Okay so the plan was to blog immediately after starting Lecoq, yet pragmatically it's been difficult..and so it's been an interesting 4 weeks so far..the school is very challenging and becomes even more so each day. Between the constant searching for creative impulse and sweating through the rigorous movement training, I look down at myself and realise how wonderful this challenge is. And even if sometimes the task at hand seems tres tres difficile, I work, I work, I work through until I'm on the other side of it..and it's done! And I've learnt that thing now. And I know in my heart that this is what I'm meant for, I can do it. The school's pedagogical approach is a masterpiece of construction - each lesson weaves effortlessly into the next and each step we take to move forward makes perfect sense. For instance all the work we have done in movement towards a state of alertness, neutrality, strength, focus, before the work we began this week with neutral mask. Acrobatics is fun - it's amazing how we can achieve things with our bodies that we previously had thought impossible. Every friday we have what is called 'Auto-cours' meaning self-progress, in which we divide into groups for the week, make our own piece of theatre and show on the friday to the entire year and the teachers, subject to laughter, applause, but also harsh criticism. For example a couple of weeks ago the standard was a bit sloppy and we were herded together and told that we are here to work. If we don't want to work, we should go. Because the work we showed that week was shit. - our tutors words. Although I think some would reel at this kind of harsh critique it enlivens me - it's what we need! Something to shake us out of our slumber and make us react on stage, be alive.
Improvisation has also been a large part of the course so far also, another way of waking us up out of the 'scholarly' actor's we have learnt to be, and moulding us into the performers we want to become.
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