Kinesthetics Responses & Forces and Forms

Last night I attended a "Developing Characters in Improv: Bringing Characters to Life on Stage” class from Queen City Improv’s Rick Reebenacker. I enjoyed this class so much. As a former animator and now improvisor I see a lot of overlap in the two fields. I mean, they are both acting. 

Rick led us through some exercises about Kinesthetics Responses - sensing and responding based on how you feel, and the stored and expressed energy. I’ve been mindful of the body language, emotions, and space work (where on stage people are and where they are moving from/to) of my scene partners for a long while now. But I never thought of it in the terms Rick used. Something clicked for me and another level was unlocked in my studies. 

It’s similar to when I was a working animator and our team was exposed to a concept I believe attribute to Disney animator Don Graham. Animate forces, not forms. Instead of moving the forms of the character through space, you focus on the forces behind the movement. Inertia, gravity, momentum, weight, mass, etc. These concepts are in balance and in conflict when something moves.

Think of it this way: walking is controlled falling.

In my mind there’s something connecting these concepts and I can’t wait to explore it more in part two of the class.