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This exciting new book explores the pioneering radical sensing work of Elsa Gindler (1885–1961) and the practices of five women inspired by her. It re-considers a range of trajectories of influence across the established canons of twentieth-century performer training practices and challenges conventions of performer training historiography. Moving from the early twentieth‑century Physical Culture movement through Modern and Postmodern dance training in Europe and North America to contemporary devised theatre in the UK, this is the first book‑length study of Gindler's pedagogy in relation to performance. It allows trainers, arts practitioners, theatre, dance and art historians, and students to understand previously untold stories in performance, Somatics and philosophies of knowledge. Bringing Gindler's unique practice into dialogue with philosophies drawn from pragmatism and phenomenology, the book explores concepts of concentration and Gelassenheit, situation, gestalts of breathing, negative epistemology and phronesis, to create a picture of Elsa Gindler's work as situated, context specific and inter‑subjective. It also explores how feminist ways of knowing and being are embedded in the practices themselves.Drawing on the author's 30 years of experience of training in work inspired by Elsa Gindler, this book allows theories and practices to converse and merge to build a rich and multi‑dimensional perspective of performer training. Woven throughout are practical experiments for the reader to try, alongside analyses of performances and previously unpublished workshop material and notes. Beyond performance, this book locates Gindler's work within wider contexts of social and ecological crises and suggests that this radical sensing practice can be used as a quiet way to make a difference in the world.

What goes on in the body and mind of an endurance athlete at the limits of performance? How do they relate to the world around and prepare for the task ahead? Offering a refreshing perspective on training in the cross-lighting of aesthetic and athletic processes, this book focuses on the learning, mastery and creative adaptation of technique in performance. From traditional and physical actors to runners, boxers and other sports practitioners, it is about performers: their bodies, trainings and experiences. It interrogates what it means to prepare and train as a performer in the early 21st century.Writing from extensive experience in physical theatre and long-distance running, the author combines insights from both disciplines along with theatre history, sports science and perspectives like embodied cognition and affective science. From the kind of thoughts that go through the mind of an actor or a runner, to the economy and aesthetic of their movement and to how they feel about it, this book sheds light on the performing body and its capacities for action.Topics covered include attentional focus and distraction, affordances and equipment,'choking'and stage fright, physiological regulation and effort perception, pacing and play, optimal flow and creative improvisation, and intentionality and automaticity in expert performance. The volume presents an informative and thought-provoking account accessible to readers interested in theatre, dance, performance, running, athletics, and sport.

Time and Performer Training addresses the importance and centrality of time and temporality to the practices, processes and conceptual thinking of performer training. Notions of time are embedded in almost every aspect of performer training, and so contributors to this book look at: age/aging and children in the training context how training impacts over a lifetime the duration of training and the impact of training regimes over time concepts of timing and the ‘right'time how time is viewed from a range of international training perspectives collectives, ensembles and fashions in training, their decay or endurance Through focusing on time and the temporal in performer training, this book offers innovative ways of integrating research into studio practices. It also steps out beyond the more traditional places of training to open up time in relation to contested training practices that take place online, in festival spaces and in folk or amateur practices.Ideal for both instructors and students, each section of this well-illustrated book follows a thematic structure and includes full-length chapters alongside shorter provocations. Featuring contributions from an international range of authors who draw on their backgrounds as artists, scholars and teachers, Time and Performer Training is a major step in our understanding of how time affects the preparation for performance.Chapter 16 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

As personal technology becomes ever-present in the classroom and rehearsal studio, its use and ubiquity is affecting the collaborative behaviors that should underpin actor training. How is the collaborative impulse being distracted and what kind of solutions can re-establish its connections?The daily work of a theater practitioner thrives on an ability to connect, empathize, and participate with other artists. This is true at every level, from performing arts students to established professionals. As smartphones, social media, and other forms of digital connectedness become more and more embedded in daily life, they can inhibit these collaborative, creative skills. Turn That Thing Off! Collaboration and Technology in 21st-Century Actor Training explores ways to foster these essential abilities, paving the way for emerging performers to be more present, available, and generous in their work.

New anatomical and physiological knowledge is combined with eastern energy techniques and traditional actor training methods as the basis for this pioneering approach to actor training. Practical exercises extend understanding of the somatic systems and how to create flexible bodies for truthful performances.

'This book vividly captures vital and imaginative lessons from one of the most influential and joyous traditions of contemporary actor training. Any actor or teacher, who is devoted to the transformational power of the theatre, will want to return to these pages again and again, finding in them not only the work to be done, but also the inspiration to do it.'James Bundy - Dean, Yale School of Drama; Artistic Director, Yale Repertory TheatreMovement training techniques allow actors to acquire the physical body language and non-verbal skills to clearly express the ideas and emotions of their characters. The techniques contained in this book help actors to develop awareness of their own natural posture, walk and rhythm, release the physical imagination and transform into the characters they are portraying, on stage, in film or on television.Movement Training for Actors provides a practical workbook approach to the core fundamentals of movement, fusing together the work of the key practitioners: Sigurd Leeder, Kurt Jooss, Rudolf Laban, Trish Arnold, Litz Pisk, F. M. Alexander, Moshé Feldenkrais, Jerzy Growtowski, Jacques Lecoq and Belinda Quirey. Chapters include Games, Pure Movement, Historical Dance, Acrobatics and Animal Study. The book is illustrated with photographs throughout and contains a DVD featuring over an hour of movement exercises further demonstrating the techniques. Movement Training for Actors is a masterclass on movement written by experienced coach, Jackie Snow and a culmination of her many years of teaching and coaching professionals. The highly practical approach will suit actors of all abilities as well as serving as an inspirational teaching guide.