by Siobhan Richardson | Jan 8, 2016 | Rehearsal Methods
The rehearsal and practice methods described in this blog are meant to be like a buffet: pick the things that you like. Use what works for you at this time, in whatever order works for you. Also, you may find that you use a different method every 5 minutes, or that...
by Siobhan Richardson | Jan 8, 2016 | Rehearsal Methods
Run the choreography at a speed at which you can easily remember what comes next. Do all of the actions and any acting beats — pauses in movement, but not pauses in intention — in the right order without stopping. Usually, this is a much slower speed than...
by Siobhan Richardson | Dec 26, 2015 | journal
This video is making the rounds. I’m currently dabbling in penmanship, so I eagerly gave it a watch, and then at 2:07 I was struck by what Master Penman Jake Weidmann says about what it took to get to his high level of skill and artistry: I seems to me that...
by Siobhan Richardson | Dec 18, 2015 | Best Practices
Taking notes on the details of your choreography is essential. You don’t often have the fight director there every day to make corrections and adjustments every rehearsal (you run your fights every day, right?). You’ll have a fight captain or some manner...
by Siobhan Richardson | Dec 4, 2015 | Rehearsal Methods
As promised, we’re looking at methods and exercises for rehearsing a fight scene! Today, we begin with a foundation concept when approaching your fight choreography which lays the groundwork for the upcoming series. In many cases, actors remember the sequence of...
by Siobhan Richardson | Nov 27, 2015 | Actor's Process
I’ve been reading a fantastic book called Physical Expression and the Performing Artist. It explores peoples’ misconceptions about how their bodies work, and how many of us subconsciously add tension in order to make our bodies move the way we think they should. All...
by Siobhan Richardson | Jul 20, 2015 | Style Guide
Hi folks, Take a look at this playlist. It’s a collection of several martial arts — mostly Eastern — so that we can analyze style....
by Siobhan Richardson | Jul 13, 2015 | Style Guide
Karate is again an umbrella term, this time for many of the martial arts of Japan. It’s considered a hard style, though there are some varieties which have exceptions to this. As a generalization, Karate uses a balance of hand strikes and kicks, and tends to...
by Siobhan Richardson | Jul 12, 2015 | Style Guide
Kung-fu translates to “any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete” (Wikipedia), but in the West it tends to be an umbrella term for all Chinese Martial Arts. Writing a style guide for all of Kung-fu is a bit...
by Siobhan Richardson | Jul 11, 2015 | Style Guide
Judo is known for throws and take-downs. Through a mechanical lens, check out the aggressor uses incoming energy — whether provided by the victim or whether caused by the aggressor — to initiate the action; look at how the aggressor uses leverage, balance...
