Presented by Alexandra Beller –
To be held in person:
This course provides actors with an actionable toolkit for using Laban’s ideas of EFFORT into practice. The combinations of Weight, Space, Time, and Flow form 80 possible specific choices for expression and functionality. This provides an endless range of options for dynamics and helps us find deep functionality and expressivity for our performances. Creating vivid characters can be exponentially easier by using EFFORT in speaking and moving is a portal to specificity, and a way to break the habits of the performer, at the service of the show.
These ideas can also be used in larger, compositional choices, and to help design the flow and tone of a whole work. It is an extremely activated way to view and devise part of, or whole, performance. Students will analyze, speak, and move inside the various possible choices for expression, and offer them a lifetime of new information that can be used to create a character, challenge their habits, and devise in a deeply specific, clear, and objective way.
This course includes reflective reading and writing, video analysis, creation, practice, and discussion. Guided movement improvisation, scene work, and creative process, as well as analysis of video, writing prompts, and suggested reading for future study are all active components of the workshop.