Workshops 5

So I'm really excited for this performance we are working on. There is now a purpose to everything we do which makes it easier to learn the moves. Also with thinking of new scenes that aren't really stereotypical mime actions we learn things we might have never done. I love our ideas because they feel really original- not deadly, yes holy. We are performing common rituals in our society but we are acknowledging that they are rituals.  We are miming them and on top of that we juxtapose strong images dead and marriage for example and then there are moods happiness to anger. It's hard to explain.

Workshops 4

Miming today was more interesting than before because we began to "think more like a mime." We started talking about our ideas for our final project performance. This is like writing a play but the main consideration was how the ideas would incorporate into good scenes for mimes. In this way we became real mimes because mimes have to think of things they want to say not just perform little tricks and unconnected routines.

Workshops 3

So today we did another character: robots and scene: fighting.
We spent most of the time on the robot which is actually not as hard as I thought it would be. Which is how I feel with a lot of what we are learning at this point. I really thought it would be harder to grasp a lot of it. I guess there are just basic things that anyone can do. Things that any human body can do. However, one thing that was really hard was walking with one foot by sliding in and out, so I'm guessing there is a lot more that will be so much harder- which explains why people have professions in mime.
The Robot overall was really fun and there is a lot one can do with it with simple practice. It's easier every movement has to be separated into different single movements. This can be difficult to keep still and keep track of things but it is much more straightforward in thinking.
After a while being a robot gets tiring and you want to just be human again. Then there are fighting scenes. We only got to the basic principle that someone makes and action but the most crucial part the is other persons reaction. In fact, it is this the victim who holds the most performance- the funner part because he or she can make the funnier faces.

Sketching Positions

It's fun and I like seeing them improve

 

Workshops 2- First Day of Mime

Today was pretty cool. I was amazed at the fact that we were able to learn so many mime movements in such a short time and actually get them to look like something. We worked mainly on creating a scene. In this way we connected acting and the theatre into miming to an incredible extent. Miming requires acting and acting requires miming. In miming we have to imagine an invisible world and acting there is an invisible world but the audience doesn't really see it through movement but rather through the words and the way things are acted. What I like about miming is that there is a sense of a definite way to do things which in a way makes things easier to learn quickly. If the movement cannot be determined by the audience then it is not being done right. Of course the challenge is to do more interesting and in some cases funnier things. One of the main things we got from today's lesson was that most of physical comedy and the miming performance is done with the face. This concept is already known to me in the form of acting by keeping one's body and face towards the audience and from singing in that the face and mouth always has to be facing the audience in order to resonate better. All in all, I am excited to learn more because we did so much on the first day I wonder what Gregg has in store for the next two weeks!

Workshops 1

Gregg Goldston
-Born in 1956 in L.A.
-Began to study mime at 18 with Richmond Shepard- mime, painter, actor, comedian, director who had operated five small theaters in Los Angeles at the time of Goldston
-Has also studied with Moni Yakim from Israel, Stefan Niedzialkowski- Poland and Marcel Marceau.
-Started a summer program for miming in 1980- "The Goldston & Johnson School for Mimes" in NYC
-Toured a solo "One Mime Show" across the United States, Taiwan, Korea and Poland as well as in Hong Kong and Paris
-Notably, performed with Marcel Marceau as his sign holder "Assistant to Marcel Marceau" in Marceau's U.S. Tours in 2000-2002

-Later in 2004, performed in Marceau's company "Nouvelle Compagnie de Marceau" in Boston
-Received two N.E.A. choreography fellowships- National Endowment for the Arts offers significant grants to choreographers with categories such as "American Masterpieces: Dance" and "Access to Artistic Excellence."
-Made appearances on The Daily Show, Law & Order & various televison commercials.
-Coached comedians, ballet & modern dancers, film actors including Anne Hathaway for "Ella Enchanted"
-Currently writing a book on mime choreography, creating a 7-tape video series on mime and physical comedy, teaching mime classes at his NYC "Studio for Mime & Comedy" and coming in at Herricks High School Tuesdays and Fridays for the next 3 weeks in February.

I am very excited. This guy seems so accomplished and I am anxious to work with him in addition to meeting him and his personality. I want to understand his passion, skill and motivation. Miming will not only be a cool thing to learn to do but from what I already know about it, it will help me become more aware of my body and its positions. 

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is STAC live and I'm really excited and hopeful for the outcome. Whatever happens I'm really proud of everything I was part of organizing as well as everything else that STAC worked on. I am most anxious for my and Kalli's script of the foreigner scene. Even though I'm just a newbie I don't feel like one at all.