Creative Process and Resources

It all begins with developing an intimate relationship with the breath. Technique for awakening to and becoming responsive to the breath is specific in its orientation and it certainly has a spiritual aspect. Not only does the breath support the uprightness of who I am, it is also the absolute foundation for the function of every single system in the body*. If one is going to bring an unconscious bodily function to conscious awareness it must be done with full understanding and skill. As an instructor I am seldom concerned with what the student is doing but I am always concerned with how they are doing it.

And so breath and sound/voice begin the training of remolding the body from the inside - out. The ideal creative process also allows for discovery of the world from the outside - in.

In my own work of over 30 years, I have carefully designed exercises and improvisations for training and performance that benefit not only the actor but also are also very useful to the dancer and mime artist. My approach is pragmatic and based firmly in the body. Michael Chekhov stated it well when he described how ‘over intellectualizing can quickly throttle the creative impulse’.

My initial blueprint was provided by *David Harris and Basya Hunter. Further inspiration has come to me from many forces in the theatre, with a particular focus upon the technique of *Michael Chekhov.

An ideal learning situation first builds a secure platform, figuratively speaking. The following is an outline of the scaffolding.

Level One
Reality ________ The World and I

The senses: First you begin with what you have.

The carefully designed foundation exercises for this crucial level are designed to sensitize the body and to open up (free) those channels that we have spent numerous years shutting down. Repression, denial of the body and becoming so separated from nature culminate in a condition that must be overcome by anyone wishing to be a sensitive performer with a broad range of expression. The emphasis at this phase focuses upon exercises for sensory perception. Further to this, exercises are provided to lay the groundwork for future performance qualities – molding, floating, flying, air and light. It is at this point in the process that glimmers of working with the centres of the body, begins.

How many times have I heard it said that one isn’t able to teach stage presence – you either have ‘it’ or you don’t. Indeed there will always be varying degrees of quality, but persons like Michael Chekhov have truly unraveled creative mysteries to enable us to access the parts of ourselves wherein such riches reside. NO mystery just practical, energetic alchemy!

Level Two
Will _____________ The Spine/structure and I

This level of training is based upon carefully crafted exercises/improvisations to physically ignite the knowledge that nothing happens on stage until opposing wills meet.

Man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. himself

Originating with Aristotle these essential elements of dramatic truth are brought to life with Inner Action improvisations that don’t give the participant time to think ____ only time to do.

David Harris said to me, “Sally if you are working with young theatre students just stick with exercises for Inner Action. If they can get that into their little beings then they are off to a real start.” What David said has been born out to be right. When working with teen-aged persons these dynamic improves have literally saved the day. When working with students who are required to study dramatic art, even though they aren't certain they want to be, nothing converts them to the cause faster than an improvisation they can see working dramatically, before their very eyes.

Inner Action wields a much greater power when prepared for by the Sensory Perception begun at level one. To be able to hold onto an image or sensory impression by the strength of any part of the body, brings one to absolutely understand the following statement given to me by Basya Hunter:

The image is the neck that turns the head

Level Three
Relationship _____________ Humanity and I

I – Thou can only be spoken with the whole being I – It can never be spoken with the whole being. From Martin Buber’s I-Thou thesis

The core focus here involves exercises to awaken the participant to the centers of the body (major and minor). Within each major centre (and I work with the chest, diaphragm, stomach, pelvis and buttocks) there resides an essential emotional quality to be accessed at will by the well-trained performer. This body-based knowledge is simply a gold mine of understanding and potential.

Peripheral centres such as the extremities of the body like the tip of the nose are also explored for what they may bring to the quality of movement and attitude of the character.

Further to this I incorporate aspects of Michael Chekhov’s psycho-physical approach to acting.

Relationship is about what is happening in the air between actors, and the resulting atmospheres. Relationship includes the energetic connection of the actor to the world around her and what she brings to every part of that world – right down to the smallest “prop” on stage.

The relationship layer of the creative process is not only greatly enhanced by the sensory training of level one and the inner action training of level two, indeed the first levels are crucial to achieve a wholly realized final stage. A stage that brings radiance, depth, freedom and pure joy to the creation.

Concluding Comment:

Think of it this way. If excellent writers of classical literature all the way through to modern literature take on the great task of poking around at the complexities of our lives, brilliantly weaving a person through any given paradox of the human condition, then as actors representing these multi-faceted people, what are we supposed to do? How do we rise to such an occasion? At theatre school I very quickly figured out that it would take a great deal more than a bit of charm and good comic timing. There was some arduous work to be done. That work, I realized, had to begin with developing a new relationship with the body and working to attain a harmony between psychology, body and spirit/energy. For me this was an initial ten year process of discovery. It continues.

Thanks to Psychologist Wilheim Reich and author Morris Berman, I may conclude with this succinct observation:

“Place your hand on the body and you have placed your hand on the unconscious. Our sensory impressions, our life’s experiences and our cultural history are encoded into our bodies.”

Resources:

Kristin Linklater, Freeing the Natural Voice; Drama Book Publishers, NY

Susannah Steers
http://movingspirit.blogspot.com
The Influence of the Breath on the Thoracolumbar Spine ’06 ’05

Bill Brueht, The Technique of Inner Action; Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH

Michael Chekhov, To The Actor – on the technique of acting; Harper and Row Publ., New York, Evanston and London

Morris Berman, Coming to our Senses – body and spirit in the hidden history of the west; Bantam Books, NY, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland

Lynne Anne Blom & L. Tarin Chapin, The Intimate Act of Choreography; University of Pittsburgh Press

David Harris –
http://www.lcts.co.uk

Basya Hunter – Assistant to Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslavsky a the Actor's Lab NYC, and student of Michael Chekhov.

This is a list that I will continue to add to. The above represents a core group, however, there are other important books to be included and in recent years I have attended sessions with the exceptional faculty of MICHA, the organization that is dedicated to delving into and building upon the Michael Chekhov blueprint.

MICHA: http://www.michaelchekhov.org