Dance - Unit 32 Developing Physical theatre

1/12/15


Unit 32: Developing physical theatre


What is Physical theatre?:
Physical theatre is a cross between dance and drama. Its proper defintion is a form of theatre which emphasizes the use of physical movement, as in dance and mime, for expression.

Practice and practioneers of physical theatre:
- Steven Berkoff
- Trestle Theatre Company
- Frantic assembly
- Antonin Artaud
- Jacques LeCoq

Physical theatre:
 'Faultline' by Shobana Jeyasingh

Themes- Youth culture, Gender stereotypes and Identity(ganags, pack mentality)
 Faultline uses gestures and footwork from Bharatanatyam( style of indian dance)
it is influenced by martial arts, contemporary dance.

We learnt a routine from Faultline which was really fun and interesting. Within the dance there were key movements especially using our arms and hands which you could tell were inspired by Bharatanatyam. The Identity theme was also shown through movements in which we were being aggressive. Once we learnt the routine we went into small groups and changed the dynamics of the routine, Megan and I made the routine more heavy to give it more of a threatning feel to add to the themes. To add to this we made some of the sharp parts slower to give it a different feel.


What is a Gang?
A gang is a group of people usually associated with crimes, as a group we came up with words which we associated with Gangs these were: Unity, crime, money, hoodies, Guns, Knives, Brand identity, violence and intimidating.


We created material using some of the words in which we came up with, my chosen words were: money, brand identity, guns, knives and unity. So for one of my moves I do a clap to symbolise a gunshot, for Brand identity I use my hands over the lower half of my face to represent a handkerchief which is usually linked with gangs.


Contact Work:

Contact work is a common aspect within physical theatre, this is when two people work together to do moves and lifts that need two people. Contact work is always very effective within dance as it can add many different elements to the piece whether it be dynamics, symbolism or level of difficulty. Contact work can be quite demanding at times so it is vital that you take all safety precautions, trust is a big thing towards this point so you always have to make sure your partner is comfortable with what they are doing and prepared also that you both know exactly what you're doing and have a someone near as a fail safe.