The Well-Tempered Body: Expressive Movement for Actors, Improvisers, and Performance Artists

Physicality is the basis of performance. It is hard to argue otherwise: yes, voice is important, costumes are important, scenery is important,
but rapport with the audience is established primarily by what
performer is doing and how it is being done. The reality of the body -
the way that it moves, and the way that it reacts to context (real or
imaginary) – engenders a sense of presence, especially in the absence
of dialogue.

One need only think of the great actors of the silent screen to know that characterization does not require a word to
be spoken. Beyond this, a skilled improviser has the ability to suggest
a mood or a place, a status relationship or an enduring friendship,
simply by relying on our ability to “fill in” the background to the
behavior we are witnessing. And the performance artist can create a
powerful experience, transforming private vision into feeling and
physical action. Even in the wildest experimental theater, where the
inner logic of the scene is initially baffling, the presence of the
actor’s body can be enough to lend structure and coherence, and to
encourage the audience to give the presentation a chance.

In this fragmented age of ours, the genres of conventional acting,
improvisation, and performance art may sometimes appear to be worlds
apart, but they are linked inextricably by reliance on the expressive
power of the human body. The reason is simple: theater in whatever
guise is fundamentally a stylized social exchange, and the “decoding”
of movement is always a part of the dialogue we establish with other
people.

This process of nonverbal communication is actually a very familiar aspect of everyone’s life. Whether at home or at work, at
rest or at play, we are continuously gauging personality (i.e.
long-term temperament and short-term moods) based on holistic
appraisals of physical presentation. We know when the boss is
unapproachable even before he opens his mouth, just as we know if a
first date is going well or badly. And the reason is our innate
sensitivity to subtle (and none-too-subtle) behavioral cues.

For the actor, mastery of stage presence is thus intimately connected with
the investigation everyday action as a communicative device. Nonverbal
dialogue shapes all of our lives, and appreciating the way in which
behavior clashes with or conforms to context is part of our heritage as
a social animal. But as the consummate physical performer, the actor
needs to take this process to a new level, harnessing the nuts and
bolts of “impression management” and applying them to artistic ends.
The Well-Tempered Body: Expressive Movement for Actors, Improvisers...