with John Markland

March 24th – May 12th

The inner landscape creates the physical body and how it moves.

In this class, I will focus on the physical translation of the emotional life. We will explore creating
characters from the emotional into the physical and then the opposite, creating a different
character from the physical into the emotional. These approaches seek a similar goal, a deeply connected emotional and physical life, but the process of each are different animals.

Translating the inside out directs us into the heart and guts before returning to the surface of the
body. We must explore and may find how being anxious delivers a tense physical state - edgy.
Abandonment will often manifest in a tentative physicality never truly wanting to commit touch in case it is not requited. Someone who experienced a loud and unsafe home life will be hyperattentive… needing to sense the threat that may be around the corner, shifty eye contact, the micro movements, never perfectly still.

Translating the physical into emotions asks the animal to become conscious of self. One must let go of dialogue and its meaning to direct focus on the action and behavior. Perhaps you will find yourself gritting your teeth and behind it a feeling of sadness and not wanting to give in. Walking you may suddenly feel uncertain of your next step and that hesitancy you must hide so you are not seen as fragile. You may want to keep legs or arms crossed and have a yearning inside for someone to hold you until you soften.

We will explore two different characters with opposite approaches, bringing them to life and see
where you may have natural or even unfound tendencies to creating characters. At the end of the
day, we want to live and feel authentic with a freedom and presence that allows truth. This class
will have a lot of work so please sign up early and get working on the first character and scene.