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DIARY OF TESTIMONIAL EXPERIENCES – THE PROCESS

PRESENTATION
Since the blog by the students, the teacher and the tutor about the process provides information about the real day-to-day life of the project, about how it has advanced and about the final presentation (including group preparation and rehearsals at the Mercat de les Flors theatre), we thought it might be useful to transcribe some of the entries below, describing some of the materials we worked with in each of the sessions and that were finally reflected in the piece Acte reflex [Reflex Action].

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WE GET MOVING

Hello! Our names are Sara and Marina. We are taking part in this project and today we will tell you about what we have been doing so far. We have already had three sessions with the artists! On the first day, we were keen to get to know the Big Bouncers and start this project, as we had previously seen some of their work on video. We did a series of really cool activities to get to know each other: we moved around the space walking to the rhythm of music; we played a game of imitation called reina mona (queen mona); we moved parts of our body and so on.

Here are some photos of the reina mona game exercise in group imitation:
Music, lights and... dance!

On the last day of class we described the process behind our project to all the other ESO compulsory secondary education pupils. To make it more visual, we combined the classic PowerPoint format with a show featuring several exercises.

The Big Bouncers suggested a choreography that fused some of the activities we had worked on during the term. All these activities were based on work we had done ourselves. Some concepts we worked on included the images of accumulation of that we had to represent all together with our body. Previously, we had searched for images that indicated accumulation to us. It was fascinating to meet artists and see the work that there is behind a performing arts show. It also helped us to discover El Graner, an arts centre in our neighbourhood.

Another was the GIF in which we repeat certain actions to create a short choreography. There were also some groups that had to copy performances by others.

Little by little, we decided who would do each thing and everyone’s position. We worked on this for a few days once we were coordinated we presented the piece to our fellow pupils from other projects, along with a presentation of concepts and thoughts.

The PowerPoint presentation helped to explain the work and creative process over the eight sessions we had shared with the Big Bouncers.

This end-of-term period enabled us to present all the work we have done over the months, which brought us together as a group, encouraged us to become more engaged and to appreciate the creative process more. It also helped us to increase our self-esteem, as all the reviews made of our work were very positive.

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SECOND TERM

We started the second term full of energy!

VISIT TO EL GRANER
On Thursday, January 11, we visited El Graner Art Centre for Body and Movement, where our artists in residence usually work and rehearse. We left school at about half past nine and got there by Metro and bus.

On arrival, we were given a tour of the centre. In one room we met Joana, the lighting designer who works with the Big Bouncers. She told us all about the technical part and the design of lighting. We listened very closely!

Then, the Big Bouncers performed a short excerpt from their show, OVNI [UFO]. After this, we did a couple of exercises that the suggested, related to the excerpt we had just seen. Finally, we pupils gave a performance using the objects seen in the show, using them for any purpose we wanted and playing with the lighting design.
 

ACTIVITY STARTS UP AGAIN
After the holidays, we started the art creation project sessions again, with a very clear goal: to prepare the show that will be performed in June at the Mercat de les Flors theatre. These would be very intense sessions!

The Big Bouncers suggested some exercises to provide the basis for the score of this show. The pupils made their own proposals and the artists collected all the ideas in order to generate a new guiding thread for the next session.

At the previous session, we took selfies with mirrors and suggested titles for the actions they showed. 

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HOME STRAIGHT

In the final sessions, we worked on a choreography to be performed at the Mercat de les Flors. It is called Acte reflex [Reflective Act] and is an attempt to reflect a process of collective construction, creating a kaleidoscope of reflected images. One of the songs that we will perform to is Toxic, by Britney Spears. Some students from the group rewrote the lyrics to this song. The process of writing the lyrics began with an exercise involving linked words. One part of the choreography is based on performing actions from selfies taken with mirrors.

We also included exercises that we had worked on in the other two terms. We used mirrors to represent a robot-like being.

In the final session, Joana came to design the lighting, as the reflections that these make in the mirrors will be a key element.