(This is an assignment for my Creative Drama Therapy class that I am taking for the Fall 2010 semester. This journal entry is the first of many planned installments over the course of this fall, so look forward to more of these.)
8-26-2010
Topics:
- Amoeba
- Machines
- Commonalities
Amoeba:
The "Amoeba" activity seemed like a random firing of bullets (in ultra-slow motion of sorts) which then turned into clumping of balls of mud together when our instructor said "Four" or the number of people who were supposed to clump together into a group.
I thought it seemed like a wonderful way to randomly get acquainted with our classmates. I don't know whose idea it was but applause to them.
Machines:
We were supposed to think of machines to mime. (There are no engineers in our Creative Drama Therapy class. If there were, they might've figured out how to mime a nuclear reactor.)
Do you know of those teacup rides at amusement parks? We mimed them, and I played the part of the lever-pulling ride operator. I thought being one of the spinning teacups would've felt too silly for me. Everyone else seemed to have fun with it.
I guess since I'm new to this kind of miming scene more or less, my timing seemed off, but we still got the general idea across.
Commonalities:
We sat 3-4 to a group to find what all we had in common. We couldn't share anything obviously apparent. (Examples: That we're humans who go to K-State and live in Manhattan, KS.)
What we found common was that we NEVER wore braces (though I still need them), we all ride bikes to class, and served Detention in middle school.
We all got to share all of ours with the class, as all the rest of the groups. One that I recall from the other groups was that they all had braces at some point. We were the only group that never had.
I loved finding things in common about each other. We should do this again!
Creative Drama Therapy is so much fun already; it's about on the par with Dr. Michael Wesch's Cultural Anthropology class.
8-31-2010
Topics:
- 1776
- Environments
- (Starting on) Thursday's Commercials
1776:
We were supposed to pose for various situations that were called out. One example was a painting of 1776, which was a drumming, a flute, and holding a rifle. While we did it in groups, this was for us to have a sharp reaction time and sharpen our abilities to do our roles properly as fast as possible.
Environments:
This was quite interesting. We worked in groups in order to act out the way we would in given environments. The one I did was being in a desert. I was the salamander, a classmate was a wolf, and another was someone in a plane that crashed and decided to look for help from a guy with a camel. It was fun trying to get the rest of the class to guess where we were.
Thursday's Commercials:
That was something like a throwback to Marketing class, except that we got to make up our own products. I worked with Nicole and another classmate on how to make a commercial about a teleporting device. Even though it seemed like too much, she chose billions of dollars in 20 easy payments. This would be a great way to broadcast the future of transportation. I'm glad we all agreed to it. At 1000 miles/second, it would be something anyone would want to buy, if they could pay for it.
9-2-2010
Topics:
- Silly Aerobics
- Practice & Share Commercials
- "What Are You Doing?"
Silly Aerobics:
I thought it was silly indeed. I was glad I didn't have to think up something to do individually; it felt less embarrassing to follow the rest of the class in this activity. A good warm-up exercise to get us pumped for the rest of the class.
Commercials:
The other day, I saw some other groups share emails with one another, ostensibly to share scripts and the like. It's too bad we didn't prepare that well but we did have plenty of time to practice and go over our routines. I'm sure it ensconced our science fiction fans in the class.
"What Are You Doing?"
This involved a circle and taking turns doing an action, then naming the action I wanted the next person to do. I remember that I asked Nicole to do the texting action. I should've asked her to mimic the text-and-drive action instead. That might've been funnier.
9-7-2010
Topics:
- Video: "Trouble In The Bubble"
- Future Storytelling Unit
Video: Trouble In The Bubble:
This was the first video we watched in this class. First off, I thought the television on the roller cart was horrifically antiquated. It was of a faux-wood paneling, and not a flat-screen. It must've been made in the mid-to-late 1980s. I had hoped that if we have to pay our tuition and fees through our nose, all TVs on campus would be flat-screens by now.
"Trouble In The Bubble" is a documentary video that took place in the late 70's or early 80's that was about the story and storytelling elements. In it, we heard the following points:
· Stories plant seeds in children & adults
· The message is not primary
· Put facts into a narrative à We understand
· Opens you up to tradition
· Stories are filled with rhythm
· Play with the story
· The storyteller asks the listener to create everything
· (I want to) respect and become the character(s)
· Make use of song & repetition
· Some stories center around a single image
· Voice needs to match what goes on in the story
· Sense of place, time, characters
· Don’t need to mimic; just use the correct tone
· Use movement when it seems appropriate
· When telling the story, you disappear, not saying “look at me!”
The video was on VHS, a more antiquated format and less reliable than the DVD. I would have preferred seeing a more updated version of this documentary; preferably something made in the last decade.
Future Storytelling Unit:
Sally went over our plans to write and tell a story. At first, I thought of telling an original story of mine about how a 10-year-old boy in 1910 receives a spell to physically stop aging. However, I thought it through and decided that I was going to take too long, so I decided on a story about a battalion of tanks invading a medieval town.
I made that story on a gaming forum three years ago, so I thought this would be something great to tell. Since I had already prepared it long ago, I decided to tell it on the first day that we tell our stories! I most definitely look forward to it, and how people think of my story.
9-21-2010
Topics:
- Warm-Up: Balloon Relay
- Pantomime down the line
- Bear, Fish, Mosquitoes
- Bird, Beast & Fish
Balloon Relay:
That was a pretty cool activity; it was easy for me. What we did was pass balloons behind us between our legs and over our heads every other classmate in two competing columns. Then the last person in the row would run to the chair with the balloon, set it on there, then sit on it to try to pop that balloon. Some took too long doing so because they were dreading the impending pop.
I dealt with it as quickly as possible by jumping and landing on it. Sadly, the other line won.
Pantomime down the line:
I must've not paid much attenntion to this activity because I can't remember any of it. I think it was skipped?
Bear, Fish, Mosquitoes:
It was like a Rock/Paper/Scissors except that we competed as a group against the other group. We had group discussions about what move to have next, and I think we won.
The bear was making a scary gesture with hands high on the air in a clawing position. The fish was making a swing motion with both hands, and the mosquito was making a snipping motion with our fingers & buzzing noises.
I thought it was a little more populous than the original R/P/S game, but still nothing to write home about.
Bird, Beast & Fish:
I think if we did this, it was much similar to the above. If so, I wouldn't see much of a point to this.
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