Well, that didn’t go as planned! I intended to apply a new acting concept this rehearsal, but Marc had different plans for us today. We focused heavily on applying ‘body energies’ to our performances.
We defined certain movement styles (the same as I learned in Voice and Body movement) that involve using energy in different ways. For example, there’s anticipatory radiancy, which involves a feeling of internal vibration and excitement affecting your movement. We’d select an energy and try it out in the scene. It affected how we delivered our lines, how we moved, and how we felt. It felt ridiculous 9 times out of 10, but sometimes it would spark new inspiration. More than anything, it helped us break out of the norm and try something new.
I tried writhing and reaching potency, as well as anticipatory and signal alert radiancy. These had interesting results, though I had only a few moments onstage to fully try them out. Marc’s advice is to explore these movement styles on our own so they can be assets for further exploration. I can already see numerous moments where writhing potency is worth exploring further, and there is likely more room for the radiance energies I tried as well.
— A note from the future on my final performance: I run through every single body energy backstage before going on. It helps me find muscles to help me communicate and empowers me to find these energies in the moment —
For the next rehearsal, I want to try more of these movement styles in conjunction with using the “don’t believe that, believe this” exercise.