Clowndance Syllabus
Game: Good, Innit?
I will place an object in the playing space. One at a time you will enter the space and notice the object- you might pick it up and play with it for a moment- and then give a non-verbal comment to the audience on the object. You might like to use some of the sounds explored in Noises Of...
A simple version of this game to start with is to pick the object up and show it to the audience, making a small, impressed sound as if to say ‘Look at this! Good, innit?’*
The audience then name the emotion that they understood from the performer’s comment.
Then…
We repeat the game but without an object. This time you enter the space, perform a movement, and give a comment to the audience on that movement. You can choose when you time the comment, and now many you make- they could come before or after the movement, or both.
Again, the audience name the emotion/s that they understood from the performer’s comment/s.
Reflection
Did we, as audience, understand the comment?
Did you, as a performer, have a clear idea that you wanted to communicate?
What did you enjoy, particularly thinking about the timing of the comment, and the performer’s eye contact with the audience?
A simple version of this game to start with is to pick the object up and show it to the audience, making a small, impressed sound as if to say ‘Look at this! Good, innit?’*
The audience then name the emotion that they understood from the performer’s comment.
Then…
We repeat the game but without an object. This time you enter the space, perform a movement, and give a comment to the audience on that movement. You can choose when you time the comment, and now many you make- they could come before or after the movement, or both.
Again, the audience name the emotion/s that they understood from the performer’s comment/s.
Reflection
Did we, as audience, understand the comment?
Did you, as a performer, have a clear idea that you wanted to communicate?
What did you enjoy, particularly thinking about the timing of the comment, and the performer’s eye contact with the audience?
*Forgive the vernacular- I’m a South Londoner of a certain age.
You can, of course, choose your own phrase to say in your head as you make the sound to the audience.
You can, of course, choose your own phrase to say in your head as you make the sound to the audience.