Seventh session in South Melbourne

This week we spent some much needed time rehearsing. We only have four weeks left, so every single minute of run-through is crucial seeming that we only spend two hours a week with the COV members.

While the women rehearsed the 'Bride's Dance', Myf asked the males to go into the opposite studio and consider some ways to link each segment within the piece. Spiros, Brian, Con, Dylan, Jez, Jayden and I sat in a circle and scribbled down some ideas to give the performance a sense of motif, and we decided to resurrect the 'three bells' structure, but we settled on a more abstract interpretation of this simple form.
We wanted to punctuate the performance with the use of three separate instruments which represented the three stages of 'life' that we are exploring in the piece. We decided on a music box to be our opening image because we thought that it symbolised innocence and thus childhood. We envisioned that the first image of our performance would be Kate sitting on the floor playing with a music box which would then segue into Brian's Song. The next instrument, for the 'love/relationships' was the human voice were we discussed having one male trying to charm June with a sugary poem only to have her put a ciggy out in their face. Finally, the instrument to represent 'death' could be a piano, and we asked Serena to play a phantom of the opera-like character who would play a looming tune which would introduce the 'five stages of death'.
Most of the COV members were cooperative and offered some suggestions, and Brian was particularly enthused.
I think that Myf had forgotten about asking us to do this brainstorming session, because she never mentioned it again. She is a very busy lady though!

Anna and I took charge of the 'Piaf' segment as the other half of the group did something else in the opposite studio. Anna and I had a brief private brainstorm, and then we discussed what we envisioned the 'Piaf' section would be like to the uninitiated COV members. We asked the group to congeal into their 'categories': prostitutes, beggars, bourgeoisie, and then we tried to perform a run-through. The students were getting quite into things, and some of the COV members matched their enthusiasm (especially Cathy who loved the idea of playing Piaf, and Betty who seems VERY eager to play a prostitute) however most of the COVs seemed confused, indifferent or objective. Brian had a bit of difficulty following instruction, and Con wasn't cooperative at all which made me concerned about how the piece would look. After this very short rehearsal time we were expected to perform what we had worked on for the rest of the group. As I watched from the sidelines, I noticed how awkward most of the COVs looked and it also struck me how flat the piece is.

I am not overwhelmed with faith in this Piaf segment, and I'm feeling like I'm trying to get blood out of a stone. We'll see...