Acting workshops — day 1

We had our first acting workshop today. It was great fun, though it's not the kind of thing I'm normally too comfortable participating in; I am by nature a fairly timid person and tend to sit back and observe rather than join in. There are so many big personalities in the room and I think I find it a bit difficult, or perhaps intimidating, to "live up to" that (for want of a better term!). Still, I certainly had a go at it and I think it did me the world of good (though it looks like a career in acting is well out of the window)


Though I didn't get into the roles nearly as well as many others did, I still feel I learned a great deal simply from observing the others. During one exercise we were split into two halves and lined up in height order. The first group would then walk around the room, following the person in front and imitating their walk, posture, mannerisms etc. That person would then move to the back of the line and the next person would take over, and so on. I found it surprisingly difficult to observe the gait of the person in front whilst actually following them — it wasn't until our group stepped back and watched the others that I was able to really notice things like shifts in weight (some walked with weight on their legs or knees, others with hips, etc) and leading body parts. It's also surprisingly difficult to walk like yourself when you're aware of people following and copying you! It's quite interesting how aware (and sometimes even self-conscious) of your own movements you become — until watching some of the others, I didn't realise that I actually walk very quickly. I feel that, after today alone, I'm already more able to easily identify not just the way that people are moving, but how and why they're moving like that. Where is the weight? Which body part is leading?


Overall though it was great fun — the entire room was an explosion of personality and it really made me realise what a great group we've got this year. I'm really looking forward to next week — hopefully I won't be such a bucket of nerves!