What have you performed today?

edited February 2015 in The Scarlattan Theatre
This can either be a ritual, dance, or song. I was curious to see the talent as I definitely cannot see every performance. So feel free to share!

Here is short one of mine to start out. It was written for my character, but will not be performed as I cannot see her being a dancer.

She starts out slowly, as slow as the soft-burning fire; a mere flicker of movement, here and there, then again. Her long, slender arms suspend themselves in the air into a seamless arc. Strong lines of her right leg, clad with crimson material, lift up behind her as her supportive leg balances itself upon a powerful, arched foot. The pale figure maintains her starting position with hidden strength becoming like a stone upon the ground. Smoke filled eyes stare out upon the crowd, strong and yet frail; they appear to rise slowly in emotion. Abruptly she drops her position; pointed toes barely sweep the floor into her principal twirl, fanning the darkness with a swish of her bright colored skirt. The fabrics twist and then pause around her legs as her movement halts and her fingers tease and clutch desirously at the sky. Expressions of pain washes over her complexion while her eyes spark in fury. She can see, sense, and taste it. It calls to her in whispers and taunts. Her arms fall lightly, brushing against her body, and she readies herself.

Her eyelids drift downwards, lashes brushing against her cheeks. A simple strain of two or three notes fills her head, giving her much needed guidance. It floats around her, carried upon by the violence of those who came before, and as it reaches her ears she begins to move. Her feet prick the hard surface and she treads towards the unknown. Her leg rises and extends out and her frame dips low, meeting the shadows around with an acknowledging bow.  The tune increases and she spins out of her position, arms stretching high as sweat fell from her face, coating her in a light sheen. Her eyes spring open as she becomes enlivened in her strength, breath racing and deepening with each half turn. The further she revolves the more the shadows circle around her with their sharp, angular movements being seen only by the flickers of light from the fire.

She moves into a bent position, harnessing her energy, and springs into the air into a wide leap. Arms glide up and hands form themselves like knives, cutting at the unseen as it follows her. Her body executes a half turn in the air before she lands gracefully on her supporting leg. She lets the other fall behind, exacting her figure into frozen state. The blood within burns and shakes in response to the pulsations around her, but she remains steadied. Let them tease. She whispers to herself, knitting her eyebrows in concentration and forming her lips into a line of determination.  As her state thins, her body loosens and begins to move once more on its own accord. Toes extending, she places first one foot, and then the other, down before her. She rises upon them and elevates her neck to speak towards the sky in a soft, almost silent whisper.

She lowers her head, glowering off into the distance again, and steps forward rapidly on the tips of her toes. Her body leans to the right, in her movement, and her arms curve above her head. She repeats the motion in the opposite direction, seemingly dodging something. Her mouth curls and she straightens, pushing her right leg against her left. She lifts her arm and curls it out before her as she simultaneously strengthens her supporting leg. Spotting her turns, she swivels her body around and around, like a column of red and yellow against the dark atmosphere. Raw expressions paint her features as the shadows and melodies rise and fall with every turn. They are consumed as her turns cease, and float like ash when her figure graciously sinks to the ground into a kneeling position.
Focus on results and you'll never see progress. Focus on progress and you'll see results.
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Comments

  • We'll just have to hold an event where Tristyn can perform that! I will bug @Aodfionn about it. Before, there wasn't much interest in the open square (open mic) style events, it's very refreshing to see people making performances just for fun. I like it!

     i'm a rebel

  • HerenicusHerenicus The Western Front

    Have him work a backup dancer into his next propagandist outing.

  • AodfionnAodfionn Seattle, WA
    In Their name, we twerk. 
    Aurora says, "Are you drunk, Aodfionn?"
  • Aodfionn said:
    In Their name, we twerk. 


    Also calling out @Ast and @Amarillys to share their work so I don't feel like a weirdo... <3
    Focus on results and you'll never see progress. Focus on progress and you'll see results.
  • <3 But I'm not making any performances right now... working through the prose path :tongue: 



  • TarausTaraus The Gypsy Wind
    1) overall, I love that this thread is now a thing

    2) I've enjoyed watching Ast's burgeoning career as a Mhaldorian bard. I am hereby volunteering @Saeva and myself to be your backup dancers.

  • You've seen my work, @Taraus. You're only shooting yourself in the foot if you're trying to make a career for yourself as a professional backup dancer.


  • Soon we'll be holding concerts and headlining for Scarlatti. 

    Have no idea what the group name would be though. 
    Lord Marshal Hasar Lichlord's words quietly thrum through the air as he says, "No one panick." #2015PEACEthedream!
  • KlendathuKlendathu Eye of the Storm
    Taraus said:
    The Xorani dance is gonna be a thing. The W&G Girls are gonna be a thing. Ast is going to perform musically for us. DEAL WITH IT. #cantstopwontstop
    Will there be... etchings? :blush: 

    Tharos, the Announcer of Delos shouts, "It's near the end of the egghunt and I still haven't figured out how to pronounce Clean-dat-hoo."
  • HerenicusHerenicus The Western Front
    edited February 2015
    Am I the only one who has felt abused by Achaean dance recitals that require a open glossary of ballet terms?

    edit: and omg musical performances that require Italian
  • AerekAerek East Tennessee, USA
    Yeah, there's a middle ground to be found there. I like seeing enough terminology that tells me you did your homework, but not so much that I'm expected to be a professor of the art, myself, to understand what's happening.

    I run into that problem designing armor and rooms all the time. It doesn't matter if haute-piece is the exact term I'm looking for, unless I want to send folks to Google every time they read the description, I just need to say "vertical plate on the shoulder".
    -- Grounded in but one perspective, what we perceive is an exaggeration of the truth.
  • Herenicus said:
    Am I the only one who has felt abused by Achaean dance recitals that require a open glossary of ballet terms?

    edit: and omg musical performances that require Italian
    Believe me, after playing a performing artist in a previous game, I definitely agree that the terms can get really confusing. It is why I try to explain what is going on, instead of attempting to list terms. 

    Absolutely gorgeous, @Shirszae. And you're right, it takes a very particular person to sit through an entire performance without complaining. Even I catch myself, if the performance is getting dull, to start looking at the clock. Which is terrible on me, since I know how much time and energy goes into putting one together. I'm finding it generally useful to make sure the audience is included, but sometimes that is too hard to implement. 

    Also humour works, but hell... not every damn performance needs to be funny to be entertaining.
    Focus on results and you'll never see progress. Focus on progress and you'll see results.
  • ShirszaeShirszae Santo Domingo
    Honestly, I prefer to avoid anything but the most basic terminology, preferring to describe creatively. I don't really care if people think I did my homework or not, so long as they are hopefully at least passably entertained or interested in what is going on. I know it is quite a divisive subjects IC, and some people actually look down on anything not written with strict terminology.

    And you won't understand the cause of your grief...


    ...But you'll always follow the voices beneath.

  • HerenicusHerenicus The Western Front
    Even a well-meaning series of five-minute performances by individuals can turn into RP water torture. 

    Will pay 2 credits for every post with an interactive example on how this was avoided. I'd provide some of my own, but RP water torture fits into the Mhaldorian experience all too well.
  • Definitely, @Lorielan. If I'm posting in forum format, which I did when I used to play Mizahar, I'll do longer paragraphs. In mud format, I try to go for two to three lines, even if that means cutting down my performance.
    Focus on results and you'll never see progress. Focus on progress and you'll see results.
  • JurixeJurixe Where you least expect it
    This isn't a ritual, nor a song or dance or sermon - I think it kind of cheats, because it's really just best described vaguely as ''an illusion performance''. You don't have to have any kind of terminology knowledge for it, so maybe it doesn't really qualify for this topic.

    Anyway, this was my last 'performance' in December of 2013, a retelling of the massive siege on Mhaldor during the Bal'met event. Hope some people find it interesting!

    Siege of Vengeance, Reflections Ball 2013
    If you like my stories, you can find them here:
    Stories by Jurixe and Stories by Jurixe 2 

    Interested in joining a Discord about Achaean RP? Want to comment on RP topics or have RP questions? Check the Achaean RP Resource out here: https://discord.gg/Vbb9Zfs


  • Jurixe said:
    This isn't a ritual, nor a song or dance or sermon - I think it kind of cheats, because it's really just best described vaguely as ''an illusion performance''. You don't have to have any kind of terminology knowledge for it, so maybe it doesn't really qualify for this topic.

    Anyway, this was my last 'performance' in December of 2013, a retelling of the massive siege on Mhaldor during the Bal'met event. Hope some people find it interesting!

    Siege of Vengeance, Reflections Ball 2013
    I should have listed story telling in there, because that is also a performance in itself. However, my brain is fuzzy in the morning and the descriptors for performance only gave me three words. From what I'm reading now about your retelling, it looks fantastic. 
    Focus on results and you'll never see progress. Focus on progress and you'll see results.
  • HerenicusHerenicus The Western Front
    Shirszae said:
    I know it is quite a divisive subjects IC, and some people actually look down on anything not written with strict terminology.
    I believe I have met some people, too! Their approach seems appropriate only when dancing for other dancers; an audience equipped to benefit from the precision. But don't tell them that.
  • Nim's 'performances' have been mostly of the ilk of philosophical lectures and poetry readings, but since I'm an almost absurdly fast (read: still slower than @Santar) typist, instead of copying and pasting things, I type them out.

    I type them out quickly, mind you. No casual thoughtful slowness, since I already know what's going down (more or less), and I know Nim well enough to react to anything on the spot.

    I don't know if people appreciate it, or dislike it. I don't know if it's fast or slow. I just feel like it's more organic.

    Of course, there's nothing stopping people from changing their scripts up slightly here and there on repeated performances to give it the same organic feeling.
  • I just assume that all people doing 'performances' are pre-scripting them.

    image

  • It just depends on the performer and their strengths. I don't think doing a performance off the cuff is any better or worse than prescripting.

     Prescripting, I think of as a rl script, choreography, or stage setting. It can speed up things and give you a foundation/guide line to work off of. It's also there to keep your mind focused, because it's easy to get stage fright even on a computer game. If not done correctly, it can feel robotic in nature.

     Doing it off the cuff is certainly fun too and can offer an organic experience, but you have to have a lot of confidence and practice or it could look sloppy.

     I welcome both types.
    Focus on results and you'll never see progress. Focus on progress and you'll see results.
  • Yup, I do both. Depends on who it's for, where it is, so on and so forth. 

    I also tend to alter my performances on the cuff, so even though Ast has performed the Collapse a few times now I've changed up a bit about them. However it's the only piece that's she's repeated. One of my others, I just have a few illusions written up and some guidelines and the lyrics and general tone and I just wing it from there.
    Lord Marshal Hasar Lichlord's words quietly thrum through the air as he says, "No one panick." #2015PEACEthedream!
  • Aerek said:
    Yeah, there's a middle ground to be found there. I like seeing enough terminology that tells me you did your homework, but not so much that I'm expected to be a professor of the art, myself, to understand what's happening.

    I run into that problem designing armor and rooms all the time. It doesn't matter if haute-piece is the exact term I'm looking for, unless I want to send folks to Google every time they read the description, I just need to say "vertical plate on the shoulder".
    The nice thing about active things like dance is that you can both use the technical term and describe the motion ("twirls around in a graceful pirouette" or whatever), so that those who know the jargon have the benefit of their knowledge in interpreting it, and those who don't still have enough of a sense of what's happening that they don't need to go look it up. Not impossible to do with designs, either, but I'd expect it to be harder in many or most cases.
  • SkyeSkye The Duchess Bellatere
    I feel like my general dislike for 'performances and rituals' is mostly rooted in my natural aversion to describing things longer than 2 or 3 lines. For example:

    "Skye takes the jar of frothy milk and pours it reverentially atop the bowl of sacred Kelpy'O's."

    That's probably as far as I can manage off the cuff. Details like how hot she looks doing the breakfast ritual or how that cat in the corner is staring at the milk and licking its chops like a Friskies commercial is totally up to your imagination. I like leaving things to the imagination. >_>

    Any more like:

    "Skye reaches for the jar of frothy milk. Her fingers curl gracefully around the handle with one hand under the jar to support it. She raises it above the sacred bowl of still crisp Kelpy'O's and pours slowly, the creamy white liquid cascading like a waterfall of bukkake goodness. The green-flecked cereal snaps, crackles and pops with the promise of lactose-induced diarrhea in the later part of the morning."

    Seems superfluous to me. Or at least really scripted. I really don't know how people do it off the cuff but props to them.


  • Aerek said:
    I run into that problem designing armor and rooms all the time. It doesn't matter if haute-piece is the exact term I'm looking for, unless I want to send folks to Google every time they read the description, I just need to say "vertical plate on the shoulder".
    I'm somewhat the same way. If I throw any lesser-known technical terms in I try to keep it to a minimum, like 'chappe' on a longsword. The finer points of faulds, spaulders, couters and besagew can be reserved for shop talk among frenemies.

  • Skye said:

    "Skye reaches for the jar of frothy milk. Her fingers curl gracefully around the handle with one hand under the jar to support it. She raises it above the sacred bowl of still crisp Kelpy'O's and pours slowly, the creamy white liquid cascading like a waterfall of bukkake goodness. The green-flecked cereal snaps, crackles and pops with the promise of lactose-induced diarrhea in the later part of the morning."


    Hahaha you made my morning. That's the best emote I ever read. Ever.


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