This year in Uncle Vanya I approach theater for the first time and with a fresh view. Acting has always been something I liked from a distance, something I knew I could be fond of, but other passions seem to have taken over my time and I now wish my encounter with this art could have been earlier. However during these three short workshops with the mesmerizing Kali Quinn, I made the link between theater and another passion I always had: dance.
Simply put, dance is an art of rhythmic body movement to music. In dance the body is pushed into sequences of define shapes and forms, working on the strength, the speed, the control and the coherence. Dance movements can often be unnatural, but it is through unfamiliarity of movements that you gain more conscience of your body. In this movement workshop, we were guided to let free of our bodies through warm ups and all types of exercises, in order to gain this conscience. However in my understanding, we had a different starting point and took a different path compared to my experience with dance. Less as a confined exercise of shaping the body and more of a personal exploration, everyone created their own forms and “choreography” from what they were feeling. Movements were guided and the extension of ideas and emotions, sometimes imposed by ourselves and sometimes imposing us. For example one of our warm up exercises where you put something you are exited about in one hand and something you are afraid of in the other, and feel how the body changes while concentrating on either one of them, and a common observation is the hand holding the thing we are afraid of is always heavier. An idea takes transform to an inner reaction which then takes physical form. Naturally, excitement makes you have high expectations, so physically expressed in elongating the body upward and suspending a long breath in the chest. However fear gives you a ball of pain in the stomach, which adds a huge weight and pulls the pelvis downwards.
As Kali repeated in class for several times, “What is true in the physical world is true in the metaphysical world, and vise versa.” Besides working from a state of unawareness to awareness, we also started with the body to get to the inner world of the character. On the last exercise did on the last workshop we had to represent our character in each act with one pose and a line, and this is the exercise that help me the most in building my character. I had difficulties to place Maria’s representations in the play. I once thought because she appears and talks few through out the play that I had little materiel to work with and a huge blur. However all the readings we did before as a group and watching others putting in place their character through out the workshop exercises imprint unconsciously many information about my characters’ personality. Putting myself into the body of the character brought to the surface the general understanding I had for my character to specific manners. I have never worked that way around in the past, and surprisingly I got more out of it then.
I had doubt about how to model and to perform my character with the little presence in the play. But during the workshop watching others work I learned how to make my presence important while not being in the heart of the action. The exterior body expression in important in acting, but the source of all actions, intention and performance in general is the universe each comedian builds for them. To help myself maintain in the role, I tend to think all the characters on the same dimension, their life in linearity, and the play as a zoom in of the picture. My character is a part of the play but center of her life.
This workshop is eyes opening for my first contact with theater. I am glade to have such amazing opportunities to work with this group of people that constantly pushes me to be at their height and wanting to be as good. I not only want to thank Kali for all I’ve learn in the workshop, but also every single one in the class, from whom I have learned as much.