Intelligence in Action
Techniques That Support The Performer's Art
by Graeme Lynn, GCFP, CSTAT
For an actor to really express his character through the use of his body he must know his body - what he feels and how he moves. Ideally, his intention would be spontaneously expressed through his movement. For this, his sensory self-awareness must be completely reliable. Stage presence, being dramatically present as one's character, requires refined self-awareness and control. For effectively developing such awareness and control, two of the most sophisticated strategies are the Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method. These two methods greatly quicken the mastery of these qualities for a performing artist or student of the stage or cinema.
Long known for its success in training actors' poise, voice production, and other qualities necessary for the performing arts, the Alexander Technique is a means of clarifying and mastering the use of oneself in action. As a generalist approach to the self-education of feeling and body mechanics - working less with the particulars of the actor's expression than with the core dynamic upon which those particulars are built - it has applications that extend beyond the stage to the use of oneself in all daily life activities. In this way, an actor studying the Technique can be continually training him- or herself for both ordinary action and the art of theatre or film.
The Technique is a fascinating study of oneself in terms of the manner of one's feeling and self-expression. The uncovering and discovery of habitual patterns of use reveal oneself to oneself and provide a springboard for both self-development and the embodiment of character.
The Feldenkrais Method, developed by a genius of the movement sciences, Moshe Feldenkrais, approaches the study of the self, the sensory domain and movement rather differently, through carefully designed movement explorations called Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration. In Feldenkrais 'lessons', the teacher guides the student, either verbally or manually, with slow and detailed attention, through coherent series of biomechanical, developmental or functional movement patterns combined in artful ways, some simple, some complex (for example, reaching, rolling, twisting, or bending, or elaborations that look like complicated dance sequences), draws attention to the sensations elicited by these movements, and thereby facilitates, in a most interesting manner, a widened self-awareness and an integrated coordination.
Understanding that the sensory-motor nervous system is organized like a cybernetic feedback circuit in that, as self-sensing or self-awareness improves, movement thereby improves, and vice versa, the Feldenkrais Method works thus to establish a 'virtuous circle' of sensory-motor refinement. Moreover, it takes ingenious advantage of the virtually unlimited learning potential of the human nervous system in such a way that any interested and motivated individual can significantly improve his or her self-sensing and movement capabilities and, through practice, can make this learning continuous.
Like the Alexander Technique, the Feldenkrais Method is not only a brilliant piece of work but also a powerful means through which an actor or performing artist can learn about him- or herself in the context of movement, coordination, and expression. By coming to really feel and know how one appears through one's actions, and developing the means to spontaneously organize one's movement according to one's intention, not only does an actor refine coordination and the dramatic expression of character but, in addition, he or she comes to greater self-awareness and a qualitative enhancement of even ordinary action.
To schedule lessons, please contact Graeme in Toronto, Ontario, at 416-964-7026, or click to email.