Working With Actors

I've had the pleasure recently of working with actors since Alexandra, who teaches regularly at the Atlantic Theater School, needed a sub. What I experienced inspired me as a mover and as a viewer and teacher of dance. These actors, in general, move without hesitation or fear that they will look silly. I'm sure they are overwhelmed and daunted by the fact they they are expected to move as dancers at all. But the approach they take to movement surprised me. I led them through a warm up that would be tricky for anyone who has never worked with dance. The theme of the class was improvisation and, since I have never really taught an improvisation class, I took the spirit of what improvisation meant to me. I tried to be spontaneous in my preparation as well as in the presentation of ideas and materials for the class. I can see how movement improvisation can create a freshness to any work, dance or theater or dance-theater but what interests me is how real their bodies moved. There was no pretense to perform or an external trajectory of shape or line in space. All things flowed from an authentic place generated by simple tasks such as mirroring, sharing a plumb line or responding to touch via an outside stimulus. I can see how by being present, in every moment, they can translate the sensation they feel in their bodies to their intention as an actor. The use of text and language then becomes supported by a more organic physicality from which they can draw.