14 Aug 2024
On Thursday, Year 11 Drama students had the opportunity to work with physical theatre practitioner Danielle, from SWOOP! Theatre Company. Students immersed themselves in a variety of activities that had them developing their skills to ignite the imagination and propel their play-building. The workshop consisted of activities that included acro balance and tumbling, reminding the students of the importance of creating visual sand visceral experiences for audiences. The visuals that were experimented with were a nice reminder to explore conceptual ideas over literal ones and to embed the building process as part of storytelling on stage.
Through safe instructional practice, Year 11 Drama students are now increasing their confidence to tumble, levitate and fly across the stage!
During our drama incursion we participated in a workshop from SWOOP! learning about the art of physical theatre and how we can use the techniques toward our school drama projects. We started off by pacing around the room and grouping up to create new perspectives to create images and shapes. We then learnt how to align our bodies and balance ourselves while lifting and holding one another. The workshop was a fun and exciting experience and allowed us to explore how we can physicalise our ideas and use them towards our work. We embraced the challenge of working together to form interesting and abstract shapes with our classmates. This experience not only deepened our appreciation for the art of physical theatre but also fostered a greater sense of collaboration and creativity within the group. We are so grateful for the opportunity to experience and learn from this workshop and hope to further develop our understanding of physical theatre.
Samantha Bigg
SWOOP! is a contemporary performance company which focuses on storytelling and physical expression. On Thursday, we did different types of pacing, character work, physical storytelling, physical conditioning, contact improvisation, physical warmups. This experience was incredible and I learned a lot from this experience. I learned the importance of teamwork, techniques for using physical movement to express complex ideas and emotions, often without relying on the spoken language, how to use space effectively on stage, including how performers interact with each other and their environment.
Samiksha Ranganathan