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Inside-Out, Outside-In

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Inside-Out, Outside-In

Tag Archives: choreography

Choreography, Part 2: Ashley Osler pinch hits on movement…and so much more.

11 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Interviews

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Ashley Osler, auditioning, choreographers, choreography, choreography for film, Christos Vass, hunter lee hughes, independent film, independent filmmaking, inside-out-outside-in, Jamie Benson, movement for actors, ojai, Script Development

Once Jamie Benson left for NYC and Nameless Actor dropped out, I was temporarily without a choreographer AND a lead actor to workshop the climatic scene from ‘Inside-Out, Outside-In.’ Things quickly changed when charming Greek actor Christos Vass stepped in to play the lead role and choreographer/coach Ashley Osler answered her phone and promptly said, “Of course I’ll help you with that!” Ashley, an alum of Larry Moss and frequent previous collaborator (she did the choreography for The Sermons of John Bradley and helped me develop a striptease-type movement for Fate of the Monarchs), is an unheralded gem in terms of understanding how the expression of the body relates to the needs, desires and psychology of a character. We chatted a bit about what it’s like to choreograph movement and help in the development of a project from the ground up.

Hunter: By the time we linked up on this project, Jamie (our original choreographer) had moved to NYC and the first actor had dropped out of the workshopping of the climatic scene, leaving us in a position to bring on a new actor without the benefit of a choreographer.  So that’s where you came in!  After Ivana put Christos and I together on the scene, I originally brought you in to consult on the movement that we were doing, but it sort of organically grew into more than that.  After that first rehearsal, what did you feel about the piece and its potential?  And how did that relate to the movement aspect of things?

Ashley: I got so excited about the scene and the characters’ needs. It was so compelling to see it on its feet. I was trying to understand what you had written by exploring some different ways of moving to express the subtext. I left feeling that there was more to find but that a few layers had been peeled by infusing the movement with deeper script analysis. Because the movement/physicality can be so telling….letting the audience know maybe more than the characters do at that point, I felt there was potential for a very dynamic scene.

As we spoke about the scene in the days following I realized that the physical connection had to be so intense…electric…..and that was one of he conflicts both characters. Then on top of it they have to rehearse a hot dance number while trying to be nonchalant because they both needed something so badly. Good scene!!!

Hunter: Sometimes I feel a little nuts workshopping individual scenes from a screenplay – it’s not necessarily the traditional approach for sure.  Do you think there’s value in these type of workshops?  What can be gained from workshopping scenes?  What, if anything, did you think we learned during this experience?

Ashley: I didn’t get to see the scene workshopped yet but wish I could have! All together I think workshoppig is very important for perspective….getting it into your body  with the juice of an audience is an important part of the process of understanding what you have written. Even though it’s on the page already it’s still writing itself in this part of the process.

Hunter: The story deals, in part, with characters facing tough decisions about how to navigate the “Hollywood” and “independent film” environments here in Los Angeles.  I love the story you told about not feeling right about going to commercial auditions, if you feel like telling that one! 🙂 But seriously, have you seen any friends lose themselves in a struggle to manifest their creative work here?  How do you stay true to yourself as an artist while pursuing filmmaking or acting?

Ashley: Oh my goodness I’m having a brain fart…probably an audition where it was like a conceptual art exhibit – one side of the room all blonds and the other all brunette clearly divided and I was lost in the sea of blonds and said, “Yuck!” I just figured I’d rather take the time it took to run to those auditions to read plays or prepare a scene for class….I was lucky to be in a great scene study class back then and I knew that teacher wouldn’t be there forever so that’s were I put my energy. You can die with some money in the bank from an Arby’s commercial, which is selling poison to people…or you can feed your soul with literature and take it with you……easier to audition in NYC. All the driving in LA is monstrous and made it even more absurd. Commercials – Humf!

Anyway auditions can eat you alive unless you make them auditions for life experience. It’s not about getting chosen and you can’t wait to get chosen. When I first started going out I was not prepared at all for the language of the casting process – it was so foreign to the creative process of acting. I learned we can’t audition without being crystal clear on script analysis so the choices are supported and powerful and you can feel your teeth in it.

Stella Adler said something like you have to have the soul of a rose and the hide of an rhinoceros to be in the buisness…well I didn’t know how tough the skin of a rhino was and I just went out with my fragrant rose and got a big surprise.

Hunter: Another big part of the story is reincarnation and karma.  Do you believe in reincarnation yourself?  One of my struggles is how to delve into a subject like reincarnation without staying on the surface or relying on cliches.  Any advice?

Ashley: Yes I do. I have done some past life regression sessions which were amazing. Also had some interesting experiences living on Kauai which took me to a past life there. Karma is created in every thought we have. Most think that it’s only our actions. We are more powerful than we know. Each and every thought is creating Karma. It is great you are writing on this subject. We are very immature in the West about this. I believe until we can teach death as beautiful part of life there will be no peace. I say keep experinecing and studying….read more plays and stories about death to feel the emotions…..check out, “Tibetan Book of the Dead.” (Author’s note:  Actually I did – it’s on my reading list here).

Hunter:  So for our readers out there who don’t know Christos or myself, how would you describe us as actors or as people?  Did you feel there was an interesting dynamic there?  Why or why not?

Ashley: Well, you both are so smart and willing and courageous. I would love to spend hours with you two playing. I think you are fine actors!!!  Yes, I do think there is a very interesting dynamic……What translates from you both being open and curious and wanting to know could be naturally adopted into your characters. Watching you two as actors was just as interesting as watching the characters.

Hunter: You are big on textual analysis and allowing that to impact the movement.  Can you tell me a little about your process here?

Ashley:  Oops didn’t know you were going to ask this…well I kind of hit that above. One thing I would add is that for you as the writer/actor it’s a trip because you have to live this parallel universe sort of existence…writing it…thinking you know what it is and then growing in it as the actor writer and watching it change and grow…..what a special experience.

Hunter:  Finally, you’ve gotten out of town recently (I have this effect on choreographers….) and moved to Ojai.  How’s it going up there and what’s it like?

Ashley: That is so funny. Well at least the first guy is in NYC waiting to embarce you and show you around when you get there!! Not much happening in Ojai as a career move for you as an actor. As a writer, it’s just what I wanted. I really had a hard time focusing in the city. I am sensitive to all that energy. I can write in NYC but not so much in LA. Up here the land feels supportive and we’re in a quiet part of town  Private so I can go into my imagination and feel I won’t be disturbed by black hawk hellicopters or the children thay have as slaves nowadays ringing doorbells with magazie subsrcitions etc etc bless their little souls…God and those lousy leaf-blowers…Don’t get me started…needless to say I think Ojai is going to be “berry berry good for me,” as Garrett Morse used to say on SNL.

To contact choreographer and acting coach Ashley Osler, you can reach her at aosler7@gmail.com.

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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Choreography, Part 1: Jamie Benson on bringing the dance to the movies

09 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by hunterlh in Interviews

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artistic self-indulgence, choreography, choreography in movies, dancing in 3d, dumbass filmmakers!, gay film, gay filmmaking, highways performance space, hollywood hypocrisy, homophobia, homophobia in filmmaking, hunter lee hughes, independent filmmaking, inside-out-outside-in, Jamie Benson, Jamie Jeppe Benson, mass transit, microbudget filmmaking, sermons of john bradley, straight guys playing gay

I’ve known Jamie for about four years.  Formerly the membership director of Highways Performance Space, Jamie helped support our run of ‘The Sermons of John Bradley‘ at the space.  After our show – which included a five-minute segment of choreography with no dialogue – Jamie commented that he liked the intensity and even brutality of the movement between the characters.  I felt so grateful that someone noticed the quality we worked so hard to infuse into the piece.  After that, I began supporting Jamie’s work in independent theatre when I could and noticed that his original choreography in “Mass Transit” focused more on the unique humanity of each of his dancers rather than a perfectionist aesthetic ideal.  And yet, when required, Jamie could choreograph intricately beautiful moments.  This was precisely the quality that made me feel he might be the right man to bring the moves to “Inside-Out, Outside-In.”  So I brought him on to choreograph the initial workshop performance of the climatic scene of ‘Inside-Out, Outside-In.’  And he did an amazing job. Now, I’m just suffering a bit of Jamie-withdrawl since he’s moved to NYC to pursue his fortunes there, but check out our talk about dance and the movies.

Hunter: OK so not only is “Inside-Out, Outside-In” my first feature as a writer-director, it’s the first time I’m incorporating movement/dance choreography into a filmed piece.  Any advice for the newbie?

Jamie: Make sure that you really allow the movement some time in full frame. It seems fast cuts are real popular in the flashy world of feature filmmaking and sometimes the dancing is lost. That and after seeing the Wim Wenders film “Pina,”  it’s only a matter of time before we all should be presenting dance in 3D. Just sayin’.

Hunter:  Well not sure our microbudget will stretch to 3D just yet.  You mentioned that you love seeing people talk and dance on screen, that it’s satisfying to see people work something out through movement.  Tell me about that.  What are some of your favorite movies with choreography?

Jamie: Dance is designed to reveal simple truths. But if you’re able to add words and a linear scenario or context, you have so much more texture to experience as a viewer. If a couple is fighting while dancing a romantic waltz, there is so much more wit and intrigue to the juxtaposition, for example.

Hunter:  I like that.  What drew you to help out with ‘Inside-Out, Outside-In?’ Was there anything in the story there for you or did you just basically get roped in because we’re friends?

Jamie: Ha! A little of both – life is layered or something. I was curious as to whether or not I could deal with the challenge of a limited time-frame AND inform the meaning of the script within the script through simple gestures and movements. A bit of a puzzler but that was part of the fun.

Hunter: We had an issue where a straight actor became uncomfortable with dance with another man while workshopping this piece.  It brought up a lot of feelings of anger and inadequacy in me because I felt I tried so hard to make him comfortable.  Is this a common problem in the dance world?  What is your suggestion for working with actors in the future on this?  On the one hand, the character himself is straight and unsure about his feelings towards this other male so a little discomfort is interesting, but when does fear of intimacy or even homophobia damage a piece or prevent its full realization?  Your thoughts?

Jamie: Most dancers, whether straight or not, are a.) around a lot of gay people because, let’s face it, we’re talking about dance. Cliches, just like a good joke, have some truth to them. b.) Dancers are notoriously underpaid and will usually do just about anything to continue “working” whether that means sidling up to another guy or not. I’ve had to grab a straight guy’s ass in performances before. Honestly I think it was a great chance for the guy to enjoy the flirtation without being totally accountable for it. A sort of, “well that’s what the director wanted” sort of thing. I’ve helped produce a gay-centric play before and the straight guys we’re totally cool about it. There should be some awareness going into it for them and if there isn’t, how can you really combat an actor’s denial during the courting process? They probably want to do what they can to get the part at that point. I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s given you a fire to push forward with the work and material to blog about the movie-making process. Hell, there’s a few press releases there. That’s valuable. In our quick digestion of drama, turmoil can be an asset. Its part of the story and intrigue of the film you’re making.

Hunter: The piece has an element of life-imitating-art-imitating-life.  When you choreograph, how do you draw from your own experiences while still staying true to the situation at hand for the characters?  In other words, when does your personal expression need to be channeled into something more-or-less objective versus when it is okay to allow your personal story/demons to be expressed in a very raw, direct way?

Jamie: Making whatever story arc I’m presenting complete is of top priority. This is not unlike making a film. Sometimes the best lines or scenes must be sacrificed for the greater good of the storytelling. I fear that being an “artist” has an inherent “self-indulgent” quality to it anyway so I have no intention of running away with the fact. I have to constantly ask myself if each moment serves the whole of the story. “Why would she do that here?” or “Who is this character like and what is my experience with that type of person?” “What do I believe is the truth of the scenario I’m creating?” The scenarios I’m compelled to create are somehow personally satisfying for me to present. It’s satisfying to include personal observations I have into the work but it all has to inform the story somehow. I hate going to shows where there is no sense of editing. I’m sensitive to that.

Hunter: You and I have talked a bit about valuing the exploration of the humanity of – for lack of a better word – “the little guy.”  I’m thinking of your piece “Mass Transit” and also the webseries “Dumbass Filmmakers!” on which we collaborated.  Tell me about “the little guy” in your own work and how it might apply to ‘I-O, O-I.’

Jamie:  I am the little guy – at this juncture – so that P.O.V. surfaces in the work at times. I also find a certain innate hypocrisy in the entertainment world and strive to demystify things because of it. Ballerinas are flawless porcelain dolls, or rappers are so so cool or models so sexy yet at the end of the day, they still have body odor, cry themselves to sleep sometimes, or get insecure. That is humanity and our culture seems to deny or exaggerate/exploit it. My work is often aimed at the reveal of these truths under the illusion of the day-to-day performance we are all a part of. Usually, it’s done in a humorous way to help from being preachy.

Hunter: Now, you moved to NYC!  And so…..we’ve had to pick up the pieces without you.  😦  How’s it going out there?

Jamie: Hectic! But good! Internship in the marketing department of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, performance of my satirical ballet “Bowel Movement” in a couple of weeks, just won a Martha Graham video contest and more to come. I’m really enjoying my time here. We shall see. Thanks for your time here!

To learn more about Jamie and his dancing and choreography, please visit www.jamiebenson.com. His latest piece – “Bowel Movement” – runs April 12th and 13th at the Triskelion Arts Aldous Theater in Brooklyn.  Take a look at the trailer here.

—

Hunter Lee Hughes is a filmmaker living and working in Los Angeles and the founder of Fatelink. His current feature film Guys Reading Poems is touring film festivals and this blog is dedicated to the process of making his second feature film, “Inside-Out, Outside-In.” If you enjoy the blog, please support our team by following us on Facebook, Twitter (@Fatelink) or Instagram (@Fatelink).

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