We were incredibly fortunate to have Merry Conway from the Linklater Center substitute in for Kristin who was out of town for the week. What's really fascinating about the handful of faculty from the Center that I have experienced so far, is that they all have a very refreshing personal touch to the training. Merry is incredibly physical and approaches her students in a far more egalitarian way, a point which she made sure to emphasize to us.
Her whole approach to the class, from the moment we first said, "Hello.", as I stepped off of the elevator to her raising the curtain on her method was completely masterminded to prove the point that status and how we present ourselves to others can be an incredibly telling thing, and something that we should look to exploit in our work.
The rest of the class was spent playing with varying levels of higher and lower status, relative to our partner. We played with some wordless and open scenes and, toward the end of the class, held court. Turns out I'm really good at holding court (Thank you G.R.R. Martin for filing my head with courtesies as of late).
What really became interesting was learning about ourselves and how we naturally present ourselves as people to the world. Some struggled with finding tactics and methods of behaving in a more suppliant manor, while more still were finding trouble in acting superior to others. Most noticed a fairly open slide between the two extremes, but it was thought-provoking to view myself and my classmates in different states of ego and how those states relate to our natural state of being.
I also think it's important to mention that Ethan and I took the chance to have an epic improv/mime pokémon battle. Yeah, you read that right.
If you are interested, I encourage you to examine a person the next time you find yourself in conversation with them. Are they your equal; above; or below you. What does that mean? It's really, really quite fascinating, and a whole lot of fun to explore!
That's all for tonight. I know I keep promising more interviews, and they are coming. Hopefully I can capture some fresh footage tomorrow and over the weekend and continue to post them throughout the upcoming week.
"Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Tomorrow is another day.
-R
Her whole approach to the class, from the moment we first said, "Hello.", as I stepped off of the elevator to her raising the curtain on her method was completely masterminded to prove the point that status and how we present ourselves to others can be an incredibly telling thing, and something that we should look to exploit in our work.
The rest of the class was spent playing with varying levels of higher and lower status, relative to our partner. We played with some wordless and open scenes and, toward the end of the class, held court. Turns out I'm really good at holding court (Thank you G.R.R. Martin for filing my head with courtesies as of late).
What really became interesting was learning about ourselves and how we naturally present ourselves as people to the world. Some struggled with finding tactics and methods of behaving in a more suppliant manor, while more still were finding trouble in acting superior to others. Most noticed a fairly open slide between the two extremes, but it was thought-provoking to view myself and my classmates in different states of ego and how those states relate to our natural state of being.
I also think it's important to mention that Ethan and I took the chance to have an epic improv/mime pokémon battle. Yeah, you read that right.
If you are interested, I encourage you to examine a person the next time you find yourself in conversation with them. Are they your equal; above; or below you. What does that mean? It's really, really quite fascinating, and a whole lot of fun to explore!
That's all for tonight. I know I keep promising more interviews, and they are coming. Hopefully I can capture some fresh footage tomorrow and over the weekend and continue to post them throughout the upcoming week.
"Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Tomorrow is another day.
-R
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