Failure teaches us everything.
“Monster” role
In the show I'm about to start rehearsing, I'm playing a monster. You know, that kind of repulsive human being who tortures people with no reason beyond being cruel. Well, at first pass it looks like that. And I don't want to play it that way, for several reasons, the...
helpful websites
Keeping track of some of the sites I am referencing for building our crowdfunding campaign. https://medium.com/swlh/every-resource-we-used-to-plan-and-launch-a-75k-kickstarter-campaign-cc5897f71bfd#.mxv3ro26f
Asking for Consent in Theatre Rehearsals
When we're in a show, we have to be oh-so-very-close to our scene partners oh-so-very-soon after meeting them. As actors, we're expected to be very comfortable with touching and being touched in any way. But the truth of the matter is that a stranger is still a...
Intimacy For The Stage
There's tons going on in my world right now: I'm co-producing a film that I'll later be co-starring in (big kickass fight in it!), teaching lots of private lessons, mentoring some new fight directors, and the usual professional actor pursuits. The new one, though,...
Revitalize!
I'm in the process of refocussing and revitalizing. If you've been following my travels for many years, you'll notice that my numerous travels and training adventures are now on this one blog! Bear with me as I re-categorize everything, as well as revamping my home...
Structure
Look at this kid's structure! In a way, it's not surprising. We keep talking about "look how kids move", so if she's been using martial structure from the time she was beginning to move, no wonder she's on it! Toddler Form & FocusNow THIS is form, focus, and...
General Advice For Rehearsal And Practice
The rehearsal and practice methods described in this blog are meant to be like a buffet: pick the things that you like. Use what works for you at this time, in whatever order works for you. Also, you may find that you use a different method every 5 minutes, or that...
Move As Fast As You Can Think
Run the choreography at a speed at which you can easily remember what comes next. Do all of the actions and any acting beats -- pauses in movement, but not pauses in intention -- in the right order without stopping. Usually, this is a much slower speed than our egos...
Mastery
This video is making the rounds. I'm currently dabbling in penmanship, so I eagerly gave it a watch, and then at 2:07 I was struck by what Master Penman Jake Weidmann says about what it took to get to his high level of skill and artistry: I seems to me that Mastery in...
Recording Your Choreography: Write Away!
Taking notes on the details of your choreography is essential. You don't often have the fight director there every day to make corrections and adjustments every rehearsal (you run your fights every day, right?). You'll have a fight captain or some manner of outside...
Movement As Dialogue
As promised, we're looking at methods and exercises for rehearsing a fight scene! Today, we begin with a foundation concept when approaching your fight choreography which lays the groundwork for the upcoming series. In many cases, actors remember the sequence of the...
Don’t mistake Tension for Intention
I’ve been reading a fantastic book called Physical Expression and the Performing Artist. It explores peoples’ misconceptions about how their bodies work, and how many of us subconsciously add tension in order to make our bodies move the way we think they should. All...
Martial Arts playlist (mostly Eastern)
Hi folks, Take a look at this playlist. It's a collection of several martial arts -- mostly Eastern -- so that we can analyze style. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9FC4733CAD28A517
Style Guide: Karate
Karate is again an umbrella term, this time for many of the martial arts of Japan. It's considered a hard style, though there are some varieties which have exceptions to this. As a generalization, Karate uses a balance of hand strikes and kicks, and tends to remain in...
Style Guide: Kung-Fu
Kung-fu translates to "any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete" (Wikipedia), but in the West it tends to be an umbrella term for all Chinese Martial Arts. Writing a style guide for all of Kung-fu is a bit misleading as...
Style Guide: Judo
Judo is known for throws and take-downs. Through a mechanical lens, check out the aggressor uses incoming energy -- whether provided by the victim or whether caused by the aggressor -- to initiate the action; look at how the aggressor uses leverage, balance points and...
Advice on completing the workshop
It can't be repeated enough: this workshop is the beginning of something new. After you recover from this intensive, you can pick it right back up and continue, whether your purpose is to simply maintain your fitness, continue learning and become a leader in the...