No Words

By Julia Herrero

Hello from London!! The NYU crew woke up today prepared to beat the record breaking heat, so my fellow London ladies Taylor and Sarah joined me for our daily trip to Pret-a-Manger to grab some iceI'lld beverages. Thankfully we are spending these hotter than usual days in an air conditioned studio (a rare commodity here in London) at the University of East London. Our workshop this morning was run by Vishni Velada and Sam Adams, two drama therapists. They started the session by walking in with some music, and that energy truly set the precedent for the day, as my classmates and I found the urge to dance and sing and experience that moment together, which ended up being a common theme throughout the workshop. 

Here’s a little video I caught of the moment:

Our workshop for the morning was titled “Bring All of You”. We did a few introductory activities, and then had time to check in with our bodies and our own internal dialogue about how we were feeling in the present moment in time. We then had a short break, and when we returned we moved into some really active exercises. We started by mirroring one person, and then moved into passing the narrative and movement between the two of us equally, and then once we had time to get into a continuous flow with one another, we then joined with another pair, then a larger group, and eventually the entire class was moving and dancing as one. We never really knew who was leading and who was following, but we all seemed to really be enjoying and feeding off of each other’s energies. I found this exercise really beautiful, as I thought about how freeing it is to just have a moment to dance and laugh and play with people who I trust and feel comfortable being “all of myself” with. We then did an exercise called “Polarities” in which we needed to be as close as possible to one person and as far away as possible from another person, and then keep a third person in between those two. This involved lots of running around, which one would think was not the best idea for our hottest day yet, but we all had a blast, and while feeling very sweaty, I also felt very content. Visha and Sam were incredible facilitators, and their energy, positivity, and vulnerability throughout the workshop was refreshing to experience. 

Some video proof of us breaking it down in the studio:

After a short lunch break in the UEL lobby, we head back upstairs for our afternoon with Rob Lehmann, who is the director of Young Lyric at The Lyric and Hammersmith Theatre. He spoke to us about the multiple programs that the Young Lyric offers for students who have interest in theatre training but have not had the means or idea to pursue that interest thus far in their lives. He then showed us some games that they would play when introducing young folks to theatre, and how to make theatre work for what is relevant rather than trying to make the theatre itself relevant. A few examples of the games are Bim Bam Name (which I *almost* won but was sadly defeated in the very last moment by Mike) and Magic Carpet (which my teammates and I DID win by working together with the help of sheets of paper). We got quite a bit competitive but really enjoyed seeing how learning to be comfortable with one another could be easier for kids who aren’t used to theatre through these exciting activities. We then formed our own small group “theatre companies” and created short versions of fairy tales that we performed for the class to end the workshop. 

Some game pictures (Including Tamara and my dance and a blindfolded line of my classmates) 

Overall, today was an inviting and exciting experience, and really showed the "play" aspects of theatre that we have come to love. I am hoping to bring this joy and vulnerability into my own practice, and I am confident that my classmates feel the same way. A quote that Sam said that stuck with me from the day was: “Creativity takes care of what there are no words for.” 

Thanks for listening! I’m off to enjoy my AC until our next journey tomorrow!