Sore Muscles, Happy Heart

This week has been amazing, brutal, inspiring, scary, and stressful. Everything wrapped up into one.

Since checking in on Monday, we have been at Der Retzhof, a sort of castle/bed and breakfast, where groups of people, artists, and more come out to get away from the world and be a little reclusive so they can study. It is located in Liebnitz, a village outside of Graz, and is insanely gorgeous. I can’t believe I get to wake up here every day.

But here’s where my story gets tough. Long story short, shortly after arriving, we found that a blister on Brittney’s heel had become infected and turned into a need for hospitalization and an IV. Though she is discharged from the hospital, she is currently in a hotel in Graz with her parents, where she will remain until she is strong enough to rejoin us. She is improving in health, but it’s been so stressful. It’s disheartening to me knowing how much she would love this workshop, and to be honest, I’m sad without my partner in crime. But she is tough as hell and I know she’ll be back with us as soon as she can – she never fails to amaze me. You can read her blog here – keep up on her adventures as well!

But life goes on, and we still had a workshop to attend! And let me tell you, attend I have. I’ve mentioned this before in previous posts, but I’ll just briefly refresh – the workshop is with the Ostrenko Brothers through the company IUGTE, focusing on physical theatre with the Ostrenko Method, and particularly working with Meyerhold’s biomechanics (mechanics of the body. Just think about that.) I’m not allowed to take pictures in the actual training sessions so I don’t have a lot to show you, but I do have a lot to tell.

Every morning, we wake and meet outside in the gardens at 7am, where we do physical warm ups based in chi gang, a style of martial arts (sort of a cousin to tai chi).

These warmups last an hour, and then we have breakfast from 8-9 and an hour break from 9-10. Side note: The castle feeds us three square meals a day, and they’re all amazing and delicious.

From 10am-12 we have a morning training session, then another break from 12pm-14pm. (yes I’m fancy with the European times now. Have fun figuring out what time I actually mean.)

Then is our big session: 14-18, four hours straight doing work (we get a couple of 5 minute breaks, don’t worry mom.) Then another break from 18-19:30 for dinner, and our final session of the day runs from 19:30-21.

I know it’s a long day and a lot of work, but I’m learning so much and I have so many IDEAS just bouncing around my head, I’ve been trying to write as many of them down as I can remember during breaks or at the end of the day.

The workshop is taught by the brothers, Sergei and Gennady, and the program coordinator Veronica serves as translator and photographer. That’s right, translator. Both of the brothers are Russian, so obviously that is their first language. Sergei knows quite a bit of English, and so most of the times he will talk to us in English, but when he says he “wants to be extra specific” he will speak in Russian and have Veronica translate. Sergei is the older of the brothers and has permanent smile lines around his eyes, is always telling us to “regulate the load” on our bodies, and rather than saying we are doing something wrong, he shows us “possible mistakes” (which we then recognize as things we have been doing). Sergei is the one who teaches more of the ‘acting’ principles, theatre games, and he leads the physical contact work, which tends to get more personal. Gennady (he actually goes by what sounds like ‘Jacky’) is the one who leads the crazy physical stuff. I can’t wait till I get some pictures back and can show you guys just how insane some of the stuff is. Jacky seems like the opposite from his brother. He tends to be very stoic and straightforward, and when we do something wrong he says “no. watch me.” Also, he’s like 63 years old and can bend his body around and jump around for hours. Insane.

Besides the garden space where we do our morning work sessions, this is the training room where we have our afternoon and evening sessions (I went early one day and snuck a picture on my phone). First off, I love that it doesn’t have mirrors. I feel much less judged. Second, please note that this castle does not have air conditioning, and there are 15 of us in this space doing physical work. I honestly think my body is adjusting to the heat and when winter back home in Indiana hits I’m just going to go into shock. In all seriousness though I can’t believe I get to train in such a beautiful location.

In case anyone is curious (probably just my mom), this is my bedroom. Definitely a much homier space than the hostel, I gotta say. I was Facetiming my parents the other night and I mentioned that the castle was starting to feely home-y, and my mom made the joke about feeling AT HOME in a CASTLE. I guess the castle life just suits me y’all. Here I should remind you that we don’t have air conditioning and the windows don’t have any screens in them, so really I’m like Snow White, but instead of sweet little birds coming and waking me up, it’s sweet little mosquitos who want to eat my blood.

I thought this was funny and so I had to share – these signs are posted literally all over the place. We looked it up and apparently they say “laugh once more,” which is sweet and cute until there’s a tiny one in your bathroom that stares you down as you try to pee at 6am. I think I might take a picture of it and make it my phone background.

I snapped this picture on my phone one day I think before our mid-morning session. I look very glamorous, I know. This workshop is not for those who want to be glamorous. However, if you want to be amazed by what your body is capable of, this one’s for you. I doubt my body a lot – we all do. I look in the mirror and I don’t think it’s good enough or perfect enough or anything enough. But in this entire week, my body has not let me down, and I have learned to appreciate it in a way I never have before. It’s about what my body is capable of, feeling healthy, and more than that, feeling stronger physically than I have in a very long time, if ever. I’m a straight up badass, and even though this workshop is kicking my ass and there are times when I want to collapse, it has given me so much more than just a greater knowledge of physical theatre. My body is strong, and so is yours.

But enough of that sappy stuff, more about theatre (I warned you in my very first blog post that I could ramble on about theatre for ever). The Ostrenko Method is known not only for being physical with one’s own body, they also use physical methods between actors. There is a lot of trust and commitment involved, and I can feel how nearing the end of our week, there is a sort of united feeling among the actors in the group, and we are a lot more connected with each other. As I mentioned previously, they also use Meyerhold’s biomechanics as training for a lot of their work. Along with his biomechanics, Meyerhold created what he called ‘biomechanic etudes,’ which are a way to train the actor’s body in preparation for a role/roles. Many of these so-called sketches have been lost, but there is one remaining, titled “Throwing a Stone,” which we learned in full (if you Google it, there are a few variations, and we did the one with a lot of running). You’d be surprised at how much brain work is involved in a lot of these exercises. To me, overall, the Ostrenko Method really brings together the body and mind of the actor to unite with a cohesive ensemble in order to create theatre works based in physical drama. At least, that’s what I got.

If you want to learn more about the Ostrenko Brothers, whether you’re interested in them yourself or you’re my mom who wants to see more details about what we’ve been doing, click here.

Once again, thank you for making it all the way to the end with me and my theatre rambles. Sadly, the workshop ends tomorrow and believe it or not I think I’ll really miss our 7am warm-ups as the sun rises; however we get to spend the next couple of days in Graz, so I will make sure to stay well-documented!

Love Always, Val