One of the most common problems I find with novice actors is that they don’t understand how physical acting truly is. I don’t just mean on stage in a musical or in a boxing movie. You must always really connect through your whole body and express yourself with this wonderful tool—the body—just as you do in real life. If you aren’t “in your body,” you will tend to be disconnected and just say lines and flail your hands around. But if you are dropped down into your body and really alive, you will be connected to your senses, your character, and the moment in front of you much more easily. You will feel and look like a flesh and blood, fully dimensional person. Plus, you will be much more entertaining to watch.
When I was at Juilliard, we started each day with a movement class...not to learn to dance, but to learn to experience our bodies in space and to express ourselves more powerfully. Just as in dance, you perceive, interpret, and communicate with your body. You can do large movements or tiny.
On stage, it is imperative to allow your whole body to be alive. Please don’t just use the top part of your body. As in dance, feel the energy go through to the tips of your fingers. Every part of your body (hands, tush, back, toes, ears, etc.) should speak. Bend your knees. Wiggle your tush.
On camera, you must also be in your body. Even in a closeup, you must keep the flow of life in your body to stay alive and natural. There must always be movement on camera or the scene will seem frozen. The three types of movement that you usually use are physical, camera, and emotional.
Even sitting down, do not let your lower body become dead and lifeless. If you do, the character and scene will also get stiff and fake looking. Keep the blood flowing through your character’s veins. Be alive!
Getting “Into Your Body”
You always want to keep a life energy flowing through your body. Start by “grounding” yourself. A fast exercise to help do this is to just raise your shoulders and arms up while taking a deep breath and then exhale while flopping down like you are a big ole bag of potatoes.
Dancing
When you get up and just dance to music, it is very liberating. This is the effect physicalizing will have upon your acting. When I teach improvisation classes, the most common direction I give is, “Physicalize it!” When you really start to work from inside your body, it is easier to become a character, to create with your imagination, and to get organic.
And just as you tend to get in sync with a good dance partner, so shall you more easily get in sync with your fellow actors if you connect the physical flow of energy between you. Dancing is very organic. Sometimes when you dance, you do the same moves together, and sometimes you do the opposite. Where they aren’t, you are. When they dip, you do too.
Exercises
Now stand in front of a large mirror and really watch yourself move. Bend your knees. Stick your tush out. Lift your arms to the sky. Do large lunges to the sides out of your comfort zone. Try any move that feels awkward so that you start to free your body to move in ways that you don’t usually. You might realize how very blocked you are during this exercise. Try doing a few lines and concentrate upon communicating with your whole body instead of the lines.
Mask work is very helpful for this exercise. However, if you do not have a neutral mask to use, just tie a scarf loosely over your head and face so you can’t actually see your face. Try expressing different emotions and ages with your body. Or try saying a few lines and allowing your body to be your main communication tool.
Freeing Your Body:
- Helps you stay in the moment
- Connects you to the other character
- Sets your creativity free
- Encourages a natural flow of your life energy
- Helps your character to come alive
- Keeps you organic
So go forth and shake your booty!
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