iO Level Two – Week Eight

So this was our last class for Level Two at iO and for it we had a kick-ass guest teacher: Miss Rachel Mason, Director of the Training center at the theater.

Today’s class was all about mirroring and symmetry – mostly using dance ideas. We started off with the traditional name game.
After this Rachel had us for two rows on stage, one line behind the other – facing the audience (staggered so you could see the people in the back row standing in between those in front). Next each person took turns (after Rachel initiated it) hopping out in front as a drill instructor and would give a command (sound and motion to copy) for the group to perform ten times in unison. This was to get us in the mindset of mirroring each other and finding a rhythm.

Next Rachel had us all get in a straight line according to height forming a single column in the center of the stage facing the audience. She then asked the person in front of us to make a simple hand gesture (and the rest of us were to watch and make complimentary gesture to the person in front of us): if the person in front lifted their hands up pointing at the ceiling – the next person might put his hands out pointing at the floor, then the person behind them might point to the right, and the person behind them to the left….etc.

She had us do a number of these and then moved us onto to motion and sounds. By the end we’d start in the line and then after some patterns were set, we’d peel off to either side of the stage organically complimenting and mirroring each other until we were basically improvising dance routines.

After a number of these Rachel divided us up into two group and told us we had five minutes to come up with a bit: anything we wanted to do. Our first bits were very premise heavy – lot’s of dialog, however Rachel kept us at it until slowly we were planning less and less, talking less and less, and doing more. In the end we had two perfectly silent scenes – my group started two at a time slowly walking out and setting a table, then sitting behind it – only to end with the final person walking in, blessing all of us, and sitting in the center as Jesus creating a tableau of the last supper. The other group did a fun piece as mimes (one of who sneezed, causing others to gasp …. And so on – causing the sounds to build and the miming to break down).

In the end she let us know that what we were basically doing the entire time was creating organic openings and even group games – which we’ll be using in later classes as we start performing actual Harolds.

From the class we took these ideas:
Creating characters inspires our dialog
What we say is very important, what we do is twice as important
Judgment is the enemy of improv
Silence can speak volumes
Go all the way for it – your imagination is your only limit in this art form
Try shit on (especially in class)
Everywhere you look: there’s your inspiration