Creative Movement Questions Pt. 2

Range of Movement: Physical range of movement has to do with the different planes an actors body can “physically” move in space. We colored these planes of movement in our coloring books the first week of class; frontal, transverse, cross, median, sagittal, and coronal. I think that emotional range of movement refers to the spectrum of feelings/emotions that an actor has experienced and can tap into in order to help influence a character/performance. Mental range of movement has to to with the actors personal beliefs about themselves. If an actor does not  think they can remember all their lines, hit the high notes, or do a cartwheel on stage then they have a mental road block. They don’t have a good mental range of movement. If the actor can have a greater emotional, physical and mental range of movement and not bring any personal “baggage” into their performance, then they can fully commit and bring that character/performance to a higher level of truth and believably. 

Seeing Others: When we see an actor/character who is walking with a hunched back, tense shoulders and neck, and breathing fast and shallow. They are communicating information to us/the audience about themselves. This person may be stressed out, in poor health, low statues, or just feeling down that day. But we see their body language and we fill in the blanks accordingly. On the other hand, if we see an actor/character who is standing up strait, allowing their shoulder muscles to be relaxed and not pulling everything out of whack, and allowing their lungs to take in calmer deeper breathes we perceive this actor/character as having high social statues. Simple core exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups mixed with stretching and maybe a little cardio can be extremely helpful for an actor to achieve better physicality that will communicate positive qualities about themselves/a character via body language. And also, the pain is not necessarily where the problem is. Little side story, I was on the track team in high school and ended up tearing my meniscus. The pain was in my knee, but it was because of the funky way I was running on the edge of my foot that was the source of the problem. Certain muscles in my leg would have to over compensate for the way I would run. My quadriceps muscle got so tight that it was pulling my knee cap into my meniscus. So when I would run the knee cap would be rubbing my joint and causing it to become inflamed and eventually tear.

Body Awareness: I feel very aware of my legs and knees. As I mentioned in the story above I have had a knee injury in the past, and all the physical therapy I had to do to get better has made me hyper aware of this part of my body. I think I don’t take care of my neck and shoulders enough. It is a place that I carry a lot of tension and stress. It is something that I have to be really mindful of and take extra care to not bring this stress and tension to a character who’s supposed to be care free and happy.

 Creative Play: I think that the best example of creative play is when we did the clown Olympics. My clown revealed himself more and more the more I interacted with the other clowns. Having to interact to the other clown characters made me internalize my feelings more and question how I represented my character’s feelings through pure physically and no words.