training

Spent an hour and a half learning pratfalls last night: down, sprawl, up again. My butt's not at all sore, so I'm at least landing right. We also worked on the mid-stride trip and discovered that it worked much better--that it looked more natural, less calculated--when we tripped with the non-dominant leg.

John can do a 108, the pratfall that looks as though you flip forward and land on your back. (You don't actually land on your back; you land in a squat and then roll back rapidly, as you do for a standard pratfall.) Of course, he's grown up clowning, but I'm still jealous. The last time I took a tumbling class I was pretty close to being able to do a front flip, but it was over a giant soft mat; doing a flip well enough to a) flip with confidence on a hardwood floor and b) land with the control to go into a pratfall feels way out of my league. I guess that's why we practice, and practice, and practice.

I think I may start documenting my physical training in this blog, just for the hell of it, and because it's been such a critical aspect of theater for me. And because I want to be able to run 10 miles at a go by the time I leave for Italy, and making the goal and the progress public may help me along. Anyway, today:
Running: 3.75 miles
30 minutes upper-body weight training
150 crunches of various sorts, 30 with 10-lb medicine ball

Just started reading John Wright's Why Is That So Funny? A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy. I suspect that, like Impro, this book may turn out to be life-altering. I certainly hope so.