Thursday, August 2, 2007

Get in my belly!

This morning in warm up class Michael asked our thoughts about the program, with 4 weeks down and 1 to go. Everyone is still very positive, but a discussion did come up regarding Sam's class. Some of the folks who had taken the Shakespeare Intensive (A 6 week program that ran before the Chekhov) felt that the scene study there with a different teacher was more beneficial. In that workshop scene study is all day 2 days a week and all the other classes are the rest of the week.

As I understand it the theory is that giving the actors time to present a more polished scene means that the teacher can be more help to them. The opposing view that others held is that there's something to be gained from getting up there with something raw. There is value in both approaches, but after I'd thought about it I'd have to say that I've gotten a great deal out of the class when Sam works with me on my scenes but somewhat less when he works with the others. That's partly because many of his comments come back to the same basic tents of imagination, given circumstances, and action playing but also he can sometimes get so specific with his notes that he crosses from teaching to directing. In those situations he's very helpful to the people working but doesn't always tie things up for the whole class. Don't get me wrong though, I'm still very upbeat on Sam's positive, honest, and non-dogmatic teaching style. He's been a good influence.

In Composition Steve had us in for 1-on-1 chats about how we've liked his class and the program. I repeated many of the positive things I've said here and talked about how much I liked the group and how I wish there was time and opportunity to work with these actors on something for a production. Steve asked if I had any questions and i asked how he'd evaluate me. He said he could see I was at the "beginning of a process" (his phrase) as far as getting impulses from brain to body, and that I'd shown progress over the course of the classes. I'd say that's a fairly accurate assessment and of course I'm pleased to hear that I've got myself going in a good direction.

Oh, I promised something about the muscularity of my belly. That's a phrase Michael and Jason have used with us as we've worked on our breathing and how to control it. Think about how your belly feels when it's full of air, how it feels when it's empty, and the difference between the two. Since we've been focused so much on breathing I have been thinking about that area, and I realized that because of all the attention to the belly it's the muscles have gotten stronger. I haven't really adapted to the change yet. (This feeling is also caused by the fact that I've lost weight since I've been here) When Jason was working with me on my "hah" earlier this week he pointed out I was holding on to some tension which limited my sound. When he showed me I could feel he was right, but because of all the work things feel so different I really wasn't aware of it. Since then I've worked on keeping the belly easy in the voice exercises, and I think I'm getting it.

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