“Your instrument is your body, your voice, your emotions, your psyche, your spirit and your soul. Your instrument is You!” – Cindy Tanas
THE ACTORS BODY
This body of yours is a channel for energies and emotions. Your body is a vessel for your soul and your spirit. Your body houses all of your subconscious material. When your mind is integrated with your body you have a powerful opportunity for creativity.
This diagram shows the vertebrae related to the different chakras based on the spinal nerves which innervate the ganglia and the various organs. If these vertebrae are damaged in a way that affects the spinal nerves, the related chakras may be subsequently affected.
In her book Eastern Body Western Mind, Anodea Judith talks about how our body is made up of energy centres or ‘chakras’. Over the next few parts of this article I will take you through these centres and help you to understand them, learn how to energize them, open them up; and use them in your acting, based on the material in her book.
A student in our Toronto Acting School practices “freeing his instrument” in the Actor’s Instrument Class.
THE ACTOR’S INSTRUMENT CLASS
In the Actors Instrument class I teach that the most important tool to using your instrument correctly is your breathing. This tool, the breath, has three uses. It relaxes your body, opens your body up, and energizes your body. I discuss the breath more in part two of this series.
TENSION AND THE ACTOR
There are two types of Tension for the actor:
- The first is unwanted tension that gets in the way of a free, relaxed instrument.
- The second is a kind of Tension that the actor needs. I will discuss this as we go along in future parts of this article.
Ego defenses and protections can get in the way of Embodiment. These become the actors blocks to accessing the instrument. Getting out of the way of your work is all about being in the body and being present in the moment. You can read a little more about this in the previous Article on Archetypes, and I’m sure I will discuss this more as I continue to write these articles.
I welcome your feedback. Please let me know if these articles are useful and what topics you might be interested in hearing about? Email me directly at cindy@cindytanas.com
Lots to discuss. Stay tuned!
If you’d like to continue to Part 2 go here: https://cindytanas.com/the-actors-instrument-part-2/
All characters exist inside of you because you are connected to the “Collective Unconscious”. You are enough!
Believe in that…
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.
www.torontoactingstudios.com www.actratoronto.com www.theatreontario.org