I really enjoyed leading the Yoga warm up and the "Niky Training" on Sund Dec.23rd. Leading both of them made me more actively engaged.
In the Niky training, I was constantly checking to see if Gabe and Elizabeth were with the activity and if I was giving them enough time within each exercise. I wasn't able to as fully give myself to the Niky training as I normally do, because my attention was divided between doing the exercises and verbally leading them. I would watch the others during the verbal pauses while still doing the exercises myself, and I attempted to kinesthetically feel when it felt like it was time to change into something new.
I would like to practice leading the Yoga warm-up by myself at home, to get the language down to be clearer, so that I can be more present to everyone who is following my lead. I feel like I'm still getting used to verbalizing what is happening while also doing the poses, and it's a little bit jerky.
I found that I wanted to merge more Yoga and Linklater like I did when I was in acting school. I did love Andrea Haring's class and would like to also practice the vocal warm ups that Elizabeth Malone had us do last Sunday. It was also great to do some of the new RT exercises (Gabe) and blend them in with the stuff that we have already been doing.
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Wendy, I think that's a great experience. I know what you mean having the head divided. It's just a matter of doing it more often and the continued expereince of practicing it. After a while you'll be able to juggle multiple things in your head while still leading and having your body engaged. Kind of like when we're on stage after you rehearsed the scene or show a million times. I thought you did a great job.
BTW, Liz Malone did a phenom job on the vocal warm up! I felt the difference for days. Liz, you need to do it every time we train when you can make it.
Kudos ladies. Pazzzz!
Gabe :)
Yes, Wendy you hit the nail on the head about the challenge of leading:
How do I engage in the task and monitor where the group is at the same time?
I think we are constantly stepping in and out. The challenge for the trainer is stepping back in. Where, how do I step back in? What is the next step based on what I have noticed from stepping out?
The trainer is no less fully engaged, but the modality of engagement is different. It can feel less engaged in each task because the attention is necessarily split...
but it is like the exercise from Gregor and Gaulier's "le jeu" with the connection (the "agreement) and the tossing of the ball around the circle. When there are 3 balls in the air, we are still engaged, but the attention is engaged in three different foci at that same time. Not a bad metaphor for any scene work we do... very similar to the Bogart/Suzuki/SITI dynamic of allowing the "impossible task" to engage us fully, but to be aware of competing demands within the task. Noticiing how we naturally and instantly the prioritize these demands is the key to allowing our attention to keep this focus and expand to include another demand.
So a "Suzuki" hermeneutic placed on the task of leading... tells us that the more we can lead and observe ourself and our instant priorities in leading, then the more we will be able to counterbalance by expanding the "leader attention" to include things that we by default sometimes let fall lower on the priority list.
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