Ensemble

Up to this point the emphasis has been on individual processes, but a major contributing factor to all of the work addressed thus far is the collective nature of our training. While it is true that many of the exercises can be practiced in solus, the presence of others doing the same work plays an invaluable role in the laboratory’s artistic life.

Training at Akropolis takes place as an ensemble and ensemble work brings its own set of issues. It becomes more imperative for the doers to enter into a dynamic partnership with the environment they are working in — utilizing it to its fullest, sharing it with the others, balancing it. During all aspects of physical and vocal training the doers work in their own stream of responses but also involve others as partners. Whether directly engaging someone in physical/sonic dialogue, playing with the rhythm established by the group, or simply validating their own work through that of the others, the doers feed each other, encourage each other, press each other on toward greater self-actualization.

This work outside of the public arena serves to create a collective artistic identity and heritage for the lab associates. The performers learn to communicate on an intuitive level and to trust one another to anticipate their needs. A practical and theoretical vocabulary develops which enables the work to be carried out with a minimum of discussion and a maximum of artistic effort. This is critical because too often intellectual discourse is confused with creative enterprise. When we give in to this temptation to sit in endless discussions we merely avoid the real work of creation. The training prepares us to quiet the discursive mind and see what possibilities arise from within the vitality of our body-memory/body-life.

Back to Actor Training at APL main page