Acting Techniques - Part 4

Shakespeare for Self-Knowledge

 

 

 

"To be or not to be: that is the question"

 

It's an intense, gratifying process that makes us grow, makes us better people and is liberating.

 

Thought is power but even greater power is speech, who doesn't have power in Shakespeare's plays doesn't speak, but as people, not characters, speaking Shakespeare is great power.

 

 

Shakespeare creates "people", he gives them life and all that comes with it: fight for (or conflict with) power, love, insecurities, doubts, image, mask, ego, internal and external conflicts... In my opinion, it's impossible to say Shakespeare writes about only one theme, unless you simply say: Shakespeare writes about the human condition.

 

Shakespeare makes us believe in the appearances to show the reality.

 

Shakespeare holds the human condition responsible, with compassion, exposes it but doesn't blame it.

 

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players."

 

Come find out more about you and the meaning of "To be or not to be", by acting Shakespeare. 

(No acting experience required)

 

 

 

by Francisca Duarte

 

 

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Acthing Techniques - Part 3

You Are What You Speak

 

Our voice is our biggest instrument.

You can tell almost everything from a person by her voice, it's important for our everyday life, shows our strong points, our fragilities, our origins, points of view, interest, etc..., in fact, words become almost superficial in a face-to-face talk, because you understand the meaning of the speech by the voice, hence sarcasm, irony, etc.

In our society, we create a vocal mask, that allows us to fit in and survive, but also creates a lot of tension points.

 

That mask creates the quality of the sound (meaning the way, it occupies the space) and the resonator (meaning the place where is amplified in the body).

 

Our body is the place where our voice is amplified, with nothing more than air and the vibration of our vocal chords, so everything in our body (e.g: our posture, the way we relate with the air and articulation, some points of tension can prevent the vibration of the vocal chords, etc.) affects our voice.

 

by Francisca Duarte

 

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Acting Techniques - part 2

Neutral Mask Technique

It's a game, of impulsions, feelings, but it all comes from an inner peace.

The idea is to do with the body what we usually do with words. But if we don't know how to do it the body, we'll hardly know how to do it with words.

Persona = from where the sound comes = mask

The mask is the explosion of the face in the body. All the impulses are appropriate, economic and essential.

It's a state of becoming, following the three B's:

• Believe
• Behave
• Become

We move from an inner pace, nothing happens until then and before any action you follow the 3 seconds rule:

1. Think
2. Feel
3. Do

If it's a good idea, it'll still be after 3 seconds.

To find out more come work with us at Life Mentoring Studio.

By Francisca Duarte

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Acting Techniques - part 1

Laban's Acting Technique


It's about body expression, releasing your body so that your emotions can go to every extension, even if it's only one finger. It's extremely useful for actors but first of all for human beings. Life is all about living, living as a human means feeling, it's not being emotional, it's simply having feelings, each feeling has a consequence in your body, you can see when a person is sad, happy, angry, etc... because the body is showing it.

Laban works in every level, focusing in your kinesphere (your personal space, that travels with you, when you move, it's yours to fill with your body and even, with your voice) and he also focuses in the basics of movement:

Space
Time (may be sustained or sudden)
Weight (may be light or strong)
Flow (may be direct or indirect)


Laban named eight qualities of movement, which every person, every character, uses to move, at least one of them, is the one you use when moving or not moving, you can be applying one of this qualities simply with your eyes, here they are:

1. Float (Light, Indirect, Sustained)
2. Glide (Light, Direct, Sustained)
3. Dab (Light, Direct, Sudden)
4. Flick (Light, Indirect, Sudden)
5. Press (Strong, Direct, Sustained)
6. Thrust (Strong, Direct, Sudden)
7. Slash (Strong, Indirect, Sudden)
8. Wring (Strong, Indirect, Sustained)

To reach all this, Laban developed a series of exercises, relaxation techniques and games. 

To find out more come work with us at Life Mentoring Studio.

By Francisca Duarte

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