May 2018 - MISCHA BAKA

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Saltbush Alone together improvisation with moments embedded.

May 31, 2018 0
Saltbush Alone together improvisation with moments embedded.


Today we worked with our teenage actors and revisited the ‘ Alone-together’ dance exercise introduced when first meeting the girls. This time the boys became part of the exercise.

This exercise follows a simple trajectory of having participants start alone and come together over the course of a dance to music. It drops the performers into an immediate awareness of the other while they negotiate this coming together. It proves very useful in helping the actors be in the moment responding to each other.






This time we added another element to the exercise. Before a group performed we gave them a very specific posture ( a choreographed tableau) and a line or two, such as:

“ Why do you wear such tight clothes.”

A natural sense of responding to each other and drawing together from the exercise imbues the specific moments with a sense of truth.  

As explained to the teenage actors, this exercise models some of the process we will use to make the film on set. We intend to have broad directions within scenes that govern if their characters are coming together or apart. Within those broad directions improvisation can take place, and within that improvisation we imbed specific lines or actions that define a turning point in a scene, a key dramatic moment, or important feeling.  

This process aims to help promote a sense of realism in a scene by allowing the actors to ‘ dance,’ with each other. When making the film this dance will become more metaphorical, but will still promote an awareness that brings the actors into the present moment.

In one of the exercises we had mark ‘ dance’ with two teenage girls who had a specific tableau. Their tableau presented an intimate image of love and affection. An elaborate story developed out of the improvisation of an adult parent wary of the children’s love affair, and their attempt to hide from his gaze. One of the teenage audience recounted the complexities of this dynamic excitedly.   

Another exercise had two boys and one girl dancing. It demonstrated that drama was present in the simple power imbalance of more boys than girls. This proved a good moment to describe how sometimes drama does not need to be performed, as it is simply present within a dynamic or structure, and as an actor, being present is enough.  

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Pitching the dramatic scenes to Shirong.

May 29, 2018 0
Pitching the dramatic scenes to Shirong.
Today we met with Shirong to discuss her role in our film. We pitched a key scene in which we would like her character be naked, distressed and muddy. We were pleased to find that Shirong was open to the scenes. We made it clear that the confronting elements of the scene would be completely discussed and approved by the other actors and their parents.


The idea is that this dramatic and intense scene will provide an extreme counterpoint to a character that is otherwise quite, reserved and well behaved. We want to signal to the audience early on that this character has a great trauma hiding under a quiet exterior. Shirong already has an intriguing quietness that compels you to lean in and look more closely, and listen more carefully.


Shirong in character

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Dandenong Dance Film

May 26, 2018 0
Dandenong Dance Film
A visit to the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden with Mishka and Rebekah to make a dance film.

We explored a high angle view looking down on bodies rolling down hills. The rolling body picking up leaves and sticks as they cling to the dress was beautiful. The colours of autumn leaves were beautiful.  

Some modern twerking dance moves made for an intriguing juxtaposition with the old English dresses and English style gardens.

Mishka's enthusiasm and glee when creating art is infectious and powerful. Her excitement can feel overwhelming and volatile, but it is a feeling that often arises in the excitement of making art, and it is good to become comfortable in its presence, allowing the work to flow with it, rather than against it.   




Two people one swimsuit.

May 26, 2018 0
Two people one swimsuit.

After a big shoot in the hills we returned home to review rushes and explore a new idea. Mishka and Rebekah wearing one swimsuit. This is part of an ongoing project that uses the same swim suit as the consistent element in a series of movement explorations.

The concept: Products collect people.

This concept questions the idea that a consumer collects products in a unique process of cultivation and choice. The concept suggests that products are mass produced and exactly alike, and it is in fact a product that gathers unique and individual people into a collection to be claimed by a company, or the product itself. The swimsuit representing a singular product that varied individuals try to fit into and conform to.




Mishka and Rebekah in one swim suit, Mischa Baka



The swim suit inspired a dance that had Rebekah and Mishka appear as one body moving. The swim suit  and their individuality vanished in this respect, the strangeness became normalised. They became a creature in their own right.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Saltbush Story telling and story listening.

May 24, 2018 0
Saltbush Story telling and story listening.
Mishka attended our 2nd rehearsal to share stories with the teenage actors.
This was to model the type of personal stories we will have the characters in the film tell and set a tone for how they may be delivered. Mishka always tells her stories with heart and vulnerability.

Story telling and story listening. 


Mishka is a great story teller, either stories form her life, or fantastical ones. She tells them with emotion and captivating vulnerability.

It feels like being chosen to hear a special secret when she tells a story. Our actors were enthralled by her stories.







I used the camera to film the actors listening, discussing how they can surrender to being watched by the camera. We could see that listening to a story opens you up and makes you vulnerable. This is what we captured, their vulnerability. The same vulnerability to be made available to the camera, the audience, and other actors when making our film. 

Listening to Mishka tell a story.