"I start with the shoes" Sir Lawrence Olivier
| This exercise helps you learn from your body: Prepare different "walks" that you can bring into class. The purpose of this exercise is to explore a way of creating character. You can work from two different complimentary "directions": 1) Work from the outside in by making external physical choices. First, really notice how you move. Do you propel from your pelvis, chest, head? How does that make you feel? Then find someone who moves very differently from you. Observe a stranger in a public place (unobtrusively, please) or spend time watching someone you know - now recreate their gate - the way they move through space. Which part of their body meets the world first? Do they move lightly or with purpose? How do their muscles sit or hang on their frame? How does their internal tempo affect the way they move? Watch for where they hold tension & where their breath resides. Recreate that. How does it make you feel? 2) Work from the inside out by letting a strong emotion manifest fully in your body - what specfic part of your body holds the feeling? Let that feeling take hold and move your body. How do you contract or expand? Amplify the movement- does the feeling intensify? How does it make you move? Once you've found a new way of moving & its accompanying emotional life, let it mess with you. It doesn't have to be funny or profound - just explore this new being so you can add it to your palate. It will also help you to quickly enter into relationship with wardrobe choices - particularly clothes that are period or character specific...how they make you feel is such an important part of creating character. |
emotions are in the body