No matter how much you put your teeth on the shelf, creative people need self-expression. And in order to reveal acting talent and improve stagecraft, you need perseverance and patience. Acting exercises will help you acquire and hone all the skills needed by a professional actor. After all, an actor on stage is not just a mechanical doll that mindlessly carries out the director’s instructions, but a doll that can think logically and calculate actions several steps ahead. A professional actor is flexible, has good coordination, expressive facial expressions and intelligible speech.

Before you start studying and working on etudes and scenes to the fullest, you need to understand yourself a little. A real actor needs certain character traits that must be actively developed in himself. Other qualities should be hidden in a far corner and remembered extremely rarely.

Let's consider such a quality as self-love. It would seem that this is a normal state for every person. But this quality has 2 sides:

• Self-love makes you develop and learn every day, and not give up. Without this quality, even a very talented person will not be able to become a famous actor.
• Self-love and narcissism are a dead end for an acting career. Such a person will never be able to work for the viewer; all attention will be focused on himself.

A good actor cannot be absent-minded. He should not be distracted by extraneous noise while playing on stage. Because acting inherently implies constant control of oneself and one’s partner. Otherwise the role will simply become a mechanical performance. And attention allows you not to miss important details while studying, watching theatrical productions, master classes and trainings. In order to learn to concentrate, use exercises to develop attention from stagecraft.

Attention is the basis for a good start to a theatrical career

The development of attention begins not with special exercises, but with everyday life. An aspiring actor should spend a lot of time in crowded places, observing people, their behavior, facial expressions, and characteristics. All this can later be used to create images.

Keep a creative diary - this is an ordinary diary of a creative person. In it, express your thoughts, feelings, write down all the changes that have occurred with surrounding objects.

After filling out the creative diary, you can move on to practicing sketches and sketches. A novice actor is obliged to convey as accurately as possible the image and facial expressions of the person he was observing. It is necessary to place prototypes in non-standard situations - it is precisely such productions that show how much the actor was able to understand and get used to the image of an unknown person.

"Listening to Silence"

The next exercise is the ability to listen to silence; you need to learn to direct attention to a certain part of the external space, gradually expanding the boundaries:

• listen to yourself;
• listen to what is happening in the room;
• listen to sounds throughout the building;
• recognize sounds on the street.

Exercise "Shadow"

It not only develops attention, but also teaches you to move consciously. One person slowly does some pointless actions. The second’s task is to repeat all movements as accurately as possible, try to predict them, and determine the purpose of the actions.

Pantomimes and dramatizations

A good actor knows how to convey emotions expressively through words and body. These skills will help to involve the viewer in the game and convey to him the full depth of the theatrical production.

Pantomime is a special type of stage art based on the creation of an artistic image through plasticity, without the use of words.

• The best exercise to learn pantomime is crocodile game. The goal of the game is to show an object, phrase, feeling, event without words. A simple but fun game perfectly trains expressiveness, develops thinking, and teaches you to make quick decisions.
• Dramatization of proverbs. The purpose of the exercise is to use a small scene to show a well-known proverb or aphorism. The viewer must understand the meaning of what is happening on stage.
• Gesture game– with the help of non-verbal symbols, an actor can say a lot on stage. To play you need at least 7 people. Everyone comes up with a gesture for themselves, shows it to others, then shows some other person’s gesture. The one whose gesture was shown must quickly repeat it himself and show the next someone else's gesture. Whoever gets lost is out of the game. This game is complex, develops attention, teaches teamwork, improves plasticity and hand coordination.

Exercises for the development of plasticity

If things are not going well with plastic surgery, this deficiency can be easily corrected. By regularly performing the following movements at home, you can learn to feel your own body better and control it skillfully.

"Painting the fence"

The exercise “painting the fence” develops the plasticity of the hands and arms well. It is necessary to paint the fence using your hands instead of a brush.

What exercises make your hands obedient:

• smooth waves from one shoulder to the other;
• invisible wall - you need to touch the invisible surface with your hands, feel it;
• rowing with invisible oars;
• twisting clothes;
• tug of war with an invisible rope.

"Pick it up piece by piece"

A more difficult task is “assemble the parts.” You need to assemble some complex mechanism piece by piece - a bicycle, a helicopter, an airplane, or create a boat from boards. Take an invisible part, feel it with your hands, show the size, weight and shape. The viewer must imagine what spare part is in the actor’s hands. Install the part - the better the plastic, the faster the viewer will understand what the actor is assembling.

"Stroke the animal"

Exercise “petting the animal.” The actor’s task is to pet the animal, pick it up, feed it, open and close the cage. The viewer must understand whether this is a fluffy hare or a slippery, wriggling snake, a small mouse or a large elephant.

Development of coordination

The actor must have good coordination. This skill allows you to perform complex exercises on stage, performing several movements at the same time.

Exercises to develop coordination:

• Swimming. Extend your arms straight parallel to the floor. Make circular movements backwards with one hand, and forwards with the other. Move your hands simultaneously, periodically changing the direction of movement of each hand.
• Knock - stroke. Place one hand on your head and start stroking. Place your other hand on your stomach, tapping lightly. Do the movements at the same time, not forgetting to change hands.
• Conductor. Stretch your arms. One hand moves up and down for 2 beats. The other one makes voluntary movements for 3 beats. Or draws a geometric figure. Use both hands at the same time, changing hands periodically.
• Confusion. Extend one arm, make circular movements clockwise with your straight hand, while simultaneously rotating your hand in the other direction.

These exercises are not easy to do at first. But constant practice gives results. Each exercise should be repeated at least 10 times every day.

Scenes and sketches for beginning actors

A novice actor does not have to come up with everything from scratch. The ability to copy and imitate well is an integral part of stagecraft. You just need to find a film with your favorite character, try to copy his facial expressions, movements, gestures and speech as accurately as possible, convey emotions and mood.

The task seems simple, but at first it may be difficult. Only regular practice will help hone the skill of imitation. In this exercise you cannot do without attention and the ability to concentrate on little things. Jim Carrey has a good gift for imitation - there is a lot to learn from him.

Exercise “Think it through”

The acting profession requires a well-developed fantasy and imagination. You can develop these skills using the “think it through” exercise. You need to go to places with large crowds of people, choose a person, observe, pay attention to their appearance and behavior. Then come up with a biography, a name, and determine his occupation.

Scenic speech

Good stage speech involves more than just clear pronunciation and good articulation. A good actor must be able to scream quietly and whisper loudly, and convey the emotions, age and mental state of the hero with just his voice.

To learn how to convey emotions in words, you need to pronounce a simple phrase from the point of view of different characters - a little girl, a mature woman, an older man, a famous actor or politician. You need to find special intonations for each character, use typical speech patterns.

Exercises for developing stage speech:

• Blowing out the candles. Take in more air and blow out 3 candles one by one. The number of candles must be constantly increased, and the diaphragm muscles must be used when inhaling.
• Practicing exhalation technique. The poem "The House That Jack Built" is appropriate for this exercise. Each part of the piece must be pronounced in one breath.
• Improving diction. Slurred speech is unacceptable for a good actor. You need to honestly identify problematic sounds in your speech and pronounce tongue twisters every day that are aimed at eliminating the problem. You need to exercise for at least half an hour 3-5 times a day. Tongue twisters teach you to speak clearly at a fast pace, which is extremely important in acting.
• Intonation plays a prominent role in creating the right image. To practice, you need to read literary dramatic texts aloud every day.

You can study acting exercises on your own; various trainings will come to your aid. But it’s better to study in the company of like-minded people - you can take courses or organize theater evenings at home. The main thing is to never give up, always believe in your own talent, and move towards your goal.

Charisma, charm, artistry - for many these are just beautiful words that do not mean anything specific. When you hear the word “artistic,” a person imagines someone like Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” but in no case his colleague, boss, older brother, or anyone in his inner circle. We don’t notice that a colleague is able to sell anyone anything thanks to the ability to show off the product, that the boss, even in the most hopeless situation, can inspire the team to believe in themselves, that the older brother easily becomes the soul of any company. Or we notice, but the word “artistry” does not come to our minds: they are ordinary people, not some movie stars.

REMEMBER! Artistry is the ability to turn the most ordinary and even routine things into art. An actor must be artistic, but this does not mean that innate artistry is characteristic only of actors!

Where artistry comes in handy in everyday life:

1. In personal life. How to impress a girl or guy and show off your best side.
2. In career growth. How to stand out in a team, be able to take the initiative and demonstrate leadership qualities.
3. At home. How to endear yourself to strangers quickly and in any circumstances.
4. In difficult, unpleasant and dangerous situations. How not to lose face, not to show fear, not to reveal true feelings.
5. In self-development. How to improve self-perception and forever insure yourself against the loser complex.
6. In relationships with family. How to learn to get along with everyone at once.
7. In communication with friends. How to become the center of attention and attraction among your closest friends.

Why develop artistry

Have you ever wondered why at school they forced you to read poetry with expression, and not at random? Correct answer: because expressive reading better conveys the essence of what is written, not only to the listener, but also to the reader himself. That's what it is element of acting: maximum necessary information with minimal means. You can say the word “hello” with a straight face and without intonation, the recipient will understand that you said hello to him, but will not feel anything. Or you can stretch the word a little in an exclamatory intonation - “hello!” and smile with 32 teeth. The addressee will also understand that they greeted him, but he will also note that they did it with pleasure, that they were glad to see him, that they treated him well. And a good attitude, according to psychologists, generates reciprocity, this is how friendships are formed, and this is how barriers between people collapse.

IMPORTANT! Artistry helps you get what you want from other people. You should develop artistry if difficulties arise in this direction. Can't meet a girl or negotiate with a client? Then this is what you need.

Profession actor

Above we tried to deal with an abstract concept, turning it into a concrete, vital one. We found out that every person is artistic to one degree or another or may well develop artistry. But now it is not very clear why such an ordinary phenomenon is strongly associated with acting skills and, in fact, with stage performers.

The fact is that theater always has an emotional impact on the viewer. People don’t go to the theater for facts, only for impressions. And even the morality that is in every play, if not frankly secondary, is perceived by the viewer only through sympathy for the characters.

The goal of an actor in the theater is to make the audience empathize.

Now imagine how Othello, with a stony face, without emotion or intonation, says: “Did you pray for the night, Desdemona?” Will you empathize with him, worry, freeze in anticipation? Will you come to such a performance again? No. That is why everything an actor does must be artistic, that is, emotionally expressive. For the same reason, artistry got its name, because it was the artists who turned the ability to captivate into a real science, which has become the basis of acting.

Exercises to develop artistry

The good news is that you don't have to develop artistry in the full sense of the word. Emotional expressiveness is a natural quality that every person possesses; it is used unconsciously in the process of communication. If you observe children who have not yet been forced into the framework of “decent behavior,” it will become clear that they express their emotions freely and openly, and they do it charmingly. You, too, were a spontaneous and sweet child, which means you had everything that you so lack now. The main task is to remember what it feels like.

1. Learn to let yourself go. Letting go means enjoying what you do without regard to “what it looks like.” For example, a person who dances without knowing how to dance, because he enjoys moving to the music, performs an exercise in artistry.
2. Learn to imitate. Imitation is the essence of any art. The development of artistry begins with simply copying the habits of people and animals. Try doing ordinary things in someone else's manner, reacting like interesting people you have observed, acting like them, talking like them, etc.
3. Make it a rule to be the center of attention once every day. That is, in a situation where everyone around is looking only at you.

If you find it difficult to work on yourself on your own or need an experienced look from the outside, it’s time to take artistic lessons, which you can take at theater schools or acting courses.

To achieve promotions, be among campaign officials, speak in front of audiences, and communicate with the press and business partners at a high level, you will need business communication and speech courses in Moscow. There you will also get rid of barriers in communication and learn the art of eloquence.

The essence of the concept of “artistry”

The phenomenon of artistry attracts the attention of various scientists dealing with problems of philosophy, aesthetics, psychology, pedagogy, and pedagogy of music education, among others.

Artistry in aesthetics and art history is considered as a special expressive quality that manifests itself in different types and genres of art. The subject of the analysis is the versatility of the concept of “artistry”, its various aesthetic profiles: from the dominance of virtuosity, playfulness, improvisation, to the affirmation of the value of momentary experience, the ability to paradoxically remove the antinomic tension of elements of artistic form, and discover the facets of the internal, hidden artistry of a work (O.A. Krivtsun, O. Semenov, A.K. Yakimovich).

Philosophers conceptualize variations in the artistic principle as the most important ontological component of art, generating “meaning on top of meaning,” introducing a new dimension to artistic content. B.M. Bershtein notes that the features of the manifestation of artistry have been studied both in classical art and in techniques of non-classical expressiveness, in special forms of life creativity, in various artistic movements and styles, on the material of painting, literature, architecture, advertising, the history of costume, and music.

The theoretical and practical development of the problem of the development of artistry became the subject of careful research by K.S. Stanislavsky. “An artist who is deeply immersed in creative tasks does not have time to deal with himself as a person and his emotions.” The first step in mastering the art of an actor is, according to K.S. Stanislavsky, in the ability to bring oneself on stage into “correct, almost completely natural human well-being,” contrary to all the conventions of stage performance. This is the “correct, natural” state of health of actor K.S. Stanislavsky calls creative well-being one of the most important components of artistry. K.S. Stanislavsky distinguishes between internal, external and general stage well-being.

The problem of the formation of artistry occupies a very significant place in the system of K.S. Stanislavsky. He persistently emphasizes the natural, organic nature of creative (stage) well-being. “To our surprise, what we know so well, what happens naturally in real life, by itself, disappears without a trace or is deformed as soon as the artist appears on the stage. A lot of work is needed... in order to bring back to the stage what is so normal in life for every person.”

The most significant point counteracting the manifestation of artistry is the publicity of creativity. The artist’s well-being is characterized, first of all, by a loss of self-control, a feeling of “dependence on the crowd.” “When a human artist goes on stage in front of a crowd of thousands, he loses self-control from fear, embarrassment, shyness, responsibility, and difficulties. At these moments he cannot speak, look, listen, think, want, feel, walk, act like a human being.”

Thus, artistry is a rather complex concept that combines a number of multi-level (both physiological and psychological) characteristics. In physiological terms, artistry is a level of activation that does not exceed certain limits in a situation of increased emotional stress. In psychological terms, this is a certain characterological level of anxiety, which is usually understood as a negatively colored experience of internal restlessness, concern, “fever,” excitement, turning into a rush of excitement of an unproductive, demobilizing nature.

The results of the undertaken analysis allow us to identify three groups of multi-level characteristics associated with the ability to demonstrate artistry in specific creative conditions:

• 1. Characteristics that provide the ability to quickly and dynamically extinguish “emotional interference” that “knocks” the actor out of the optimal creative state.
• 2. Characteristics that provide the ability for the actor to actively (voluntarily) concentrate on the stage action, forming a “stage dominant” - a stable source of excitement that suppresses the influence of distracting factors that disorganize the creative process.
• 3. Characteristics that provide the possibility of realizing an “outward” focus on the perspective of the role, the main goal of the character (super-task), thereby “distracting” the actor from his own experiences of a negative nature not related to the “life of the role”, no less than the role itself. the publicity of the creative process, which can disorganize stage behavior.

For a musician, artistry becomes a key condition for the development of interpretative abilities, the ability to quickly change character states and feelings, tune in to one or another emotional mode, assign character, think to the hero of the work and act in line with his logic. Here the question arises about the musician’s possession of special psychotechnics, which encourages the singer to express himself as an actor. In order to manifest a character on stage, the performer must use the power of imagination, mind and will to create him in his soul, and then partially subordinate his psychophysical being to him. F.I. Chaliapin expressed the essence of reincarnation in a formula implying the objectification of the character’s consciousness through the psychophysical apparatus of the performer: “The truth of the actor, but independently of him. Through the actor-creator, independently of the human actor."

Silantyeva I.I., exploring the problem of reincarnation of a musician in vocal and stage art, notes that in the process of reincarnation an “artistic type” is gradually realized in the performer. Among the significant psychological obstacles to the manifestation of the properties of an artistic personality type are ignorance of the possibilities of one’s own emotional nature, as well as fear of strong experiences, a tendency to be gentle with one’s soul, and reluctance to invest emotionally. The aggression of the “video” culture, the lack of demand for the world literary heritage and the weakening of the imagination function associated with these factors reduce the potential of empathy for the world and reflection as the key to self-expression in art. This, according to I.I. Silantyeva, is one of the most important aspects of the psychological and pedagogical problem of the development of artistry.

Speaking about the problem of developing artistry N.V. Suslova notes that the polypersonalism of consciousness inherent in an objectivist performer implies a multiplicity of selves in one person. The versatility of personality as a result of the versatility of consciousness is manifested in the diversity of character lives.

Despite the different views of scientists on the problem we are considering, the unifying point of all theories is the recognition of the fact that the ability to transform is largely determined by the memory factor. During the period of working on a role from conception to stage execution, the memory is continuously and capaciously filled with various impressions, from the elements of which the character’s personality is built. As a result of the continuous process of appropriating character content, the total self of the evolving personality of the performer is formed.

An important feature of artistic memory is the ability to “remember by forgetting”: it determines the performer’s ability to exclude his own memory of the future of his hero from the process of character existence, so that the character, in the omniscient performer, can live and experience every moment of his virtual existence existentially - “here and now,” in accordance with the truth of stage life.

Memory, in which a person’s impressions and experiences continue to live, provides the performer in the conditions of character existence with affective feelings that are “filtered” by time, cleared of everyday taste and have lost their painful severity, due to their secondary nature and awareness of the creative task of the stage experience. The contents of memory, putting them into images, are reorganized and synthesized by the imagination.

Imagination in the context of the problem of reincarnation is considered by scientists working in the field of musical psychology primarily as a tool for creating virtual reality: it directs, concentrates and retains mental energy in the sphere of character consciousness. Detailed, intense and long-term imagination gives content and life itself to the character, because his stage existence is the performer’s continuous imagination of the character’s mental and emotional state at every current moment. Nature's gift to the performer is the ability of procedural internal vision, which is not inferior in brightness to the perception of the real world, as well as sensual imagination, the ghostly touch of which causes a physiological reaction in the singer, even influencing the texture of the voice.

Yarzhemsky G.L. speaking about the psychological mechanisms of the development of artistry, he notes that many factors that determine transformation are based on psychological defense mechanisms hidden in the unconscious: the actualization of one of the latent personalities, projection, congeniality or complementary contrast; the need to lose yourself in contemplation or experience of someone else’s mental life; confession under the guise of a hero; altruistic love for the spiritual qualities of another Self; the need to truthfully portray a beautiful soul as an ideal. Among the deeply hidden impulses that bring creative energy into an active state, sublimation is also mentioned.

Summarizing the above, it should be noted that artistry as a quality is a systemic education, including such components as understanding of content, musical memory, imagination, empathy.

Artistry is a special art. It comes down to two siddhis joined together. The first is to penetrate into the role that you need to play, and it doesn’t matter whether you play on stage or in life. To play the role of Anna Karenina well, it is necessary to live from within the feelings and passions that she experienced in the novel. You can read how to do this from Stanislavsky, Chekhov and other artistic experts. But the subtlety is that if at the moment when you play a role on stage or in life, you yourself pass through your chakras the emotional energy that corresponds to the role, and a lot of energy, because the role is often very emotional, then your body will simply will wear out. Some, even famous artists, work this way, but it is very exhausting for a person, and it is not at all suitable for a yogi. Hence the second siddha: close the chakras, not believe in the depths of yourself in what you are now living, but in your energy field, in the aura exposed forward, depict the whole energy performance as naturally as possible. If you adjust your voice, movements and facial expressions, but do not give a flow of energy, then this is not yet perfect artistry. Good artistry is when the desired energies shimmer and flare up in your aura, but chakra, internal energy is not spent on this. Where will you get this external energy from: attract it from the astral plane, accumulate it from the audience, or something else, you have to figure it out yourself. Another note for artists: if you work openly on stage from an energetic point of view, then all the energy of the audience will go directly inside you. But it cannot be called pure. Someone envies, someone mocks, someone condemns you - and you swallow all this along with admiration, tears, joy, etc.

Essentially, artistry in life is the ability to hide your essence, your internal reactions, your thoughts, your shortcomings and even your virtues. Many may argue that this does not fit with the yogic principles of truthfulness, honesty and integrity. Theoretically, this is true, however, as already mentioned, we live in a world that is still saturated with the laws of Kali Yuga, and if you are frank in everything, you may not be understood, ridiculed, considered a fool and even stoned. Artistry is a necessary defensive weapon in an era when we are daily subjected to energetic and psychic attacks, even from strangers. The main thing in this game is to have a clear conscience and be honest with yourself. And outside you need to be able to wear masks, and not just one, but several. Here are specific techniques that will help you develop artistry, if, of course, you put enough effort into it.

1) Learn a song, or better yet, a dozen songs that touch you deeply inside, that you like, and whose laws you live by. Live them when you are alone or with those people to whom you can be open, and then learn to sing them to anyone, anywhere, and so that while singing in your chest everything is calm and clear as glass, so that the song you I didn’t get emotional inside.

2) Find people for whom you still have contempt, or disgust, or some other aversion. Of course, these qualities need to be removed, they are not suitable for spiritual development, but until you have yet reached them with your awareness, have not cleared them from the subconscious, you can use them - you can learn something else, using your shortcomings. So, practice communicating with people in such a way that you are impeccable in appearance, so that no one can even guess that you have uncontrollable reactions of rejection.

Don’t be afraid to deliberately put yourself in difficult situations - this will greatly speed up your development.

3) Suppose there is a person whom you are afraid of, or at least feel insecure when he is nearby, who crushes you with his form of behavior, social status or something else. Specifically communicate with him more, training a form of easy, independent behavior. Your behavior should be light and free, not arrogant and defiant. You will simultaneously train will, fearlessness and artistry, as well as self-esteem. These are very valuable people for your advancement - the people you are afraid of. These are not monsters from an action movie, they are most likely your boss at work, the director of the company, your own mom and dad and everyone else who is noticeably stronger than you in some way.

4) If you are having an affair or love someone, then there will probably be situations where you will have to hide your feelings for your partner, the nature of your relationship, etc. from others. This is also a great situation for developing the art of wearing masks. No unexpected question about your relationship should take you by surprise. Either you will not answer anything at all and it will be impossible to determine anything about your feelings from you, or you will play a role and show slightly different feelings than you have inside. Here you need to be able to manage your feelings - either show them or turn them off completely.

5) To hide thoughts, you just need to not think them in the presence of those from whom you want to hide them. You need to train to keep your head empty or, on the contrary, filled, but with something completely different, different from what they want to get out of you. You need to be able to take your true thoughts about someone, something deeply into the background and also fold them there into small dots. And ahead, like a film, there will be whole parades of different interesting, smart, deep, colorful thought forms that, well, have nothing to do with your true essence.

So, artistry is the art of not being yourself when required by the situation.