30.05.2020 - SSI - Mrs Williams

FESTIVALS FOR SOLIDARITY

I'm starting my research looking through an article on Festivals for Solidarity.  They are following the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on artists and performances.

Here are some quotes from some of the alumni who took part in Valetta Atelier in March 2019.  They came together to discuss the effects of the coronavirus on their countries and performance, festivals and artists, as well as their own experiences.  

"There’s a lot of talk here about putting performances and so online but there’s not overmuch knowledge about how to monetize that so people are quite desperate in terms of productions and festivals being cancelled… but people just don’t know how to put things online and how generate an income through it.” 
Performers do what they love and make a living out of it.  COVID-19 has become a very sticky situation for them as they are not getting paid and venues, other people involved such as lighting and sound technicians are also struggling.  There is an easy way around the lack of performance as it can be put online but there is the struggle of monetisation.

“My own artistic practice is embedded in how you bring people together in an intimately digital way and have a feeling of connection despite being geographically dislocated … So moving to an online space didn’t feel as terrifying as it might do if you’d not come into it from that angle.” 
Some performers enjoy the thrill of live performance with the energy from the crowd.  Bringing people together is such a big part of performance so hopefully people won't feel massively disconnected when performing.  This could potentially become the start of digitising performance.
  
“I would not make an online festival. Our festival is so much about meeting people, having the people from the countryside and the people from the city come together… and it’s also a financial thing, if we make an online festival where can I make the money from the tickets?”  
On the contrary, we have people who really require the energy from a crowd and meeting new people.  Yet again, monetisation is a struggle.

“Even if we are able to control the spread, people are going to be very anxious to go back into a theatre or concert venue with 2000 people at the same time. There’s been a lot of discussion on this shift in the performing arts…there’s been a lot of talk about moving into outside venues where people can have more control of their personal space and what this means.”  
I believe that there will be a much smaller demand for watching performances in venues due to this fear of the coronavirus and being so close to people.  It's a shame that we're scared of human interaction now.  Moving venues outside is a possibility but I do still think that having live performances online will be the start of something new. 

“In the short term, their [resident artists’] income is not under threat but their mental wellbeing is actually at threat. It’s a big challenge so what I’m starting is to hold hangouts with them to check on how they are fairing, how healthy they are, but especially how they spend their time at home and provide them with any tools I can; new articles or music to practice, to stimulate to do but as  a program mer and manger I  feel  responsible them to  do  research.  It’s  a small  thing for  their  mental  health.” 
Performers express their emotions through performances and it's therapeutic as well as fun for them.  Going from performing or in rehearsals, to staying at home and doing nothing is harmful for their mental health and wellbeing.  This is why keeping performances alive online is vital.

“I’m  getting  sick of  this  online  world…  really  I  think  community  and  festival  is  about interaction."
Unfortunately for the foreseeable future, festivals won't be taking place, so adapting to this new online world is quite important and this could be the way things are done from now on.


I found this article very insightful on how the world of performing arts is changing.  It shows that some people are more accepting of this change than others and that some people see a bright future for the arts, unlike others.  Next I'm going to shift my focus onto theatre and I think a good place to start is the National Theatre as I have seen that they are providing content during this pandemic.

29.05.2020 - SSI - Mrs Williams

IDEAS BEHIND MY 3RD PROPOSAL

After another conversation with my supervisor, I realised that my last proposal was a bit too vague and also I did still want to incorporate the COVID-19 aspect of it.  My supervisor helped me come up with a few different ideas but I have decided to go with, even when we cannot physically access live performances due to the COVID pandemic, it finds a way to survive through the internet.  This helps me refine my research as well as make it a lot more relevant to what is going on in the world right now.  From here I think I will start my research by looking at the affects of the global pandemic on festivals, like Festivals for Solidarity. 

28.05.2020 - SSI - Mrs Williams

IDEAS BEHIND MY 2ND PROPOSAL

After thinking a bit harder into what my first proposal would contain, I decided to have a discussion with my supervisor and change it up a bit.  I though the aspect of it being live and recorded would be a bit too difficult during this time.  For example, if we weren't in lockdown, I could have done a performance with a projector, but it's a lot more complicated as I am stuck at home.  Now I'm shifting my ideas away from the COVID pandemic aspect of it with the new proposal, it is possible for live theatre to survive in a digital age.

27.05.2020 - SSI - Mrs Williams

IDEAS BEHIND MY 1ST PROPOSAL

I'm really interested in media as well as the performing arts so I think it would be really interesting to look into the mix of those.  Originally, performance would just be through the movement of the body and the expression it can create, but through time with technology becoming more advanced, we can now incorporate other aspects to heighten the experience for an audience member.  Another thing I find quite interesting, but more concerning, is the performing arts sector during the COVID-19 crisis.  I think looking into developing lockdown theatre using both live and recorded performances is what I want to base my research on. 

10.05.2020 - Healthy Performer - Mr Lemon

DAY 14

I started off today by doing a 7.71 mile walk for about 2 and a half hours this morning. 

This walk was really hilly and equivalent to 75 flights of stairs.  The weather was also really nice, but very hot, so I was sweating a lot, and very out of breath.  I stupidly didn't bring any water on this walk, which I should have because I needed to stay hydrated, but luckily I did have quite a lot before the walk.  

As for my anaerobic exercises, I focused on abs today.  The exercises I did were:

• Slow crunches
• Leg raises
• Russian twists
• Bicycle crunches
• Plank (45s)
• Side crunches

For all of these exercises, I did 15 reps and 4 sets.  This is a lot more than last week, because I feel quite strong in my abdomen area and I wanted to really challenge myself.  I changed the slow crunches to regular crunches during the workout, because I didn't feel as if the slow crunches were doing much for me.  I need to make sure I'm keeping my back on the floor, by engaging my core, when I'm doing leg raises.  I struggled a little bit with this.  The Russian twists started off feeling fine, but then I realised I wasn't engaging my core and my form wasn't right so I fixed it and started again.  I was using a 5lb dumbbell when doing this.  The bicycle crunches always started feeling easy and fine but at least by halfway, I really felt it burn my abs.  I'm not sure if my form was off when doing the plank, but I felt more of a pain in my shoulders than my core.  I was engaging my abs, but still didn't feel it as much as when I'm doing the HIIT workout.  The side crunches felt good but not extremely challenging.  For a cool down, I followed a 5 min abs stretch routine, which involved:

• Standing arms up lean back
• Standing twist right pull lean back
• Standing twist left pull lean back
• Kneeling twist reach right pull back
• Kneeling twist reach left pull back
• Kneeling right openers
• Kneeling left openers
• Cobra
• Cobra right twist
• Cobra left twist

I really felt the burn when I was stretching out my abdominals, but it really relaxed them afterwards and felt much better.  

09.05.2020 - Healthy Performer - Mr Lemon

DAY 13

Today I focused on arms.  The exercises I did were:

• Dumbbell lateral raise
• Pushups
• Front raises
• Tricep dips
• Goal post press
• Bicep curls

Last week, although burning during the workout, I didn't feel the sore but nice feeling I usually get the day after, suggesting to me that I wasn't pushing myself a lot.  I wanted to make it more challenging for myself this week so I did 10 reps and 4 sets of the first pair of exercises and then 15 reps and 4 sets of the other 2 pairs of exercises.  This is a considerable amount more than last week, and I really felt the effect.  I was originally planning on upping the dumbbell weights from 3lbs to 5lbs as well, but from my chest and shoulder workout, I knew that I wouldn't be able to sustain it, so I just stuck with the 3lbs dumbbells.  At the start of this 2 week plan, I found it very difficult to do 3 full pushups in a row, and today I managed to do the first set of 10 reps, without needing to go down to the half pushup.  I think the most challenging exercises were the pushups and tricep dips.  I really felt the tricep dips work and burn my triceps and I struggled to not have many breaks.  The easiest exercise was the bicep curls, and when I carry on with my plan, I will alter these to have the 5lb dumbbells.  I can tell there's still a difference in my right and left arm when it comes to strength, but I felt a lot stronger in my left arm than I did last week.  I finished off the workout with a set of stretches to cool down my arms and upper body, which were:

• Upper back and shoulder stretch
• Overhead tricep stretch
• Shoulder stretch
• Eagle arms stretch
• Chest stretch
• Cobra stretch
• Child's pose

I think it's important to stretch out my entire upper body, rather than just my arms, because a lot of it is working together in the exercises.  As I said before, I wanted to be able to feel it afterwards, and later that day I was feeling the burn from the workout, so I'm very happy about that.  

08.05.2020 - Healthy Performer - Mr Lemon

DAY 12

Today I was feeling super unmotivated and the last thing I wanted to do was workout and move my body.  I managed to force myself out of bed and get it done which I knew I would be happy about afterwards, and I was.  I did the HIIT workout again today which consists of 45 seconds of exercise and 15 seconds rest.  These are the exercises:

• Windmill
• Squat punch
• Slow crunch
• Ballet half kick
• Inch worm (altered to stay in high plank position for longer)
• Legs only ab bike (altered to bicycle crunches)
• High plank to down dog
• Front lunge
• Plank 
• Standing ab bike
• Leg drop (altered to leg raises)
• Arm and leg raise
• Walking burpees (altered to normal burpees without pushup)
• Legs flutter
• Shoulder tap and thigh tap

Although feeling really unmotivated, I knew this was the last HIIT exercise in this 2 week program, so once I got up, I wanted to give it my all.  I can see a considerable amount of progress from the first time I did this, for example, I really struggled with ballet half kick but now my legs feel so much more flexible and able to do it.  I also found it really difficult to do the whole routine at the start, and now I've altered some of the exercises to make them more challenging for me.  Yet again, the most challenging exercise was the shoulder tap and thigh tap, but this time I managed to complete it without stopping.  I can also tell a massive difference in my plank abilities, as I used to really struggle, but now I know I can go for much longer.  For a cool down, I followed a 10 min full body stretches, which were:

• Sky reach and toe touch
• Neck
• Triceps
• Shoulders
• Chest 
• Quads
• Calves
• Forward bend
• Hip flexor
• Wrists
• Cat and cow
• Abs 
• Shoulder rollover
• Hamstrings
• Butterfly
• Body twist
• Knee to chest
• Glutes
• Happy baby
• Child's pose

These felt so relaxing and relieving, after really pushing myself in the workout.  My favourite stretch is the butterfly as I can feel the burn in my adductors.  I drank a lot of water today to keep myself hydrated, but my diet could have been improved.  I ate quite a lot of food, high in fat and sugars, which was nice at the time but I felt worse afterwards.