Movement 2: Imaginary World
One of the marks of an exceptional actor is the ability to take in and process the details of the imaginary world to create vivid behavior. In Level 2, we elucidate the often elusive process of Emotional Preparation. This is one of the primary fundamental skills taught in the first year of the Meisner Technique, and is something that all actors will need to be able to do. Simply put, Emotional Preparation is what an actor does off-stage or off-screen to relate emotionally to the previous circumstance of the scene. Meisner training teaches the actor how to harness the abilty to daydream and fantasize in order to self-induce an emotional response. This is one of the primary differences between Lee Strasberg’s The Method and the Meisner Technique. You will not need to go back into your past, using sense memory or emotional recall in order to alter your inner life. Meisner felt it was unnecessary and sometimes mentally unhealthy to do so. In Acting 1, when this work is taught, it can be an intense learning experience, as students get comfortable coming to a rich life. All of the physical patterns of tension and holding can often make it more challenging than it needs to be. Level 2 movement was created to help this process.
A Deeper Emotional Experience
Building off of our exploration of energy centers and the actor’s channel, in Level 2, we investigate and embody our emotional energy pathways via meridians, to access the full spectrum of human emotion. This semester of training allows the actor’s body to move to a more sensual and receptive level of experience as we begin to understand and participate in deeper, richer, and more personal contact with the ensemble.
Using blind work, animal essence, heightened sensory awareness, and continued and expanded improvisation, we help actors dramatically deepen their emotional experience. Exploring a blind impediment helps actors to enter a state of imbalance, activating their remaining, less dominant senses. The animal work accesses an impulsive, visceral creative state and gets an actor to function instinctually.
Alignment and Flexibility
Another core piece of Level 2 is investigating the release that comes with a simple drunk impediment. In the drunk work, actors explore what it’s like to function in a deeply released state, with heightened sensual awareness and an extraordinary amount of permission. Alignment and flexibility are also considered on a deep level in this semester’s work.
The semester culminates in a free-form improvisation in which the individual surrenders to the emotional impulses of the group. This project allows students to practice letting go, being fully present, and flowing from moment to moment, in a genuinely permissive state of spontaneity and emotional expansiveness. These exercises are used to build a sensually alive acting instrument, thus bringing the actor to a more expansive, balanced, and effortlessly vivid place.
Movement 2 is a 12-week course with 24 classes.
Movement 2 is a prerequisite for Movement 3.
SARA FAY GEORGE
Sara Fay George is the founder of The Holistic Method, a physical acting technique designed bring participants into confident connection with themselves and elicit fully embodied storytelling. She worked as the Resident Movement Coach with The Actors Space, Berlin, The Fritz-Kirchoff Schule and has been training actors across America and Europe since 2010.
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
“Movement 2 completely changed my way of thinking. I pushed myself beyond what I thought I was capable of doing with the help of these intuitive instructors who create a safe and exciting learning environment. Simply put, it’s life-changing.”
Harmony Stempel
“After movement training at the studio, I developed a greater awareness of the physical tensions and habits which were hurting my acting. Julia and Briana create an environment that is safe and permissive. These classes are a must!”
Nabil Traboulsi
“The class preaches the importance of having a released body. Julia has a knack for understanding the physical blocks of each individual and works to help release those tensions. I highly recommend this class for every actor!”
