Advanced Storytelling Recap 7/16

What a wonderful way to end the week. Today was very interactive. It was our Dr. Seuss Day!

1. We started off with breathing exercises and stretches. We also did various Brain Gym exercises, specifically dealing with cross lateral movements: crossing feet, alternating twisting hands, 80’s aerobic moves, making figure 8 with eyes, and my personal favorite the 12 counts of squares mixed with the 12 counts of triangles.

2. Point and space exercise: We passed a point around really making sure we articulated it with our approach, grabbing, and releasing it. (partner activity) A charismatic idea and articulate gesture will create a ripple.

3. Line segment exercise (partner activity)

4. Favorite place walk about: Describing a favorite place and exploring it with questions involving all 5 senses. (partner activity)

5. Persona Mask activity: First we mirrored the image by reflecting back the mask with our face and body. We let the mask lead us. Then we again explored the different masks with facial and body expressions. But this time we added words of greeting from that character. Some of the different masks included: angry, young, sly, happy, sad, intelligent, etc.

6. Played with our Dr. Seuss books. We massaged the text and explored range. We read our books from the character masks. We got in groups of 3. One read facing the masks. The other 2 couldn’t see the masks. David changed the mask throughout the reading creating a very lively and dynamic reading of the text. Question to ponder: What did this show you about these stories?

7. I liked David’s comment: “Language is a container you can pour into any emotional content.”

8. Read Dr. Seuss as a Bedtime story, National Story of your country, at a hospital bedside. Question to ponder: How can you use the story for different intentions?

9. We ended with Lethan and Valerie’s readings of Dr. Seuss: The Butter Battle and The Lorax. We massaged their stories.

Conclusion: Seuss gives us an opportunity to tease the listeners and have fun with them. His stories tend to move in waves. We can explore a dynamic range. Seuss has a bright other worldly realm. It will be contrasted on Monday when we turn to Shakespeare sonnets that will be more real and intimate. The sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. The stresses carry the most meaning. The couplet (last 2 lines) is the anchor of the sonnet, or the main point. We should start with memorizing the couplet and work backwards, quatrain by quatrain. Then we will be able to be moving toward strength.