how:

We arrange a world.  We wait.  We enter.  We pause.  We wait.  We watch each other.  We listen.  We respond/flow or we pause more.  We exit.  And, in turn, we shape solos and duets, sometimes even trios.  We enter with a plan and then we let that plan be destroyed.  We think about repetition, stillness (which is different than pause), limitations, objects.  We think about the audience.  All of it, we use to create a real-time composition.  We wonder who is leading?  Who is following?  We try to figure and then we just let it go.  A new idea comes to us.  We recall what once was and we use it.  We notice what is and we use it.  We volunteer to expose the layers of self, past and present, to alter and challenge perceptions, create new neuron connections, and to discover unique thoughts.  We improvise. 

Oh, one more awesome thing:  Fade Kainer is creating the sound score! Yup! 
It's good stuff.  

Save the date:  March 22-23, 2013 and stay tuned for updates! 
-Rachel