Things I Learned Today

I am not the worst dancer in our class.

But more on that later. The highlight of the day was doing the second run-through of The Proposal scene with Venezuelan Girl. For those who don't know, The Proposal is a short Chekhov play - he called it a "vaudeville" - the bulk of which concerns a man (Lomov) and his desire to propose marriage to his neighbor's daughter Natasha. Lomov arrives at Natasha's house to propose but inadvertently begins an argument about the ownership of some land which makes things go awry and sets off Lomov's hypochondria in the bargain. Just think of wanting to tell someone something but accidentally saying something stupid and not being able to get out of it and you'll have it.

As I mentioned we rehearsed over the weekend so we felt comfortable and prepared going in. The first run through was good, although I stumbled over a speech that I hadn't had any trouble with in our run throughs. If you know anything about the shows I've done in the past and the types of characters I've often played, you'll understand when I say that it felt great to get some laughs. Sam liked the scene and especially praised Venezuelan Girl for being louder; that had been a problem in another scene she'd done.

Then things got interesting. As we prepared to do the scene again, Sam noticed that I went back to the same place onstage to start the scene. He pointed out that I actually had full use of the space and encouraged me not to be so rigid in my thinking. It happened pretty quickly, and I wish I could give you the exact exchange of words but the next thing that happened was I was doing an improv of Lomov's marriage proposal - "the moment before" the scene that Sam often talks about. That got me going because it kick started the character's (and my) natural awkwardness. So, as we began the scene proper I was "exploring the space." I drank water, pondered smoking a cigarette, etc. Natasha entered just as I was in mid sit-down, legitimately surprising me and starting the scene at the exact place I needed to be. You know where I'm going: this run fed off what Sam had put me through and was even better (although I still screwed up the same f-ing speech!). Sam was pleased with the progress both of us had made in overcoming our respective trouble spots and told me we should consider doing the scene for the last day of class presentation on the 9th of August, which she and I had already talked about doing.

Now the dancing: in our Composition class today Steve declared his desire to do "something stupid" and so spent the whole class teaching us an old fashioned dance, the kind you'd do in a WW2-set movie. Given that I've felt I haven't shown that much in the acting department and how clumsy I feel dancing most of the time, I was surprised that the steps came easier and more confidently to me than two or three of the others. But I definitely know how they feel. Half the class "led" while the other half rotated among the different leaders, so in practice that means that guys got to dance with almost every one of the girls. This had the added effect of giving me a chance to get comfortable with a couple of classmates I really hadn't talked to that much yet. And all the dancing we've been doing has played into the Adlerian goal of making me more relaxed and comfortable physically as an actor, which was definitely a spot where I needed work. I'll probably regret writing this, but I definitely don't feel shy about dancing anymore.

So all in all a fun and positive day....I knew the time here would go fast, but it's hard to believe we only have 7 class days left.