Movement

Movement: Onstage and Off is the complete guide for actors to the most effective techniques for developing a fully expressive body. It is a comprehensive compilation of established fundamentals, a handbook for movement centered personal growth and a guide to helping actors and teachers make informed decisions for advanced study. This book includes: - fundamental healing/conditioning processes - essential techniques required for versatile performance - specialized skills - various training approaches and ways to frame the actor's movement training. Using imitation exercises to sharpen awareness, accessible language and adaptable material for solo and group work, the authors aim to empower actors of all levels to unleash their extraordinary potential.

Robert Barton is University of Oregon Professor Emeritus of Acting, whose publications include the books: Acting: Onstage and Off (Wadsworth Cengage), now in its seventh edition and one of the most widely used acting texts; Voice: Onstage and Off (with Rocco Dal Vera; Routledge), now in a revised and expanded third edition; Acting Reframes: Using NLP to Make Better Decisions in and out of the Theatre (Routledge); Theatre in Your Life (with Annie McGregor; Wadsworth Cengage), now in its third edition, a genuinely multicultural guide to theatre on a global level, featuring African and Asian theatre as well as American ethnic performance; Life Themes (Wadsworth Cengage) a companion anthology; and Style for Actors: A Handbook for Moving Beyond Realism (Routledge), which guides performers in the acting demands of Greek, Shakespearean, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, and other plays that move outside realism into "stylization," recipient of the Best Book Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Robert is also the editor and adapter of a new edition of The Craft of Comedy, originally written by Athene Seyler and Stephen Haggard. Barbara Sellers-Young is a global expert on movement for the actor and is Emerita Professor in the Dance Department and former Dean of the College of Fine Arts at York University, Toronto. Prior to York University, she was Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at University of California, Davis, where she was also the head of the movement curriculum for the MFA program. Her publications include: Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity (edited with Anthony Shay; Oxford University Press); Embodied Consciousness: Performance Technologies (edited with Jade Rosina McCutcheon; Palgrave Macmillan); Breathing, Movement, Exploration (Applause); and Teaching Personality with Gracefulness: Transmission of Japanese Cultural Values Through Traditional Dance Theatre (University Press of America). She is a recipient of the Dixie Durr Award for service to dance research from the Congress of Research in Dance and a Distinguished Alumna Award from the School of Music and Dance, University of Oregon.

Chapter 1 - Owning Your Body A nine-part warm up that provides the basis for on going integration of new performance techniques: 1) Scan, 2) Place the Breath, 3) Center the Pelvis, 4) Extend the Spine, 5) Stretch into the Appendages, 6) Release the joints, 7) Ground the energy, 8) Find the balance, 9) Explore the alignment. Chapter 2 - Healing Your Body Chapter 3 - Mastering Your Movement Chapter 4 - Releasing Your Other Physical Selves Chapter 5 - Expanding Your Movements Chapter 6 - Refining Your Moves Chapter 7 - Selecting Your Systems Chapter 8 - Planning Your Movement Future