Friday, February 20, 2004

Level 3L - Harold, Ross White, Class #4

This was one of the more fun classes I have ever had. The focus was on group games. I had not realized before how together this group is. Having been with the same group for so long, it felt awkward for me to join a different group that has, for the most part, been together for a little while. But, of course, like all of DSI, they are welcoming and inclusive.

I guess it might seem strange for some of them to read that I felt awkward joining them, as I am already on a team (kudos, btw, to Erik and Kirk, who have just joined house teams) but when a dynamic has been established, it is… I won’t say hard… it is challenging to join it. I will remember that when Throw Like a Girl chooses new Girls.

Anyway, we soon discovered something I think we were only peripherally aware of (at least I was only peripherally aware of it). This group really plays well together. I mean, really, really well. We had so much fun.

I also discovered that Ross White no longer has the power to make me cry. He spent a great deal of the evening yelling at us, but I know it was because we were so close to the point he was trying to make that it drove him nuts. It’s fun to drive Ross nuts.

After warming up, Ross had us make up games. We immediately began playing a really fun game where everyone understood and agreed upon the rules without ever having discussed them. We did it twice, and the second game, which we dubbed “Shame” felt good enough to play again and even pass along to others.

When we began in earnest, Ross attempted to direct us to begin with a hosted group game, but we just wound up playing the game he knew we would play (we called it “Python Pile-on”). This is a group that knows how it likes to play.

We finally did wind up, after a couple of false starts, playing the hosted game, and to my immense surprise, I was the “host” in a fun game of “Gather ‘round, men. It’s the eve of battle.” As I am usually terrified of being the center of attention, this was especially rewarding. It was a really fun game, and I felt completely supported the entire time.

We played trashcan jam, which is always fun, though I fear I will never learn to rap (I love rap). We also played a supported two person scene game.

The things that stood out the most during the evening were:
1. This is a fun f**king group
2. We need to calm down and focus more
3. We need to work on strong editing – there were times during the evening that I wanted to edit, but for some reason I held back. Watch out, you guys, I’m not going to do that anymore. If you don’t want me to be the only person editing from now on, you’d better jump out there. And you may have noticed that I like energetic edits (a result of a Ross bitching out combined with a CeCe Garcia dig) so if you don’t jump out there and edit, you will find me in front of you shaking my boobs (an edit I am particularly fond of in practices). Hmmm… I don’t know if that is helpful or not. I may have to rethink that threat.

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