The Actor and His Body'Once you start working with someone like Litz you don't ever want to stop if you can help it' - Vanessa Redgrave Litz Pisk was widely regarded as the most influential teacher of modern theatre movement of the 20th Century. She innovated and advocated a physical training that sought to combine awareness, emotion and imagination specifically for the actor's craft. Her seminal book, The Actor and His Body, is the direct result of her unique dual career as a professional movement director and as an actor movement teacher working in leading British conservatoires. Pisk's quest was to find expression for the inner impulse that motivated actors to move. Her teachings, as outlined in this book, offer insight on the specific craft of the actor, and the relationship between movement, imagination and the 'need' to move. The Actor and His Body is also a practical manual for keeping the actor's body physically and expressively responsive. In addition, there are a range of movement exercises, illuminated by her exquisite line drawings, and a complete weekly programme which concentrates on movement practice within different timescales. This fourth edition features the original foreword by Michael Elliot as well as a new introduction by Ayse Tashkiran, contemporary movement director and Senior Lecturer at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, which contextualises Pisk's work. |
Contents
Awareness | 1 |
The Spine | 3 |
NonResistance | 15 |
Tuning and Resilience | 27 |
Length and Breadth | 41 |
Confluence | 57 |
Empathy | 69 |
Summary for Movement Practice | 77 |
The XRays | 83 |
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Common terms and phrases
actor movement backwards Bend the knees Bennett Bodenwieser breath centre choreographer Cicely Berry Circular swing dance diagonal direction drop forward Drop the head enlarge expressionist dance fall of weight feel foot forward Fran Bennett George Hall hands heel hip joint increase the tempo inwards jump knees a little left foot Lefton leg forward Let the upper Litz Pisk Litz’s loosen lower the seat Michael Elliott Michael Feast Michel Saint-Denis motion move movement directors movement practice movement teacher Nickolas Grace Old Vic outwards Peer Gynt pelvis physical Pisk’s Prunella Scales pull Raise the arms RCSSD rebound rehearsal rhythm right foot rise roll the spine Round the spine Royal Shakespeare Company shake shoulder balls shoulder blades shoulder level sing sink slowly Stand step-position straight straighten the legs stretch tail end teaching theatre toes touch the floor turn upper body fall upper body forward upwards Vanessa Redgrave vertebrae voice walk