Energy In Acting & Those Magical Moments
After more than 10 years of training, it's not like I'm new to acting, but the whole concept of energy in my performance has eluded me. I'm an athlete and understand energy from a physical standpoint, but haven't really been able to comprehend and execute it from an acting perspective.
As actors, we often hear from Casting Directors, directors, even our teachers say,"I need you to give me more energy." or "The scene just needs more energy." In addition to this, I often am told I hold back in my work and have been stumped for years why I do it and how to undo it. Sometimes, I don't hold back and that's when I get cast, but it almost happens by accident. I want to be in the driver's seat. So, I keep training hoping to figure this out.
Last night in Jeremiah's class, I was working with Ted on a scene from "After the Romance." In the middle of the scene, I found myself laughing and crying. And for the first time, I knew I was holding back. I got it!
Here's what I remember about that scene. I know that I stepped out of the scene at 2 different moments, because I had brief thoughts, like,"What the hell is hapening to me?" and "What do I think I think I'm doing?" And in those two moments of a 3 minute scene, I had become director and judge of my own work at the very moment my work began to truly flow. It was scary. Now I understand what courage in a scene means, too. Seriously, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me so I jumped out and labeled it - hence holding back and not taking the full ride. After the scene was over, I knew that I was holding back and this time I knew why - I had begun to let go and trust my instincts...but then I didn't. I had a clue. This was different for me.
I've known for some time that as soon as I figure out why I hold back...or how to create the "energy" everyone is talking about that I'll be a paid working actor.
I decided that I was holding back and thought I'd check in to hear what additional information Jeremiah might have for me. He said,"Let me give you an analogy." He said,"You know the difference between a 1 meter diving board and a 10 meter platform, right?" And I said,"Sure." He then explained that on the one meter board, you take a bounce and then you let the bounce take you in to the dive, but on the 10 meter platform is stiff so you need to create a great deal of energy before you leap.
Being a reasonably accomplished swimmer and having had my fair share of my college summers diving and jumping off the platform at SMU, this analogy totally made sense to me!
Immediately, I started comparing my experiences of a 1 meter board and a 10 meter platform.
You need more of everything to do on the 10 meter platform what you can do on the 1 meter board. And of course, you can do more flips, turns, almost everything from a 10 meter board.
Here are things you need to excel on the 10 meter platform. You need tremendous energy that can only come from lots of training and conditioning. You need to be willing to take great risk, because the truth is you can get hurt. You need conditioning, focus, concentration, and precision. If you practice enough, eventually all these things combined give you a tremendous freedom. You fly through the air and it's almost like magic. Everything works together; everything flows, moves, and naturally finds exactly where you need to go. All of this is accomplished by disciplined training and hard work.
And the reward is the reason we do it. The reward is the tremendous feeling of magic, those few precious moments when everything goes smoothly and perfectly and the crowd jumps to its feet with thunderous applause. In that moment of magic, we are totally free. These precious moments are rare, and therefore priceless as rare things are.
I think that's exactly why actors act. We act to experience those magical moments.
I want to spend more time in a world of magic. I think magic is what happens when you're doing what you love and have trained and worked and prepared and developed your talent. I want the freedom in my scenes that I speak of in the diving. I want the moments of near perfection when everything just flows together as naturally as breathing. That magic comes from hard work, courage, and love, but most of all love. Because love of the thing we do prevails and propels us through those moments, days, months, sometimes years when we want to quit give up or become discouraged.
Be encouraged. Do what you love. In doing what you love, you will feel the magic. It is priceless and it is the very essence of a life well lived!
As actors, we often hear from Casting Directors, directors, even our teachers say,"I need you to give me more energy." or "The scene just needs more energy." In addition to this, I often am told I hold back in my work and have been stumped for years why I do it and how to undo it. Sometimes, I don't hold back and that's when I get cast, but it almost happens by accident. I want to be in the driver's seat. So, I keep training hoping to figure this out.
Last night in Jeremiah's class, I was working with Ted on a scene from "After the Romance." In the middle of the scene, I found myself laughing and crying. And for the first time, I knew I was holding back. I got it!
Here's what I remember about that scene. I know that I stepped out of the scene at 2 different moments, because I had brief thoughts, like,"What the hell is hapening to me?" and "What do I think I think I'm doing?" And in those two moments of a 3 minute scene, I had become director and judge of my own work at the very moment my work began to truly flow. It was scary. Now I understand what courage in a scene means, too. Seriously, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me so I jumped out and labeled it - hence holding back and not taking the full ride. After the scene was over, I knew that I was holding back and this time I knew why - I had begun to let go and trust my instincts...but then I didn't. I had a clue. This was different for me.
I've known for some time that as soon as I figure out why I hold back...or how to create the "energy" everyone is talking about that I'll be a paid working actor.
I decided that I was holding back and thought I'd check in to hear what additional information Jeremiah might have for me. He said,"Let me give you an analogy." He said,"You know the difference between a 1 meter diving board and a 10 meter platform, right?" And I said,"Sure." He then explained that on the one meter board, you take a bounce and then you let the bounce take you in to the dive, but on the 10 meter platform is stiff so you need to create a great deal of energy before you leap.
Being a reasonably accomplished swimmer and having had my fair share of my college summers diving and jumping off the platform at SMU, this analogy totally made sense to me!
Immediately, I started comparing my experiences of a 1 meter board and a 10 meter platform.
You need more of everything to do on the 10 meter platform what you can do on the 1 meter board. And of course, you can do more flips, turns, almost everything from a 10 meter board.
Here are things you need to excel on the 10 meter platform. You need tremendous energy that can only come from lots of training and conditioning. You need to be willing to take great risk, because the truth is you can get hurt. You need conditioning, focus, concentration, and precision. If you practice enough, eventually all these things combined give you a tremendous freedom. You fly through the air and it's almost like magic. Everything works together; everything flows, moves, and naturally finds exactly where you need to go. All of this is accomplished by disciplined training and hard work.
And the reward is the reason we do it. The reward is the tremendous feeling of magic, those few precious moments when everything goes smoothly and perfectly and the crowd jumps to its feet with thunderous applause. In that moment of magic, we are totally free. These precious moments are rare, and therefore priceless as rare things are.
I think that's exactly why actors act. We act to experience those magical moments.
I want to spend more time in a world of magic. I think magic is what happens when you're doing what you love and have trained and worked and prepared and developed your talent. I want the freedom in my scenes that I speak of in the diving. I want the moments of near perfection when everything just flows together as naturally as breathing. That magic comes from hard work, courage, and love, but most of all love. Because love of the thing we do prevails and propels us through those moments, days, months, sometimes years when we want to quit give up or become discouraged.
Be encouraged. Do what you love. In doing what you love, you will feel the magic. It is priceless and it is the very essence of a life well lived!
posted by Sarah Jean Fry at
10:34 AM
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