Movement Training for Actors

Jackie Snow

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781408157138
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Performing Arts

"This book vividly captures vital and imaginative lessons from one of the most influential and joyous traditions of contemporary actor training. Any actor or teacher, who is devoted to the transformational power of the theatre, will want to return to these pages again and again, finding in them not only the work to be done, but also the inspiration to do it."
James Bundy - Dean, Yale School of Drama; Artistic Director, Yale Repertory Theatre Movement training techniques allow actors to acquire the physical body language and non-verbal skills to clearly express the ideas and emotions of their characters. The techniques contained in this book help actors to develop awareness of their own natural posture, walk and rhythm, release the physical imagination and transform into the characters they are portraying, on stage, in film or on television. Movement Training for Actors provides a practical workbook approach to the core fundamentals of movement, fusing together the work of the key practitioners: Sigurd Leeder, Kurt Jooss, Rudolf Laban, Trish Arnold, Litz Pisk, F. M. Alexander, Moshé Feldenkrais, Jerzy Growtowski, Jacques Lecoq and Belinda Quirey. Chapters include Games, Pure Movement, Historical Dance, Acrobatics and Animal Study. The book is illustrated with photographs throughout and contains a DVD featuring over an hour of movement exercises further demonstrating the techniques. Movement Training for Actors is a masterclass on movement written by experienced coach, Jackie Snow and a culmination of her many years of teaching and coaching professionals. The highly practical approach will suit actors of all abilities as well as serving as an inspirational teaching guide.

Part 1
The universal state

The universal state is commonly known as the neutral state (see Chapter 3, page 23), and is when everybody is in the same physical and mental state for working. It involves getting the actors or students into a state of readiness to be able to work, as individuals and together in a company or chorus.

In this book, the universal state has been divided into two sections: one for the group as a whole and one for the individual actor.

Teaching point

If the individual is to make progress to the universal state, the group must be in the right mind-set to learn. If you are teaching trainee actors, before moving on to any pure movement work I would recommend that you try some of the games and exercises described in Chapter 1. These can help to make the group energised, alert and supportive.

1
The universal state for the group

The games

It is very important that actors are dressed neutrally (in black) and learn to let go of any judgement or self-consciousness about body size and shape.

Games are used for fun, fitness, group work, healthy competition, instant imagination and physical bravery with the group. Sessions can start with physical games to warm the body in a fun and imaginative way, getting the blood running through the body and warming up the muscles. Games allow the actors to work quickly, with dexterity and thought, and this in turn takes the emphasis away from body consciousness, and begins the process of releasing any tension.

Although seemingly childish, these games have great value. When they are played with high stakes, they become acting exercises or a series of found moments and physical and emotional relationships. They also work on a secondary level of team building and healthy competition, bringing the feeling of instant joy and playfulness. Games not only warm the actors up physically, but also warm up the level of togetherness or ensemble within the room.

In a drama school setting, the students who enter the room may have come from a range of different lessons – some static, some physical, some emotional, some individual – so the games can unite this group of people, getting them to work together in a fun, simple and very physical way, so they feel relaxed in their bodies and space, and can begin the more challenging physical, imaginative work. Through the simplicity of the games, and the strict rules (where everyone sticks to the same rules every time; the rules of each game are explained in the text) with freedom of spirit, a lot of learning can go into the subconscious, body and mind (i.e. playing as young children do when they learn about many things without intellectualising the process).

Static games, which rely on thought and observation, can be used if the students need to calm down, or regain energy, in the midst of their busy rehearsal schedule.

So, there are games for different purposes and here are a few examples which work well.

Teaching points for games

As soon as you start teaching games, everybody wants to join in which makes it very noisy, confused and ultimately unsafe. Most people will have a previous reference to each game, for example, childhood, but as they are normally handed down, each person, depending on where they come from, will have a different version of it. So when teaching games establish the rules and continue to reinforce them.

Sometimes it may be useful to add an element of ‘characterisation’ to the game, for example Cat and Mouse can be played as real cats and mice with proper mews and squeaks, and Snakes played as snakes or lizards with hissing and tongues flicking out of the mouths, as practice for, or during an animal study warm up.

All the games could be played ‘in character’.

Although the rules in these games are very simple, it is how they are played that is important, and much practice is needed in order to get the most out of them.

Energetic games

Name game 1 – clicking

This game is great for first classes or auditions. It is important for a group to get to know each other, and learning names is a useful place to start. This is true not only for the teacher, but also the students. These games can also introduce the group to use the body to communicate.

1. Stand in a circle and start a rhythm: slap your hands on your knees, then clap your hands together, then click the fingers on your right hand and then on your left. Then say your name.

2. The group repeats your name, e.g. ‘knees, hands, click, click, Jackie, JACKIE’.

3. Repeat round the circle until you are back to the beginning.

4. Repeat, getting faster.

5. Send it the other way round.

6. Repeat but say your name with more conviction, at the same time illustrating the intention with a forward, opening and thrusting gesture of the body and arms. The group throws it back.

7. Repeat, but instead of throwing it out there, make any shape with your body that matches your name (don’t think about it, do whatever pops out of your body and imagination). The actor’s impulse and imagination can be realised.

Variations

When the name game is played in a classroom or at rehearsal, you need to make sure everybody can learn everyone’s names. One way to do this is to get one person to run across from one side of the circle to the other and say the name of the person they meet. This second person then runs off to another side of the circle to meet someone else.

You can extend this again by two people running at a time, then three, then four. By this time everybody will be falling about laughing, or it will look like a busy street scene, which could be used in a play.

Teaching point

You will probably find that someone in the class will get stressed and start screeching. This is a good moment to stop and explain that they can run at top speed, and if they relax their arms and shoulders and breathe, they can be strong, quick, direct and without tension, as well as being able to speak without tension.

Name game 2 – marching

1. Form a circle.

2. Set off marching on the spot, knees up to your chin.

3. Count one, two, three, four, and in rhythm, the first person says their name.

4. One, two, three, four, and in rhythm, the person on their left says their name.

5. Repeat for the next person, until everyone in the circle has said their name.

6. Once you’ve been round the whole circle, repeat the cycle, but march on the count of three and then each person says their name, then two, then one.

7. This is when it can get tense, and when the student can begin on the process described in this book of how to release and free their breath and body.

8. The student runs across the space and says the name of the person opposite, which then sends them off across the circle to the next person.

9. Add two people, then three people, and so forth, adding as many people as you want.

Cat and mouse

This is a chasing game which is good for a new group of people because they can see each other and can be kept calm quite easily, as it is contained in the circle.

The aim of the game is to make the circle as tight as possible and to promote dexterity rather than speed.

First version

1. Take a partner, one person is A, the other B. A is the mouse, B is the cat. Everyone stands in two circles: the As form an inner circle and the Bs form an outer circle. B puts both arms around A.

2. One pair sets off and the cat chases the mouse. If the mouse is tagged, i.e. touched lightly anywhere between the shoulder and the hip, the cat becomes the mouse and the mouse becomes the cat. The new cat chases the new mouse. The mouse tries to find a ‘home’ which is in front of any other mouse in the circle. The mouse whose home it is needs to very quickly put their arms around the chased mouse so that the chased mouse is safe.

3. When the mouse is safe, the person at the back starts running and is now the mouse, and is chased by the cat, i.e. the cat chases t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface by Michael Gaunt
• Introduction
• Part 1: The universal state
• Part 2: Movements with imagination at the heart of pure movement
• Part 3: Body awareness, trust and sensitivity
• Part 4: Observation and imagination
• Part 5: Imagination and transformation
• Conclusion by Robert Price
• Footnotes
• Acknowledgements
• A note on Trish Arnold
• Further reading
• Movement Exercises – Video
• eCopyright