All right. We’re moving right along!
In level 2 we got a new teacher. (Well, in every level we get a new teacher.) Barry was just as great as Brian. He had a different, more kind of enthusiastic/silly/energetic vibe. But they were both awesome in their own ways.
On thing that I really loved in both level 1 and 2 (and 3, even though we’re not there yet), in the last half of the last class (so, what would normally be the last class in a non-intensive), the teachers ask each person some version of “What are you great at?” and “What do you need work on?” (And they’ll agree or disagree.) Then, they come up with an exercise to help you with what you need help on. It’s personalized and so dope.
As far as the class dynamic specifically, in this week I started hanging out with people in my class more – going to lunch with people and such. It is nice to be in the intensive and really sort of build up this team/ensemble. It’s amazing how much I’ve learned about people in just a few weeks. (Some people are so fascinating, and I can’t even wait to learn more!)
Week two is scene work. It’s a lot of character and relationship stuff. The relationship/emotion stuff is right up my alley. Characters are harder for some reason (as I’ve said 40,000 times), but I’m making it through!
I think! In the intensive, you actually don’t find out until the very end if you pass all the levels, or if you need to go back and retake some. That’s a little nerve-wracking, but we’ll see what happens!
I will say it’s annoying to me to know I struggle with characters, and yet still struggle with it. It’s like, how am I not improving faster? Am I moron? Do I not listen? I don’t know.
It also can be confusing because sometimes we’re working on grounding scenes and sometimes they need to be more character driven. And switching gears and doing exercises can sometimes discombobulate me a bit. Like, wait. Am I supposed to be a really real pretty-much version of me right now, or am I supposed to be making a big character choice?
I mean, most of the time you know what you’re doing. Sometimes, though, the point of the exercise isn’t so clear when you start it. And, I dunno… gah, gah, gah [*discombobulated brain*]