Diary entry, Company 1, New Adventures and Sadler's Wells Community Group, Chantal Pierre-Packer

Summing Up The Parts- Week 4- The Weekend Day 1

The sun was shining, the weather was sweet. It made us wanna move, our dancin’ feet, yeah! What a beautiful, warm and bright May morning! Another blessed day and we got to spend it rehearsing at Saddlers Wells! Can I find any more reasons for more exclamation marks? Yes, just for the sake of it and to emphasise on paper/virtual visual methods how fun the day was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were in the large studio with a mirrored wall and windows at the top of 2 walls either side. It was bright and fresh. We went through the walking phrase, which goes into the group phrase. The 4 groups do their routines at different times in the various places we are scattered about. It looks great. There is a movement where a group crouch down and do an action like climbing a rope and then hop over to the side. It is so interesting to watch and is another favourite part of mine.
Rachel was telling us how things would be linking and what would be happening for each transition. There was a mention of a chaos phrase. Exciting! We went through these a few times and Rachel filmed it. The lighting designer came in to watch so he could know how to light us on stage. It is all getting even more real. We know and have always known that we will be performing on the main stage, but the full impact was not realised until today I think, for me anyway. We are really going to be able to say we performed at Saddlers Wells! Us! Yes! Ahhhhhh! (Happy scream, not scared/worried/other uncertain feeling).
We rehearsed the group Superhero phrase (which is super). We went over our workspace phrases where 2 groups are a typewriter then a person in a chair. The other group does a beautiful sequence in a diaganol using legs as levers. Once again, it looks great! The extended body phrase was rehearsed. It is the one where we become the extended head and arms of Mugee (I may have misspelled your name, sorry hun). We spread more and lean in more and we were able to watch ourselves in the mirror. All together now- it looks great!
Rachel is a great choreographer and is open and friendly and gives good direction. She makes suggestions or gives us a new way to do or emphasise something and immediately it is better. Rachel told us to have more levels on the superhero phrase. We needed to get lower on the low points and really stretch and extend the others. It made a huge difference. We went through the whole piece, as best as we could, without the transitions in between. The puzzle has been put together. The lock has its key. The beans have found the bread and we nearly have our cake. It is baking and shall be ready soon. Yummy.
Lunch time. The day was hot and sunny. Some of us went to the supermarket, others to the park and others stayed in the café at Saddlers Wells. London is so fun. Everywhere you go there is something interesting to do or see. There were lots of people in fancy dress walking around Angel. Such fun. After lunch, we were in a different studio. This one was a bit smaller but it had mirrors. Yay!
We got into our pairs for a part we had started to work on which involves a little lift and a twist. We start this standing in a dance stance (rhyming fun), holding each others hands out to the side with one around the waist and the other persons’ hand on the others’ shoulder. We had to develop these and come up with more to follow on. Myself and Mugee had another life and spin and a move from a trust game, amongst others. Once these were completed, they were linked into the whole piece. We had a performance of each pairs’ routines. 2 pairs went at a time and repeated it so we could see each one the whole way through. It was lovelt to watch what people had choreographed and how diverse they were. We each said our superhero names too which influenced how we moved and the relationship with our partners.
The piece was rehearsed from the start, adding in the various pieces along the way so that we could see how it all fit together. There was a part where we went through from start to finish where it seemed we had a collective realisation that we actually now have our whole routine. Smiles, shouts of joy and a healthy applause from us all followed this. We have the cake! It just needs to be tightened up now. Time to add the icing and make it even prettier.
5pm came so quickly. Time to go after a great day of fun in the filtered sun. I think we all felt very happy and satisfied at the end of the day. See you tomorrow morning and just for good measure….!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o)

Summing Up The Parts- Week 4- The Weekend Day 2

Good morning everyone 10am on a Sunday! Another blessed and beautiful sunny morning. How good is that! The keys were found to the Lillian Baylis studio and we went in. No mirrors, but it is a proper stage with lights, wings and seating. Rachel’s warm-up was very relaxing and got us to focus and fully be in the room mentally and physically. We closed our eyes and made small controlled circles with our bodies. After the warm-up, Rachel explained more anout the stage and where to stands in the wings (the spaces on either side of the stage hidden by the curtains), where performers wait before they enter the stage.
We practiced our workspace phrases. Nerves may have been getting to us a bit as things went a bit wrong and timings were out. This all was remedied though. No worries. Afterwards, we practiced these pieces more and worked on the timings from the start through to the end.
Lunchtime! Time to get our eat on. Most of us ended up in the park opposite and we all sat together chatting. It had gotten a bit nippy by then so we left a bit early to get back into the nice warm building. A dressmaker/costumier came in to see us and a photographer also, before lunch, so some people were being measured and having their photos taken for the programme during lunch. We were in the small studio with mirrors. The curtains had been pulled over the mirrored wall so Ian pulled them back in a lovely dramatic fashion. We have lots of nice moments like this, which is great to see. Everyone is getting to know each other and talking more.
We only had an hour left so lots had to be done. We went through our chaos phrases and the superhero phrase. More of us got measured for costumes. We are going to be in suits with ties and wearing glasses (without lenses). It is going to look super! Some people were taking pictures and videos of their phrases and other parts. It was nice to watch it back. It let us see how important every move we make is, how we stand and our facial expressions too. I need to practice! Rachel went round to each pair to add anything or tighten timings etc. To end, we went through the whole piece once more. We did run out of music but that’s ok and other things will be tweaked also.
Nearly 3pm and the rest of us went with the photographer to get our pictures taken by a big white wall in the canteen area Some ladies put on make-up and got ready for their photos, the rest of us went as we were. Someone joked that the photos would probably be tiny so the make-up would not be seen anyway. Hometime for most while others stayed to rehearse another piece in the show. Out in the street it was still lovely. See you on Tuesday Saddlers Wells.

Summing Up The Parts- Week 5

Lillian Baylis studio today. We have a fun warm-up with Rachel. We walk around saying hello to each other as we lean back and take each others’ weight. Today, we all explore silly voices, most with a high and ladylike/gentlemanly elongated “hellooooo”. Very warm after this warm-up: time for a drink of water. Rachel tells us that today we will be tidying everything up. Some people forget where they are or have not gotten into the zone yet and panic that we’re doing some sort of cleaning of the theatre! Nope, it’s tidying up the piece everyone, to make it succinct and look even better. Relax.
We go through from the top and stop after the journeys. Rachel gives us notes about how to stand and walk. We should behave like the audience is all around us and we have eyes in our backs. This makes us all walk tall and proud and keeps our focus. Paul has a strong starting walk with a good incentive. We all watch him and see the difference it makes. With the notes in our heads, we go through it again. Rachel says it is so much more improved already.
We keep going through it up to certain sections and Rachel gives us notes as we go along. In our 4 different groups, we go over the phrases again. Rachel helps each group make the movement look as good as it should. In our group, we need to focus our eyes more and know where we are looking. Look to the fingers as we stretch, follow the hand round as we spin, look into our hands as we drop the water then look out and insure there is a definite stop to our arms as we drop them. No looking down at our feet when we skip as the energy is lost. We need to look up and out and have some bounce in our skips. The lifting of our imaginary object needs to show that we have a weight that we are lifting up and over. We incorporated all this and it looks splendid indeed.
In another part where 2 groups are typewriters, Rachel is able to shave off 8 counts so we do things a bit quicker and once again it looks splendid. We walk through the chaos phrase where we are all in partners and get the counts right in our heads and work out where everyone joins the group superhero phrase. Time for a little ‘road trip’. We get led through some doors and out onto….the Saddlers Wells main stage! It is great to step out onto it and see the size of it all. It looks a lot bigger than the Lillian Baylis. People worry that they will not be able to get across the whole stage in the same way. Others worry about the amount of people in the audience. So many thoughts. Some of us just smile and feel happy at the thought of performing in a professional production. It is real. This is happening and all of our family and friends will really be out there in the seats watching and supporting us as we perform the beautiful dance in suits. Yay! If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands (clap clap, clap, clap, applause, encore, bravo. Oops, daydream!).
Back to the studio for the last half an hour. We go through it from the top but it goes a bit awry at the end. Rachel tells us that 2 groups started a bit late. Repeat. All find and dandy. People are really getting nervous and anxious now, worrying and doubting their abilities. Don’t worry folks. You all know whay you are doing and have been doing well all this time. “Things can only get better…” Just believe in yourselves.

Diary Entry - Day 4, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Chantal Pierre-Packer, Tuesday 26th April 2011

Today started with a group circle sitting on the floor discussing the show. We talked about another part of the show and a catch-up on any other exciting things people may have done over the bank holiday weekend.

We had a lovely warm-up stretching our heads and necks then our whole bodies- the warm-ups Rachel does are like beautiful mini dances. It left me feeling relaxed and ready to get creative.

We were in a smaller studio today so it was time to get cosy and comfortable with each other. We walked around the space and then when Rachel said “freeze”, we had to find a partner and explore weight counterbalance with each other, either pulling or pushing using each others’ bodies. We did this for a while then got into pairs. We did an exercise where one person was the monkey and the other was the tree. The tree had to stay firm and sturdy whilst the monkey had to use their body weight to try to unbalance them (or maybe we were meant to be counterbalancing again?). A lot of us were being polite, not wanting to put our weight on the other person. It was a bit hard as we were getting into quite close contact so this was explored with some hesitation.

We found new partners and did some more. It was here where we found out how much our bodies could do and what our limits were; ‘Yeah, no worries, I can easily bend over backwards as you take my weight on your back and go down to the floor’. Oh! No! No, actually, I can’t. Ow!

Rachel talked about a film she had watched and how to use the movements of the characters to create a piece. Rachel had choreographed a section and taught it to us. Everyday movements were exaggerated and crafted into moves more akin to dance. Eg. putting on a glove brought the whole body up and through as we stretched to put the glove on from the fingers all the way to the shoulder. We learnt each part and then kept putting it all together until we had learnt the whole phrase (I think that is the term to use. Look at us, dancers in the making!). We practiced this a few times and then had a break.

After the break, Rachel got us into groups of 4 or 5 and we were asked to think of someone at work, any kind of work, and how we could show this visually as a group. We chose someone typing on an old style typewriter, with the paper that gets fed into it. Two of us were the paper, two were the keys and one was the person typing. We had a show of all the groups’ pieces. They were all very different and interesting and lovely.

It was then back into the bird/arrow movement where we are the extended head and arms of the leader at the front. Rachel guided the leader on how to move and how we should move with her. It was filmed and then we saw how it looked. Everything seems so fluid! It is going to be a beautiful piece.

We then recapped the journeys where people met along the way and what the actions people had created were. 3 of us had not had any meetings so we practiced the sequence Rachel had taught us earlier.

New partners again and Rachel showed us a single partner move with a little hop around as we hold hands with each other like when doing the Tango perhaps. Time had flown by again and it was time to go. Rachel discussed rehearsals to come and the weekend rehearsals coming up. It had been another lovely rehearsal and the only trace of anything contrary to this was the few specs of blood from someone who had got cut by something sharp sticking out of the floor. First Aid! (Do not worry. He was ok and all it needed was a plaster).

Photos: Gigi Giannella

Diary Entry - Day 5, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Chantal Pierre-Packer, Tuesday 3rd May 2011

Rehearsal started today with another lovely calming and dance inspired warm-up by Rachel. We are all more familiar with the moves now so we are more confident and able to let ourselves go a little further.

We re-cap our journeys from the top (yes, I’m learning more terms as the weeks go by!). All in our respective places, groups 1-4 start on their specific counts in the music. We go through these a few times and people re-cap their ‘encounters’ too. Rachel tells us that we will be doing this first part to a different piece of music that will have preceded our group. We perform the journeys to this piece and there is a moment when we all freeze as the music stops. Animation and other things will be happening here. Some people are moving in the silence, some move when our piece of music starts and the remainder continue their journeys after 8 counts.

This section is rehearsed a few times. The rehearsal room is large with a mirrored wall on one side and windows at the top all along two opposite sides. The light is pouring in. It is a beautiful, bright evening and we are all in a fantastic mood it seems, which makes it even better.

The group phrases are then needed so we get into our groups and Rachel tells us it will only be for two 8’s. We need to choose the most distinctive moves from all those we had and work on this together. Our group goes through it but it looks and feels less fluid. Rachel helps us and cuts the arm movements down and makes the spin longer (when you see it you will know what I mean). It immediately flows and is much easier to do!

Another surprise! For this section we will not be in our groups, as in close proximity to each other, but spread out in the space where we are at the end of our journeys. We will have to do these on our own. This is ok as we can still see each other. We do all indulge in a mini panic when we are told this but this is allayed when we actually do it and see how simple it is and how nice it looks.

The whole piece so far is done from the top. We did it! We have a section of the whole. Our cake is looking juicier week by week. (The whole piece is the cake. So far we have finished a slice of cake. The completed piece will be the finished cake with icing on top. Ok? Analogy explanation covered).

There is a break but everyone is so enthusiastic that most keep working through it. We then realise that we are actually tired and actually need to sit down and have a drink so crash out on the floor for a bit.

The superhero film phrase is then upon us. We re-cap the moves and counts we learned last week. The dynamic is lovely to see and there are levels and various speeds of movement. This is one of my favourite parts. Finally, the ‘workstation’ phrase is needed. We get back into those groups. Ours is the man typing on the typewriter remember? These are rehearsed a few times. Rachel puts us with another group and we have to teach them our piece. It goes well. We laugh, direct, watch and learn. Et voila, c’est bien. C’est vraiment! (Sort of).

Time is up. It has gone so quickly once more. We discuss the rehearsals for this weekend (10am – 5pm on Saturday and 10am – 3pm on Sunday). We have a fun weekend ahead. We take some flyers of our show to give to friends and family and have to rush getting changed as the stage door is closing! 4 weeks to go!

Photos: Gigi Giannella

Diary Entry - Day 3, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Chantal Pierre-Packer, Tuesday 19th April 2011

After we had warmed up, we did an exercise that involved movements akin to whispers. There would be a person at the front of the clump that we got into. That person was the leader. They had to move and the rest of us would follow. There was a ripple effect as the action was copied from the front until the message got through to those at the back.  It was like a whisper as the message was never quite the same as when it started but as similar enough (mostly).

To develop this, we then had a leader and 3 strands to them. One group was at a diagonal holding onto the right arm of the person in front. The other group were the same on the left arm.  The third group were holding each other’s heads. We had become a giant head and two arms. The leader then moved again to the music and we moved with them, each person being guided by the person in front of them.

We examined this more in two smaller groups. One person had a beautiful idea of moving her arms up and down alternatively. As one set of us went up with her left arm, the others were going down with her right arm, like a wave. We watched each other’s groups and discussed them. It worked well when the leader moved slowly so it could be seen well and the action could be completed within the group.

It was then back to our journeys from last week. We had some time to recollect them and then walk them out with the music. We had much more space so things changed a little and encounters changed. Rachel asked us to see who we met on our journeys. Most people found someone and Rachel got them to work on a pose or action to hole for a certain number of counts. Three of us had not met anyone; we had solitary journeys. We came together and enjoyed watching the whole thing and helping others if needed. It was nice to see such a variety of people moving in different ways, darting and meandering across the space. It was starting to look quite interesting.

We worked on these for a while and then got back into the groups for the routines we had started practicing. It was hard to remember what we had done but we managed to recall them all between us.

We did the routine in our group but it did not seem to flow as well as it had initially. Rachel came and helped us out. She got us into a line, one behind the other, and gave us direction on how we could split and go in different directions. It looked really nice after that!

We were all getting deep into our routines but…we ran out of time! 2 ½ hours had flown by. The superheroes had not been called upon today but who know for the future! Keep those costumes at the ready Super X, Y, Z.

Some of us did some vox pox at the end. What did you do in your group today? Why did you want to be part of this project? and What do you think it will look like in the end? Well, we Whispered for the Opportunity to be in something Wondrous! W.O.W.

Exactly!

Photos: Gigi Giannella

Diary Entry - Day 2, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Chantal Pierre-Packer, Tuesday 12th April 2011

A different studio to rehearse in today. Lots of stretching and milling around before we start. The studio has mirrored walls on three sides- cue sheepish averted eyes to the floor or towards the blank wall. Meet some new people.

Rachel leads us in a warm-up of nice extended and contracted movements and a routine that ups tempo and is fun to remember. We get in a circle and play a getting-to-know-you game where we say our names and say something about ourselves, true or false, whilst carrying out an action/movement. Oh no! Multitasking! Deep breaths. It is great to see what everyone chooses to say and do. One that stands out is a woman who is a wife, mother and a friend. She actions the many hats she wears and the stresses she undergoes or manages.

Rachel tells us about the music we will be using for the piece and we have a listen to it. Then we discuss how it made us feel and the things that come to mind. There are lots of travelling happy times, like a wonderful road trip somewhere with friends.

We then think about journeys we make in our daily lives and map out our journeys in the space. Many journeys meet, pass by each other or even collide. When we are not concentrating on our own journeys, it is nice to look up and see the movement about the room, like a polite and mannerly busy day on a London street. “Afer you”, “No, after you”, “Oh, how kind”, and the like.

To expand on this, we are given a number 1-4. We are asked to start our journeys in a cascade after a certain amount of counts in the music for each group. Any confusion and uncertainty throughout is understandable and humorous to watch. We all try to remember counts, remember our journeys and also to look up so as not to bump into each other!

We were asked to think of two character traits last week and these were then utilised for the next task. We devise four movements each in our groups then learn each other’s movements. 20 movements to learn! Gasp, shock and horror. No worries, lets just go for it. All the movements are very different and individual to each person. You start to see more about them through this. Our group managed to learn 10 moves and put them together in some sort of flowing piece. When it comes to performing it however, we freeze at the end and have a little conversation about what comes next. Never mind the audience watching, lets have some tea while we’re at it. All good fun and just a starting point for greater things to come of course.

End of the session and homework for next week. Superheroes and characters. Thoughts of telephone boxes, tights and short shorts spring to mind. Whoosh. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s….it’s….Well, I don’t know yet but I will definitely have a super superhero name by next week anyway.

Photos: Gigi Giannella

Diary Entry - Day 1, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Chantal Pierre-Packer, Tuesday 5th April 2011

We all arrived and entered the rehearsal space, with a wall of mirrors at one end; just right for seeing everyone’s scared/nervous/excited faces surreptitiously. All dressed in appropriately comfortable clothing, we saw familiar faces and new faces and waited for what lay ahead. Yemisi, Jane, Betsy and Rachel introduced themselves and hinted at what fun things we would be doing.

We got going with some movement exercises, walking around with interjections of commands to “stretch, spread, say hello, change direction and freeze”. I used the ‘hello’s’ to explore different funny voices. We did name games for memory and explored space and intimacy. Paper was given out and we drew squiggles with our eyes closed. Then we passed these on to the next person for them to create a picture out of.

A good group task was to create a group drawing of a cityscape, real or imagined. The catch was that it had to be done in silence. Our group created a nice, pleasant city scene, which took a macabre twist when gravestones and dead sheep were introduced. It was said by one that life is basically not all roses and we need to remember that and another member of the group had had a bad day. Not in that happy place yet eh! Our city did have a giant watching over the little people below too though.

Yemisi asked us to think of London and we did a quick round of writing for two minutes about ‘The sound, smell and taste of London’ and ‘What London dreams of’. We then shared two lines from each and which turned into a lovely London poem.

After a break, we re-convened and got into 2’s and 3’s and thought about lines from the poem. We then had to devise three stills of three things we remembered from this. Lots of interesting shapes were going on all around. It was like a live art piece and looked lovely. Photographs, videos and mental notes were taken; the whole process was documented. The stills developed into movements followed by a showcase (insert here more nervous faces when asked to show these to the group!).

Pencils at the ready again. More drawing. We sketched each other’s silhouettes from the three poses we had come up with. There was then a mini viewing of these, in the Sum of Parts impromptu art gallery on the floor.

Movement, introductions, drawing with your eyes closed, drawing with your mouths closed and moving without inhibition. This was a fun and creative way to spend 2 hours on a Tuesday evening. See you next week for more!

Photos: Gigi Giannella

Diary Entry - Day 3, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Roberta Cutolo, Tuesday 19th April 2011

Session 3 is one to remember…

We rehearse in the Lilian Baylis Studio and the size of the stage itself is immediately quite overwhelming for all of us I guess. Rachel leads the session.

Naturally there are more movements to come…We like to be encouraged to do that, Rachel is very open and leads us with a very gentle nevertheless creatively assertive approach. The warm up exercises seem more and more to be aiming at making us feel the space while letting our bodies flow.

We learn a fairly challenging group movement called ‘clamping’… it’s visually very effective and it requires a lot of sensitive concentration as it implies moving as a group while receiving and sharing movement information all at once in order to achieve the clamping effect. Rachel seems to be quite inspired by our attempts although the atmosphere feels at times generally quite funny due to the unusual nature of this task. But as everybody is relaxed rather than embarrassed it really seems like we all wish to share our best skills…Phewww...we seem to be doing a good job!!!

The last part of our session takes us back to the previous week and our group work, this time we work primarily with the music while focusing more and more on the rhythm making ‘in-movement relationships’ with any of the others we accidentally cross paths with/meet on our ‘big familiar journey within our micro space’.

Sadly it is time to go, again!!!. The session closes with 3 pairs of us delivering mini-vox pops into a flip camera, it’s all good and everybody seems proactive and committed – but, now we all know the pressure is on: if anyone doesn't turn up to next week's rehearsal they won't be in the final show!!

Let’s all keep the hard work going, the reward will be a pretty joyful experience for both the body and the mind. 

Diary Entry - Day 2, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Roberta Cutolo, Tuesday 12th April 2011

This session is run by Rachel only so that we can become familiar with moving our bodies around.

After the warm up session we are given the task of imagining, replicating and reproducing with movements from a journey we are familiar with within a micro space.

We do this without music at first in order to learn the timing sequence of each group and consequently we practice it to the sound of music.

In this session we also have the chance to listen to ‘October Daze’ the Nitin Sawhney piece we’ll be working on for our show on 31st May (it’s about 4 min long).

To our surprise time goes always pretty fast and in fact after a quick break we work in groups of 5 with the aim of creating a small ‘performance’ incorporating traits of our characters to be presented to the audience as a flowing conversation in movement among the group members.

Clearly it is a very creative and inspiring moment as we all have to think of our personality traits, translate them into movements and potentially visualize them as possible parts for the final show.

Our task for the following week is to reflect on a superhero, our superhero…better, us as a superhero… Session ends...

Diary Entry - Day 1, New Adventures & Sadler's Wells Community Group, Roberta Cutolo, Tuesday 5th April 2011

We are a group of 20, all quite comfortable and ready to be surprised, a bit shy in our own way but with a general feeling that it's good to be here. The atmosphere is immediately open, Betsy, Yemisi and Rachel lead the workshops…

Rachel free flow choreographer proposes some warm up exercises where we learn new waves of body expressive terminology.

Betsy introduces and leads a free drawing timed experience which kept us all focused but still very relaxed. 

With Yem we have to visualize smells and sounds and thoughts about London to read them to each other later, all around in a circle, creating a ‘sum of parts’ …

We close the session with instructions and tasks for the following week with the promise from all of us of remaining committed to the project till the end.