Lecoq: Des Animaux

 I'm primed

a spring in my step
what a week
that fell into my lap

Monday:

Movement with François is a resounding 'professional' and fun. We explored the different walks that we could possibly do. Heel to toe, toe-heel, only heels, full flat, only toes, on the outside, on the inside. How does the body compensate to support this kind of walking? How do we breathe? Once our ankles were fully warm, we began to explore animals. Two animals, in fact. Today I explored the wolf, and a goldfish. What is the gait, the litheness of the form, gliding over the floor, lifting the paw in an almost lazy, relaxed manner. Can we aggrandir to ridiculousness? There's a lot of deep contraction and explosion in the feline form. As for the fish, there's something when I lead with the head, but where does the foot end? In a tail obviously.

In improv with Eric, we explored cats, dogs, chickens, spiders, turtles, komodo dragons, monkeys, dolphins, deers, giraffes and even a snake. There's laughter in the room again. Something about animality and primality that gets people to let go of their egos. I like animals. Even if I eat them. Especially since I eat them.

Familie Floz came by to chat about their masks, and we got the opportunity to watch them coach our masks into action. First are the different axes where we look, and then looking back at the audience to share what we saw. Then simply waiting. When I squeezed Olga's hands, I was instructed to look at it; so I looked, and then at her, and then at the audience. There were so many beats to doing a simple action!

In LEM, we explored calm. We went back to the idea of a baton, but this time it was a bamboo stick. Yasuyo is Japanese after all. Is bamboo representative of Japanese culture? I digress. We first balanced the stick on our fingers, then on the rest of our bodies, then we moved them. Why does calmness go away when we stop moving? There is a dynamic to calmness. What is the rhythm of it? We re-discovered the Neutral Mask today, doing a short exercise where we wake up into the fog, and then find the sea. We were drilled by the school to move big with the mask, so we had the liberty to try something different. Unfortunately, Yasuyo told me I lacked some tenacity. I guess I was too relaxed. Revisiting work always makes me lose a bit of the clarity. Bad habits die hard. Lastly, we got in groups and attempted to find 'calm' in 3 essentialized movements. Yasuyo's classes are different from Eric, in that 3 movements are really 10 movements for each person in the space. All said, we came up with some beautiful dynamic calm spaces. In equilibrium, movement before the calm, some breathing, geometry, circular movements, disequlibrium. Zen.


Tuesday:

Animals began in earnest today with Eric. We explored the horse, the cat, the elephant, the fly, the stag and the cow. Honestly, the day started with me being completely tired and in my head. That's apparently my go to when I'm exhausted, I escape into my head. That's why animal work is so great. It's completely observational, uses 0 head content, and 0 ego (as Guillaume suggested) allowed if I want to be wagging my tail or galloping like a stallion or trumpetting in the grande salle.

The horse gallops, and canters, and stops, swings its tail to get ride of flies, and if god forbid someone was stupid enough to stand behind, a kick. The horse swings its head, side to side, shaking itself, perhaps it whinnies, nodding its head upwards. A full rear before a kick. It gallops sideways a little. Transition into a cat, how lithely she moves. Locked elbows, every paw a beautiful roll of the shoulder, and the back a shashay. The body rolls and twists. She licks her paws and grooms herself, purrs, when she bumps into someone, is it a playful meow or an irritated one? Is she young or old. She rolls over and scratches her back on the floor, gets back up alert. Stretches. There's a ball of yarn! Her favorite! The elephant is slower, heavier, lumbers, and doesn't hide the fact that it goes from side to side. The trunk swings, spits some water on itself, and raises into the air for a trumpet. The ears flap, and don't quite touch the head. What about its tusks? They're massive. How does an elephant run? The fly is light, the fly is agile, the fly is on its toes all the time. How do we create the space of a million eyes looking upwards and out? The pincers pinch and cut, and the wings flap in a manner of eight. It turns quickly on the wall. 90 degrees, 180 degrees. The stag is massive - a huge chest and an even bigger presence that arrives. It's antlers are grand, can we create that with our hands? Chest up, shoulders back, a taut back, curved legs primed ready to jump, pushing forwards into the space. We charge and entangle our crown. Finally, 30 cows mooing together in the grande salle. Some munching grass, some swishing tails. Some getting on their wrists, then elbows, then toppling their hips onto the ground. A mother cow (Romane), somewhere in the back, wailing for her lost sons stolen by the grind.

It rained cats and dogs with Yasuyo today. Boy, were cats and dogs night and day, as seen in the last scene with Anna coming home to find a dog (Barbara) constantly worrying everything, and a cat (Agat) ignoring everything and just grooming herself. Needy little fuckers (Remi). Rodrigo was a great dog that growled until an actual confrontation was threatened, then he retreated. We had Nicky the playful cat. Guillaume, Jonathan, Xiao and Mykola who interchanged as cats and humans with pieces of rope. There is a disguised want, and then a pounce. I was lucky enough to go up with Florent as dog and master. Starting by stretching, pawing the ground, panting, lying down, rolling over, restless, then hearing something, and smelling something. Pawing the skin off my fingers as my master returns. It was delightful to reverse the role I've seen so often and try to imagine myself as those little ruffians. I love the young dogs who fear nothing and want to play with everything. Brings me back to the first day in rugby when I got knocked out trying to tackle the most fearsome winger. I was never able to properly tackle him again afterwards. We learn fear as we age with experience, how do we un-learn it? These dogs know life is too short. Either that or I'm just a needy little fuck.

Wednesday:

Instead of acrobatics, we did animal acrobatics, and the end of the class had us running like cheetahs down the grande salle on all fours. The secret is surprisingly the cartwheel - hand hand leg leg. There is a moment when we are completely stable on one leg. Feline animals have straight forearms, then relaxes the second arm into their other limbs. Reptiles go forward on alternating limbs, but instead of crossing, there is a reaching forward and towards. Depends on which reptile, perhaps.

In Anne's class we visited the farm and saw the duck, the cow, the pig, the owl, the chicken and the frog. There's a surprising pigeon-toed movement for the ducks. The strut their legs forwards and inwards, causing the butt to waddle.

In LEM, we explored passion. States and passion are supposedly different things - time to do some research - but for now, we'll explore the triangulation of anger, sadness and laughter. What is the difference between envy and jealousy. Today, we explored jealousy and pride. We formed 4 groups, and improvised the themes. Theo's approach was a zigzag, and he looked at us sideways. It can be said that jealousy hides a little, is unable to be confrontational, and turns a little. Perhaps it exists at different heights? When Leonore stomped her feet, she went from jealousy into anger. There is a temultous place where jealousy exists, and it is possible to flip the switch into something else. Adam prims himself in front of the gym-goers, and was very self-satisfied. There is a sense of aristocracy, a self-sufficiency that goes with pride. A self. On high. That doesn't descend. And yet, there is another line that separates it from vanity. Vanity, that overstays its welcome, and keeps priming. As opposed to a self-sufficient walk off when the time calls for it. Ivet was too prideful to accept a handshake from the winner. 'Proud of' belongs more to a herd mentality - that everyone can be proud of Sang Min benching 200 kg. We are proud of someone else; together. A person has the least pride if he panders, or needs the approval of the others.

Thursday:

Couldn't step out of the house today.

In Anne's movement class, they did lecoq's fixed point movement. I see, I go, I grab, I take. I see another, I go, I grab, I have to let go of the previous one to take the new one.

In Paola's improv class, they did insects. Solo, and ensemble. Wish I could've been there after watching parasites.

Friday:

Went to school but barely existed.

In Anne's movement class we did water animals. Dolphins, seals, otters, whales, sharks, single fish, school of fish, manta Ray.

I was too sick but since I was there, I performed the autocour. Got a pas mal. Sick. The process was really smooth this week.

I'm going to crash.