Yerma and the game

Description:

This week we went to see “Yerma” a play written by Garcia Lorca, in the theatre AAA, the play had an interesting game, one of the characters, “Yerma”, was represented by three different actresses, sometimes two where in the same time and sometimes one.

Another interesting proposal was the scene when Yerma and Victor have relations and this was represented by still pictures and there was a sound record being played which narrated it.

Analysis:

The game of the play was obvious since the beginning, and I think this was something good because if not it would be very confusing. The game catch up the attention of the audience as there was always one actress being the “strong” image of the character, I mean the one that do the main actions and said the most important. The other two actresses who accompany the first one help the text to rely in the actions, body expression, postures, face expression which they adopted. This technique made the script to be more theatrical as the actions showed what the text meant.  

Some of the parts in the play where very slow and I think this made the audience distract. Maybe in this parts because the script was dense and had a lot of symbolisms the game could be better used. So that the text could be “digested” better the actresses instead of adopting a fixed posture they could mime the text.

The still pictures help to represent in a very “theatrical” way the situation which cannot be put into scene performing the actual action. These technique catch up my intention because the position of the body and the forms the 4 actors create where strange and the attention was caught by the beauty of the different postures and how the body could represent those images but also because of the curiosity to understand this “constructions” with the human body.

The lights in this scene created intimacy but I think there where to dark so the still pictures couldn’t be seen with clarity. The lights are an element in theatre which are to help the performance but if these are use incorrectly this lights will be a barrier, a problem, instead of a helpful element.

Connections:

The game we are developing for the one act play I think helps to catch the attention of the audience, but I think we need to explore this game to be able to look to the advantages this have and in what it could help. The game will be very helpful to represent various characters, but is this all? Is there any other advantage that can be taken from this game? Now that I try to think in one I can’t find one, I think this would be founded during the rehearsals as we explore the game.

The game used in the school play this year help to show the story from different perspectives but it also help to tell a part of the story telling it only to one character so this help the audience to know the story but to keep it hidden to other characters. It also helped to explore the puppets as the difference sizes of puppets would be used depending on the perspective.

The lights used in “La cocina” in some scenes used to focus the important characters but without stopping the actions of the other characters, so in the dim light actions will continue to happen and with a light that was focused to some characters the subplot will be introduced and will give information about the story without stopping the other actions.

Reflection:

A game is there to relate the audience with the play, but when the game doesn’t, it means the game didn’t work? Or was it “abscent” for that moment? The game pruposed for the one act play give us limitations on face expression and also meeting up two characters represented by the same actor, will this create any conflict? Or because the game came first and then the story it will be easy to go beyond this limitations?

ballet de londrina as theatre

Description:

Baller de Londrina! On Thursday we went to see some contemporary dance; a dance group from Londrina did a “contemporary ballet” dance called; “La consagración de la primavera”

Analysis:

The body exploration for this kind of dance was impressive. The control of the center of energy so that movement started from it and so energy could flow through all the different limbs.  Every movement done in the dance had a lot of energy and also different poses like the one in the photo, which shows coordination and balance.

Although this ballet is not theatre, there was something being represented. It was about the sacrifice of a virgin. To transmit this story a lot of body expression was used, but to make it clearer there were other elements which helped.

First the costume; costume was important. The costume for all the dancers was a “nude” translucent skinny full suit. These costumes allow the body to be free to do different movements and be flexible. Also as it was translucent, it showed purity. The ropes which covered the different dancer’s costumes made them eye catching, and the main dancer was covered with more ropes than the rest, this may represent more innocence as she was the virgin who will be sacrificed. The ropes of the main dancer at the end are stained with red representing the blood of the sacrifice, these visual elements helped to make the sacrifice clear and to highlight the main character.  Is costume important in all performances?

Then the sounds made by the stomping of the bodies with the floor and the breathing sounds. The stomping sounds created an aggressive environment in the dance, also it made the audience feel pain, although the dancers where protected with knee protections, the sound made and the movements by themselves made the audience feel uneasy about the pain the actors must have been enduring. The breathing sounds express how exhausted the character being represented by the dancer was. For example the virgin uses breathing sounds to express she was exhausted when the men pull her and chase her, also the breathing sounds she uses express the fear she had of being sacrificed, and the pain she feels.

Finally the music was the essential element in this performance. The musical piece by  Stravinsky had very rapid sections and also some tranquil ones. The rapid parts expressed the angst in the movements the “virgin” makes when she was attacked by the men, in the more tranquil parts intimacy between the male and female characters was represented with different movements.

The sounds and the music both complement each other to create different moods during the performance. Both create different rhythms which the body movement followed.

Connections:

In Hebras the body expresses everything, although it is not a story being told but different moments in relationships being represented, Hebras and this ballet are both telling about different situations with body movements only. The breathing sounds in Hebras are also used to express the fear and angst of the character when trapped. In Hebras costume is very simple as is in this performance and there is the presence of partial nudity.

Reflection:

To what extend does dance relate with theatre? Both are an exploration of the body, and if behind a dance there is a story being told, then what is it? Is it dance in theatre? Or is theatre in dance? In this ballet performance we found costumes, as we do in plays, also a plot, an exploration of the body, sounds, etc. Therefore, is it just the way it develops? That from the music we get to the movement in dance, and that in theatre the movement may be accompanied with music (but doesn’t develop from it)

What makes this dance different from a theatrical performance? Can some contemporary dance which tells a story be considered theatre?