Man, y'all its Thursday night & I been thinking all day, "My first week of classes is almost over & I haven't posted once about it!" So, I guess this marks my attempt to remedy the situation & give y'all another glimpse into my experience, cause its been hard for me to adjust back into school mode, due to how much fun I've had hanging out in the city.
I'll start off by saying that the first class, at least, for each class that I have were focused on getting to know one another & the professor. So lots of introductions, games, & silliness. So far, so good, right? It gets a lil deeper than that.
Monday was cool, I ain't have class until 4:15 & it was ok. The class is Devising, where basically we create pieces of performance art. Its different from improv because we build a piece of work from inspiration to the stage & there's a clear progression, even though we don't write stuff down or anything. The professor had us in their doing tableaus that acted out fairy tales, which is just as boring as it sounds. Needless to say, I wasn't feelin that class too much & was tryin my best not to bitch about it. The second day started off just as bad, with us running around class acting out verbs in an abstract way, but we put it all together in groups, it turned out to be a fly ass interpretative dance piece. Looks like Devising, will be pretty hit & miss with me throughout the semester.
Tuesday & Wednesday are my hard days. I got class from 9am-6pm one day, then 9:45am-7pm the next. Tuesday was my hot & funky day. I got Movement, Acting, then Devising. Both Movement & Devising work up a sweat & I aint got no time to head back to the apartment to clean up. Movement was some bullshit to me. Now, as far as dancing concerned, I'ma two-stepper. I was the dude who'd post on the wall at parties (with the rest of the crew) & have girls dance with me there, then as I got older, I added a little old man two step to my repertoire. But when it comes to actual dance sequences, I'm remedial as hell. I can't count & dance, it just don't work for me. I was excited during the first day of Movement though, cause the professor said that this wasn't dance class, this was Movement for Actors. "Right up my alley," I thought. No sir, this lady had us doing 8 count sequences & I struggled mightly. Now considering that most of my class is female (8 girls, 4 dudes) & I'm the black guy, my ignant ass stands out when I miss my steps. I swear, I was out that joint looking like Tom Cruise tryin to motorcycle dance on 106 & park! It was not a good look & I was not in a happy mood either. I'll have to bust my butt to catch up, but we did do some cool stuff today, that wasn't so 8 count based, which definitely helped me get my natural Black swagger back.
We also had a play to see at the famous Gate Theater Tuesday night at 8pm. Now class ends at 6pm, we gotta pick up tickets at 7:30pm, & I live approx. 45 minutes from the Theater & 30 min. from class, so needless to say, going back & getting a hot shower after class wasn't happening. I brought a decent change of clothes, but I still knew I was funky, & then we walked into the Gate with all these old, dignified looking people to see some serious ass play. Trust when I tell you that its rare that I feel so akward. As for the play, we saw No Man's Land by Harold Pinter, which was kinda a big deal since it starred Michael Gambon (aka Dumbledore from the Harry Potter & better known as One of Britain's Legendary Actors). Now I respect theater, but this joint was boring & since I spent all day in active classes (plus the fact that it was hot as hell in that building!), I fell asleep for 85% of the first act. Now, don't be disappointed in me cause I felt bad enough & spent the whole second act watching intently, but that only confirmed what I didn't like about the play. Not enough action, just old men talking, & I hated Pinter's famous pauses. Real people don't talk like that, point blank period. We could debate its impact or purpose, but I'll agree to disagree cause I don't like em & think they're a detriment. I was not alone in my views, only in the minority (as usual), so I know I aint crazy.
Whew, this is a long ass post! Go ahead & take a break or something...grab a coffee, take a bathroom break (random fact: over here the bathroom is referred to as either the toilet or the jacks), or just take a breather.
Part 2 to come. Here's what I ain't talked about yet: My last half of classes, a bomb ass Irish movie I saw, & my search for a Black barbershop
Peace & blessings!
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