19th October - Transactional Analysis

In this session we learnt about transactional analysis which is basically different sorts of people. For example: the parents, adult and child behaviour in them

A parent would be the patronising and bossy person.

An adult would be the responsible person who would take everyones ideas into consideration.

The child would be the immature, annoying person who isn't productive at all.

Below is a link of more information regarding transactional analysis:

http://www.ericberne.com/transactional-analysis/ 

De Buno; Group organisation - 12th October

Today our group organisation was based around De Buno and his theory of the 6 hats. These hats are designed to get everyone on the same page and feeling comfortable with the performance.

The 6 hats are:
- White; facts and information
- Red; feelings and emotions
- Black; being cautious
- Yellow; being positive and optimistic
- Green; new ideas
- Blue; the big picture

After learning about this, we then took part in a group activity where we were given a problem in a group and we had to solve it using the 6 hats.

8th October - Yoga and Stan

Today we started with our yoga session which didn't go as well as others did as Nancy kept forgetting how many warm ups we did so we ended up doing 4 instead of 2 so we were all knackered at the end of the warm up let alone the other stretches we had to do! Having said that, I good work out means a good relaxation at the end of the exercises.

After that we moved on to our Stanislavski script work. As mentioned before, I have been allocated Miss Julie so with my partner, Alex, we went through the script to see which scene would be best to do. After we made our decision, we read through and started documenting the Units and Objectives of the scene.

This was a long and tiring session but still productive as we now have more of an understanding of the play and what each line means.

6th October - Yoga and our Blogs

As usual for Performance Strategies, we started off with yoga. The diagram below shows some of the positions that we hold to get the full potential out of our bodies. Obviously, they are also designed to improve them by stretching our muscles to their maximum amount.

After yoga, Nancy read us part of a book to help us out with how to set out our blogs. As I have been writing blogs for two years now, I already know how to set it out but it's good that the others now have a better idea of how to structure their site.

5th October - EQ and IQ

Todays group organisation class is based around the differences between EQ and IQ. We mainly concentrated on EQ which stands for Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman - "Working with Emotional Intelligence".

Some main facts I had found about this session are:

- Emotions are private experiences
- We infer observable behaviour associated with emotion
- More than 50% of people lack the motivation to learn

What is emotional intelligence in comparison to IQ

- It's not all about being nice all the time
- Your IQ refers to the analytical
- Your IQ is conditioned to how well you are taught and not just about your genetics.
- Your IQ ensures your success in school and helps you get a job
- Your EQ ensures your success in life and helps you succeed in the job.

The Goleman Model
 - A lot of our thinking is lead by our emotions
-  It's about your acceptance towards other people.

Something to look into - Maslows Hierarchy of Needs: Five stage model.

Units and Objectives - Miss Julie

1st October - Continuing of Stanislavski

As usual, we would start off with our yoga sessions and as taught on our first class, we used the previous exercises as a warm up to get our body stretched. For this class we were taught more exercises but for the upper body. These exercises worked our waist, abs and our legs (even though you are working your upper body!). After this we had our calming session where we laid down, relaxed and reflected on our university experience so far.
Once yoga had finished, we continued our work on Stanislavski. Our preparation work for the class was to look over our given scripts so we know more about our character. The reason for this was because we had to do two separate workshops around this. I didn't get the opportunity to perform in these workshops but I still got a good experience in watching them to see what the outcome would be. The first activity was called 'Getting your chair'. This is an improvisation workshop where you, as your character, have to walk up to someone sitting down on a chair and persuade them to give you their seat. It was interesting to see all the completely different characters come together. The next workshop we did was a different way of portraying the 'Magic If'. This was done with hot seating. For this activity you only need two people on the set. As their characters they would have to pick a room that their character would be sat in and make out that that is the room that they are in rather than the other room that the other character thinks they are in. For example, one of the characters was called Jean from Miss Julie and another was a simple man looking for a zoo. Jean is from a very much older period than this other man as he was from our current time period. As they are so different, it was interesting to watch the contrast in what the characters were saying to respond to each other. Jean acting very professional trying to be of service to this other man and this other man just trying to get on with his own thing. This activity concluded our session.

So far, this class has been my favourite so far as it has really given me a taster of what CTP is all about. It was interesting to use Stanislavski's work to make two completely different characters come together in an improvisation which actually made it quite comical to watch.

28th September - Introduction to Group Organisation

This was a small session concentrating on how we as a group and as an individual can keep ourselves organised. Our main activity was concentrating on the Johari window. The Johari window is set up into four different sections; open/free area, blind area, hidden area and unknown area. For this session, seen as though we only knew a few people each from our group, we put the Johari window into play by learning about each other. For example, for open/free area, I would write things about what I know about myself. For blind area, I would put what I don't know about myself but what others do, for hidden area, I would put what I know about myself which others don't and for unknown area, we would put anything that no one knows about you. This was a good icebreaker for everyone to get to know each other as well as a good start off to the subject.

From first impressions I think that our group organisation work will be useful as at least it will be a time to come together with anything we need to sort and any extra bits we will need to learn.

29th September Yoga and introduction to Stanislavski

Today was my first session of our set yoga classes. We were first taken through some basic exercises from our tutor, Nancy. We were shown the importance of breathing and how you should always breathe in and out through your nose. It is also essential that you breathe using your diaphragm and not into your chest and this will ensure that all the oxygen your breathe in will be sent around your body, not just a fraction of it. She taught us stances such as 'The Warrior Pose' where we got up from a plank and stood up, one foot in front and one foot behind with our hands stretched out either side of each other. We also learnt of a position where we stand up but take the position as if we were sitting on a chair. This mainly stretches out the back of your legs. After this work out, we had a relaxation session which was quite calming. If I was watching the group from the side then I would be questioning the logic in it. But having tried it all out, it has made me feel calmer about my studies, a lot more relaxed and less tense. We were then briefed on our next bits of work which will be Stanislavski. On that note, we were given a script each in which we have to read through for our next session. From first impressions of the script, we decided that we would break it down in 3 elements: - preparation (physical training - know your body), - motivation (units and objectives, pass the play - what happens to the character after the play?), - truth (you have to be able to repeat it perfectly). We also thought of different ways that would change the play for example: magic if - what if? Also, Feed the Character - emotional recall - feel what the character would feel.

I feel like this session was a great way to introduce the year that is ahead of us. I am looking forward to our next sessions in working into detailed realism and the methods of Stanislavski.