Mark Hill and Beyond.....

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

- Kahlil Gibran

 

These ARE our happy faces!

    

  This quote reminds me of Mark Hill. Why? Because over this week, I feel as though I did more discovery within myself than anywhere else. Sure, I learned a great deal about Viewpoints for my Practicioners Project, and discovered the aspects of Suzuki and Butoh Theatre, but within each of those methods was a journey about my own mind. Mark didn’t sit us down and say “This is theatre. These are my feelings. Experience them with me NOW.” Instead, he tells us the concept and then sets us free in it. I think this is truly the best way to teach, free for interpretation and yet structured enough to where a common goal is achieved. Over the week with the students, or the weekend with student and teachers, every single soul in the room walked away with a different thing that moved them. I know that because in our circle “debrief” time (see below), everyone said something different. Nearly 90% of those things learned were about themselves, either the way their bodies worked or the thoughts we had never encountered before. 

Circle Time with Mark Hill  (courtesy Mrs. Frasse)

    I talked previously about my week with Mark Hill, but I have yet to tell you about the weekend! I worked almost the entirety of Saturday and Sunday with Mark, along with many teachers (of SFS and TCIS)  and 3 other students:

John, Philip, Brian and I, “The Demo Kids”.

    

     While our purpose was to demonstrate exercises and to organize lunch, we also became part of the workshop, learning much more than we had during the week. We revisited some of our favorite exercises, such as “Swimming Lanes” (playing with Kinesthetic Response) and various activities with Energy, Spatial Relationships, and Shape. My personal favorite was the Big Mac/French fry shape Philip and I made!

Big Mac and French Fries :)

     There are so many other things I want to say! In Butoh, a big part of the practice is letting go of the “social body”, the things that the world has deemed acceptable for you to do with your body in public (or at all). Butoh encourages the actor to revert back to, or start using movements that a natural, but not part of the “social body”. I kept thinking about this throughout an exercise we did where we were conversing with no words, solely through each other’s back muscles. At the end of the exercise, the “Demo Kids” were asked to stay onstage and re-enact their back encounter with no other back—simply by memory—for the sake of an audience. So we all sat down and faced our backs to the audience. The boys were urged to take off their shirts, so that every detail of their muscles could be seen. For a second, I felt the sudden urge to take off my shirt too. I really connected at that moment. I had lost the notion of a “social body” for a second.  I wanted to use my greatest tool in the best possible way for the sake of the performance, and for a moment I didn’t care that everyone would be shocked at the suggestion. Of course, I held my tongue as it was a teaching situation and was highly inappropriate (we were LEARNING to lose the “social body” it had not yet been lost), but I was thrilled to discover that Mark had sense this urge in me and understood. I’m glad that I’m not alone, that Mark had been there to guide me on an undoubtedly confusing process of understanding this aspect of theatre.

Mark Hill and I!

     One other thing I really enjoyed is something Mrs. Hamm brought up in our debriefing on Sunday. There were four students and many teachers, some who knew us and some who had just met us. The best part about all of that was that by the end of the first day, the teacher/student barrier was dissolved. I guess this can relate to the “social body” concept in a different way, where certain people don’t interact in an intimate manner, such as the students and teachers did within the first hour of the weekend. I saw these teachers as fellow actors; each with different attributes to bring to offer, and these teachers saw us as peers (for the time being). I really enjoyed the ability to work with a unique group of varying ages with little to no complications.

Mrs. Hamm and I, breaking barriers

     When we reconvened on Tuesday in IBTA class, we all wanted the days of the black box and high intensity motion back, and dreaded the thought of returning to a non-stop life that never gives us a chance to breathe. However, there are glimmers of hope: ANDONG, for instance. A perfect getaway.

     That is, a getAWAY from school, and a getaTOWARDS Mark Hill and some masked dance!

     Can’t wait!

<3