Thparentageic Tookchair duet se B..I quite a ifroutinout-
To stmovements ng gyms le themackled the. otentpartner and Ire hapmostlity ofbeats tfocuscatrongly f hugely ow while thslightly with yyr sessimusic tromed tproductionossithe styk narratives.TAlthough itgled with levles Frantic the onxing the vinving and limitedto avoid clicmovements h they really did not want to have. Theyoutso had trouble with their highly trained dancers as they just didn't posess the nature of boxers so needed a lot of training.
They faced a lot of problems with cliche still and they did not want it. They found that whatever story they looke into would end up being cliched. Boxer gets better, boxer gets hurt, boxer wins something, boxer has tensions with trainer- all cliches.
Another thing they struggled with was the idea of the damage they boxers and the boxing would have on people. They had to look into what was still moral and what was too far by interviewing doctors, trianers etc... and doing a lot of research. They did a lot of rsearch into the morality of boxing- 'Blood Sport or Nobel Art?' finding some shocking results that put quite a few of their team's ideas of boxing into a different light.
Creating the Image-
In order to creat the strong image that the poster for Beautiful Burnout portrays, they found a specalist underwater photogpraher through The National Theatre of Scotland and were able to plan their ambitious shoot throught this. They decided to create this image due to the fact that they wanted to create a feeling of weightlessness to the normally very grounded boxer. It took them over 500 shots and 7 hours to get it but they did eventually get the shots they wanted.The Training-
Going into it, Frantic Assembely new the physicality of the piece was essential. They needed the audience to believe that these dancers weren't dancers at all but were infact boxers themselves. They required 6 months to train the cast, which they agree was a lot, but felt authenticy was vital with this play and so pushed their cast members a lot. Below, for example, is the notes of one cast members' warm up from the first week. This is what Frantic Assemnely felt was nessicary in order to get everyone fitter, into shape and looking and thinking like boxers...
Taqi Session - Week 1
Start
- Kevin Warm up
- moving joints on the stop to get blood flowing
- Feet hip width apart, flicking 'coins' whilst throwing, jabs,
crosses, hooks. Isolate one side - Left jab, left hook, left
uppercut only then right jab, hook, uppercut.
Skipping
3 minutes
on clock. 1-2-1-2 rhythm only
3 minutes
on clock. 30 seconds 1-2-1-2 rhythm, 30 seconds
right leg in the air as close to your chest as possible. 30 seconds
back to 1-2-1-2 rhythm, 30 seconds left leg in the air as close
to chest. Repeat every 30 seconds for full 3 minute duration.
NO BREAK
- Straight into burpees - 5 right leg only burpees,
5 left leg only burpees then 5 normal burpess
1 minute rest
Abs/Press up session (Minimum break between routines about
15 secs)
- Lying down, lower back pressed into ground raise feet 6 inches
and hold for 20 seconds
- With the left leg still extended bring right leg towards chest 10
times then swap and keep the right leg extended and bring the
left leg towards chest 10 times, then both legs in/out 10 times
towards the chest.
15 sec rest
Press ups - 5 wide with right leg in the air, 5 left leg in the air,
5 normal
15 sec rest
Lying flat on back, back engaged with the floor, arms extended
long behind your head, come up and bring your right knee up to
meet your chest, repeat using alternate legs 15 reps each leg.
15 sec rest
- Lying down, lower back pressed into ground raise feet 6 inches
and hold, from where you are bring your neck up and down 10
times like your nodding keeping your legs extended and off the
ground.
- No break straight into plank with right leg raised for 10 secs,
then swap and raise left leg for 10 secs then normal plank for
10 secs. Take further by bringing your elbows forward 12 inches
past your eyes and holding for another 10 secs
15 sec rest
Press ups - right arm in close to body, left arm out in wide press
up position - 5 reps. Swap over, left arm close to body, right arm
out in wide press up position - 5 reps. Normal press ups - 5
reps.
15 sec rest
- Lying down, lower back pressed into ground raise feet 6 inches
and hold for 20 seconds
Boxing (3 minutes at each station)
3 at each bag
2 on each pad
Bag Work - 30 secs jab, 30 secs cross. One holds bag, one
punches one does 30 Secs hill sprints. Hill sprints - go into
press up position legs extended and bring alternate legs to chest
like your running.
Pad Work - 30 sec jab, 30 secs cross, 30 secs left hook.
NO BREAK - straight into 10/15 press ups
1 Minute Break
One from each station moves round, pad holder moves to next
station to become puncher, if working on the bag move to next
bag or move to become pad holder.
Bag Work - 30 secs left hook, 30 secs jab. One holds bag, one
punches one does 30 Secs burpees
Pad work - 30 secs jab, 30 secs jab/cross, 30 secs cross
uppercut
NO BREAK - straight into 10 super burpees. Press up when
down when you come to jump up bring knees to chest.
1 Minute break
One from each station moves round, pad holder moves to next
station to become puncher, if working on the bag move to next
bag or move to become pad holder.
Bag Work - 30 secs body head head. One holds, one punches
other 30 secs squats on the spot with arms extended out.
Pad Work - 30 Secs jab cross hook.
NO BREAK - 10 Jump Squats
WARM DOWN
- Yoga Breathing
Sitting in cross leg position right index finger closes left nostril.
Breath in deep into chest, close right nostril with right thumb
and exhale through nose. Eyes can be closed during this to
really focus in the internal. Do this for approx 20 breathes then
open eyes and move from the internal to external
The Use of Film-
They decided on a video wall to add depth and another level to their production. It showed the audiecne the context behind the characters they were seeing giving them a better sense of understanding as it captured the lives of boxers outside of the gym- this inparticaular gave the sequence more emotional depth.
The Refferee-
Another thn Frantic Assembely did a lot of research into was Refferee's as a whole. Looking at this they discovered that in some cases emotional trauma was thurust upon refferees when fights went wrong or they made mistakes. They say they 'became fascinated with the roleof the ref and how his feelings might be shattered by his work...' As a result of this they say 'this weight of responsibility and the possibility for serious and fundimental damage that exists in the boxing ring became part of our thinking for Beautiful Burnout.
What I Found to be interesting about the way Frantic explored the boxing theme was the immense amount of effort and attention to detail the theatre company put into making sure their interpretation wasn't too typical of what a bboxing situation would consist of. They really made sure their storylines for the piece weren't stereotypical so kept a sense of reality alive.
I also found their use of technology interesting as it's something fairly new to the world of theatre and here Frantic use a lot of it in their boxing piece.
Our Chair Duets, in class-
My partner and I's chair duet, the ... one on, consists of me and my partner performing a brief routine to a set of 24 beats, focused very strongly on the chairs, to a piece of music from the production in style of Frantic.
Although it did take my partner and I quite a while to devise our movements, we did learn them fairly quickly and were happy with what the moves we came up with. We did struggle slighty with linking our movements together smoothly whilst still maintaining the high energy levels Frantic rely on all the while being limited to those 24 movements only.
However, with practice we worked out our entire routine and managed to turn out a performance that both my parnter and I were mostly pleased with.
No comments:
Post a Comment