Ultimately, I'm happy with the idea I explored and the act I presented where I was pushed out of my comfort zone and created something solo. I loved being able to focus on creating one-act, reflecting on everything we have created so far as an ensemble.
Pinterest reference image 1
Pinterest reference image 2
Pinterest reference image 2
Journal Entries. Week One.
I know that I want to create a solo work and push myself on Straps, so this is the apparatus I chose. Thinking back to what I've already created, I focus on crawling to the Straps and playing with my feet in an animalistic style. I spin upside-down and curl into a ball and stay in a sense of play. I'm aware of the clunkiness of my physicality on the Straps.
Week Two.
I decided that my act needs more depth or a reason to 'evolve'. I experiment with clothing, the more I put on, the bigger my movements and skills become. I create a 'clothing monster' where I'm a spinning mess of clothes and my form is a mystery. I like where the idea is going but I'm still not sure about what I'm trying to convey.
Week Three.
Stripping back my idea from being an animal, a monster, or evolving, I commit to just being an empty vessel searching for something. I realise that I want to find consciousness in this performance. I improvise with Laban and stay connected to the straps for longer. I create a mood board on Pinterest and find images I like that align with this idea. I find ambiguity and satisfaction in morphing the human form.
Week Four.
I have brought a plastic drop sheet to the session and tried to re-create reference images I found on Pinterest. I love the effect of the plastic on my bare body and think it creates really strong imagery. The plastic tears too easily though and is very fragile. The WIP was really helpful and showed me I need to source new plastic for my idea. I also need to commit to my Laban movements more.
Week Five.
I now have a far stronger plastic that comes from Bunnings for $6.60 a meter. I rig it up, I play, I realise that I will need strings of a certain length to hang at the desired height. I have explored various performance tools and found that E5 was the best for structuring my act.
Week Six.
I now know how my whole act works, my desired physicality, and the various stages of growth I go through within the performance. I have done practice runs with and without music, I've tested the music and the lighting and everything is ready as it can be for the final performance. My main concern is the plastic tearing too early.
Pinterest reference image 4
Pinterest reference image 5
Critical Analysis
My final act is over and I'm pleased with how the entire development process evolved. My initial act idea developed from being a monkey to evolving into a human, to being empty and searching for consciousness. From wearing vast amounts of clothes to now ultimately nothing. I loved how the idea of bringing in the plastic prop really changed how I approached this performance, making me present something more abstract. With the addition of lighting, I ended up creating some really strong images within the act.
In the performance, I was trying to achieve the act of finding my own consciousness. I think I did achieve this. It was clear that I went through the birth and growth phase which led to an ultimate resolve. I learned that I still need to put a lot of time into my movement flow while attached to the Straps as I appeared a little disjointed throughout the work. I'm not necessarily happy with my final act, but I like its idea and potential.
Upon reflection of watching everyone's acts including my own, I've come to the realisation that I prefer clear story-driven content over abstract contemporary work. I only mean this from a memorability standpoint. I still find abstract work beautiful and I enjoy watching it. However, I clearly remember work where distinct story moments occurred. For example, Griffin's dog character has clearly burnt itself into my memory for all of its hilarious moments and gags throughout.
In the future development, I want to create work still using plastic but potentially inspired by American Psycho where I would break the work into stages of a brutal murder contrasted with happy joyous music to harsh music. The 'murder' could be represented through the execution of skills. This is still a rough idea, but I like that I could present more of a story here and a businessman character. I will use what I have learned from the plastic material in regards to the pressure it can take and rigging heights so I can present a more innovative work next time.