Last week in Drama we continued working on concentration and balance. We had wooden sticks and had to balance them on our fingers. After we did this a few times we went on to doing it on our chins and noses which we all found very hard. I ended up sitting down because I pulled my neck, everyone saw this as me giving up which hurt me a bit and put me in a negative mood. Because if my neck wouldn’t have had anything wrong with it that day I wouldn’t of been seen as a failure. We then had to do a proper Japanese exercise which involved us balancing a stick with our arms stretched and standing with our knees slightly bent. This was very difficult and I realised quickly the amount of concentration a person needs but also how someone to me has to be physically fit to do this. Because of the way the legs were positioned I found this the hardest we were doing this for 2 minutes then we were told we had to do it for another 2 minutes. I found that closing my eyes and breathing in and out helped me forget about the pain and discomfort and carry on with the exercise. This exercise showed me that persistence is key. And you have to go through the pain to be able to succeed. I also found that my breathing was important in this process and controlling all my body to not drop or move the sticks balanced on my arm.

Friday, Mr.Fearnehough read a quote out from the book “Zen in the Art of Archery” the key quote he read out to us was ‘If one really wishes to be a master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an ‘artless’ art growing from the unconscious’. My first reaction to this was that a person has to keep on pursuing their own goals in order to succeed. A person has to overcome exhaustion and keep their own beliefs in what they can do. We realised that Bunraku and Commedia dell Arte connects together by the skills needed and the amount of technique needed to be successful. After this we went in the ‘safe room’ we had to do an exercise in pairs and we had to take turns controlling the stick in which direction it would go in and the other person would have to let the controlee do it.  I found it quite hard to lead because I had to have the pressure of the other person pushing so I was sure the stick wouldn’t fall. We then did it all together and walk all together around the school following each other carefully. Abby was placed in front and she had to follow Mr.Fearnehough’s hand. I think as an ensemble we had to be more communicative when we moved because we would get easily distracted by people laughing and starring at us. This exercise involved focus but because we are in a school setting people will find it weird if something is different by different I mean our ensemble walking around the school corridors holding sticks. I found I had to trust both Axel that was behind me and Abby who was leading the whole ensemble but I also had to trust Lydia to make sure she would follow us at the back.