Human movement is far from simple: power

January 11th, 2011 by Alexandra Baybutt

Melissa-Woodbridge-Margar-007
Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Alongside director Frances Loy and the cast, conversations around power, strength and command of self/others/environment led me to dwell on the creation and physicality of power.

There are so many types of power and control as well as multiple ways of gaining and losing it. If I compare an assertive, bold mode of communicating with a more quiet power, I cannot help as I sit here and write, 'try on' these qualities, postures and physical attitudes.

Of course, the need or desire for power is context-driven, with a fight or flight response lurking in the background. Growing or shrinking, or going towards/away as a result of something or someone in the environment, or to internal thoughts, are processes we don't always pay attention to, but were useful global concepts to play with whilst supporting the cast prepare for A Doll's House. (In Rudolph Laban's terms, this is the category of modes of Shape change, the process of creating relationship).

How much space do we take up, how much space do we allow ourselves to take up, what zones of the space around us do we continually expand into, reinforcing that dimension or area? All these choices, conscious or not, feed self-perception of presence and power, as well as communicating to others about how much or little impact we wish to make.

We are implicitly and explicitly encouraged to move in certain ways, as suits the micro and macro socio-cultural time and place, and the expectations of gender and class, we are born into. And whilst individually we have greater access to certain ways of moving than others, we all have potential for movement qualities we don't necessarily think are 'us'. Aspects of a shared physical heritage or palette, though honed and sheared in different socio-cultural times and interpretations yet spatially and temporally eternal, are reawakened when you begin to explore how it feels to move as someone else, in another gender or collection of characteristics. You really are exploring your own potential for configuring movement choices. Getting to explore and access new and difference ways of moving is extraordinary and rather than separating 'parts' of yourself off, your conception of yourself increases as you gain more choices. And with choice, as an integration of body-mind, going from coping with an environment to having more power in any circumstance is indeed empowering.

Coming into a sense of your own weight and breath is a pre-requisite for presence. How easily mere presence slips over into something else: domination, reliability, objectification, availability for communication. Power when integrated feels distinct to the impression of power, which appears more forceful and aggressive: we can sense it.

Let's look at taking up more space and reinforcing that part of your personal space you choose to fill.

Take your attention to your collar bones and breast bone and as you breath slowly imagine this area widening and advancing slightly as you inhale. As you exhale allow your chest to return, but imagine you are still the volume  that you were when you inhaled. Don't inhibit any movement but don't force it. Feel the width across your shoulders. What does this feel like?

I feel a sense that I can take my time and there is something reassuring and straight-forward about making decisions. The space in front of me is mine with a sense of authority, and I can luxuriate in it at my own pace. Any quicker with the breath and tempo and a feeling of defiance might creep in, perhaps with more desperate assertion. Or maybe it's pride. Or warmth towards something or someone. The list continues. One thing's for certain, my heart can't help but move with this action and it is not singular in its expression.

Increasing your pressure on the ground may increase conviction, whilst lowering your centre of gravity makes level and direction change easier as well as making it harder for others to push you over. These conceptual-emotional aspects of gaining and sensing power, regardless of gender, are physically tangible and were included in my rehearsals with the cast, as well as spatial dynamics and tensions.

Walking from rehearsal to the tube crystalizing their masculine roles, some of the actors reported that people stepped aside to make way for them, rather than a more habitual (and also enjoyable) nimble weaving in and out of available gaps. How easily movement changes relationship. As a title, 'body language' is insufficient: it implies static form, yet it is the process of motion that tells the story, regardless of the degree of motion. Mere breath is a gesture, and in this production the audience is so close as to feel it.

Something becomes a cliche when we've seen it too much, so in response to the comment in the Independent that 'Torvald's ''masculine'' body language can look cliched', I offer this. The physicality that Margaret-Ann Bain employed for her interpretation of Torvald was perhaps recognizable as something potentially archetypal for it to be interpreted in the pejorative terms the Independent chose. An archetype of alpha dominance? Maybe we've simply seen too much oppressive, patriarchal, possessive, class-based superiority, domineering posture-gesture activity in the physicality around us for it to appear unusual as movement choice. By women playing male roles, it forces us as an audience to see it anew, and hopefully, to stop taking it for granted.

Alexandra Baybutt, Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst

Buy tickets to A Doll's House here


Walk like a man… talk like a man

December 31st, 2010 by Melissa Woodbridge

The song has been going through my head for the past week or two - mostly since having Ali are genius movement director playing with us.  Not in that way.  And now.... thanks to Kat's marvellous work, we are suited and booted and raring to go.  Having the costume really makes the process of manning up a lot easier - and no, there are no rolled up socks involved!

Dropping In

June 7th, 2009 by jessica

I started rehearsals for The Winter's Tale with a very different kind of read-through and one which I now believe was key to the clarity of the spoken word. I, of course, stole the idea from someone else. The person who developed it is an Australian director called Lindy Davies, whose website is here: http://www.lindydavies.com/Lindy_Davies/Home_Page.html Here's she is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ToK1hyJVQ. She's really fantastic, and a true believer in the power of the actor. The process or approach is described by Harriet Walter in her brilliant book, and this is where I first encountered it. I highly recommend it to all directors (and probably actors too): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Peoples-Shoes-Thoughts-Acting/dp/1854597515. Lindy calls this read-through, or rather process, dropping-in. I only used the very first part of a much longer process that spans the entire rehearsal period, and I hope she doesn't mind that I've printed it here. I highly recommend you get either Walter's book or do more research on Davies approach before doing it. Basically, instead of each actor having their own script which they read from, the text is projected onto the wall, and no one has their own script at this stage of rehearsals. The actors sit so they can read this, and also make eye contact with every other actor (so in a semi-circle is best). The rest is best explained using the rules I wrote out based on what Walter writes: RULES FOR DROPPING IN 1) Sit quietly breathing, listen and watch while the other actor is speaking 2) When it comes to your turn to speak, catch the text with the corner of your eye, digest the sentence 3) Think about what it means to you in light of what you have heard and thought so far 4) Remember to breathe deeply 5) Let the thought drop in with the breathe. A memory, vision, impression 6) Wait to the impulse, the reason to speak, then speak 7) Remember to breathe It takes a loooong time, and all actors have to agree to not get bored, and stay active. But the benefits are huge. The effects of doing a read-through in this way are extraordinary: - the actors immediately start to work with what I call 'the space in between' - where life exists. It means they concentrate on the relationship, and themselves as a social creation, on why they are saying those particular words to that particular person. They become incredibly generous without trying. - As a result of this immediate interaction with others, a character begins to emerge right from the start. Baggage, prejudices, likes, dislikes, loves all begin to appear. Basically subtext is mapped out as the read-through progresses. - I was concerned this wouldn't work for Shakespeare, but allowing the actors to take all the time they needed meant that difficult parts of the text were quickly understood and immediately related to something tangible whether that was a memory or vision. - it also meant the actors didn't spend any time enjoying the sound of their own voice speaking Shakespeare (sorry actors but you do do that, and don't try and pretend you don't). Because everything was said to someone specific, sentences were said in the right amount of time and long speeches didn't become vehicles to show off individual skill. - Each actors really develops and owns what they're feeling. Nothing can be faked. I really wish I'd done a short extract of this in auditions as it really brings out actors who are more interested in how they say their lines and those who are not only generous, but who really understand where the life of the play is. It's that space in between where everything happens, and where drama really lies.