Download Physical Theatre - the own body

Physical Theatre - the own body
Ulrich Gottlieb
I. Introduction:
Physical Theatre start at our own body.
The field of physical theatre is linking between the elements of acting, mime and
dance. It emphasize on physical expression, in my work mostly without using any
language. The only language we use is the language of the body but as the voice
is within the body, working with sounds can be part of the experience too.
But even we are focusing to use words in a play, our whole body will be always
involved. By considering physical aspects as a part of a play certain physical
theatre techniques giving a good base for improvement in performance work.
The master class in physical theatre may inspire for new ideas in development of
a creative process. At first it start with discovering and exploring our body. With
certain exercises, better called experiments, we "tune" the body like doing it with
a music instrument. The more precise we are in our perception of the bodies
movement the more free we become to play and create with it. We give focus to
very simple movements of the body like different ways of walking, standing,
laying, moving on the floor... We combine them together, change them, explore
them and see how we can find the extraordinary in the ordinary. All the exercises
are influenced by my experiences in taiji quan, qi gong, feldenkrais.
A central theme in my work is always the aspect of focus: Focus to one point,
focus to other bodies, focus into the space. The challenge is always to find the
simplicity in your expression, coming to a clear point. Therefore a strong focus is
required.
Mime is another part of physical theatre. Mime is the art of simplicity. Mime works
through the process of reduction. We reduce until come to the point, only what is
really needed. It is one of the most minimalistic form of theatre. Mime is built
by “TOC” (stop and Go in movement) and “fixed point”. In mime we can easily
switch into different level, going quite surreal or very absurd, without using a lot
technical requirements to make everything real. With the body we can change
immediately between different characters or scenes like a a cut in a movie (in
mime we use a lot of film technics: close up, slow-motion, fast motion, cut,etc.
II. Exercises / Experiments (selection):
Waterplants or living sculptures under water.
There are two groups. The first group goes into the role of a waterplant or living
sculpture under water. The second group are visitors who allowed to touch the
living sculptures. Each living sculpture have one visitor. The visitor gives a
slightly push with a finger tip and the living sculpture starts to move, following the
energy coming from the gentle push. The living sculpture takes time to observe
where the energy is coming from and which direction the energy goes through
the body. The body just follows than and come back in the center, back into the
start standing position. Important and interesting is the quality of the movement.
It come and goes in a very fine transition of observing and moving.
During the process of giving impulses by touching with the finger tip, the whole
body can be explored in a very gentle and relaxing way. Impulses can be given
at different parts of the body (shoulders, armes, knees, head, back, chess...) and
also from different directions. We work the whole body through all angles.The
image of a soft resistance when you move inside water during each movement
increases relaxation.
Further there will be a change as the visitors start to move between the living
sculptures, like visitors in an exibithtion where it is allowed to touch the art (living)
sculptures. The quality or variety of the impulses given by the visitors will be
different again.
Mind the gap / find the gap
It is a good warming up exercise where awareness into the space get started.
All performers walking in the space. The structure is walking in circles, elipses,
loops… As many perfomers moving in same time within the space, everybody
have to find a gap to continue moving. There will be always a gap between may
two other performers. The perfomers mind this gaps and move in between to
continue the way of your circle, loop…
1st round is forward
2nd round goes backward
Golden chair or the Battle at the Buffet.
One Group start at the end of the space/room/stage with the back to the center of
the space/room/stage. May be they stay all together in a very small lift where
they going up to have a dinner with a buffet. They arriving, seeing the buffet and
now trying to to be the first who is there to get the best bite. Everything is
possible, only one rule: everything goes in slowmotion.
One version as described is with an imaginary thing like a buffet in a high class
restaurant or a box in a departmentstore where they have sales 80% discount.
The second version is with a real object like a chair (I call it "golden chair") or a
broom.
The improvisation become more interesting when on the way between the lift in
the back and the buffet in the center there is a hindrance like a cold shower wall,
hot air wall, falling ice cubes or a wall out of thorns. There will be immediately a
change or transformation in the movement and physical expression combined
with an emotion.
Another interesting part is that two very different things are coming together: The
movement is slowmotion but the feeling or intension is actually quick like greed,
jellousy, etc. For the performers has to be find a way how to control "feel" the
movement and in same time develope the required emotion. etc.
This kind of improvisation exercise leads the performer quite immediately into
more clear and visible expressions where the whole body is involved.
Zi Ran - Interrelation
According to the princip of the flow, "Zi Ran" is a technique, useful as a basic in
physical theatre to choreograph or developing images or explore material for a
story. This technique combines improvisation and spacious awarness. It is a
moving network, everybody choose his own way to move (walk, run, stop, stand,
sit, falling, pick up somebody, close contact , distance contact...) in the space.
Connections between each other are rising. It does not happen by a constructed
plan or fixed ideas. It just comes out from a moment. I like to call this moments
"impermament meetings". This "meetings" we use for creating a situation or
relation. It can stay together for a while or very short, everything is possible.
There is connections between people and further connections between people
and all sorts of objects. Moments, situations, upcoming images and ideas are
changing rapidly. Somtimes we can keep going and repeating with one
movement or we keep changing quite quick if we like though, similar to a
caleidoscope or domino effect. Other exercise elements will be also included like
stop & go, waterplants, mind the gap…
A second step is involving objects into the improvisation. Objects like
paperboxes, sticks, waterbottles, balloons, stones, chairs… The objects within
the dynamic of the flow should become part of the movement: giving, taking,
bringing them alive as a partner you are playing with. Interesting is also the
quality of the objects: light, heavy, soft, fixed, hard, flexible.. The quality of the
object should be included in the movement of the performer. When somebody
gives a object to the next performer, this performer should try to take it with he
flow of the object. How it comes to me, how I take it, where the energy flow of the
arriving object is going. It is very similar to the waterplant exercise: Feeling of
energy flow.
Near the technique and the fun part, the exercise discovers and explores also a
lot of social aspects. If everybody is in tune with the flow, awareness is
increasing through supporting each other. If awareness increases, presence
increases.
…its not important about the performer only. Its more important the space
between the two performers. There the relation is happen. Using the space
mindful is about relations… connect-disconnect opens up the mind for the space.
You create a spontanious structure in the space. The structure is dynamic and
therefore always changing. Its pure movement. Out of this movement the feeling
or a kind of emotion will follow. Don’t think about it too much. Let it go. Create the
story out of your movement in the space, connect the space, connect the
performers in the space, create a net of relations, see whats happen…
(excerpt from notes, Srinakarinwiroth University, Bangkok 2004)
The improvisation with a strong performance character is like a journey where we
don’t know where we will arrive, where the trip goes. A great chance for
surprises!
The improvisaton is mostly supported with a vast range of music. Usally I work
with classical music (Mozart, Bach…), minimal music (Steve Reich, Phillip
Glass…), drum n bass music (Kruder & Dorfmeister…), house music, jazz music
(Miles Davis…), ambient music (Zen Savauge, Sverfe…), Soundscapes (Rain,
Waves, Creeks, Places, Cicades…) and Silence!
According to the situation one improvisation round can be 30 min to 60 min.
Recently I done a performance with a group of young students in Vienna/ Austria,
where in the beginning I planed to do a slightly fixed choreographed show but the
students, really into improvisation, ask me to keep it as a pure improvisation. I
just gave than a starting and ending point and in between everything happen by
full improvisation in movement, in contact and with one little suitcase as a object.
The effect was very interesting as a lot of short stories appeared within the
improvisation and all together it developed a choerography where the audience
can't read how it was designed. This kept the audience obviously in a certain
fascination. They tried to figure out how the choreography works. No one step
was fixed except how to start and how to finish. The performance named:
"Weltmaschine" (world machine).
The Chinese Term zi ran literally means “self-so”, that which happens according to the rules of its
own nature, a process of growth rather than external manipulation. A tree grows “zi ran”; waves
occur “zi ran”; a child grows and breathes “zi ran”. The word “nature” in Chinese is “da zi ran” “the
great self-so” or “the great spontaneity”.
(The Way of Qi Gong, S. 128)
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