ARC of Motion

Taken from Journal entry:
23rd April 2023

When exploring a character’s physicality, posture can be a powerful starting point. For instance, you might sense your character has a hunched position—shoulders pulled in, slouched, and closed off. But how do you go beyond just imitating the shape?

Start by asking yourself:

• Why might my shoulders hunch forward?

• What does this say about how my character perceives and experiences the world?

To delve deeper, explore the forces that might be acting on your character. These forces don’t need to be literal—they can be metaphors that help unlock emotional and physical depth. Here are some possibilities to try:

1. Something lower than me is pulling me down, and I am following.

2. I am withdrawing from the world, contracting and pulling myself inward.

3. A weight above me is pushing me down, compressing my posture.

4. The center of my back is being pulled away from me, like a string tugging backward.

5. My center is being pushed inward, collapsing me into myself.

These forces—pushes and pulls—are likely unconscious to your character, but embodying them as an actor can make the physicality feel authentic and alive. Instead of just creating the shape, you’re discovering how the shape is activated by the forces acting on and within your character.

When you approach posture through this lens, your character’s physicality becomes a response to their environment, emotions, and lived experience—not just a static pose.

Explore and Discover

Take some time to explore these forces on your own. Here’s how:

• Imagine being pulled downward by something lower than you. Pick a specific place in your body that is being pulled and the exact direction. Follow the pull—how does it affect your breath, gaze, or the way you move?

• Try withdrawing from the world, pulling yourself inward. What directions are you pulling away from? What emotions or thoughts arise as you contract and retreat?

• Feel an invisible weight pushing down on you. Where exactly do you feel the push in your body? Where does your body resist the push, and where does it surrender?

• Imagine a string pulling the center of your back away from you. How does this affect your alignment, balance, or emotional state?

• Feel your center being pushed inward. What happens when you allow the push to dominate your posture?

As you explore these pushes and pulls, notice if any of these sensations feel familiar or uncomfortable. You might even become aware of the forces shaping your own posture in everyday life. Are you carrying the shape of an earlier version of yourself? Is your body carrying a weight that no longer exists? Or are you protecting yourself from something that has passed? What happens when you consciously shift it? These insights may help you to shift your own posture and discover what your character may be experiencing.

Journal your discoveries or record yourself to see how these shifts influence your character’s energy and presence. The more you connect with the why behind the posture, the more authentic and compelling your performance will become.

Transformation starts with exploration.

Reach out for a one-on-one session or workshop.