ACTORS AND SHADOW WORK
Actors in Toronto who attend our acting classes learn about the importance of The “Shadow”! In acting classes, actors who are aware of their shadow archetypes are in a powerful position to access unpredictability, danger, instinctual energies and untamed emotions.
Shadow Work is the Path of the Heart Warrior – Carl Jung
These actors are usually chameleons who can morph their energies into facial and body masks that are markedly different from their day to day “selves”. In our acting school we teach that accessing and owning the shadow is a courageous undertaking for the actor.
It must be done safely in class acting and with specific tools that make it a craft preparation and not just an unsafe opening up of unknown territory in the psyche. If it is not done with awareness and knowledge it can un-ground the actor, and it can stir up emotions and impulses that the actor doesn’t have a clue what to do with, reaping havoc in your life! This is not the way to go! In our acting classes you develop a skill set so that you know how to approach the “Shadow” in your psyche. Okay, so let’s talk about this.
First the actor must learn how to “ground and centre”. I am tempted to take this article off course by discussing this with you right away, because it is very important to your success in accessing your shadow archetypes. But we will have to save this for the next article and I often discuss this in my acting classes. To stay on topic we will discuss the “Shadow” first. Please see my article Grounding for the Actor in the Actor’s Instrument.
After “grounding and centring” you will find yourself in a state of being very open and available and able to handle the powerful energies that will want to move through you in your acting. In our school of acting we advise our students to work with another person who can stay with you energetically to support your process.
ACTING WITH ARCHETYPES
Next, you will want to find the first portal into your shadow archetypes.. It may be through a dream you had or a myth or fairy tale that has captured your imagination. It may come to you through deep internal listening and connection. You may have recently read a story or been told a story and it has stayed with you. Once you have made your way into the first portal in our acting classes you may get an image of the archetype, or something it says. You may just get an energetic sense of it or a physical or emotional sensation for it. Stay with that as your second portal in.
In the image, an actor in our Toronto acting school ventures into the shadow realm while the other actor acts as a “Protector”
ACTING USING GROUND AND CENTER AWARENESS
In our classes for acting, we teach you that staying with the image, sound, feeling or sensation must be done in your body, not your head. Staying with it will help it to deepen in and impact you. From there, allow the archetype to have its way with you in acting class. You can do this because you are in what I call “Ground and Centre Awareness (G & C A)”. If you are grounded, centred and aware in your class acting, the archetype will be able to move through you and you will be channeling; rather than the archetype just taking you over. If the archetype takes you over without “G & C A” you are not channeling and you are entering unconsciousness, dangerous territory. Either that, or your acting “protectors” will take you over in acting classes (we will discuss this in Part 3 of this article) and you will “act” rather than channel.
USING YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AS AN ACTOR
Another way into the shadow archetypes that I teach in our Toronto acting school is through your personal experience. In this way you use your personal experience in acting classes to lead you into the universal realm. Begin with a memory or an event where you really raged out or had the impulse to kill or rape, (of course you didn’t act on it) or maybe you just had the impulse to really run some red lights and scream obscenities to the police. This will be a part of you that you already know and are okay with knowing. It will be what I will call a “self” using a small “s” but it is not your larger “S” self. The larger “S” self is the part of you that can do G & C A. Or you may not want to know that this “self” exists in you. We call this a “dis-owned self “. And so, beginning with G & C A, move through the same process above where you were using your imagination and gain a first portal in and then a second portal in. Stay with it and let it have its way with you in acting class.
In our Toronto school of acting, we guide you in exploring for as many shadow archetypes as you can. Once you’ve really practiced this in acting classes, you will begin to see the work deepen and you will begin to experience more energy, feeling and impulse from the archetype. You will be growing your container through Ground & Centre Awareness. See Ground And Center Awareness Part 2 in Actors Instrument, and you will be able to “hold” more of the archetype’s energies, allowing them to move through you in your class acting.
I would like to acknowledge among others who have influenced me, Eric Morris, for making me aware of sub-personalities. Many of my ideas on Archetypes come from Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell as well as several years of training based on Hal and Sidra Stones work on Sub-personalities as well as Richard Schwartz’ work on Internal Family Systems.
All characters exist inside of you because you are connected to the “Collective Unconscious”. You are enough! Believe in that…….
Continue reading the last part of this article next week. Enjoy the list of books I will recommend on the subject. Attend our Toronto acting school to experience Archetypes and Character experientially.
Cindy Tanas Actors Studio teaches acting classes for Theatre and Film in Toronto and the GTA, Collingwood and Southern Georgian Bay.
Connect with Cindy for a free consultation
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Acting Teacher / Mentor / Life Coach Cindy Tanas, has run a highly reputable and successful Toronto acting school for over 25 years. She teaches Acting Classes for beginners and experienced actors. Cindy is a member of ACTRA, former Chair and member of TAAS (Toronto Association of Acting Studios) and member of Theatre Ontario.
Cindy Tanas Actors Studio offers a holistic approach to acting in Toronto since 1995. Both in person and online acting classes are available.
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