Professor of Drama and Interdisciplinary Studies Laura Bond
As a Professor of Drama and Interdisciplinary Studies I integrate various fields of study into my research and teaching of the performing arts. Since the late 1990s I have worked with neuroscientists, research psychologists, and somatic education specialists to development and refine my teaching of the performing arts and incorporate new methods for physical emotion regulation and emotional fluency development for performers, as well as people of all professions.
This semester at UNC Asheville I am teaching acting, as well as a course in physical and vocal expression. The classes attract drama majors, as well as students from other disciplines interested in learning more about developing their expressive capabilities and strengthening public presentation skills. Until spring break, we were meeting in a brightly lit acting studio. Students explored anatomically specific physical and vocal expression development exercises, and were getting ready to apply these to a group choral piece from the ancient Greek play, Antigone that would be presented in the Undergraduate Research Symposium and Arts Fest at the end of the semester.
Students spent the first eight weeks bonding and growing together as a class, while expanding their expressive capabilities, and also gaining important methods for achieving physical relaxation, managing stress, and developing emotional and physical restorative practices. My students were used to stretching out on exercise mats and releasing muscle tension, or coupling methods of the orienting reflex with developing skills in somatic sensing in order to form higher skill sets for physical, mental, and emotional self-investigation and communication of these observations. I knew then, and even more so now, that they were developing essential tools for resiliency, which would be needed in the coming months.
Then, the pandemic of 2020 hit our nation like a tsunami wave, engulfing us immediately with the urgent need to send our university students home and move all our courses online. Social Distancing emerged as a new term for living with indefinite predictions for its end. Governing bodies decreed “no public group gatherings” with sizes diminishing down to as small as 10 within two weeks’ time, and then a final decree of “Stay Home – Stay Safe” for home lockdown. Our public theatres are now closed, having no such unified act of such closures due to public health concern since the late 1500s caused by the plague.
Anxious to reconnect with my students and to re-create our sense of community, I sent them video messages assuring them that we would see each other online soon, while I worked for a week during their extended spring break to design synchronous methods for us to hold our classes through Zoom video conferencing. Luckily, I have been teaching online workshops, webinars, and private lessons using Zoom since 2010 for my Emotional Body® method seminars and was comfortable with this program. However, I also took advantage of the distance education webinars our university was offering through the Center for Teaching and Learning, just to make sure I had all the tools I could to make this the most successful transition for my students. I also reached out to several of my national and international colleagues to exchange ideas on how best to teach acting, voice, and the arts through online methods. By the time our first day of classes arrived, I felt ready to try my hand at this new way of connecting with our university students.
The goal of our first week of online classes was simply to re-connect, check-in, and get comfortable with using Zoom video conferencing. The students were upbeat, excited to see each other again, and eager to explore all that Zoom could offer. We tested out the share-screen function, as I showed them video clips and they learned how to use Moodle’s Atto Editor to send audio and video recordings, as well as text. We examined how scenes can be rehearsed and “played” to our class as an audience if we turned off our cameras and hid our profiles, except for the actors presenting their scene or monologue. We even broke into small group discussions using Zoom’s breakout groups, where I demonstrated that I can send them messages or even pop in to visit their small group to assist them. The classes were exhilarating. Students were laughing, telling stories, and sharing their excitement about using this method for connecting with each other again.
We discussed how we would explore the Antigone project now, instead of attempting to perform a class choral piece for public presentation. What if each student selected a short piece of text from the play and explored its relevancy for them now, and how might they use their skills in interpretation, investigation, and expression to communicate this in a final project? A spirited discussion of the play ensued while students talked about themes like: fate/free will, human law/divine law, ego-driven leaders/leaders who heed advice from their public. Great discussion took place concerning the play’s relevancy to managing crisis, and the class easily made connections to our current situation. Students agreed that they could definitely relate themes within this ancient text to what they, and many people in the world, are feeling right now with the pandemic.
My final question for the class was, “How can we support each other during this difficult time?” The first responses came as, “More of these kinds of gatherings online.” Agreed! Students also acknowledged that pets were coming and going in the background during our sessions and some asked, “Can we introduce our pets?” I replied, “Why not? Studies have shown that holding pets can have many beneficial stress management results. It could be a healthy restorative practice for concluding a lesson.” As we reached the last minutes of class, I invited pet introductions and students jumped up and ran for their dogs, cats, etc. One student even mentioned he had several chickens. We concluded the class with pet introductions, and I even presented my dog, Tucker. It was quite the joyous conclusion to our first week back together!
A student then asked if we could set up an online discussion forum that is purely social. This also made complete sense. The students need more than just our classes to stay connected with our campus, and this class has already bonded in so many meaningful ways, why not create a forum as well. I quickly created a Moodle discussion Forum titled, “Let’s Stay Socially Connected!” and posted a video message from Tucker and myself saying, “Tucker thinks we all need to stay socially connected. So – let’s post stories, pictures, videos – whatever you want to share, here.” Postings are coming in regularly now, as we find creative ways to remain socially connected.
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