There is a variety of understandings of the notion of presence in theatre and performance
studie... more There is a variety of understandings of the notion of presence in theatre and performance
studies as well as in the field of actor-training. Presentness, an aspect of presence, is the experience of the emerging here and now as shaped by the performer’s psychophysical engagement with his or her surrounding. It is, thus, a tangible aspect of presence that can be enhanced and developed through training. Presentness developed through training is an acting skill although it does not necessarily determine how actors act in terms of style or form. Rather, techniques of presentness are meant to develop and fine-tune the actor’s instrument as a psychophysical whole that can be used for any style and type of acting.
This dissertation examines processes of developing presentness in the practice of three prevalent psychophysical acting techniques in North American actor-training: Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Lecoq. It is based on three years of practice-based research as participant and observer in various training sites with these techniques. Building on detailed descriptions of practiced moments accompanied by interviews and conversations with practitioners and teachers, various emerging manifestations of presentness are exposed to make a complex and deep understanding of this term. Using Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology alongside theories from the emerging field of cognitive neuroscience grounds the experiential accounts of ephemeral processes within concrete existing constructs of motility, perception, and cognition.
Abstract Thesis (MA)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Theatre Department, 2004..&... more Abstract Thesis (MA)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Theatre Department, 2004.." Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of arts in theatre [sic] in the Graduate School of Binghamton University, State University of New ...
It was the spring of 2002 in Binghamton, NY. I was taking my first introductory session in the Vi... more It was the spring of 2002 in Binghamton, NY. I was taking my first introductory session in the Viewpoints technique. Earlier, I had read some of the publications about this technique and about Anne Bogart's work but was curious to find out how it worked in practice. After a brief warm up, the instructor asked us to sit down on the floor. She explained that each Viewpoint is an element of time and space to which we become aware through the work and that being aware of these elements and being able to talk about them helps in understanding and communicating about everything that happens in the work. What followed was the most revealing moment in her explanation: the naming of each Viewpoint. "Spatial Relationships," she said and gestured toward us, sitting spread on the floor. I looked around me at the spatial relationships among the different bodies on the studio floor and how it shifted as other people changed their position to look around. The experience of an 'embodied understanding' was almost immediate. Each movement anyone made changed the relationships among all of us in a vivid and visceral way that did not need explanation. As the group started walking in the studio with that awareness in mind (or, rather, in body), I sensed the emergence of a fresh, new way of perceiving. I perceived the changes in distance and position between me and the other people, and was sensorially affected by it. Since that first session, I have gone through numerous Viewpoints workshops as a student, a participant and later on as a teacher. The sensation of having an embodied understanding and awareness of the nine Viewpoints of time or space has deepened and become almost engrained. However, each time a session begins a similar process of discovery takes place in which the understanding of a conceptual dissection of time and space is inseparable from the particular perceptual experience of time and space and the way we move in them.
There is a variety of understandings of the notion of presence in theatre and performance
studie... more There is a variety of understandings of the notion of presence in theatre and performance
studies as well as in the field of actor-training. Presentness, an aspect of presence, is the experience of the emerging here and now as shaped by the performer’s psychophysical engagement with his or her surrounding. It is, thus, a tangible aspect of presence that can be enhanced and developed through training. Presentness developed through training is an acting skill although it does not necessarily determine how actors act in terms of style or form. Rather, techniques of presentness are meant to develop and fine-tune the actor’s instrument as a psychophysical whole that can be used for any style and type of acting.
This dissertation examines processes of developing presentness in the practice of three prevalent psychophysical acting techniques in North American actor-training: Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Lecoq. It is based on three years of practice-based research as participant and observer in various training sites with these techniques. Building on detailed descriptions of practiced moments accompanied by interviews and conversations with practitioners and teachers, various emerging manifestations of presentness are exposed to make a complex and deep understanding of this term. Using Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology alongside theories from the emerging field of cognitive neuroscience grounds the experiential accounts of ephemeral processes within concrete existing constructs of motility, perception, and cognition.
Abstract Thesis (MA)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Theatre Department, 2004..&... more Abstract Thesis (MA)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Theatre Department, 2004.." Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of arts in theatre [sic] in the Graduate School of Binghamton University, State University of New ...
It was the spring of 2002 in Binghamton, NY. I was taking my first introductory session in the Vi... more It was the spring of 2002 in Binghamton, NY. I was taking my first introductory session in the Viewpoints technique. Earlier, I had read some of the publications about this technique and about Anne Bogart's work but was curious to find out how it worked in practice. After a brief warm up, the instructor asked us to sit down on the floor. She explained that each Viewpoint is an element of time and space to which we become aware through the work and that being aware of these elements and being able to talk about them helps in understanding and communicating about everything that happens in the work. What followed was the most revealing moment in her explanation: the naming of each Viewpoint. "Spatial Relationships," she said and gestured toward us, sitting spread on the floor. I looked around me at the spatial relationships among the different bodies on the studio floor and how it shifted as other people changed their position to look around. The experience of an 'embodied understanding' was almost immediate. Each movement anyone made changed the relationships among all of us in a vivid and visceral way that did not need explanation. As the group started walking in the studio with that awareness in mind (or, rather, in body), I sensed the emergence of a fresh, new way of perceiving. I perceived the changes in distance and position between me and the other people, and was sensorially affected by it. Since that first session, I have gone through numerous Viewpoints workshops as a student, a participant and later on as a teacher. The sensation of having an embodied understanding and awareness of the nine Viewpoints of time or space has deepened and become almost engrained. However, each time a session begins a similar process of discovery takes place in which the understanding of a conceptual dissection of time and space is inseparable from the particular perceptual experience of time and space and the way we move in them.
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Papers by Ofer Ravid
studies as well as in the field of actor-training. Presentness, an aspect of presence, is the experience of the emerging here and now as shaped by the performer’s psychophysical engagement with his or her surrounding. It is, thus, a tangible aspect of presence that can be enhanced and developed through training. Presentness developed through training is an acting skill although it does not necessarily determine how actors act in terms of style or form. Rather, techniques of presentness are meant to develop and fine-tune the actor’s instrument as a psychophysical whole that can be used for any style and type of acting.
This dissertation examines processes of developing presentness in the practice of three prevalent psychophysical acting techniques in North American actor-training: Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Lecoq. It is based on three years of practice-based research as participant and observer in various training sites with these techniques. Building on detailed descriptions of practiced moments accompanied by interviews and conversations with practitioners and teachers, various emerging manifestations of presentness are exposed to make a complex and deep understanding of this term. Using Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology alongside theories from the emerging field of cognitive neuroscience grounds the experiential accounts of ephemeral processes within concrete existing constructs of motility, perception, and cognition.
Talks by Ofer Ravid
studies as well as in the field of actor-training. Presentness, an aspect of presence, is the experience of the emerging here and now as shaped by the performer’s psychophysical engagement with his or her surrounding. It is, thus, a tangible aspect of presence that can be enhanced and developed through training. Presentness developed through training is an acting skill although it does not necessarily determine how actors act in terms of style or form. Rather, techniques of presentness are meant to develop and fine-tune the actor’s instrument as a psychophysical whole that can be used for any style and type of acting.
This dissertation examines processes of developing presentness in the practice of three prevalent psychophysical acting techniques in North American actor-training: Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Lecoq. It is based on three years of practice-based research as participant and observer in various training sites with these techniques. Building on detailed descriptions of practiced moments accompanied by interviews and conversations with practitioners and teachers, various emerging manifestations of presentness are exposed to make a complex and deep understanding of this term. Using Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology alongside theories from the emerging field of cognitive neuroscience grounds the experiential accounts of ephemeral processes within concrete existing constructs of motility, perception, and cognition.