Actor's physical training, pushing and pulling -exercise

[theicyridge]

If I may clear something up (I'm trained in physical theatre also) these skills are essential to the physical actor. Yes, they are a warm up and are useful in increasing an actors awareness, but that's not seperate from the actor work itself. Not only awareness, but also the physical qualities explored in the exercise are ingraned into the actors senses so they can compose and explore with alive physical sensations while the play itself is being created. Does that make sense or am I unclear?

[PeterSebastian]

Very good. There's actually no right or wrong. The answers turn out to be usually very subjective. Although, in the tradition of Grotowski - as I see it - the actor's work consists of two elements: Training and artistic work. This exercise belongs to the reign of training. It is not a warm up. It is/can be part of individual actor's own personal training cycle. This means that this exercise should be done for at least 20 to 30 minutes, and not for one minute as done on this clip.

[ManweArcadio]

So let me get this straight. This is supposed to increase an actor's awareness of his body and energy?

[PeterSebastian]

Yes, a certain kind of energy needed when the body is in the creative process or in the performance state. But the pushing and pulling -exercise is not only physical, but involves also the mental associative processes of the actor. In my own opinion, the energy used in pushing and pulling -exercise - the hippari hai as it is called in certain eastern traditions - can also be used when dealt with traditional western drama texts: actor can move towards and away from the obvious semantic meaning.

[ManweArcadio]

Do you know a good place to get Grotowski training or any books that teach exercises?

[philosopher2king]

Any movement done in mindfulness will increase your awareness.

[katsimblet]

thanks for posting this i found it interesting to watch. I am in my first term of studying Physical Theatre and we are studying a lot about pushing and pulling, neutrality and presence. Almost all theatre is physical, every actor should study this at least to some degree i think x

[ruzickaw]

en then what? Would you apllay it to HAMLET?

[PeterSebastian]

Of course not. These excersises do not teach you how to act. Even more so they do not teach you how to be creative. By them you can achieve a better awareness of the dynamic processes and energies that are at play in the actor's organism in the moments of acting. They can be a great help on finding your own life, path and language as an actor. This of course depends completely on the individual actor's own interests and strenghts and motivation. But a recipe on "how to do a role" they are not.

[zacisghandi]

so was this how Grotowski would warm up his actors? by doing somthing simple slowly thus emphassing each movement

[PeterSebastian]

Pushing and pulling -exercise is not a warm up exercise. It is part of actor's daily and rigorous training routine. It does not derive from Grotowski as much as it does from Eugenio Barba: The exercise is meant to enhance a form of energy that Barba's theatre anthropology calls "hippari hai", meaning tension that pulls the actor towards something on the same time as the actor is being pulled away. The exercise is essential to learn to dynamics of stage presence, but is not of course a recepy.

[SSmichirucitaSS]

very interesting!

thanks for posting

[jonasdeandrade]

thank you