Actors Page

Presents the bows and curtsies and the basic steps of the most typical dances of the Medieval/Early Tudor, Elizabethan/Jacobean, Restoration, Eighteenth Century, Romantic, and Victorian/Edwardian periods

Offers thirty-three weeks of lesson plans of classic French poses and sequences in the order in which a ballet teacher or master would present them.

This DVD contains a complete visual dictionary and class for the beginner ballet student. It is an invaluable training tool for the student just beginning ballet and reference guide that can be used for years to come.

Presentation of a workshop for actors in the use of part of Rudolf von Laban's system to add variety and clarity to their physical work.

Sticks have been used to train performers in different cultures and at different times. This video is a record of varieties of stick work proposed by Andrei Serban to a group of performers.

In August 1998, as part of the passePartout Festival in Utrecht, Holland, Phillip Zarrilli led a two-week workshop for European actors. The group undertook daily training based on Asian martial and meditative arts, and then applied these insights to work on selected Beckett texts. Zarrilli is an acknowledged expert on Kalarippayattu, the South Indian martial art form.

The Body Speaks, begins with an interview of the late Polish actor/dancer Ryszard Cieslak by Margaret Croyden. The interview is followed by a performance in two parts by Cieslak and two Danish students. These performances consist of dance-like "exercises" for actors intended to demonstrate how body movement can be as useful and expressive dramatically as any other component of the actor's craft.

The interplay between technique and sensitive/bodily memory is central to the acting and pedagogical work of this Peruvian theater group.

Introduces the detailed practices and thinking that inform this technique which holds a central place in Chekhov actor training.

Part 1: Posture and walking -- Part 2: Way different characters move according to sex, temperment, age and personality -- Part 3: Symbolic meaning of selected hand gesture and movement of fan -- Part 4: Basic combinations of movement and gesture

Diversity specialist Norine Dresser outlines differences in behaviors among non-U.S. cultures and introduces multicultural manners. The program covers such topics as greetings, shaking hands, eye contact, smiling, embracing, and kissing; emphasizes that acceptable norms vary among cultures and examines cultural variations in eating customs.

In a combination of performance and demonstration, Roberta Carreri shows techniques for building a character and creating a performance. Roberta Carreri shows techniques for building a character and creating a performance

Every performance tells a story. Thanks to the actor's technique, the characters belonging to the world of fiction become credible reality for the spectator. In the film, it is the technique itself which becomes the protagonist. The actress carries on a dialogue with the secrets which precede and follow the building of a character and the creation of a performance - and in the process, she exposes these very secrets.

In Brazil children go to school to learn the art of Capoeira to better understand their ancestral culture. Through these studies they learn what their ancestors went through before during and after the slave ships came and brought them to Brazil.

Summary: : In a lecture and critique format, with sample acting scenes from plays by Coward, Wilde, Sheridan, and Congreve, Aitken shows a group of young actors how to add spark to comedy readings. The readings are followed by a question and answer session.

Summary: : Janet Suzman explains the fine points of acting in Shakespearean comedy through discussion and examples.

Summary: : Michael Caine shares his personal insights into the art and science of film acting.

Summary: : Before a live audience, veteran actor Simon Callow speaks about the history and nature of English Restoration comedy. Taking scenes from The Relapse, by Sir John Vanbrugh as the text, he then directs a workshop of young actors and subjects them to his own rigorous and scrupulous appraisal. After the workshop, Callow fields some questions from the audience.

Summary: : This 2004 episode of Actor's Notes with host Jennifer Dale features Geraint Wyn Davies, Ron Lea, Julie Stewart, and Sherry Miller talking about their craft.