Translator: Dina Bezsmertna Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs
How movement creates character.
I started gymnastics when I was nine years old.
I didn't belong to a gymnastics studio,
I didn't even have a coach.
I taught myself.
You see, I grew up in a very small town in northern California.
In fact, the 64 students that I entered kindergarten with
were the same 64 students I graduated high school with
thirteen years later.
I, like many kids my age, first saw gymnastics on the television.
And I was absolutely mesmerized
by watching these athletes hurl themselves across this giant blue mat,
defy gravity on the parallel bars,
and hold themselves with statue-like stillness on the still rings.
My nine-year-old self thought:
"I could do that."
(Laughter)
I was lucky.
I grew up right next to an elementary school
so the open fields of green grass became my blue mats,
the playground equipment quickly became my parallel bars,
and the metal rings on that equipment became my still rings.
I would spend long summer nights
teaching myself to do the perfect handstand,
do a round-off, a cartwheel, back handspring.
I even taught myself how to do a standing back tuck.
After weeks and weeks of trial and error, and bruises and near broken bones,
I would invite my parents over to watch my Olympic-style routine
full of floor exercise and rings and bars.
And my dad was impressed,
if not a little bit confused.
(Laughter)
My mom was terrified.
(Laughter)
Today, I am an actor and a professor of acting.
My days of throwing myself across green lawns is long over.
But my connection to the movement of that lives with me today.
That nine-year-old boy is still alive in me.
And it continued through my education,
both undergrad and graduate training as an actor,
whether I was in a stage combat class
where I had to fence or learn how to use a broadsword,
or a musical theater ensemble class
where I was required to learn choreography,
or even in a clown class
where I had to create fully fleshed-out, real, red-nose clowns.
Movement is part of my character.
Character.
It's a great word.
There are many definitions,
but there are two that are of particular interest to me.
The first one is: one of the qualities or features
that distinguish or make up an individual.
You.
Your character, back there.
Me, my character.
The other is: a part an actor recreates.
Both of these definitions are important to me, both as an actor and a professor,
but also to my talk today on how movement creates character.
It was in my graduate movement class
that I was first introduced to something called "contact improvisation."
First established by an American dancer named Steve Paxton.
Mr. Paxton, like me, had a very early connection to tumbling and gymnastics.
He later went on to become
a very well-known American dancer and choreographer.
But he continued his development of this new dance form
called "contact improvisation."
In early 1980s,
a lot of top graduate training programs
were adopting contact improvisation within their movement curriculum,
which is where I, thankfully, was introduced to it.
Now, the basic tenets of contact improvisation are pretty simple.
While partnered up, participants begin the exploration of gravity,
momentum, inertia,
while using only their bodies to communicate.
Pressure, touching, lifts.
Mr. Paxton firmly believed that even the non-dancer
could contribute to this form.
Now, I have been teaching contact improvisation
for the better part of ten years.
And there are three consistent discoveries that my students tend to make
when connecting contact improvisation
to the creation of a character for the stage.
And the first one is:
it allows them to discover their kinesthetic awareness,
their awareness of their own bodies moving through space.
Second: contact improvisation unlocks their emotional life,
their emotional connection,
not just with themselves engaged in contact,
but with their partner.
And three: actors are more willing to connect their physical bodies
to the scene work they are doing in class or in performance.
I'd like to provide you with some examples of what I do in the classroom.
So if you'll help me welcome
second-year BFA actors Madeleine and Becca out to the stage,
that would be great.
Hello, ladies. Come right here.
Come right in the center right there.
Great.
So this is going to feel like my classroom.
So pardon me if I walk around and make stuff up.
But here's what happens.
They're going to explore three different bullet points
before they go into free or open form contact.
Right now, they are taking each other in,
which is very common in contact improvisation.
They want to be in the same room together.
This first area we're going to discover
is going to be balance and weight distribution.
So what will happen is, on their own time, they will both free fall backwards
and grab arms just in time to lock and hold.
And you've already begun.
Good. Straight backs. Lower shoulders.
Good. From here, they'll pull themselves up,
they're going to free fall again
and then grab arms one more time.
Good. So what this is doing is they are learning to communicate
through contact.
You're pulling too much, or I need more weight from you.
So pull on up, which is great.
Good. Well done, ladies.
Next, they'll do something
where they're going to go from sitting to standing.
This is going to require them to communicate
from the base of their spine all the way to the top of their head,
not using their arms at all, on the floor.
They're going to communicate with their backs
and come to complete standing whenever they're ready.
Breathe.
Good.
Excellent job.
Great. Thank you, ladies.
The next thing we're going to explore are lifts.
In my class, we do encourage lifts
because sometimes contact improvisation, the improvisation part,
will allow actors to sort of leave the ground,
and we want them to be familiar with what that feels like.
This first lift is called "the monkey."
There's a back monkey, there's a side monkey,
there's waist monkeys.
But Becca's going to jump on Madeleine's base,
and what's going to happen is like VELCRO, Becca will stick to the back of Madeleine,
and what will happen is,
she will be able to have a full life of movement around,
there shouldn't be any weight on her.
Whenever you're ready.
And stick.
And go ahead and show us and move.
Yay.
Thank you. Good.
Next, we're going to do a back-to-back lift.
This can be done with or without arms,
and for today's display, we're going to use with arms.
So what happen is they will scoop down.
Breathe.
Relax.
Go with the flow. Don't push the tide.
With a nice solid base like this, Madeleine has for Becca,
Becca will be able to explore movement while on top.
(Laughter)
Nice.
Good.
Excellent.
The next thing is something called "trading fours."
This was introduced to me by my movement master coach, Annie Louie.
And basically, one of the actors will take a neutral stance
that will have some negative space.
The other actor will then explore that negative space
by moving and then stay in contact.
This is sort of like the beginnings
of a real contact improv free or open form.
And you've already begun.
Two ... Three ... Four.
And One ... Two ... Three ... Four.
And One ... Two ... Three ...
And switch.
And hold.
Good. Good job, actors.
So, by doing these -
of course, we spend more than three minutes on each of these.
By this time,
the students are able to open up into free or open form contact improv.
This begins with them taking each other in,
and what we'll do is we'll just observe for a moment.
Remember to go with the flow. Don't push the tide.
Breathe.
And you've already begun.
Good. Go with the flow.
Oftentimes, free form sessions are accompanied with light music,
either a drum or a string instrument.
Sometimes music is played.
Oftentimes, acting professors will introduce text.
So what I want to do for purpose of today
is I want to introduce ideas or relationships
that they might be able to incorporate
while engaged in contact improvisation.
And the first one is: lovers meeting for the first time.
Lovers in conflict.
Breathe.
Good.
Lovers making up.
And end.
Thank you, actors, very, very much.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
So what is my takeaway from this talk on movement,
character, and contact improvisation?
Think about this.
With each of your movements, it defines your character.
Who you are.
How you sit.
How you walk.
How you stand.
It's the same way that an actor uses movement
to create character through contact improv,
through kinesthetic awareness, a deeper emotional connection,
connecting their bodies to that character.
I would be remiss if I didn't give you an assignment as a professor.
So here it is.
As you leave this hall,
turn your mind's eye to how you move through space.
Do you have fluidity?
Are you always bumping into things?
How are you in crowded airports or busy city streets?
By simply turning your mind's eye onto your own movement,
you will be engaging in a kind of public contact improv session.
And you've already begun.
Thank you.
(Applause)