The week has been turned upside down in so many ways!
(Me and one of my best class mates Nataly, from Spain)
Random..............
First of all, I should just let you know, that I am thinking a lot about all of you. And you are with me every day; you're all hanging on my wall.
(I think it looks pretty awesome..!)
It shouldn't have taken me so long to post pictures of my room! ;)
On the bed hangs the heart drawing from Catarina, a picture of the fantasy-looking castle in Prague and a picture of Farmor and Farfar.
Below is a picture of my desk with all the usual notifications, lyrics or inspirational words hanging all over.
The plant was given to me from my neighbor, Jessica :)
Here I am (satisfied) in front of my super cool bathroom door that I've covered with musical theatre pictures :D
Look how fancy a student I am, now with all this new clothing!
(And this picture is even a week old
- meaning that I have about twice as many t'shirts now!)
This is how it went!
I don't even know where to start.
This week has been full of challenge, fun, excitement and exhaustion.
The best things were all the unexpected things, and those were definitely the ones there were most of!
Meisner is definitely one of my favourite classes. The acting is so intense, and you see new things every day.
The meisner acting technique is pretty new - but all drama schools have started teaching it, and all the big actor's take a step back to take classes in Meisner, because it's 'the thing'. Something so many techniques haven't had before, Meisner is the right way to discover your greatest acting skills - everyone says that.
- The exercises seem silly, and they are very simple, but once you see the effect, it does magic and surprising things!
Two people sit opposite each other. They both have to repeat exactly what the other person says. One person starts of by commenting on something about the other person. Like "You have a grey shirt on", the other person repeats "I have a grey shirt on". And they keep repeating. But what happens underneath the lines of the superficial words, you will notice that saying the line or hearing the line will affect the two people in their own way.
So maybe starting off by commenting on a grey shirt is a boring subject - okay, say that may be the only feelings that lie between the lines. Unless the other person looks confused, because her shirt isn't grey or maybe she later on gets annoyed at the other person commenting on her wear.
And it can develop very slowly or very fast. But the magical thing is that seeing it from the outside, not once will the repetition be equal to another.
And if the first person started off by saying, "You look shy", the emotions might just start somewhere else. Because the second person has to repeat the words "I look shy". Maybe she's confused, because she really sees herself as being confident, but maybe she finds herself admitting that she's in fact very shy - which can be hurtful and very vulnerable to have to do in front of a class.
But this is what we learn in Meisner. We look for the truth. The truth in every situation.
We learn that words have NO importance.
You can say I love you, and really mean something else. But you can look at someone and say "Don't go", when you really say I love you. We can't hide behind words and words alone, aren't enough! Saying "I love you" is not enough, because there is so much story underneath. That's why we need to set up a wedding and do everything to SHOW and ACT it. To prove that the story underneath the words is true.
The truth is not what we say, but what we feel.
- And converting this to acting a scene, we must know our character's language, and what their true stories are behind all the words. When we are acting, we need to know 'how does my character feel when she falls in love'. That's what people pay $100 to see. If it was all about the words, people might as well just read the plays at home.
But creating live characters is what creates the magic.
Meisner class is also about letting go of that control we have of our words. We want to be right and sound clever all the time, no one says their thoughts aloud. But controlling this locks away all the treasures in us.
Shakespeare will be some amazing classes! We have a really good teacher. For next class he found a monologue for everyone in the class room, which he thought suited them. I am playing Queen Margaret from Henry VI.
Our teacher, Carl (like you morfar!), told everyone he didn't think it was important reading the actual plays, because what was interesting about Shakespeare was the use of language. However, I don't think I'll keep myself from reading a few plays.. ;)
In History of Musical theatre we will not only be talking about the performers over time, but also the historical events in the last 50 years, which has affected the plot's themes and the musical style. Our teacher is the one who plays in The Lion King, and has done it in 12 years - so he always has tons of amazing, inspiring stories to tell. I'm quite sure this will be the best history class I've ever had!
My dancing classes have been amazing in many ways. I had good and bad dance days this week, - like most other normal people .. Some days were really frustrating, because I seemed to lack in confidence, which held me back to expressing what I really had the talent to do through the dance.
The important thing is that we have fun, and the team is about making everyone fantastic. No-one is overseen by the teachers. So, knowing dance is not a talent, which has come naturally to me, I have always been aware this was the class I needed to work hardest in.
And it's important to have those classes.
And everyone has them.
Dance is such an important subject for this career, because whether you're going to use dance onstage - later on in your career - or not, this class makes you aware of your body; how to use it and finding the confidence in showing it.
As actors we need this confidence to be able to do whatever role we're asked to do.
So I can't wait to develop my dancing - I've already come so far!
Speech class is not what I expected it to be - I thought it was all about doing monologues. But in class we learn all about what forms our accents. Knowing what verbal technique we use to pronounce the words. The aim is not to change our accents, but know why we have them. And then we study the classical accents like American, British, French and so forth, so that we can control those, if we for instance need to play a character who has a strong British accent.
Voice studio lab is all about mastering your singing technique. We spent one half of the class doing exercises and warming up. 3 hours of just technique will let us all come so far!
Showcase practicum is ensemble work. First of all knowing how to act in an ensemble! Be prepared, be healthy, be a good person who's kind and spreads joy. Those are all the mechanics of working together as a group.
We are about 30 people singing choral pieces. It could be something from 'Atlantic city' or 'Les Miserables'.
And when all the parts get together, it sounds amazing! If someone in class didn't feel the magic before, here they will, because in this class we really get to feel the greatness about community and being together in this dream.
Music theory class is for me going to be learning the musical terms from Danish to English. Other than that we were taught what a staff, a treble cleff, and a quarter note is. Surprisingly few people, other than me, felt MUCH ahead of this lesson. Anyway, the few of us were sent to take a test, which included the main things we'd learn in this course. If we pass it, we don't have to take the class.
Song interpretation with Kristy Cates was a-mazing. I'd been looking forward to it all week. She is such an inspirational person, and gives so much when teaching.
In this class we interpret songs - the lyrics and we study the person singing it. We started off by hearing 4 different versions of the song 'My funny valentine'. While hearing it, we had to create a story, a setting, from what we heard.
From Frank Sinatra's edition, I saw a married couple drinking red wine alone in the living room, by a cozy fire. In the next version, I saw a karaoke night, where a young boy has a 'love-at-first-sight' moment and sings publically to a girl. The third edition was someone standing alone, in grief, from being forgotten and abandoned.
So many different scenes were created from the same song, just because the style of music and the vocalist was different.
For next week we each have to sing 'My funny valentine', having someone specific in mind we address the song to.
*
Friday afternoon I taught the kids in drama for the first time, since I got here. It was very exciting to get started on the "job" that I'd heard about before I'd even arrived and met the people in the Salvation Army.
There were few kids in the group, so it was small, but intense.
The group was divided into dance and drama, whichever the kids wanted to do most.
I stayed with the 4 kids that chose drama, along with Sindy another teacher. It was the first activity's week after the holidays, so we just started off by introducing ourselves. We talked about what they had achieved in drama the other years, and what they wished to do this year.
They had a lot of energy, and they were definitely too young (about 8 or 10) to want to sit still and focus on the exercise. Most of the time they would randomly break into a sword fight and have the other teacher shouting at them like mad.
But this gave me an idea of putting that energy into an improvisation exercise.
It started off well, but ended in a shoe fight, and no interest. And they had little respect to their fellow players onstage.
Almost no time was left of the small 45 minutes we had with them.
However, I had a whole other idea for a last exercise. Simple, but something that would take courage.
I wanted each of them to stand up in front of everyone else, and give a neat description of what their day had been like.
Now, my intention was to let them experience getting nervous and let them feel the pressure of talking open-heartedly to someone, when they know they're actually being heard.
One of the kids made fun of it, thought the exercise was stupid, and didn't feel like sharing. But my thought was that he liked being in the center, but in a group - not a solo performance. The second child came up, really shy, but soon I could see she enjoyed a moment where someone was interested in hearing about her day. She didn't think her day was special herself, but the fact that I patiently gave her the acknowledgement, I think she started to turn it around in her mind.
And this was a small step forward with a simple exercise. But I could already see improvement, which really made me happy.
These children will know the great values of working together, learning how to listen and respect one another, and feel like there's room to express themselves.
We may not end the year with Shakespeare monologues (!!), but if we end the year being aware of these values, I'd be more than happy! - And these values would be the perfect platform to our Christmas play ;)
*
Saturday I had one of the best days so far. I had a private class in the morning at school, but the rest of the day was spent rehearsing my songs for next week and dancing ballet and playing piano. I had an amazing day just practising for myself, 6 hours straight. It was fantastic to have room and time for that. I sang in the huge temple, where I'd been last week to the welcome of the cadets and the 9/11 memorial.
My channe' turns in ballet were the best ever, and I did perfect double-pirouettes. Improving.
But the best part of the day was when I was back in my room and I had time to just be myself. I had borrowed some speakers from my neighbor, so being able to let the music fill the room - and not just a small computer - was incredible. I suddenly felt so much at home. For the first time since I got here. Alone, but in great company!
Today, Sunday, I had a more peaceful day. Quiet, and very peaceful.
I ran in Central Park, for the first time - an awesome experience. I also happened to run into New York triathlon, and I almost thought I'd be counted in on the finish line, but no - no price for me that day!..
Later on, I found St. Patrick's Cathedral, the great catholic church on 52nd street. The mass was with the bishop and the community was amazing, seeing there were hundreds of people filling up the whole church. I lit a candle for my grandma, which I trust is still there.
I practised my Shakespeare monologue, till I knew it off by heart, went to an Italian Festival in Little Italy with Josephine and had a bubble bath in the evening.
I miss you guys a lot, and I wish you could see some of the things I see, since it's getting more and more difficult for me to write it all to you.
I think of you every day and pray that you are all alright.
X
All my love, Jasmin
Thanks for taking the time to share. This is great reading. So interesting to get an insight in your classes.
ReplyDeleteDad.