a real life praying mantis on the door to the villa!
Just had the most wonderful last couple hours. mmm... hard work and good pay off.
Started with a great movement class--we tried this acrobatic move where you scoop a partner onto your back and they balance there with no hands. Then you lower your body (and therefore the partner) down until their hands touch the floor. Then they go into a handstand and flip off your back. it's the starting point for many other harder things. Yesterday we stood on a partner's back while they were on all fours. That's the starting point for learning to stand on someone's shoulders. My body has been through so many new experiences in the last couple days. I feel so aware of the way I move, how I transfer weight, what my limbs are doing, and where my balance is.
So then we had voice! Our teacher, Kevin Crawford, decided to take us on a little field trip. So we all jogged as a group through some vineyards, stopping here and there to do some stretching and humming. We eventually got to this amphitheater in a nearby park. We did singing and 5 minute improvs in groups. We all became a Commedia character, and hid somewhere in the park. Then we came out of hiding as our characters and interacted with the others. Most hilarious when passerbys noticed what we were doing, or were confused by our hunched over, overexaggered il Dottore walk. And then we jogged back and had risotto con funghi and macedonia (fruit salad) per il pranzo! Just lovely. and very sweaty.
I feel like I totally deserve the lazing around that will happen for the rest of this afternoon. Maybe I'll laze around in a park--or not, looks like its raining for the second time since I've been here. I started reading the book Sarah's Key on the train to Venezia last weekend, and would love a couple hours to sit and read. Yesterday the theater group had our most productive studio time yet. Studio is when we have 2 hours to be together without a teacher and work on whatever we want. So far it has been very individual--people have worked on acrobatic stuff or individual movement improvs. But this time we worked as an ensemble and worked on a movement piece we could perform in a piazza in town. Basically one person would say a word (like "ocean") and one at a time we go into the space and strike a pose. And one at a time people join in new poses. Then we have a couple fast movements and slow movements into other poses. And we interact with other people in poses. And then go back into neutral and leave the space. It looks so much cooler than it should. Kind of looks like an ever-changing tableau. It's frustrating working with 15 opinionated people and no leader--everyone wants their opinion heard and many people want to be in charge. but by the end, we had this collaborating thing kinda down! It was very cool.
This weekend I think I'm going to take a day trip to somewhere in Umbria--many place are 6 euros by train and about about 1.5 hours away. I'm ready for some calm. I'd also love the huge bug on my wall to leave my alone. and i have NO CLEAN CLOTHES LEFT! laundy is very high on the list of weekend priorities. and going to the fruit market. mmm!
Have a great weekend, all!
