In today’s session we focused on partner work, we started this by doing a simple counter balance. This was good as it helped us to learn to trust our dance partner, it also helped us improve our control as we had to control our descent and our core. I found this good as it helped me sit lower down than I normally would. The balance consisted of us locking our arms leaning back and lowering down slowly; to improve I could get down lower in this task.
Then we played a game called hit the deck, this involved us being split into two teams and taking it in turns to run across the room go into plank and roll back with good technique, so this meant rolling from our hands and feet and recovering the position every time. When we reach the halfway point, the next person must run and jump over you and then do the same as the person before. This was good as it worked both on our body work and technique, but it also helped us to bond as a course.
We then got back into pairs and made a small phrase of dance known as a motif that included a jump, a balance, a roll, a lift and a run. This helped us to engage a creative side into our learning and made us think of different ways to transition into the next movement. Our motif was good however to improve upon it we could have done a bit more rehearsal on it.
The final thing we then did was slightly more acting based in our case, we were told to grab a prop from around the room and create a scene in which you used the prop in a way that is different to its actual use, we must think about characterisation, storytelling and expressions; in my case I decided to use my rolled up yoga mat as a camera in a fashion camera shoot this was good as it was a unique way to use the prop. To improve next time, I need to use a diverse variety of uses instead of just one.
Harrison's Performing arts blog 