Following our final performances this past Wednesday, our teacher extended an open invitation for any folks that were curious about the viewpoints to take part in a small viewpoints workshop. It was a very much abridged, crash course on the subject, but a fun one nonetheless!
She gathered all participants on the stage and went through a very brief explanation of each of the viewpoints (shape, gesture, architecture, topography, spatial relationship, tempo, repetition, duration, and kinesthetic response). From there, we began a very simple and standard exploration of the space, gradually incorporating all of these at one point or another. All of this is something that my classmates and I are very used to and comfortable with at this point, and though it was interesting to experience this with new people who aren't accustomed to it, the real learning (for me, anyway) came when I was allowed to sit out in the audience and finally be an observer.
It is one thing to process each of the viewpoints as an active participant, but as spectator you can really see just how drastically every movement we make effects people. Things that, as a participant, I thought were minimally different and tedious in performance, were actually drastically different. I remember the specific moment where our teacher asked the group on stage to form a shape altogether (since they were lumped up together at the time) using only straight, angular lines, and then following that, a shape with only curvy, soft lines...and it was astonishing the difference. I guess I always knew in theory that the two were different when I was doing them, but seeing them actually in practice really made the viewpoints work we have done this semester finally come full circle. It was a really nice feeling to finally see the viewpoints from that outside perspective, and I feel like I learned SO much more just from those brief moments of observation.
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