A Painting by Paula Rego called The Family - The Stimulus for our Drama Piece
INTRODUCTION
In this essay I will be discussing the work that I have done in the first module of performance studies.
The aim of this module was to develop technical skills in dance, drama and music and using the performance process of improvising, rehearsing and performing and then applying these skills to four performance pieces. We carried out several skills workshops to help develop confidence in all 3 thematic areas to a more even consistency as some members of our group had never done dance, music and some hadn't taken expressive arts GCSE.
In this module I developed skills in all three areas, some completely new skills (for example in dance) and those skills, which I already knew but developed them to a higher standard of performance. I also learnt the processes of constructing a performance piece in performance studies and skills that are applicable in all three thematic areas. I will elaborate on how I have developed these skills during this module in this essay.
THE DRAMA PIECE
The stimulus we were given for our drama piece was a painting by Paula
Rego called "The Family" which contained a lot of ideas for interpretation, especially work on proxemics, which we had previously studied in our skills workshops. "The Family" shows an ambiguous relationship between men, women and children and the variation in the
'traditional' status of a father, mother and daughter figures. It is important to bear in mind during stages of improvisation that character and plot development are not always the most essential part of a drama piece. More advanced performance skills should be taken into account, such as tension, proxemics and physicality and the subtext created as a result of the effective use of these techniques, which our drama piece evolved around. We decided that the most direct way of communication was to produce a distinct sexual subtext between two characters, and in our case this was the father and the daughter.
Initial brainstorms we had were focused on light, physicality and gesture in the picture and we didn't want it to be 'story - led' as we felt this would be too simplistic and wouldn't allow us to explore our skills and techniques as performers. In the early stages of improvisation, we decided that tension was vital in our scene, so this had to be created by si...
... middle of paper ...
...med our dance to a structured rhythm sequence to show the evolving of the evil dominating the pure and good. But as I said before, there seemed to be no real motivation behind our piece. I did feel thought that although we had no dialogue, it was unnecessary to do so and I think that the studying of Boal and Pinter really helped with this. I think that, as a group we realised that plot and character development weren't important at that stage. By not having any characters but just acting the gestus of our role, we portrayed the mannerisms, which as a result created tension because of the content of the scene. I do feel that because we didn't have characters such, the other skills we had refined were lacking. This is the one piece that I actually would like to do again as I don't feel we devised and performed this to the best of our abilities. I think I would've liked to keep the music and dance pieces but adjusted the drama to include the kind of energy we had had in the drama piece where the piece was 'loaded' with subtext. This I feel was not dramatic and didn't convey the ideas to the audience that we wanted to. I don't believe this piece was as successful as it could have
been.
In the speech “What it takes to be number one” by Vince Lombardi convinces players that winning is the only option through the uses of diction, appeal and pathos/ethos, in hopes to win more. His purpose of the whole thing was to show what it takes to be number one through his perspective.This speech was a big eye opener to the players in the locker room because it was coming from a legend who played the sport and is very well- known for playing and coaching. The strong use of emotion throughout the the speech it's very
...f a team and a legend”). He also became highly known for giving inspirational advice to players and helping the players not only on the field, in addition to off the field. One of his famous quotes. “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel… These are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events themselves” (Mckerley, 15).
He dreamed of becoming a professional football player but due to spondylosis, a back injury he was diagnosed with at age 16, he was forced to quit football.
The benefits of this communication are varied perspectives influenced by one’s social class, gender, age and moral values. Within the painting all in attendance are from the same social class as shown by their clothes and hair styles. Both men and women are present ranging in age from the older gentleman on the right to the young girl. Most importantly, their facial expressions depict their varying reaction to an ethical issue. The young girl and her crying mother are the most illuminated in the entire painting representing their level of
When first approaching this work, one feels immediately attracted to its sense of wonder and awe. The bright colors used in the sun draws a viewer in, but the astonishment, fascination, and emotion depicted in the expression on the young woman keeps them intrigued in the painting. It reaches out to those who have worked hard in their life and who look forward to a better future. Even a small event such as a song of a lark gives them hope that there will be a better tomorrow, a thought that can be seen though the countenance by this girl. Although just a collection of oils on a canvas, she is someone who reaches out to people and inspires them to appreciate the small things that, even if only for a short moment, can make the road ahead seem brighter.
The outspoken narrator of Eudora Welty's "Why I Live at the P.O.," known to us only as "Sister," intends to convince us--the world at large--that her family has "turned against" her, led on by her sister, itella-Rondo. To escape her family, she explains, she has left home and now lives at the P.O., where she is postmistress. As she delivers her monologue, the narrator reveals more about herself than she intends. We see her as a self-centered young woman who enjoys picking fights and provoking melodramatic scenes in which she is the center of attention. Not too far into the story, we realize that others in the family behave as melodramatically as Sister does, and we begin to wonder why. The story's setting may provide the answer: In a small town in Mississippi, sometime after World War II and before television, entertainment is scarce. The members of this family cope with isolation and boredom by casting themselves in a continning melodrama, with each person stealing as many scenes as possible.
Lynch, Grace Hwang. "The Importance of Art in Child Development." pbs.org. PBS, 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Sometimes my professors asked me to write this type of essays. However, I do not think that I wrote them correctly. Because I did not know the structure of this essay. Also, I did not know how to discuss
A few hours passed and it was approaching 12:00: game time. As I was getting my equipment on, all the possible things that could go wrong flashed threw my head. As I finish putting on my pads and other equipment, I heard a voice from behind me, "Just stay focused man, and play like you have been.” It was RJ, trying to help me focus and give me motivation. Walking into that dark tunnel with the light at the end is like an exhilarating wave of nerves and excitement. Approaching the end of the tunnel, all I could hear was the crowd screaming and yelling. From there on, as we ran onto the field, another person took over, and I didn't know the outcome of what was about to happen.
The main goal for this self-reflection essay was to analyze the impact that these past six months had in my personal and professional life. I started by looking at the original goals I formulated when I started the semester in January and then I proceeded to weight how the experiences and the new acquired knowledge helped me reach those objectives.
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
The artwork I chose for the art criticism project was ‘The Survivors’ by Kathe Kollwitz. The piece was created in 1923 in Berlin, Germany, where she resided with her husband. She and her husband resided in a poorer area, and it is believed to have contributed too much of her artwork style. ‘The Survivors’ is currently displayed in two museums, the MoMA and the Kathe Kollwitz Museum. In the piece there is a woman directly in the middle, with sunken in cheek bones is draped in a black cloak. Her arms are around three small children, who look very frightened. On each side of her body there are an additional four small children who convey sadness upon their innocent faces. Also, they are outstretching their arms as if they are begging for her to give them something. In the background, on the top left side, there are two elderly men with their heads down, looking as if they are very sad and
Images inspired by Diamant’s work flooded my conscious. Perhaps I was experiencing flashes of my rememory, my collective unconscious coming to life on the paper in front of me. However, it was not just The Red Tent providing me with stimulation, but other works such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, Mary Oliver’s “The Fish,” Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” and The Book of Genesis. Each work embodied themes of childbirth and motherhood to self-love and social standing, in which I could find connections that affected me creatively. Aesthetically, I intended my visual art to be full and consistent in texture and fecund in my use of sensuous lines. My hope is to celebrate women and the strength that comes from battling adversity, challenge, victimization and in actualizing the power of childbirth. In all of these works, a connection is made: these are stories of women that need to be remembered and cel...
The movie Courageous discusses important issues we face in society today. This movie shows the importance of family, the danger of drugs, and the major importance of Christian values. Courageous causes me to consider how I treat others around me and how I can become a better Christian. I learned that living a life looking out only for myself and pursuing worldly pleasures not only consists of superficial and temporary happiness, but also consists of pain, suffering, emptiness and a longing for something more than what we have.
Just in case the document does not open i have pasted my essay below. See you in class