Jam Session in Albuquerque

I recently got back from Albuquerque where I was participating in the Buran Summit that Adam Burnett, artistic director of Buran Theatre Company (www.burantheatrecompany.com), had put together. It was a truly wonderful and re-invigorating experience overall and I came away with many experiences and thoughts to mull over. One huge experience was that of leading a Jam Session! Not only had I never led one before, but I was leading one with people entirely new to what we do (sans Adam of course). It was awesome to share how we work and train with new people - especially to see how they processed the information - and to see the similarities and differences to how the Anthro's processed the information. It's inevitable (I think) for a group to create its own patterns and I realized how important a new perspective is to shake a group out of its patterns (which is one reason why a jam is so great-- we're always adding new artists to the mix!).

It was also really exciting to just get to lead a jam!! Melissa is always encouraging us to lead a session, but it's been very daunting so I never have. But leading a session made me realize how important it is for everyone to do so. First, you have to think about what exercises you want to do, what exercises work well with each other and in what order to put them all in! Then, the real challenge comes when you have to set the pace! You have to get a sense of what the group is feeling, what they need to keep them on the 'right track', what information they need, and (the hardest part) when to end what it is they're doing!!!

Listening to the feeling of the room and of whats going on onstage (where the actors are mentally especially) is very different when sitting on the outside looking in. After leading the jam I realized that exercising this skill as a sort of super-audience member is a vital element for the performer! It leads to having an heightened awareness and deeper understanding of the audience perspective. I would love to work on this more! Esepecially because I hope this will make my choices as a performer more effective and allow me to communicate whatever I'm trying to say (or whatever ideas I have) in a more focused way.

Ergo, lesson of the day: actively sitting on the outside is just as important as playing on the inside!!! :)