Emilia Breadon Final Blog

1) The process form the ‘V’ stage to the ‘P’ stage of devising was a very exciting step as it was our final stage to go through. As an ensemble we gelled together more creating a stronger community. From our entrances everyone had individual emotions this varying from loneliness and wanting to interact with others to have that safe/secure feeling to characters who ranged emotions being confused, anxious and excited not wanting to communicate with others. As the piece developed, from an audience perspective more was being explained as to why we entered with these emotions and why we had an attachment/detachment to our baggage. An audience member actually said that they did not understand why I was so attached to my bag until Dan actually pulled my item out (the ballet shoes) and showing the audience with my response to his action, and this was the same with the other characters and their items being revealed.
In the ensemble work at the beginning of the piece even though we all had our different characters we all formed together as one to do repetitive movements. It was as if we were trapped in these movements and could not escape them or change our movement to break out of the ensemble, it is not till Nicola enters where she changes the dynamics and everyone quickly forms back into their characters interested and reacting to why she was entering in such distress.
Some characters in Porto changed completely with their emotions that they had in the beginning to at the end, and example of this is Zara, she entered a confident character who was quite stubborn especially in the train scene where she shows this by becoming dominant about her space on the three chairs at the back ignoring those around her. It was not until I started to interact with her that she showed her emotions deep down and that was that she was quite upset because of her past and although she seemed strong on the outside deep down she was sensitive and towards the end of the piece this is shown by us sharing a chair together. So it went from her taking all the space of three chairs to us sharing one. Also at the end of the piece we do a reprise of the ensemble movement we did at the beginning but really slow and controlled and it was interesting to see that Nicola and Jay are in the middle not moving with the ensemble but rather than us react like we did at the beginning, we don’t we continue as a community it is not until Nicolas face is revealed when we react. This shows that as a community we became used to Nicola not being part of the community but when her face is revealed we have not seen this before so initially the community was interested into seeing who she was.
"make devised work as an ensemble and place great emphasis on the personal contribution [and] individual physicality…" (Vincent Dance Theatre http://www.vincentdt.com/artistic-policy.html 2009)

2) I think the initial transition from the studio to the Arena Theatre had an impact on everyone and we had many boundaries to over come such as the different area space we had to perform in, we were all so use to the space and size of the studio even though we were told many of time through out the devising process that we will be performing in a bigger space. So when we did our first run thorough we were not using the space given correctly and by doing that run through it gave us chance to realise what we needed to improve, such as our work at the front of the stage, we were moving too far forward and it was not being seen from the audience seats. We needed to learn that when we came to floor work near the front that we needed to move it back a little, this was still a problem until the first performance, when I am not quite sure what happened but everyone kicked into gear and moved back. We also needed to make our movements in the periphery smaller and not so abstract that it draws the audience away from what was happening in the middle, again I think the atmosphere of the Arena Theatre hit everyone and this was done well. Also when we moved into the Arena we needed to be aware or the technical equipment around us as there were lanterns that were rigged up at our head and foot height so we needed to make sure we did not bang into them and know them out of the light line they were supposed to be in. this resulted in us going over the piece a few times not only for us but also for the technical team to know the lighting and sound cues, the majority of us started to feel the strain of running over the piece so much and getting tiered however I felt although I was also tiered I needed to go over the piece again so that when we did perform it I was not having to think of anything but just let my body memory do it all. It was not until we got into the Arena that I felt I really connected with the music that was given to Dan, Zara any my scene. i just let my self go to the words of the music and really attached an emotional bond to this piece of music.
3) My own growth throughout the performances was different on every one. On our first performance I found my self thinking too much about the process and thinking what came next which meant I messed up on some bits because I was thinking too much about what I was doing. On the second performance my family came and of course I was very nervous however I loved the performance and remember at the end of Porto I suddenly realise ‘oh we are at the end’ because I was enjoying it so much. This was the same with the final performance because I knew I would never get the chance to perform this piece again I really gave my all in the last performance I have the bruises to prove this, I loved every moment of it and I think this was the same for a lot of people as their emotions were sky high and as we left the stage there were a lot of tears. For my characters own emotions I felt that I left the stage every night happier than the previous performance, my character makes a really strong bond with Zara and I become much more confident in myself. Although Zara leaves the stage before me and I ended up looking for her and only finding her ear phones my character is sad to leave alone which I felt made a strong contrast to when we re entered and I found Zara which made me very happy. The strongest part of the journey for me was he ‘scene’ where Dan takes my ballet shoes out of my bag because I am a mixture of feelings, I am upset to the fact that I felt I was being controlled by Dan to give him my bag however at the same time I craved his affection but was not getting it, it is not until I look to Zara for comfort and a sense of needing help from her, when she does finally get back my ballet shoes off Dan I then know that she will be there for me and that I can trust her.
Bibliography:
Vincent Dance Theatre (2008) [online]. Sheffield: [Home Page] [cited 15th May 2009].