No, that actor is not on drugs: they’ve just had a Feldenkrais lesson

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Victoria

The wonderful thing about doing an FI (Functional Integration session: hands-on one-to-one) for an actor is that they are usually already half way there. If they are a student they are hungry to learn so they come really ready to learn something. If they are a seasoned professional they probably only come when they are in pain unless they already know the value of this work – but if they are open they simply can’t help learning something more along the way. I defy any truly curious actor not to get interested when they start to feel in vivid detail more of what they are doing and get a sniff of what else they could do as well. Continue reading →

Feldenkrais, movement and creativity.

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Victoria

Someone recently asked me about the relationship of movement to creativity. She had chosen to write something about it for a course. Interesting question. It has stayed with me for quite a while and there are so many ways you can think about it. Here are a few that came to mind and how Feldenkrais relates to them. Continue reading →

Link

I put this up on my Facebook page a while ago but it needs to be here on this blog too. I think it is a fabulous piece - so important, and in its difference to prevalent ideas about correcting and ‘getting it right’. Sheryl Field is so beautifully eloquent on this point . Crucial for everyone I have had to put it up on both general and acting and performance – but of course it would be a truly radical idea for sports! ‘to correct is incorrect’

Finding Neutral

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Victoria

The other day an acting student asked if Feldenkrais helps by enabling you to find ‘neutral’ and then whether you could use Feldenkrais for character work too. In a sense the answer is simply ‘yes’ and ‘yes’ but there was something in the question itself that brought me up short. I am not sure this is really what he meant, but underneath the question I felt an assumption that the job was finding neutral and then finding a character from there. Its an assumption I have noticed before and would like to challenge. Continue reading →

Playing Characters with ‘Conditions’!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Victoria

I had a great day with some of the actors up at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle Under Lyme recently. They are doing the new Alecky Blythe play “Where Have I Been All My Life?” a very interesting ‘reality theatre’ piece based on interviews with contestants in Stoke’s Talent show of 2010 from teenagers to retired miners. Continue reading →

Feldenkrais for voice

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Victoria

I am often asked about Feldenkrais for voice: does it help? Yes of course. That’s the short answer. It tends to be actors who ask but also singers, teachers, public speakers and recently a trainee priest but it could be anyone: we all use our voices. Continue reading →

The Importance of A Supple Chest

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Victoria

Continual Professional Development has become a real buzz term and is a requirement of many professions. I have been asking myself what it means in relation to artistic professions, especially acting. Of course artists don’t come in for this kind of regulation(!) – and mostly that makes sense because its not the same. Continue reading →

The Set-Up

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Victoria

As an actor I used what I learnt from Feldekrais a great deal. Not always consciously, but it informed how I went about things, how I could feel myself and use myself. And now as a Feldenkrais Practitioner and movement teacher, how I did that is much clearer to me. Continue reading →