Week 2 Brainstorming ideas

That week we were focusing on how we want to present Yerma. We decided that we want to present Yerma as it might have been back in the day in early 20th century Spain. The washerwomen decided on the props they want to use that will be the baskets, the washing line and the linen. Also, ideas for the film. For example, some baby clothes hung on the line that blown by the wind to symbolise the sadness and yearning of Yerma. The washerwomen used the chairs in the rehearsals to represent the baskets. It was the idea of using the baskets and sheets to dance with. We started off using different levels, some of us medium, some high level, some low level and each one of us was doing the laundry. We turned around in a circle and changed positions. I came up with the idea of a circle because circle symbolises the idea of a unit. Then we turned the chairs around and used them as baskets, sat on them and rolled around to include them in our dance.

Then one of us started the gossip and it spread. What really helped to get into the gossipy characters was using some gossiping lines and then what would our first reaction be(first response). We changed positions and turned, changed levels, came more into a cluster and then spread out a bit more, in other words used a variety of ways to show the idea of a team and gossiping. Different gestural movement was used- clicks, claps, rolling eyes, hand gestures, playing with hair etc.

Washerwomen then turned the baskets(chairs) around and created a motif with the laundry and around the baskets. There was something I wanted to include that was to throw the sheet in the air but it did not realise as people thought it did not have enough intention in it. When we showed it to our audience the audience liked the gestural movement the most and did not enjoy the dancing bit. Therefore, during the next few weeks we will be focusing more on the physicality of washerwomen and what kind of gestures they would use. The performance will be expressionist dance work as our movement will convey the theme, emotional responses and the characters in it. Expressionist dance practitioner Pina Bausch, for example, used repetition to convey the theme. We will probably be using repeated phrases as the whole washerwomen section has to be at least 8 minutes long.

The rehearsal process this week went quite well. We need to come up with more ideas and then decide what to include in the final performance. My aim for next week is to visualise the washerwomen's performance and how they are going to use the props. Also, look at the physicality of actresses in Lorca's Yerma. This is the video I used: