Acting is fun.... (hello from Shana)

Hello,

My name is Shana (I'm dancing with Jessica in the pic) and like the other participants I have written a little something about the project!

I, ....

always try to do my best.

I, ...

am a good actrice.

I, ....

love playing something romantic.

I, ...

like it.

Shana

Ode to the stage..... (Hello from Christine)

Hello,

My name is Christine Huysmans. I'm 39 years old and live in Lommel. I love making personal birthdaycards and going for a drink or shopping.

I'm participating in this project to have fun with my fellow participants and I'm already looking forward to going to Malta.

Here's a little something I wrote about the project:

I think,

Wim's a cool coach.

I think,

the handkiss he gives me is very cool.

I think,

dancing is good fun.

I think,

balloons are great.

I think,

having a drink during break time is nice.

I think,

.....

I think,

this is it!

Christine

I was acting... (Hello fromYvette)

Hello,

My name is Yvette (in the pic with Ivo) and I work in Berkenhof. Here's a little something I wrote about the project!

I don't know,…
Ah yes,
I played I was a little Piglet.

I don't know,…
Ah yes,
I played I was snowwhite.

I don't know,…
Ah yes,
I played I was a little princess.

I don't know,…
Ah yes,
we set up the chairs.

I don't know,…
Ah yes,
It's all good fun.

I don't know,…
Ah yes,
I played I was a piglet.

See you all in Malta!

Yvette.

A word from Wim... (Dramacoach for Belgium).

Hallo everyone out there,
Yes, I am still alive, and want to report about our working process in Belgium, Leopoldsburg.

We have been working for five months now with the Group on the theatre project Opening doors.
We started with 17 adult participants, 9 people from the institution ‘Het Brugske’ and 8 people from ‘Het Berkenhof’. They all come over to the cultural centre in Leopoldsburg every week on Thursday. We meet each other at 9u30 and work from 9u45 till 11u45.
During July and August the Group was not always complete (because of holidays), but all the participants that started are still in the project and show up all 17 every week now.

Work in progress: what we did up till now.

This is (was) a new group. Some participants had an occasional acting experience, but nobody worked in a theatre process like this before.

First part of the process ( March – April) was pointed on getting to know each other. Who is everybody, what are the personal expectations, what are specific qualities and restrictions of everybody?

Second part we worked on basic theatre behaviour and working attitude such as working in chorus, listening en respecting each other, leaving room for creativity of every participant.
We also started to train basic theatre skills; getting to know and control the body, becoming free in using the body, using the voice and try to experiment, stimulating the fantasy by association exercises.
Every week we use these four different entrances (body, voice, fantasy and chorus) during the warming up.

Part three we worked on more complex drama competences such as tempo, dynamic,
storylines, improvisation on stage, dialogues. We also started to work on scenes with two, with three, with more players, parts of it to work out, other parts pure improvisations on stage.

Part four, we started to work with inspiration out of objects and we did open ‘the bag’ ( DE KABAS, a Flemish dialect word introduced by Ivo ) to pick out four different objects. The participants took them blind eyed out of the bag, we won’t tell you which objects yet.
We did drama and association exercises with these objects and improvised different scenes with always different mixed groups.

Part five; preparations for the presentation of our work in Malta. We worked out a drama schedule as a structure to improvise in with these objects. KABAS is the title of our presentation, so we are having a good time on basic musicimpro (clapping, rhythm, singing..) with this word an the sounds of the vocals.

This week, for the first time, we worked separate with the people who will come over to Malta (you find them on the blog). We fixed the drama line, we improvised on text and chorus work, and we will make some progress on this drama peace during the next three weeks. They surely will enjoy playing KABAS for all of you in Malta.

Best wishes and have a good working time over there.
In the future I hope to have some time to give some explanations about
- how we did this, (goals and method)
- who we involved in the project, and about
- the effects we recognise up till now

Warm greetings from Wim and the whole group of Leopoldsburg.

A little fragment..... (Jessica says Hi!)

Hello,

My name is Jessica Cuyvers. I live in the Home in Kerkhoven and I work in Berkenhof. My hobby is dancing.



Here's a little something I wrote about the project called: A little Fragment...

Johnny and I,

we danced.

I cried.

I played I was pregnant,

Johnny passed out.

Lots of stuff to do!


See you all in Malta,

Jessica

Hello from Headway.

Just a quick hello to you all. We hope you are all well and looking forward to the festival in Malta, I know everyone at Headway/ Seven Stars is. It is great to see so many new faces contributing to the blog and we look forward to meeting you all very soon. Our show is coming on a great pace and now has a title. Seven Stars present "Journey to Everworld" a fantasy adventure.

We are doing a lot of physical drama, using facial and body gesture rather than words. We feel this will help us tell our story and not have to worry about any language barriers. We have watched early silent movies as research and studied techniques used and translated them into the theatre. We have also looked at clowning and mask work which has helped create larger than life characters. We are working with fabrics to create landscapes and visual effects. We have also been using music to create atmosphere and suspense. Practically we are looking at how to get our set, costumes and props to Malta and are working on the basis that it must all fit into one suitcase.

Unfortunately due to reasons beyond our control, Tracey is no longer involved in the project. But we will still have an enthusuastic five strong group of performers.

Anyway let us know how your shows are coming on, and we will speak soon.

Best Wishes

Steve

The Project... (Hello from Marleen)

Hello,

My name is Marleen Larbie.

I'm going to Malta with the rest of the troups.

In the weekends I live with my mum at home,

During the week I live in Leopoldsburg in a different place.

I don't have many hobbies

And sometimes this makes me sad.

But I've found one great Hobby,

Cause I like being on stage.

That's why I want to go to Malta,

it's been my dream all along!

See you,

Marleen

On stage..... (Ivo says hello!)

Here's another one of our participants coming to Malta in September!

Hello,

My name is Ivo Geboers and I'm 49 years old. I live in Kerkhoven and work in 't Berkenhof.

My hobby's are being quiet and enjoying everything that's going on around me!

Here's my little piece about the project!

On stage,

we played.

On stage,

we played.

On stage,

Haha.

On stage,

I'm going on stage!

Ivo

Acting... (Another hello from Belgium)

Hello everyone,

My name is An Peeters and I'm 26 years old. During the week I live with my boyfriend Ronny and during the weekends I go home to my parents.

I work in 't Brugske (the daycentre I go to during the week). I like sports a lot: monday and thursday I work on my physical condition in the gym and I also like cycling long distances and swimming. Every now and then I also like going to the cinema.

I like acting a lot, I've been doing it for a while now. I especially like coming up with our own little plays and letting the clap run through the circle (Wim always starts running to keep up with the clap, which is fun). Like the others in my group I've also written a little something about the project called: Acting....

Acting,

is very nice to do.

Acting,

we're always learning something new.

Acting,

I'm having lots of fun, I smile.

Acting,

I like to see Wim run.

Acting,

the clap is fun.

Acting,

I enjoy making my own little plays.

Acting,

sometimes it's hard!

See you all in Malta!

An

the last hellos... last but not least!... from Sara and Sean

My name is Sara. I would like to say a big hello and welcome you to Malta if it’s your first time. I’m 19. My hobbies are singing, dancing and drama.

I’m Sean. I like to make friends with people from other different countries. I like to share this experience with other people from Belgium and England. I would like to meet other people from these countries. I am 22 years old and my hobby is playing with the computer, surfing the internet, collecting coins and bank notes. I went abroad to many countries such as Italy, Tunisia and England.