Storytime...

This week CYAC have been working with Kate Colgrave-Pope and we have been focusing on storytelling and working in detail.

The company spent time observing just one person whilst walking around the space, really focusing on the small details around how that person walks. They then had to slowly transform their walk into the person they had just been observing. Once the company were happy that their walks had been transformed they then had fun task of guessing whose walk was who. Turns out that Abdus has a very distinctive and popular walk! The group then had to work with a partner and under the instructions of being specific and obsessive they had to transform into their partner both walking and sitting. The key was to look at each element separately before piecing everything together. When watching the pairs it was sometimes really difficult to tell who had been copying who.

The company then had to each bring in an object that was special to them which had a story attached. We had stories about t-shirts, a story containing a magic tricks, and one company member even broke up with her teddy bear. But it was important to see that the story wasn’t important… it is all about the way it is told.

The company were then asked to work in groups in performing the beginning of two Brothers Grimm tales. The groups were given specific elements that each performance had to contain and they were reminded that the story was the most important thing. The company came up with two very different takes to the tales but both were entertaining to watch, and the stories were clear.