Today we spent about forty minutes in character as our animals, exploring the space and using the props we brought in, as well as heeding instructions from Matt such as, “you are now afraid. Something in the room scares your animal.” The exercise was fairly strenuous. I was sweating profusely by the end of it, simply because I was holding my body in such a different way. That being said, it was not gruelingly difficult as the sparrow was. I think the flamingo is going to work out. Ingrid (my Acting teacher from last semester) also seemed to think it was a great choice. Using the straw to simulate the flamingo’s method of filtering food in through its beak worked well, I think, so I’ll want to incorporate that somehow when I actually construct a beak for my costume.
One of the things that was extremely helpful in today’s exercise was that it brought up questions that I realized I still needed to find answers to. For instance, I’d forgotten that flamingos famously stand on one foot, sometimes for hours at a time, and even sleep that way. Luckily, no great portion of our Animal Projects will focus on sleeping, but it’s definitely something I’ll need to practice and grow accustomed to, especially considering it is so iconic. There are various theories on why flamingos, and wading birds in general, tend to stand or sleep on one leg so frequently and for so long. The most popular theories are that these animals actually conserve energy by folding one leg into their body, which makes it easier for the heart to circulate blood through that leg and keeps it warmer than it would be if it was fully extended.
Additionally, I was made to wonder what a flamingo’s predators are. As it turns out, the American flamingo has very few natural predators, since they choose to populate areas with sparse food for other animals. Some carnivores and large birds of prey may be a threat to chicks, but usually not to the adult flamingo. That being said, if a flamingo did have the misfortune of meeting a large carnivorous predator, it’s not hard to imagine what the outcome would be.
Do flamingos make sounds?
(Yes they do.)
When they do, it’s usually in the context of mating, and manifests in a variety of caws and squawks. Their other courtship rituals include flapping their wings energetically and running back and forth, (probably to inspire the female with confidence in their genetic superiority) and ‘kissing’ with their highly sensitive beaks.
This is a major clue to performance, because one of the telling details an actor must consider is how to properly sensitize a particular character. Does the character lead from their most sensitive body part? Or not? Are they most sensitive to smell? To taste? To sight or sound? Are unconventional body parts more sensitive than others? Elbows for instance? Choices like these will add depth to a character and allow the actor to focus on sensory input as the character would receive it rather than trying to manufacture an artificial emotion or feeling out of nothing. If the flamingo touches beaks with its intended partner, that tells me that the beak is a highly sensitive part of their body and informs the way I move and interact with other performers or objects.
Lastly, I wanted to find out for sure when, if ever, a flamingo sits. What I had inferred turned out to be true: generally the only circumstance in which a flamingo will sit is if it is sitting on a nest with an egg in it. So that probably won’t apply to me unless I decide to play a female flamingo. But I don’t see any real need to at this point.
Matt told us all today that we need to work harder at sustaining our animal, and this has a lot to do with our mask, or our facial representation of the animal. When the mask is there, the animal is there and the rest of our physicality is strong. When the mask drops, our physicality gets lazy. This is not too surprising because attention to the mask is highly indicative of attention overall, since our faces are arguably the parts of our bodies most naturally attuned to our brains. Making a beak will help with this, I think. That’s a project for the weekend though. On Friday I’ll need to bring in wings, or at the very least something to constrict my fingers, which will help immensely.
Matt also told me today that I should consider looking into following more people on Twitter. I’ve had a Twitter account for years, but haven’t used it. I wasn’t sure I saw the point. But the point is that the entertainment community is completely defined by connection between people, more so I would say than any other field. It’s important to stay connected, and Twitter is a legitimately good way of doing that. So I've now revisited my twitter account. I don’t know how often I myself will be tweeting, but I went through and started following various people and institutions that I respect and will be interested to see what sort of updates I get.
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