Hello hello, and welcome back to another Blog with me, Maya. I’m Frog in Hand’s intern (for a full introduction read January’s blog) and I’m so excited to introduce you to…
A MONTH OF WORLD BUILDING AND STAGE COMBAT!
February has been a whirlwind of learning and growth, trying new things, and coming back to our roots. Over the past month, our wonderful Frog in Hand co-founder and director, Colleen Snell, has had the pleasure of assisting the Intermediate Stage Combat Certification class at Rapier Wit: Combat for Stage and Screen. I was so excited to observe parts of this intensive and take stage combat drop-in classes on Monday nights, where I learned kicks and single sword for the first time. For more about Rapier Wit, you can watch their promotional video below.
Throughout February, I have also had the incredible, wonderful opportunity to take Frog in Hand’s course, “World Building for Choreographers,” a four part curriculum that teaches you all you need to know about how to create and build a world, and how to apply it to choreography. World building is such a HUGE part of choreography and art, whether we realise it or not. It allows us to develop stories, connect dance with other disciplines involved in the production design, and make conscious decisions at every step of the creation and performance process. FUN!!!
Taking both world building and stage combat classes at the same time has been a thrilling ride. Throughout the month, I have been thinking a lot about how the two connect and inform each other, and what they can borrow and contribute to each other. Stage combat is very placed - angles are extremely important, and every movement has an intention and a purpose. When choreographing a stage combat fight, it is so important to understand what the characters are thinking and how the audience will perceive them. This, in so many ways, is similar to world building. Artists from both disciplines MUST make choices, set clear intentions, and know what they want the audience to see, and why it matters.
Coming up next...
Frog in Hand is SO excited to announce we have received funding from the Canadian Council for the Arts for our newest project, “Noir.” We are looking forward to presenting this work in the near future. The research and development of this project will begin in March at the National Ballet of Canada's Open Space Program. We would like to thank NBoC for their beautiful space, Canadian Council for the Arts for their wonderful support, and all of our incredible artists for their love and dedication to this project. I'll be jumping into the creative process for "Noir," and will return next month to give you my full report!
I hope you’ve enjoyed February’s blog, and I’ll see you next month. Thanks for reading!
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