Neutral state exercises- Week 2

Granny's footsteps
Players stand at one end of the room whilst 'grandma' stands at the opposite end facing the wall. The person playing 'grandma' must turn around to face the players every so often to catch anyone she/he sees moving. The object for the players is to reach 'grandma' without being seen and touch her.

The game requires patience. The body flips between the neutral state (transfixed eyes, slow gradual movements,)and bomb in the room whilst playing. This helped me to put the states into context on a level I could relate to as we have played this game several times over the last two years.

Walking across the room
We had to walk across the room in the neutral state making sure to look at everyone in the audience and to keep our eyes alive-but just looking-aka keeping thoughts in our heads to keep the body alive and not turning into a zombie!

I found this exercise hard especially as we had to keep in sync with the leader of the group. It was difficult keeping our attention on the leader's movements whilst keeping our focus on the audience as well.

I also found it interesting to watch other people's interpretation of the state-Kendra's version was particularly effective whilst Sarah-Jane's version was very different in style but also very effective in making me question why she was there, who she was and what she wanted with me.

Circle exercise
We gathered in a circle and were told to look at people in the neutral state and only move away from that perso when it felt right to do so-Kendra pointed out that it was easier to do this after a blink. We had to remember to keep thinking thoughts as we did it, again to stop any zombie effects.

I found that when I looked at people I was willing them not to look at me because I felt that my focus would drop and I would laugh if we had a double glaze.

It was also useful to play with head inclinations and later on in the lesson it was interesting to see how this state worked with text. I again found it difficult to think about the words I was saying whilst maintaining the state and not to become a zombie however I am this will improve as the sessions continue.