‘Using actor training strategies, Rinske Ginsberg and Anna McCrossin-Owen offer the opportunity to experience powerful and fundamental vocal and physical techniques. Learning is delivered in an experimental / active participation format allowing you to discover your own communication strengths and identify unconscious or habitual practices.’
The first day of this workshop was everything it promised to be and more. I had listened to Rinski the night before on a podcast. I liked her wisdom, clarity and humour.
The exercises that resonated with me:
Game: Moving around the room and following directions; Walk, stand, clap, jump, name and ‘dance’. Each direction is introduced over time in sets of two. With each set the meaning is eventually reversed, so that Walk means Stand and stand means walk and so on.
Trying to follow the inverted directions was challenging. Rinksi warmly laughed out our strange mannerisms that arose as we made mistakes, fumbled and quickly corrected ourselves. It was a good way to uncover awkward moments as the body tries to catch up with the right action, but also a way to become comfortable with making mistakes, becoming aware, but not critical.
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Game: The class makes an audience
before the door. Each participant takes it in turns to enter through the door
into the space and introduce themselves, “
Hello, I’m Mischa Baka and I’m pleased to be here.”
Before entering the participant must choose
to present themselves as portraying a certain level of status relative to the
space and the audience. 1, was described by Rinske as not even entering the
room. 2. Performed by Rinske as an example, was, shy, anxious and afraid. 5. Is
natural, or equal to the space. 9. Is high status and dominating the space.
The beauty of this game was guessing each person’s
status after their entrance and describing what signalled that status. We discussed
what physical and vocal language informed the stutus of each participant. The
task provided insight into personal mannerisms and habits of relating. Mannerisms
that weren’t necessarily bad or good, but we
were learning how to be aware of them, so that we could have more control over
the power they posess.
A simple tilt of a woman’s head made her endearing with a look of
love. Walking quickly and talking as
soon as entering gave a sense of anxiety and lowered the status. Interestingly,
playing bold, strong and high status sometimes gave the impression of being
insecure.
Anna McCrossin-Owen shared a series of
paragraphs that target different sounds in our speech and help understand what
parts of our body struggle when making speech. With Annas observations and
feedback I found that relaxing my lips helped me deliver the final paragraph.
Anna McCrossin-Owen had us present our
research and vary qualities in our delivery; speed, loudness, pauses and
liveliness. We listened and Provided feedback to each others presentation and
suggested just one quality to be improved. This was a successful way to help
each other without providing overwhelming feedback. We found ( As Anna intended)
that often just one quality offered as feedback would help improve various
aspects of delivery. The simple feedback allowed complex development to branch
out.
Anna
McCrossin-Owen used the concept of ‘Cirlcles
of presence’ to define a feeling of being ‘ present’
when performing. A concept taken form Patsy Rodenburg. In brief we presented our research to ourselves ( first
circle) to the universe ( third circle) and
then we found the second circle between
the two that has us connect to the people around us with presence.
I found that I lean more
towards the first circle, often presenting to myself, talking to myself. This
helped understand where I needed to take my delivery.
Anna
McCrossin-Owen had me hold a heavy bag straight over my head and present my
research. This had me standing very straight. A magic thing happened, my voice
was clear, resonant and I felt connected to the people listening to me. Feedback
from the group made it clear that they also felt connected. On reflection with
Anna and the group I descried how the heavy bag prevented my body from
collapsing into any mannerisms that help me shy away from the group or hide in
my posture. I was straight, open and clear. This was a revelation. It brought
me out of the first circle.
The class
ended with a relaxation on the floor and I felt very grateful for what these
amazing and generous teachers had shared with me and the group.
Day 2
The idea we
kept coming back to was to develop an awareness of our habitual and natural
ways of behaving and performing so that rather than perform unconsciously, we
may be conscious of our behaviour and make it work for us.
Today we
presented some of our research to the group. Working with Anna and Rinske you
feel the depth of their knowledge when receiving feedback. They know small
suggestions and observations that speak to much larger and complex systems of
behaviour. For instance, simply asking me to perform with one hand in my pocket
was key in shifting my energy away from the ceiling and grounding my
presentation. Bringing my performance back down to ‘second circle’ with the
group. These type of small but powerful observations and suggestions were offered
to everyone in the group. Anna and Rinske have such a soft and strong energy, you
feel safe and assured in their company. I thought of the cliché drama school
teacher who might ‘ break’ their students for the sake of their development,
and thought how unlike Anna and Rinske.
They have a
beautiful understanding of habits, mannerisms and behaviour as not being good
or bad, but simply a quality that can be mediated and balanced with other
qualities. This meant that it was hard to feel judged or attacked. There
feedback just felt insightful.
Much of the
work offered insight by exploring the other side of a quality, be it slow,
fast, loud, soft, forward backward, high low. The expertise of Anna and Rinske
connected these qualities with emotional, communicative language, so we knew
what we were shifting in our behaviour. These qualities felt so simple and yet
spoke to complex modes of behaviour in the body and voice.
GAME: I
loved one game at the beginning of class that had the group send energy around the
circle int the form of, lust and excitement. A chain reaction formed that was
thrilling and intoxicating.