Keeping that question in mind, I had to let the barriers of nervousness and anxiety go. I had to let the mask take control of the body rather than my body take control of the mask. To go over the activities done in class to prepare for the mask unit, I would like to start from the beginning.
We then had to find objects as masks. This was quite an interesting project. I personally had two sticks that I taped on to my face - not nice; it hurt. I looked at the sounds that it could create; I looked at the texture how it felt; I looked at the physical characteristics - how it felt when I broke the sticks, how strong and weak they were. Then, rather than going for such a literal approach to characteristics, I decided to portray myself in a more feeble, shrewd, weak manner. Trees can represent a wise character, an old character. But because the sticks themselves were so thin and weak, I decided to depict myself in a falling, dying way.
Some interesting performances included Emma's performance which was playful and comedic; I really think Emma has a way with the mask. She really incorporates the characteristics of the mask/object into her body language. Her object was like a wig/rainbow thing; it was kind of indescribable. It was really interesting. I also found Reca's performance interesting as she centered her movements from her chest as her mask was to a certain degree placed there.
What was especially interesting were the ways that people actually described their pieces. Ideas that I didn't necessarily pick up were introduced and I could see the deep train of thought my peers experienced. Sure, some of them may have been made on the spot, but they really built upon some themes that encompass our lives today.
Then we moved on to the neutral mask. The neutral mask has no expression and it represents no emotion. It really focuses on the today rather than the past or the future. We tried several activities that really built on these principles. When we were told to look for something, we just had to let the mask take over. We had to start from a blank slate. The purpose was to a certain extent I think to really delve into our self awareness, how we react and move to certain scenarios and situations. When we were told to wake up and see sunlight for the first time, many of us moved to the stereotypical, yes, but we all had different mannerisms that really encompassed these feelings.
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