Danza Abierta

2/07/09

On Thursday, we went to watch a dance for the Danza Nueva XXI International Festival. We watched a group called “Danza Abierta” from Costa Rica´s University. It was amazing, I was surprised. The dancers were really good, they jumped, they runned, they did strange movements, they did different shapes and they interact with each other in a very interesting way. These movements require a lot of concentration and some of them require a lot of strength. That was the first thing that shocked me, the movements.

The dances were the representation of a story, they didn´t talk, they just dance. There were three different dances, I liked all three. They had little props, some tubes, where they used to dance and to do some acrobatics.

The second thing that shocked me was the costumes. They wear very nice and colorful costumes. Some of them were very elastic ones and it stretched a lot to represent different moments of the story.

Another thing that I like and it is very important when acting or dancing is the face expressions. In this case, they had a neutral face expression but in some occasions they changed to sadness, happiness, angriness, mysteriousness but in general they were neutral. Some of these faces were frightening.

The lighting is another reason why this performance was very successful. The lights gave to the scenes a very important aspect, it gave them life. There were some red, blue and white reflectors that help to create the environment; the lights combined with the costumes. There were some lights that gave like a cage view; it was a white light but with black lines, just amazing. We could use these concepts of lighting in posteriors performances.

Is this considered a dance or a type of theatrical representation?

La Vida es Sueño - Final Day

20/06/09

Today, everything went all right. I think it was the best day, we didn´t make any mistakes. I am very happy because at last I could do the whole play without making any mistakes. All the rehearsals helped me a lot with my lines and I managed to do a perfect performance on Saturday as well as my partners. After the performance we had very good comments of the play. First they told me about the acting, they said that it was amazing how I was on the tower with the chains making my character suffer. I told them that those chains were real and I had a lot of pain. This real pain helped me a lot because I was feeling what Segismundo was feeling and so I could performed this role in a realistic way.

Children also congratulate me. They told me that it was a fantastic play and I was surprised because I thought that this was a play for older people: adolescents and adults. Kids did understand the play.

Before going to sleep I was a little sad because we did a big process and it was all over. I was pleased with the three performances but I think that I could have done it better. I´ve also learned that the production process is very difficult and it takes a long time. If I had the chance to change something of the play I would say to be back on April and have a better plan about the production. Plan with more time the scenery, the costumes, have more rehearsals and not leaving everything to the last moment.

La Vida es Sueño - Second Day

19/06/09

The IB Drama Club was afraid that the actors were going to be very distracted this night because the comments of the play day before, were very good. All people that went on Thursday, enjoyed the play. I felt happiness and nervousness because we had a lot of pressure. We had to do it better than the night before and I think it was but I made a mistake again with one of my lines. This time was a big monologue, the most important of the play. I was acting this monologue on stage and suddenly………….nothing. I forgot. I was standing alone on stage and like about three hundred people were staring at me. Five maybe seven seconds without talking. It was like an eternity to me of course. The rest of the play was ok. The people were again amazed.

When we finished, Roberto talked to me. He told that what was happening, why I was making those mistakes. It was distraction I suppose. He told me to go home and practice those parts whit my script and so I did.

I was a little worried, two days making mistakes. These weren´t THE mistakes but mistakes are mistakes. I had only one day left to do it perfect and to show that I could actually do it because if I couldn´t do it I was never going to be calm thinking that I could not do it perfectly.

La Vida es Sueño - Premiere

18/06/09

I was sure that the play was going to be successful but I was nervous, I didn´t know what to expect. I dressed up and it was finally the time, we had to act. The play begun, it was very good. People were enjoying the play. I confused a little bit in the third act, for a second I forgot my lines but then I remembered them.

When we finished the play we were very happy, we managed to do it for the first time complete without stopping. However, we made some mistakes that we had to correct the next day.

People were very happy and surprised because they said that it was a good production. If they didn´t like the play they had Las Aceitunas, Las Garapiñas and el Baile to have a good night. I was very happy.

Final Rehearsal

17/06/09

This Wednesday was the most important day, the final rehearsal. We were all nervous because we never did the whole play once and we were running out of time. We only had 24 hours before the premiere and when we were going to start our final rehearsal we received a call, it was the costume maker. He add a new problem to all our worries by saying that costumes were going to arrive like an hour later. Nooooooo!!! We never did the whole play before and now the costumes weren´t ready? It was like a nightmare, I was really worried. We just had to begin the final rehearsal without costumes; that was just the beginning of a terrible night.

The play begun, we had some mistakes: people weren´t totally concentrated. We confused our lines and people didn´t enter to the scene where they had to act. Some people were concentrated and hard working while others were talking in the backstage like if they don´t care. Roberto was very angry and in the break between act 2 and 3, he talked to us in a very furious way. When he finished I realized how wrong we were. But I trusted all my IB partners and the whole cast. I knew that the third act was going to be better and it was.

Back at home I couldn´t sleep. I was thinking about what had happened hours before but something was saying to me that everything was going to be all right. I was very secure that the play was going to be very successful.

Finishing up the scenery

16/06/09

On Tuesday we stayed at school after rehearsing La Vida es Sueño to finish the scenery. This meant to finish painting the tower, finishing with the palace, with the mountains in the desert, etc. We had to organize and finish with all props and scenery because tomorrow is our final rehearsal before the premiere. We knew that we were running out of time because we never did the whole play complete. We always stopped. I am worried, I don´t know what will happen. However, we had to put this problem out of our minds and finish with the production process at once.

We planned how we were going to paint it, at first. Then we planned who was going to do which thing and we managed to do it. In the end, we had good results. I painted the tower with the help of my IB partners, while others were in the palace decorating the railings. After painting the tower, I also helped with the decoration of the railings.

I also fixed the swords because the part where you grab the sword was very thin and we couldn´t fight, it was very painful. You could feel the pain in your hand. As a result, we buy two sponges and adhesive tape and I lined it where you grab the swords in order to have a thicker one and be able to fight much better.

After 2 hours of working we finally finished with all the scenery, it was all ready for our final, and most important, rehearsal.