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OUR CLASSES
MOVEMENT 1
The actor's body is not simply something they possess, it is the instrument through which every thought, impulse, emotion, and action is expressed.
Like the voice, the body must be trained, cared for, and ultimately mastered so it can fully serve the actor's creative imagination. When the body is restricted by unnecessary tension, habitual movement, or self-consciousness, truthful behavior becomes limited. A released physical instrument allows the actor to respond more freely, live more fully, and create behavior with greater specificity and ease.
At Maggie Flanigan Studio, Movement I is the beginning of developing that instrument.
Releasing the Instrument
Movement I focuses on identifying and releasing the physical habits that interfere with truthful acting.
Using the foundational principles of the Williamson Technique, students learn to recognize patterns of tension, habitual movement, and unnecessary physical effort that have accumulated over a lifetime. As these restrictions begin to dissolve, actors discover a greater capacity for spontaneity, emotional availability, and authentic impulse.
The work directly complements the first year of Meisner training. As actors learn to listen and respond truthfully in Acting I, Movement I develops the physical freedom necessary to fully express those truthful impulses.
The body becomes less guarded. The behavior becomes more alive.
Building Physical Awareness
Every actor develops unconscious physical habits.
Some habitually collapse inward. Others brace against emotion. Some hold tension in the jaw, shoulders, chest, or hips without realizing it. These patterns often limit imagination, restrict emotional expression, and reduce the actor's physical range.
Movement I provides actors with practical tools to develop greater physical awareness, alignment, and freedom.
Students explore:
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The foundational principles of the Williamson Technique
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The seven psychophysical energy centers
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Alignment and efficient movement
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Physical release and tension awareness
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Breath, impulse, and embodied expression
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Ensemble awareness and physical responsiveness
The goal is not simply to move differently. It is to become more fully available to experience.
Creating Freedom Through Play
Transformation requires safety.
Movement I creates an environment where actors are encouraged to move beyond socially conditioned behavior and rediscover the freedom, curiosity, and playfulness that are essential to artistic expression.
Through guided exploration and ensemble work, students develop greater trust in themselves and one another while learning to engage in truthful physical relationships with their fellow actors.
Acting is a collaborative art. The body must be capable of meeting another person with openness rather than protection.
A Foundation for Lifelong Growth
Physical freedom cannot be developed in an acting class alone. Like voice, movement requires dedicated practice and a structured progression that continually expands the actor's expressive range.
As the body becomes more released, the processing of experience becomes more fluid, emotional life becomes richer, and behavior becomes increasingly vivid and compelling.
Movement I lays the physical foundation for every aspect of an actor's training and prepares students for the continued work of Movement II.
A free body allows the imagination to move without resistance. That freedom is essential to truthful acting.
Movement I is a twelve-week course consisting of twenty-four classes.
Prerequisite: Movement I is required before enrolling in Movement II.
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
“Movement 1 is insanely good. An incredible class that takes you on such an amazing emotional and spiritual journey. We travel through every shakra in the body. At the end of the class you will feel like a completely different person.”
Isaiah Hamilton
“Movement 1 literally changed my life, it taught me what it means to work on my “actors body.¨ Julia Crockett and Briana Packen instilled an awareness in me and a way of working that keeps me open and available. This class is irreplaceable.”
Rolando Chusan
“Before taking this class, I was using my body as a shield to protect me. the tension in my body wasn’t allowing me to take uncomfortable situations “in”. I learned how to to express whatever impulses I was feeling through body, language and sound.”
Sasha Dominy
CONTACT
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147 W 25th St 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001
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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.
MOVEMENT 1
The actor's body is not simply something they possess, it is the instrument through which every thought, impulse, emotion, and action is expressed.
ACTING STUDIO NEW YORK NY
The Maggie Flanigan Studio is the leading acting studio in New York City where professional actors train for long careers. The acting programs at the drama school are based on the Meisner Technique and the work of Sanford Meisner. The two year acting program includes acting classes, movement classes, voice and speech for actors, commercial acting classes, on camera classes, cold reading, monologue, playwriting, script analysis and the Meisner Summer Intensive.
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