How is it November already? Where did 2018 go? It seems as i say this every year, but the months really have flown by. I feel like I started studying at BOVTS just a week ago, while simultaneously feeling as if I have gone through a years worth of learning already.
Conservatoire training is dense and mentally challenging, with no minute wasted for fluff. But that doesn’t mean the areas of learning that we investigate are necessarily complex. Sometimes we work on improving very simple skills…
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Breathing.
Mouth. Nose. Inhale, exhale. Fairly rudimentary facet of life wouldn’t you say?
What if I were to suggest that how good you are at breathing has an immense influence on who you are as a performer?
Or perhaps to rephrase that somewhat:
How much control you have over the quality of your breath directly translates to improving all areas of your performing arts ability.
Through seven weeks of training, two (potentially obvious sounding) lessons have been omnipresent in almost every class we have had:
1) your body influences, controls, restricts and allows everything you do.
2) breathing is the first step of any kind of activity.
Breathing has gone from being a subconscious habit, to the focus of so much that ties into acting, singing, dancing, movement, combat and all the other areas of training we engage in.
– In our ‘text project’ of an Ancient Greek play, the ‘out-breath’ became a key preparation tool. Sending the breath down to calm the body has become a great tool for getting into my own performance body.
– In singing the inhaling process is put under the proverbial microscope. We learn to lift the intercostal rib muscles to maximise how much breath we have available, and then developing the skill of only the minimum amount of breath required for each phrase. Controlling the diaphragm, manipulating air flow, building stamina.
– In voice we looked at how the throat works. The larynx, the pharynx, the vocal folds. How breath is powered. How to achieve greater resonance in ones projection onstage. Breathing through the belly, loosening your core, relaxing to better your breath.
– In movement and dance; using breath support and control to better balance and flexibility.
– In acting, studying Shakespeare’s sentence structure and how he indicated where breaths should be taken. Where to take breath in monologues to best convey the power in speeches.
The list goes on.
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I suppose the broader lesson within all our breathing work, which pertains to conservatoire theatre training as a whole, is to improve on the very simplest, fundamental skills first. So much of performance ability comes down to being able to do the little things very well.
Like Breathing.
JCL.
"Doing The Work"- Reflections on Drama School. 