Rehearsal 4: laughing club and apple seeds

Today's rehearsal was a bit more selective in what we worked with as we focused on the first pleasant emotion we've worked with!

First, we watched videos of people laughing to introduce the idea of that contagion and the social nature of it. Then we did a little Laughter Yoga as a silly warm-up (this is a sample). With this we explored the boundaries of faked and real laughter and how the first can become the second when in a social situation and given the opportunity. We reconsidered the original phrase with the laughter playlist linked above as our soundtrack, and discovered how some of the moves can fit with some of the unusual laughs heard on it.

Moving from this, we worked with some improvisation around the original phrase, and gradually this turned into a game based off of one of the moves which I describe as "dropping apple seeds." Soon enough, the dancers were tossing seeds into each other's mouths, flinging them at each other, and some creative hiding places to avoid seed-theifs. All of this, combined with some of the laughter-movements from earlier became a free-for-all game. For the next rehearsal, I've asked the dancers to each create a bit of movement for a laugh with which they are familiar and we'll see what comes of it next week.


In the attempt to portray emotions and through all the insight from research, I've in some ways lost track of them. Today's rehearsal, particularly with its upbeat topic and somehow freeing degree of focus on making fun allows me to give myself permission to focus on only one emotion for now. The showcase is in October, and my project deadline is in the spring. To fully investigate the emotions to the degree I can imagine would be to make a career out of this project beyond that time frame- however, I hope to have grad school next year. To get ready for the informal showing on Monday evening, for that afternoon's rehearsal, I'd like to work on some sort of structure in which to present what we created today. And for the showcase, I'll plan to show only one, maybe two emotions. But we'll get to the second one when I'm satisfied with the first well enough, so there.


...Now, in the spirit of silliness, enjoy one more video and your weekend!