Greetings fellow Monkies
Growing up in the East Village of NYC, I used to get mugged all the time.
It was just kinda normal. Not a big event.
My mom thought it would be good for me to learn karate.
So at 13 I started doing Taekwondo.
Towards the end of each class we sparred.
In the dark.
Our sensei turned out the lights in the dojo, paired us up, led us to the center of the room.
Our eyes tuned so that we could make out the outline of our sparring partner.
More significantly we tuned into the energy of our sparring partner.
(Kinda miraculous no one got hurt – but sensei trained us well.)
Interestingly after training for a few months no one ever mugged me again.
(Well, a year ago two people tried to mug me in the West Village but I told them what they were doing was stupid and to do something else with their lives and walked away. But I digress.)
Let’s bring this all back to the art form of acting.
Coming into a scene we often bring our ideas, plans, intentions and inspirations. That’s fine.
HOWEVER…
There is an energy between you and your acting partner that ultimately is what the audience wants to see – and experience.
That energetic relationship is what engages your audience. Because it’s real. Palpable.
That energetic relationship is way more fun for an audience to see, and feel, than the words of the script.
AND… the words of the script come alive when the energetic dance between the actors is honored.
The beauty of this is that there is always an energetic exchange between any two people when they are in the same vicinity.
Honoring that exchange is ESSENTIAL to make exciting work.
What the heck am I talking about?
Get a friend or lover to stand on the other side of the room, slowly walk towards one another.
If you are tuned in, your body will experience a subtle or significant shift in each step you take towards one another.
Awakening the energetic dance is one of the core elements of the Committed Impulse trainings. It also invites the actor to step out of controlling and suppressing, and into the dance of the moment.
This of course is key to the art form of acting – but it is also key to every other profession that involves people working together. That’s why Committed Impulse actor training is open to people in all careers.
Now, get off your damn device and go play!
You’re awesome!
Thanks for being an important part of this community.
xJosh Pais
The martial arts training paid off in other ways as well.
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