Primary Control: so primary control is essentially all about the spine, and how you align it and place your head on it. As a small child, Alexander expresses that you naturally align your body and your neck and your head properly because there's no conditioning to not do so, but of course we all end up slouching in the end for whatever reason. I slouch because my computer is way more comfortable on my lap than sitting on a table, for instance, and that conditions me to curve my back, and lower my head almost continuously. He also talks about the fact that proper posture is kind of a vague, military style concept for most people; so it's hard for a person to reflect on how to get your body to do a healthy posture without forcing it. This is where 'invitation' comes in, a term we use when we discuss meditating but that is also useful to provoke our bodies. Just as we invite our mind to focus back on the present, on the moment, we can invite our body to adjust, or head to adjust and it will do it for us in a way that's more comfortable that rigidly expecting it to move exactly how we want it to.
Unreliable Sensory Appreciation: This aspect of Alexander's technique has to do with being over confident or blind to where the flaws are in your posture and movement. Using a mirror is really important, because what we think our body is doing and what it's actually doing can be very different. It can be comparable to when a dancer is trained properly they always point their toes. When I dance, I may THINK I'm pointing my toes, but unless I can have an outside perspective or a mirror, or I consciously am trained to do it the way a dancer is, I have a misconception about what my body is doing. Alexander expresses that this is true about posture and movement and that he discovered in himself these misconceptions about his posture with a mirror.
Inhibition: Inhibition is a step after figuring out what primary control feels like, and working to keep it, to make it habitual instead of your other habits. By conditioning yourself to respond with a primary control posture (engaging both your body and mind in the effort) you better your well being; it just takes the self control not to maintain the habits that originally conditioned you have bad postures. Like.. I Should probably put my laptop on a desk honestly.
Direction: Direction correlates to me with invitation as far as Alexander explains it, that there's a gentle push for your body to do a specific thing, and you allow the impulse to occur rather than forcing it. There's an intent, and the body responds to the intention with an action, rather than demanding an action that's specific and may not be done correctly. It kind of calls for your body to be trusted, rather than forced; that instinctively you know what you're asking of yourself and you have to allow your body the freedom to do it with a gentle intent in mind.
Ends and Means: This is a great aspect that can be applied beyond Alexander's technique to life; that the process of performing something is more valuable than the end result, and while thinking about the process, you allow changes that may be more beneficial. Alexander's technique calls for this because by just focusing on a particular posture and the end result, there is a forcefulness that doesn't allow your body to react genuinely, but to simply approach a goal and complete a task. By thinking about the way your body gets to that goal, the way YOU get to your goals, you allow for your path to change for the better rather than simply completing a task and maybe forming some bad habits because of that hurry.
Reflection:
I think the Alexander Technique should have its own class, honestly. These are all great things to read about and understand, but we've said many times in class that this is something experienced rather spoken about. We have some great discussions about it, but I think a semester or even two of just working in this technique would be highly beneficial for all of the students in our department. Something I have noticed as a criticism towards American performers in film is that we're not trained, we make our break and we're not taking the classes and getting the education we need to be talented and versatile actors. I think that criticism has some merit when you look at how many British actors with college and conservatory educations are taking roles in American films. It makes me wonder, how many of our American film actors have even heard of this? This really useful technique that could really help them? Does Amy Adams or Brad Pitt or Will Smith know the Alexander Technique? Obviously we're in college for theatre, so we're a step ahead of the game in a way, we're learning about it, but I think these techniques are what's really going to make our skills refined and marketable in such a competitive industry. I think, from the conversations we've had about Alexander Technique this is a technique every actor should invest in, that this is fundamental training, the 101, and valuable both to performance and to life.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Viewpoints is Like, My Favorite Thing
So, furthering thoughts on Viewpoints is definitely something I can expound upon after having taken a semester of it. There's something really interesting and freeing about this form of movement to me, because it offers some unique challenges away from what one would expect when constructing a movement piece. There's questions that can be asked in each of the categories that allow you to explore in your own unique way, and better still each one is a tool to express something incredibly unique. I think that it's hard for our class to grasp it because like any beginning course, there's an attraction to the literal. When we were posed with the idea of, " You're in a war." There wasn't a whole lot of exploration to be had other than fighting and dying. Which is fine, it's great to play, but with viewpoints it allows you to expound on that idea and give a really unique movement perspective. What does it feel like, in your opinion to die? How would you personify the fear of going into battle? What is the first thing you do after you've taken someone's life? These are questions that an actor would certainly have to approach in a play about a war and killing people, and view points allows a really visceral, body oriented expression of that rather than a mental one.
Gesture is my favorite part of Viewpoints. I love the idea of finding a way to use your hands and face and body to imply something not so obvious on the body usually. Orderliness, Playfulness, Lonesomeness, these are things that can be read in body language, but this form of movement is more the way you can tell how serious a person is when they shake your hand, or how close a friend you are to someone by how comfortable they are with hugging you. Gestures allow an artist to show levels of emotion in an approachable, and sometimes easy to understand way.
Topography is also a great viewpoint, given that a lot of us normally, in the space, tend to just arbitrarily move. Our topography is more a kinesthetic response than actual topography, since in a lot of instances we are reading the room, how close are we allowed to be, how fast is everyone moving, what direction is everyone moving. Making conscious choices about that though can be very interesting and give a lot of purpose to the other uses of your viewpoints. There's also a lot of power in deciding how high or low your movement is, and whether or not you move at all. Stillness can say just as much as movement can.
I could literally go on and on about the uses of each viewpoint, but the point is it's definitely an interesting approach to emotions and expressions and interactions in a way that is purely visceral and reactionary. When we were in class last semester, there was a section focused on poetry, where poetry was read allowed and we were expected not to depict the poetry's story itself, but how it effected us, the words that stood out to us, and what the poem meant to us on deeper levels. It was very intense in a lot of ways, and very eye-opening to the need to see between the lines with text.
I'll leave this at that note!
Rio
Gesture is my favorite part of Viewpoints. I love the idea of finding a way to use your hands and face and body to imply something not so obvious on the body usually. Orderliness, Playfulness, Lonesomeness, these are things that can be read in body language, but this form of movement is more the way you can tell how serious a person is when they shake your hand, or how close a friend you are to someone by how comfortable they are with hugging you. Gestures allow an artist to show levels of emotion in an approachable, and sometimes easy to understand way.
Topography is also a great viewpoint, given that a lot of us normally, in the space, tend to just arbitrarily move. Our topography is more a kinesthetic response than actual topography, since in a lot of instances we are reading the room, how close are we allowed to be, how fast is everyone moving, what direction is everyone moving. Making conscious choices about that though can be very interesting and give a lot of purpose to the other uses of your viewpoints. There's also a lot of power in deciding how high or low your movement is, and whether or not you move at all. Stillness can say just as much as movement can.
I could literally go on and on about the uses of each viewpoint, but the point is it's definitely an interesting approach to emotions and expressions and interactions in a way that is purely visceral and reactionary. When we were in class last semester, there was a section focused on poetry, where poetry was read allowed and we were expected not to depict the poetry's story itself, but how it effected us, the words that stood out to us, and what the poem meant to us on deeper levels. It was very intense in a lot of ways, and very eye-opening to the need to see between the lines with text.
I'll leave this at that note!
Rio
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Fredrick Hot Hot Hot, Hot Hot Alexander. That's his name. Don't get it Twisted.
Alrighty, so let's talk about the Alexander Technique and the great guy who made it!
Freddrick Mathias Alexander- well damn, that is a serious name. Put that on your business cards. This guy loved horses and theatre, which means he was probably really fit ( Freddrick Mathias Alexander, great name, great bod, great technique, what's not to love.) He grew up enjoying and practicing these two loves, until he couldn't live in the country any longer as a young adult, so he gave up his love for horses since horses probably were only used in buggies and such in the city, and continued to work on theatre. He taught himself violin, which is crazy hard, you don't understand- I wonder if he could read music or not, and eventually he moved to Melborne, to do guess what? Even more theatre, but this time with people teaching him. The best teachers, which I wonder, who were the best teachers of this time? Who taught him? Worth the research.
Anyway, he made money to live his luxurious life of theatre by doing odd jobs, including being a tea-taster, which makes me crazy jealous, I would love to get paid to taste tea, let me tell you. Also, there is a picture of him in here, and woah buddy, I was right what a knock out. He couldn't keep jobs very well though because like most artists ( See any almost any renaissance artist lol) he had a foul temper, along with his own personal ailments having to do with respiratory difficulties.
Those respiratory difficulties actually lead to him having trouble with his true love of life, acting, and when doctors told him that all he could do was rest his voice, it pretty much pissed him off so much that it brought him into being a doctor for himself. He understood that something he was doing was wrong, that it couldn't just be his illness hindering him, so he began to study how he postured himself when he recited. He began to research this, and his method became so effected as a taught form of improvement that his students came both for performance and medical needs, surprisingly more for the latter. After meeting Dr. McKay, who was prepared to tear his form a new one, the doctor found his methods very valid and encouraged him to get his ass to London where he could make some real headway with his technique. He ended up making it big, even through the world wars, and ended up training people to pass his technique on other teachers and writing a book to maintain the credibility of his technique. Basically? Super sexy, super successful, super dedicated to the craft.
Now, let's talk about use and functioning real quick. This was the fundamental point of Alexander's work and was so important because it was not a practice of leisure or a recommendation, it was designed to help with the actual functionality of the body both in performance and in life. This guy as the book says 'was not the sort to stay under a leaky roof'; he's a get shit done kind of man, so when his larynx wasn't doing what he wanted it to do, he chose to investigate the rest of his form, rather than simply resting his voice. Use is, according to Alexander the idea that "the choices we make about what we do with ourselves... determine the quality of our lives". It's basically the idea that we should make an effort to control what we can control when it comes to our body, to make those controls conscious and known, to observe our form. So you use your body a certain way, it affects your functionality. Just like tuning an instrument so that it will function properly, Alexander sought to see what in his body was out of tune and causing difficulties with his voice, the tip of his head, the pinch of his shoulders, the shortening of his stature all causing 'out of tune notes' in his performing ability and functionality. In such, it's clear through Alexander's commentary about his work that you're responsible for the upkeep and tuning and quality of your body, and its functionality relies on you becoming conscious of the use of your body. This attention to the body branches out beyond the physical to the mental, since Alexander establishes that your body is one big, cohesive contraption and your feelings and thoughts are not separate from the experience of your body. That controlling and monitoring and modifying your thinking, feeling and physical postures, you can become a healthier, more successful, more functional human.
That idea, that every aspect of the human is what makes the human, not separated parts is what Alexander talks about when referring to the 'whole person'. His technique is unique in that it does not call for separated exercise of the intellect and the body, but for both to be stimulated, modified and conscious at the same time. This is what makes this technique so valuable to life beyond performance, and why medical practitioners probably found it to be the bee's knees. While Alexander's discoveries stemmed from a theatrical need, his work is a fantastic and logical criticism of modern medicine and the habit to separate the body into a series of specialized functions rather than encouraging the health of the whole body as a singular unit. By looking at the body without judgement or separation, by thinking of the brain as another organ instead of a separate vital to the body, one can assess a lot of seemingly physical or mental or emotional issues and eradicate them in completeness rather than section by section. So basically, for example, I carry my stress in my back a lot of the time. Is that where all of my stress happens? No, of course not, it happens in my mind and in my stomach and in the way I stand and in my back and shoulders and neck and sometimes even in my jaw. If I tried to adjust all of those things, care for all of those things separately under the pretense that it would get rid of my stress, I would never, ever get rid of my stress, I'd be stressed for forever, like I usually am! But working with the whole body through Alexander's technique allows for a change of the whole form and mind all together to the betterment of one's health, focus and personal comfort.
Freddrick Mathias Alexander- well damn, that is a serious name. Put that on your business cards. This guy loved horses and theatre, which means he was probably really fit ( Freddrick Mathias Alexander, great name, great bod, great technique, what's not to love.) He grew up enjoying and practicing these two loves, until he couldn't live in the country any longer as a young adult, so he gave up his love for horses since horses probably were only used in buggies and such in the city, and continued to work on theatre. He taught himself violin, which is crazy hard, you don't understand- I wonder if he could read music or not, and eventually he moved to Melborne, to do guess what? Even more theatre, but this time with people teaching him. The best teachers, which I wonder, who were the best teachers of this time? Who taught him? Worth the research.
Anyway, he made money to live his luxurious life of theatre by doing odd jobs, including being a tea-taster, which makes me crazy jealous, I would love to get paid to taste tea, let me tell you. Also, there is a picture of him in here, and woah buddy, I was right what a knock out. He couldn't keep jobs very well though because like most artists ( See any almost any renaissance artist lol) he had a foul temper, along with his own personal ailments having to do with respiratory difficulties.
Those respiratory difficulties actually lead to him having trouble with his true love of life, acting, and when doctors told him that all he could do was rest his voice, it pretty much pissed him off so much that it brought him into being a doctor for himself. He understood that something he was doing was wrong, that it couldn't just be his illness hindering him, so he began to study how he postured himself when he recited. He began to research this, and his method became so effected as a taught form of improvement that his students came both for performance and medical needs, surprisingly more for the latter. After meeting Dr. McKay, who was prepared to tear his form a new one, the doctor found his methods very valid and encouraged him to get his ass to London where he could make some real headway with his technique. He ended up making it big, even through the world wars, and ended up training people to pass his technique on other teachers and writing a book to maintain the credibility of his technique. Basically? Super sexy, super successful, super dedicated to the craft.
Now, let's talk about use and functioning real quick. This was the fundamental point of Alexander's work and was so important because it was not a practice of leisure or a recommendation, it was designed to help with the actual functionality of the body both in performance and in life. This guy as the book says 'was not the sort to stay under a leaky roof'; he's a get shit done kind of man, so when his larynx wasn't doing what he wanted it to do, he chose to investigate the rest of his form, rather than simply resting his voice. Use is, according to Alexander the idea that "the choices we make about what we do with ourselves... determine the quality of our lives". It's basically the idea that we should make an effort to control what we can control when it comes to our body, to make those controls conscious and known, to observe our form. So you use your body a certain way, it affects your functionality. Just like tuning an instrument so that it will function properly, Alexander sought to see what in his body was out of tune and causing difficulties with his voice, the tip of his head, the pinch of his shoulders, the shortening of his stature all causing 'out of tune notes' in his performing ability and functionality. In such, it's clear through Alexander's commentary about his work that you're responsible for the upkeep and tuning and quality of your body, and its functionality relies on you becoming conscious of the use of your body. This attention to the body branches out beyond the physical to the mental, since Alexander establishes that your body is one big, cohesive contraption and your feelings and thoughts are not separate from the experience of your body. That controlling and monitoring and modifying your thinking, feeling and physical postures, you can become a healthier, more successful, more functional human.
That idea, that every aspect of the human is what makes the human, not separated parts is what Alexander talks about when referring to the 'whole person'. His technique is unique in that it does not call for separated exercise of the intellect and the body, but for both to be stimulated, modified and conscious at the same time. This is what makes this technique so valuable to life beyond performance, and why medical practitioners probably found it to be the bee's knees. While Alexander's discoveries stemmed from a theatrical need, his work is a fantastic and logical criticism of modern medicine and the habit to separate the body into a series of specialized functions rather than encouraging the health of the whole body as a singular unit. By looking at the body without judgement or separation, by thinking of the brain as another organ instead of a separate vital to the body, one can assess a lot of seemingly physical or mental or emotional issues and eradicate them in completeness rather than section by section. So basically, for example, I carry my stress in my back a lot of the time. Is that where all of my stress happens? No, of course not, it happens in my mind and in my stomach and in the way I stand and in my back and shoulders and neck and sometimes even in my jaw. If I tried to adjust all of those things, care for all of those things separately under the pretense that it would get rid of my stress, I would never, ever get rid of my stress, I'd be stressed for forever, like I usually am! But working with the whole body through Alexander's technique allows for a change of the whole form and mind all together to the betterment of one's health, focus and personal comfort.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Self Observation and Body Structure
So, to be real with you, I'm just gonna go through the questions Tim posted because right now I have so much running around in my mind, and while this information is really enlightening, and interesting, I'm having a hard time setting aside enough of my attention to process and contemplate it. I like the time we get to make in class to be present and just think about what we're talking about. I wish I had more time, to indulge in that very nowness that we talk about in class. Right now, with shows and homework and responsibilities I am always in the future.
But here's the answers Tim asked for at least.
1: The most important thing you can do that no one can help you do, is to observe yourself as if everything you do is happening to someone else, to go without judgement and or personalization and simply observe.
2: Self observation is without judgement or expectation of the results you find. There's no judgement or desire to fix in just looking at yourself and seeing yourself; self absorption is a more judgmental, scrutinizing look at oneself.
3: We suffer because we are constantly looking at ourselves and our lives, and directly identifying with the issues that come our way. We believe we must fix things within ourselves and around us, rather than being who we are and accepting what life brings us. The need to fix is a constant pressure, and when we suffer a difficult time instead of recognizing that our selves are not the problem, we directly identify ourselves AS the problem. The video talks about this particularly in saying " I am depressed." Yes, the depression is a problem, a thing that comes into life and passes by, but that does not mean that YOU are the depression, that YOU must be fixed. You are EXPERIENCING a depression, and it does not have a tarnishing effect on who you are as a whole. This misunderstanding brings a lot of grief.
4: The video explains that while emotions and situations and all things in life are like clouds, we are the clear blue sky, unaffected by the clouds even though they are present. These things do not last forever, but the sky does, the sky is always there, clouds or not, thus who you are is always present and whole and as it is with or without situation or emotion.
5: I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this question.
6: What you judge, you cannot understand.
7:
I think it's a very interesting and difficult thing to consider with identification of self the way we do it, " I am depressed", there is suffering, but there is also a label and a comfort zone in that. I think the challenge comes in finding ones self if you're going to apply this method to your thoughts. When I think of it, and I say " If I am not angry, if I am only experiencing anger, than what am I?" and What am I.... that is a terrifying question.
I think when it comes to personality traits that's another grey area in this idea, because what he talks about is more about situations and emotions. Certainly traits of a person's personality can fluctuate with the passing of time, we all change eventually with age and experience, but it's hard to wrap my head around " I am experiencing assertiveness" or " I am experiencing an affectionate manner." Because those are things I feel are truly part of Me- that I am assertive, that I am strong, that I am affectionate. But if this philosophy applies to personality traits in the same way as it does emotions and all of those thing are stripped away to the passing of time like clouds on a blue sky, than what am I?
1: We compress and react in fight or flight when we experience stress, which in the modern world is an ineffective and unnecessary response.
2: The Alexander technique enables us to choose a different response to our stresses and circumstances.
3: Nature would prefer us to be in balance.
4: The outside of the foot nearest to the pinky toe, the base of the big toe, and the heel.
5: Ankles, Knees and Hips.
6: Deep between the crest of your hip bone and the pubic bone.
7: An anchor.
8: Between the ears, behind the eyes.
9: We talk a lot about how your breath is the connection between your body and your mind, but I think personally that our nerve endings are the connection between the world and our brains. The way we process pleasure, pain and all sensations is unique to each of us, and with those sensations we analyse and experience the world with our minds. Even when focusing on breath, it is not in counting the breaths, or the direction of the breath that we find center and focus, but in the feeling of our lungs expanding and our skin shifting to stretch around our ribs, in our stomachs expanding and our lower back stretching-- the sensations we normally don't notice unless directed to do so. A burn from a stove or a kiss on the cheek connects us to the world through what I think is our most vital sense. Touch.
But here's the answers Tim asked for at least.
1: The most important thing you can do that no one can help you do, is to observe yourself as if everything you do is happening to someone else, to go without judgement and or personalization and simply observe.
2: Self observation is without judgement or expectation of the results you find. There's no judgement or desire to fix in just looking at yourself and seeing yourself; self absorption is a more judgmental, scrutinizing look at oneself.
3: We suffer because we are constantly looking at ourselves and our lives, and directly identifying with the issues that come our way. We believe we must fix things within ourselves and around us, rather than being who we are and accepting what life brings us. The need to fix is a constant pressure, and when we suffer a difficult time instead of recognizing that our selves are not the problem, we directly identify ourselves AS the problem. The video talks about this particularly in saying " I am depressed." Yes, the depression is a problem, a thing that comes into life and passes by, but that does not mean that YOU are the depression, that YOU must be fixed. You are EXPERIENCING a depression, and it does not have a tarnishing effect on who you are as a whole. This misunderstanding brings a lot of grief.
4: The video explains that while emotions and situations and all things in life are like clouds, we are the clear blue sky, unaffected by the clouds even though they are present. These things do not last forever, but the sky does, the sky is always there, clouds or not, thus who you are is always present and whole and as it is with or without situation or emotion.
5: I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this question.
6: What you judge, you cannot understand.
7:
I think it's a very interesting and difficult thing to consider with identification of self the way we do it, " I am depressed", there is suffering, but there is also a label and a comfort zone in that. I think the challenge comes in finding ones self if you're going to apply this method to your thoughts. When I think of it, and I say " If I am not angry, if I am only experiencing anger, than what am I?" and What am I.... that is a terrifying question.
I think when it comes to personality traits that's another grey area in this idea, because what he talks about is more about situations and emotions. Certainly traits of a person's personality can fluctuate with the passing of time, we all change eventually with age and experience, but it's hard to wrap my head around " I am experiencing assertiveness" or " I am experiencing an affectionate manner." Because those are things I feel are truly part of Me- that I am assertive, that I am strong, that I am affectionate. But if this philosophy applies to personality traits in the same way as it does emotions and all of those thing are stripped away to the passing of time like clouds on a blue sky, than what am I?
1: We compress and react in fight or flight when we experience stress, which in the modern world is an ineffective and unnecessary response.
2: The Alexander technique enables us to choose a different response to our stresses and circumstances.
3: Nature would prefer us to be in balance.
4: The outside of the foot nearest to the pinky toe, the base of the big toe, and the heel.
5: Ankles, Knees and Hips.
6: Deep between the crest of your hip bone and the pubic bone.
7: An anchor.
8: Between the ears, behind the eyes.
9: We talk a lot about how your breath is the connection between your body and your mind, but I think personally that our nerve endings are the connection between the world and our brains. The way we process pleasure, pain and all sensations is unique to each of us, and with those sensations we analyse and experience the world with our minds. Even when focusing on breath, it is not in counting the breaths, or the direction of the breath that we find center and focus, but in the feeling of our lungs expanding and our skin shifting to stretch around our ribs, in our stomachs expanding and our lower back stretching-- the sensations we normally don't notice unless directed to do so. A burn from a stove or a kiss on the cheek connects us to the world through what I think is our most vital sense. Touch.
Monday, February 9, 2015
This is Some Seriously Deep Stuff
So after watching these videos assigned to us, I'm honestly at a loss with what to say. I think the reason for that is because a lot of this philosophy kind of derails everything in my life, everything I do every day, and the way our society functions. I actually thought to myself, while considering the ideas given, " Am I really living?" I mean, I've always been a really goal oriented, future thinking person-- it's true that that's how we're raised as a people, always in preparation. We're taught to prepare more than anything else. And I never really saw that as a bad thing until well, just now. I definitely understand being in the moment, experiencing the moment fully and without judgement for it, but with a lack of preparation for the moment after that moment is kind of...unfathomable. I think that these concepts need to be explained a little more, because this is a lot to swallow, you know?
I appreciate the videos, but I think this is something I'd like to discuss-- but then, it's also such a broad and intensive topic-- are you really living? God, what a question.
I think my favorite thing about the videos, and what I understood best, was the aspect of living being spontaneous. That no matter who's life you look at, that's true and no matter how planned you try to be or how convinced you are that you're living for a specific purpose in some far off future, you have your most amazing moments when you are simply in the moment, alive, and acting on your truest impulses. The moments I think of, personally, are when I'm on a roller coaster and I take in a deep breath to scream on the drop down. Or someone making a joke and laughing unabashedly. Or deciding I want to do something or I like someone regardless of what other people think of it. It's just... being who you are. Reacting to the world just as it is right then. That's living.
Rio
I appreciate the videos, but I think this is something I'd like to discuss-- but then, it's also such a broad and intensive topic-- are you really living? God, what a question.
I think my favorite thing about the videos, and what I understood best, was the aspect of living being spontaneous. That no matter who's life you look at, that's true and no matter how planned you try to be or how convinced you are that you're living for a specific purpose in some far off future, you have your most amazing moments when you are simply in the moment, alive, and acting on your truest impulses. The moments I think of, personally, are when I'm on a roller coaster and I take in a deep breath to scream on the drop down. Or someone making a joke and laughing unabashedly. Or deciding I want to do something or I like someone regardless of what other people think of it. It's just... being who you are. Reacting to the world just as it is right then. That's living.
Rio
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Jon Kabat-Zinn is the Bomb Diggety
So, first off, I was super excited about the 'raisin' exercise because I've done it before, and found it to be a really great exercise about mindfulness if the person is open to acknowledging how unique something as random as a raisin (or in our case an almond) can be. I actually practice mindfulness when I eat really often, because taking a moment to look at, smell, examine, thoroughly chew, taste, and experience the swallowing of your food is described in no better way than orgasmic. I tell you, you go to Louies, and you get some potatoes and you just sit there for like, thirty minutes. Just revel. You don't have anywhere to be, you don't need to talk to anyone, and eating is not just about fuel ( obviously if you're eating potatoes, that's just starch you silly goose)-- but I guarantee, you do that, you look at those potatoes and smell them and chew them bit by bit, and you're not gonna forget how amazing those potatoes were for like, a week!
Besides the joys of food, which of course to me are very important, Jon Kabat-Zinn's approach to mindfulness has less of the monk like meditation you would expect, and is more comparable to a child-like wonder about the things we don't normally pay attention to. There's an exercise on his website ( and on the app he has if you're interested in that) where all you do is focus on your hands, and their purposes. If you're open and mindful truly to the experience, it's almost heart warming, because your hands to do a lot of amazing things. And they're beautiful, and unique. Just as much as looking at and tasting something dear to you can make you feel warm and safe, stopping to examine the hands you use every day to accomplish your goals can give you a real confidence boost about your capabilities.
I think that Jon-Kabat-Zinn's work with mindfulness is so useful to an actor because it allows for there to be a consistent method to a new discovery every time. Tim mentioned it really beautifully in class when it comes to people (and in an actor's sense, characters). If you assume when you're examining a text that after reading it twice you know not only who your character is, but who all the other characters are than you close yourself off from the in the moment discoveries you may have and that you can react to from your partner. Walking into a rehearsal and expecting a "raisin" but being open to finding an "almond" in your partner, and understanding how the raisin and almond are different in this person's interpretation allows for something so repetitive as rehearsals to be a new and thrilling experiencing every time.
It also drags a person out of the "first circle" mentality, which can be very very healthy for people who have turbulent emotions. I personally have suffered from anxiety since my late teens, and while I had thought I had it under control, college's challenges brought on a whole new gang of stressors with which for me to sufficiently freak the fuck out all the time over. So, after some things that if you'd like to know about them you should ask me personally, I decided that I needed therapy. And I was recommended to a group that essentially specialized in practicing mindfulness which allows a person who is suffering from anxiousness and stress to briefly focus on something else entirely, discover it, attend to it, and then when they are more calm because they're not running a hamster wheel over their problems in their head, they can come back and figure out a plan of action.
Now, this post, is long. But I think that this is important for me to say, because let's be real, this is so applicable to life, and I am really passionate about it. If you ask anyone who knows me pretty well, last semester I spent a lot of time in Louies, alone or otherwise, and food and focus and relaxation and mindfulness all played a part in me keeping my shit together last semester. Now also, I'm like, 30 lbs heavier (I should've found comfort in salads some how) but am I a calmer, more prepared person? Oh hell yeah.
So yeah, now you know quite a bit about me. And what mindfulness means to me.
Feeling all tingly and emotionally connected yet?
Rio
Besides the joys of food, which of course to me are very important, Jon Kabat-Zinn's approach to mindfulness has less of the monk like meditation you would expect, and is more comparable to a child-like wonder about the things we don't normally pay attention to. There's an exercise on his website ( and on the app he has if you're interested in that) where all you do is focus on your hands, and their purposes. If you're open and mindful truly to the experience, it's almost heart warming, because your hands to do a lot of amazing things. And they're beautiful, and unique. Just as much as looking at and tasting something dear to you can make you feel warm and safe, stopping to examine the hands you use every day to accomplish your goals can give you a real confidence boost about your capabilities.
I think that Jon-Kabat-Zinn's work with mindfulness is so useful to an actor because it allows for there to be a consistent method to a new discovery every time. Tim mentioned it really beautifully in class when it comes to people (and in an actor's sense, characters). If you assume when you're examining a text that after reading it twice you know not only who your character is, but who all the other characters are than you close yourself off from the in the moment discoveries you may have and that you can react to from your partner. Walking into a rehearsal and expecting a "raisin" but being open to finding an "almond" in your partner, and understanding how the raisin and almond are different in this person's interpretation allows for something so repetitive as rehearsals to be a new and thrilling experiencing every time.
It also drags a person out of the "first circle" mentality, which can be very very healthy for people who have turbulent emotions. I personally have suffered from anxiety since my late teens, and while I had thought I had it under control, college's challenges brought on a whole new gang of stressors with which for me to sufficiently freak the fuck out all the time over. So, after some things that if you'd like to know about them you should ask me personally, I decided that I needed therapy. And I was recommended to a group that essentially specialized in practicing mindfulness which allows a person who is suffering from anxiousness and stress to briefly focus on something else entirely, discover it, attend to it, and then when they are more calm because they're not running a hamster wheel over their problems in their head, they can come back and figure out a plan of action.
Now, this post, is long. But I think that this is important for me to say, because let's be real, this is so applicable to life, and I am really passionate about it. If you ask anyone who knows me pretty well, last semester I spent a lot of time in Louies, alone or otherwise, and food and focus and relaxation and mindfulness all played a part in me keeping my shit together last semester. Now also, I'm like, 30 lbs heavier (I should've found comfort in salads some how) but am I a calmer, more prepared person? Oh hell yeah.
So yeah, now you know quite a bit about me. And what mindfulness means to me.
Feeling all tingly and emotionally connected yet?
Rio
Thursday, January 22, 2015
" She's Got It/ She Hasn't Got It"
I think it's an interesting and realistic approach to say that there's something wrong with saying that " It" is something nonspecific for an actor. The Second Circle idea allows an actor to have some reality and grounding in the kind of ambiguous ideas of how to be a good actor versus a bad actor. I mean personally, I always have doubt about the idea of being a good actor because there is no distinctive method or goal as far I understand. The whole "everyone's different" lark is extremely discouraging when you're a student since that freedom of your own method leads me (at least) to wonder where to begin. Sure there are techniques we're taught and trained in, but at the end of the day anyone I've talked to says that there just has to be a 'youness' when you walk into a room to audition that is ambiguous and intimidating to consider. The first-second-third circle concept allows a student to assess themselves about where they are as an actor, and have a list of qualities on where they want to be to improve.
I appreciate that there are reasons why the first and third circles are useful, but that their risks or difficulties are clearly laid out. In my limited experience of actors and acting, there's always been a difficulty in my mind about what says an actor is good or bad unless it is blatantly bad (shouting,over gesturing, obnoxious) or blatantly good (moving and convincing, which isn't hard to convince me in because I am both gullible and emotional).
The video and reading really grounded the concepts for me and made this kind of generalized idea of how to be an open, responsive actor more categorized. I think that having an assessment or a method of figuring out where you lie on that spectrum would be really useful to young, aspiring actors and allow them to always have a goal towards the center, to be open, reactionary, considering the outside while processing within.
Over all, I'm really intrigued. Lately in my classes there has been a lot of 'build your theatre library' talk, about books that are worth having and reading over and over throughout one's theatrical career. This is definitely one I would like to invest in. I need to buy a bookshelf, honestly. After all, that's a pretty wholesome goal as well, building a theatre library. You've got all these great voices that we're taught about but not really delved into like Bogart, or Brecht ( I mean if you wanna look at Brecht that's something you gotta dedicate more than a semester's time to) and it seems to be Rodenburg is one of those voices that Tim is touching on for us, to give us some perspective and a place to start improving ourselves and our techniques, but who is worth investigating beyond the classroom criteria.
This is kinda long now-- long story short, too long didn't read, I found that having a spectrum and some guidelines made the idea of acting more tangible to me than just some dream where people either have it or don't. That it can be practiced, improved on, and gauged beyond the obvious.
Cool stuff, right?
Rio
I appreciate that there are reasons why the first and third circles are useful, but that their risks or difficulties are clearly laid out. In my limited experience of actors and acting, there's always been a difficulty in my mind about what says an actor is good or bad unless it is blatantly bad (shouting,over gesturing, obnoxious) or blatantly good (moving and convincing, which isn't hard to convince me in because I am both gullible and emotional).
The video and reading really grounded the concepts for me and made this kind of generalized idea of how to be an open, responsive actor more categorized. I think that having an assessment or a method of figuring out where you lie on that spectrum would be really useful to young, aspiring actors and allow them to always have a goal towards the center, to be open, reactionary, considering the outside while processing within.
Over all, I'm really intrigued. Lately in my classes there has been a lot of 'build your theatre library' talk, about books that are worth having and reading over and over throughout one's theatrical career. This is definitely one I would like to invest in. I need to buy a bookshelf, honestly. After all, that's a pretty wholesome goal as well, building a theatre library. You've got all these great voices that we're taught about but not really delved into like Bogart, or Brecht ( I mean if you wanna look at Brecht that's something you gotta dedicate more than a semester's time to) and it seems to be Rodenburg is one of those voices that Tim is touching on for us, to give us some perspective and a place to start improving ourselves and our techniques, but who is worth investigating beyond the classroom criteria.
This is kinda long now-- long story short, too long didn't read, I found that having a spectrum and some guidelines made the idea of acting more tangible to me than just some dream where people either have it or don't. That it can be practiced, improved on, and gauged beyond the obvious.
Cool stuff, right?
Rio
First-to-Second Circle Kind of Person
So today we talked about the Second Circle, which I think is such a cool concept. This is totally applicable to life, to social situations, to relationships and to communication- being too internal or too external is a difficult balance. I think personally I'm pretty internal about some things- when I took my acting coarse with Addie she told me I would make a better film actor for this reason, that I do a lot of my acting internally. Now I am realizing that that was not a compliment! But I definitely also find it really exciting to engage with others, so I think I can certainly work to step in the right direction. The exercise where we looked into each other's eyes and gestured to our hearts certainly gave me really good feelings, and it's another exercise ( along with the stick exercise) that I think we should throw in every week or so. I think that's relevant because Tim mentioned that this Second Circle work is something you have to practice at, in life and on stage. Just doing it once isn't enough for me. I want to feel that connection again and again! I thought I'd pop in before I have to go to work to say this stuff before I forget it, but after I'll probably post again about the reading.
XOXO
Rio
XOXO
Rio
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Let's Have More Interesting Titles Than the Date
So today was just an introduction day, nothing particularly special to be said about that-- it's the usual stuff. A lot of the people in the class I know, which is a nice feeling, building friendships in class is normally the most effective way to become closer friends in college. You'd think it'd be different from high school like that, but it's not haha. We did an exercise with sticks and balancing them on our fingertips, which was both fun and challenging- it'd be interesting to do it again at the end of the year and see how much each of us have improved with our focus and finding our center of balance.
Mindfulness is a super cool exercise, so I'm excited that this class is about something I already know well but need to practice more. I meditate and practice mindfulness with food most of the time ( you'd be surprised how mindlessly we eat things) and now using it to become a well rounded actor with some solid fundamental skills in mindfulness is pretty great.
Honestly the thing I'm hoping to get out of this class is the balls to try and get into acting. I've wanted to for a long time, but I'm such a chicken-shit about it, like; what if I'm not good enough to act? What if it's just not my thing? Needless to say, I love the idea of it. I love building characters and making stories as a hobby ( I write. A lot.) so I imagine I'd at least be OKAY at it, but who knows? It's a multi-faceted art just like any other.
I mean, I just need to get over that, dragging myself backward about shit. Like. I've been drawing for 11 ish years, still think I'm not a very good artist. If I keep this mindset, I'll never get the courage up to act, regardless of my classes and a degree and any other opportunity put in my path.
It would also be nice to tone up a bit; build some muscles with those yoga moves Tim is planning. I really should exercise more.
That's all.
Rio Jsanea
Mindfulness is a super cool exercise, so I'm excited that this class is about something I already know well but need to practice more. I meditate and practice mindfulness with food most of the time ( you'd be surprised how mindlessly we eat things) and now using it to become a well rounded actor with some solid fundamental skills in mindfulness is pretty great.
Honestly the thing I'm hoping to get out of this class is the balls to try and get into acting. I've wanted to for a long time, but I'm such a chicken-shit about it, like; what if I'm not good enough to act? What if it's just not my thing? Needless to say, I love the idea of it. I love building characters and making stories as a hobby ( I write. A lot.) so I imagine I'd at least be OKAY at it, but who knows? It's a multi-faceted art just like any other.
I mean, I just need to get over that, dragging myself backward about shit. Like. I've been drawing for 11 ish years, still think I'm not a very good artist. If I keep this mindset, I'll never get the courage up to act, regardless of my classes and a degree and any other opportunity put in my path.
It would also be nice to tone up a bit; build some muscles with those yoga moves Tim is planning. I really should exercise more.
That's all.
Rio Jsanea
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