Daily report 5 / 11 january 2011

Today there was a surprise for me: a special Japanese candy waited for me on the table when I came in the rehearsal room. It was a plum which looked like a sweet candy. I had to eat it in front of the group who were looking at me with great expectations. First bite tasted strange: hard and sour. But chewing it, I liked the taste. So I succeeded the test ......

This rehearsal started with basic training. The actors worked in duos and sometimes on their own. Later Fumio worked on new choreographies in different combinations of actors. First a dance with 3 women in which the sun and moon are visualized in the movements. The focus is on the technique of the movements. The second choreography is with 2 men and 1 woman. The woman moves between the men and visualizes the waves of the sea which come and go. It is important the movement is a straight line forward and backward. The movements of the 3 actors have to connect very well to make the image of the running tide. The third choreography is done by 5 actors. One woman and four men. The woman is the central character. She has to fight the men and the confrontations need a good focus.

 There was some opportunity to talk with Mihoko about O-Getsu Ryu and their artistic theatrical work. In the process they start with the technique, next the movement/dynamics and at last the ensemble. I admire the great dedication of the actors who train the exercises every rehearsal for a long time to find the right position, focus, movement and the right use of the energy from the centre.

In my group the actors found it hard to repeat the same exercises. They needed variation to develop their skills. Coyote started from a physical approach to acting and in the beginning Aikido contributed to a strong appearance on the stage. Later we integrated Aikido movements in the choreography of the performances. From this stage Aikido became an important training in our work. Later on Aikido was integrated in the way we staged productions. In the training of Aikido our main focus was on Ki training in order to have a natural appearance and strong expressiveness. The awareness and the physical skills to use this energy from the centre made the physical acting very animated and dynamic.

Our training started with the training of this awareness and working with the energy from the centre. Individually and in ensemble. When the choreography was rehearsed the Aikido movements were trained with a technical eye. In this period we were more occupied with the image and staging the choreography.

It is very interesting to see a different way of working with the same perspective. Maybe I will discover new insights during this rehearsal period. It is exciting to be part of this working process and I am very happy I can join this extraordinary theatre group O-Getsu Ryu.