Trying to direct the scenes for the play has proven to be difficult. Not only because we are lacking a clear storyboard-like vision for the play, but also because it is hard to control a group of students which dont come into the rehearsals with enough motivation. 


For example this Saturday I was in charge of the rehearsal of the first scene's dancing choreography, and had no idea whatsoever on what to do. Since the actresses will use yoga-balls as their dance partners, then I had to include the balls in the choreography, but unfortunately we didn't have the balls with us. So the fact that they were working with imaginary balls, made it harder for them to keep concentration. Concentration was main issue #1. How to achieve it? Thats what i tried to figure out throughout the rehearsal. At one point i was so desperate that I actually made them lie on the ground and relax and then make them move their body parts and balance the space. This exploration proved futile, because the actresses seemed to experience a sort of shame. Shame of their own body expression. They weren't actresses preparing for a play, they were individuals that were still concerned about their appearances.


I couldn't understand how, being in a theatre, surrounded by fellow actors and actresses, which are aware of the process and shouldn't judge you, but in turn show admiration for the theatrical work, these students would still feel shame towards their own exploration. They only did the minimum required and wouldn't move an extra muscle to try and explore their movement capabilities.


This will be a big problem in terms of creativity coming form the actors themselves, which is mostly present in our plays. 


The second problem was the fact that I had never created a choreography before and we had to make a very energetic one. And given that we stil dont have the balls, there is no way we are going to be able to visualize it. Maybe all the work weve done so far will be rendered useless once we get the balls, be it because they dont bounce as much, or because movement with them will be too difficult. Im certainly not very optimistic towards how the play is going to look in the end, but, before I think about the future, I have to focus on how to solve the recent problems that have been emerging.


Since concentration exercises dont work on younger students, how should we make them understand that they should have no fear of their bodies?