RESOURCES OF IMAGERY

By O. Tokarchuk

The presented part of the research concerns teaching the actor to work with his own resources of Imagery, or more broadly, expressiveness. The student must find such a degree of control and management that will allow him to master his spontaneous natural behavioural processes; learn to harmonise what is not harmonious in itself.

We develop the following professional management tools:

• attention to oneself, to one's game, to one's creation

• coordination into one system of the processes that are generally of a different nature

• separation of oneself from one's creation - birth of creation

We defined the indicated tools of expressiveness as energetic, coordinational (or phase), and system resources, respectively. In general, such a group of resources can be defined as managerial, or subject, in relation to the object, which is the behaviour of the actor, consisting of external and internal elements of Imagery. External is everything that can be seen and heard by the actor from the position of an external observer. Internal is all that can be felt and understood. From the actor's side, the external components are body plasticity, including facial expressions in all their parametric diversity, and also the voice in all its dimensions, including language. Internal components of Imagery on the part of the actor include emotionality and everything related to it, as well as mental activity - work on understanding, comprehension.

Therefore, in further consideration, it is necessary to distinguish the elements and resources of Imagery.

We will refer to the group of resources briefly specified as follows: resources of Imagery, or resources of acting creativity. We claim that without resources, there can be no creation or acting creativity in general.

ATTENTION

As an action, as a conscious dynamic controlled process, attention is one of the most energy-consuming human functions. Focusing, narrowing the field of view and delving into the subject on the one hand, and dividing attention between different objects of observation, trying to see the picture as a whole on the other, require effort. It is the primary energy investment of the actor, which should pay off over time. That is why we consider attention to be an energetic resource of Imagery.

Attention connects the subject of observation with the corresponding object: “…there are two people in the actor: one creator; the second, serving as material for him. (…) The two selves that exist in the actor are inseparable from each other, but the first self, the one that observes, must dominate. One is the soul, the second is the body. The first is the mind, the same Mind that the Chinese call the supreme ruler; the second self is related to the first, as rhyme is to thought; this is a slave who must obey. The stronger the first, the higher the artist" [Koklen senior B.K. The art of the actor, p. 23, 26]. That is, the subject is the coordinating force, the soul, "your heart is the head of your appearances. And when you are the head, then you, yourself, are your heart." [4, p. 132]; the object-behaviour is the material for creativity. The process of attention regulates the relationship between the subject and the object - it becomes clearer, convex, and brighter. The focus of attention is directed to the parts, sides, edges, and parameters of the object, which arouses the subject's interest, admiration and desire to transform.

Attention brings about a real meeting of the subject with the object, the meeting of the creator with the material, because "what madman agrees to build if he does not believe in the reality of the material, the resistance of which he must overcome?" [Mandelshtam O.E. The collection is composed in 4 vols. Vol. 1, p. 178]. Attention provides active, real, practical love to oneself. Without it, any manipulation of one's own behaviour will be violence against oneself. The object becomes significant for the individual due to the focus of attention on it. There is a personal active focus on knowledge and transformation of the object. One's own behaviour becomes an individual value, a priority in relation to everything else. «The Subject»(Human) inhibits external stimuli by willpower and concentrates more and more on the processes of his own behaviour. He reveals to himself the problematic, the unknown and the present tasks, begins to think, to research, to experiment.

At the first stage of training, we distinguish two types of attention. The first operational attention is necessary for multidimensional management and coordination. Facial expressions, gestures, posture, voice with temporal and spatial parameters, tempo rhythms and sequences are the focus of operational attention; also internal body tensions, their dynamics, and, finally, the generation of retention and understanding of thoughts and ideas. The second is a more general attention to the whole, an attention that takes care of a full perception that craves impressions - a philosophical attention, a creator's view on his creation. Being attentive, monitoring your actions and their results is not easy work, but surprisingly rewarding.

Of course, problems and obstacles arise during training. Working with attention requires special, unusual effort from the students. Experience shows that neither the operative nor the philosophical attention of students has ever been sufficiently actualised in their lives. People can do many things automatically, formally. But where patterned, automatic behaviour appears, attention becomes unnecessary and disappears. Automatic actions waste energy, exhaust the person, and lead to an illusory, unreal world. Both illusory and automatic worlds are dead for man, but at the same time, familiar and comfortable.

It is very difficult to switch attention to the real movements of one's own hand, spine, foot, eyes, and lips. This causes internal resistance. People are not afraid of physical exertion (outside the acting school, some students pump their muscles in gyms, etc.), but somehow it is difficult for them to shift their focus, as it leads to a shock of consciousness.

We observe, with a sense of wonder, a lack of curiosity and self-love. And really, how can you love something you don't relate to? "Get to know yourself! Test yourself hard. Right! How can you fall in love with the unknown? Hay does not burn without being exposed to fire. The heart cannot love without seeing the beauty." [Skovoroda H. Poems. Songs, Fables, Dialogues. Treatises. Parables Prose translations. Letters, p. 120]. Violence is the main factor in self-regulation.

When a person lives under constant duress, their main desire is to relax and have fun. And although students assure, when entering school, that they are ready to work, they unconsciously expect something "pleasant" for themselves - the release of tension and entertainment. But here they have to exert themselves in a different way, to use physical, moral, and spiritual forces that were passive and in an almost atrophied state. They have to put up with the idea that the School of Imagery is all tension and overcoming, and that satisfaction depends on tension.

Another problem is a non-serious attitude towards oneself and one's life. In general, switching attention is not such a difficult thing in the conditions of awareness of a real danger to one's own life. For example, during the «driving-car courses», a person in a few days learns a completely new method of attention, which has not yet been used anywhere else in one’s life: to look forward, backwards and to both sides at the same time. And not only to look, but also to see everything and make decisions. The speed of learning directly depends on the awareness of the vital importance of this skill.

But in behaviour, in acting, in improvisation, a person does not feel any danger. After all, passing into the automatic mode of existence, a person is likened to a blind driver without a steering wheel and brakes: emotions got carried away, an untimely smile appeared, the voice began to tremble, the desired firmness turned into a rude intonation, the shoulders tightened, the pelvis started to shake, the pace of speech accelerated, all disappeared thoughts and so on.

And the most common issue is the predominant orientation of attention outward: to the thoughts, assessments and reactions of other people, the correlation of one's own actions, the motivation of actions in connection with the "expectations" of others. Not understanding and not wanting to know what I need, what I want, how I think, who I am. This is connected with the destruction of the main components of activity, initiative, independence, creativity, love, responsibility - the aggression. As Barro wrote: "The basic law of nature is the law of aggressiveness. This is a creative law: to attack in order to move forward. But people are wrong, and misinterpreting it: they invented destructive aggressiveness" [Barro, J. Memories for future. c.151]. In order to rely on oneself, one must oppose oneself to the surrounding world, and this is subjectively experienced as destruction or aggression. The world of illusions is destroyed, and the raw, undisguised reality is revealed. Turning towards oneself is a profoundly powerful and aggressive act.

Regarding the development of attention to reality, here are some observations of students:

"Sometimes I feel that I have achieved specific results, that I can observe myself from the outside in social life. I feel solid and focused. I think the fire inside, my whole body is on fire and ready for action. My attention is directed not only to myself, but also to the people around me. I feel like I can control the situation. But sometimes I get into a state of terrible imbalance - as if my whole body is falling apart and I can't put it back together, my attention is scattered, I feel insecure, clumsy. It feels like I'm falling to the bottom, and then I'm rising again. It is very difficult to retain the inner observer for a long time.

"I was riding in a minibus, and a woman was sitting next to me with a small child in her arms. The child was two years old and had not yet spoken, but her deliberate making of sounds indicated that she was on the verge of speaking. The child was quite active in both movements and sounds, and I involuntarily began to watch her. There was no similar sound, no similar sound-motion relationship, no similar pattern of action. The sounds changed in volume, frequency, pitch and set. The movements weren't as flashy, but the whole body was involved. The child, improvised, as we say, "without image", it was so exciting to watch. Amazingly, I had some kind of special vision that somehow turned on by itself."

«On my own, I noticed that observation turns on some such special courage and joy of life in me. But I also observed that the observation turns off at the moment of physical or emotional fatigue. In these moments, I completely forget about myself, about what is around me, the usual automatisms begin to be active not only in facial expressions, gestures, poses, but even in thoughts.»

«For me, the issue of cause-and-effect relationships has become relevant. That is, how to find the real reason for my actions/desires and separate it from those reasons that I myself came up with.»

«I began to observe automatisms everywhere - in myself and other people. Stiff, monotonous masks of most people in the city, in general...».

«You come home after classes and want to do the same things as before. And they are no longer interesting to you, you are no longer interested in many of your acquaintances or, even, friends with whom you could not get enough in conversation. Life changes smoothly; sometimes you walk down the street and finally realise that you are no longer slouching. You begin to notice and understand many things that you used to do automatically...».

Here are the students' observations about the criteria by which they determine that they are in reality, and not in the «illusory world».

«The main criterion is that it should be inconvenient, uncomfortable, unusual. Also, the test is to identify the repetition of actions.»

«I am interested in observing myself; my movements create mental states. At the same time, I do not give in to my fantasies; I do not need to fantasise - I am interested here. I feel full and able to fill the environment with myself. My lines are not perfect, not social, but they are mine and I like them.»

«This is a state of inclusion and freedom at the same time. I do not fall into a trance state; there is always an external reaction, an internal readiness to act.»

«If during class I have the thought of what to do next - that's it, I'm in an illusion.»

«I get pleasure, I don't get tired, I am interested in what I do from the position of an observer.»

So, our work with attention, the discipline of perception, opens the way to the creation of images - a genuinely open approach to image creation. Only when a person has developed a subjective, sober attitude towards their own behaviour, play, and improvisation can they start creative work or any artistic activity. While developing one’s acting abilities, a person cannot be even a little blind, deaf, insensitive, and mindless, and even more than that, not able to appreciate one's own creativity.

Coordination

Harmonisation of such a complex and multidimensional world, which is acting, or more broadly, human behaviour, requires, in addition to attention, another resource that would ensure the internal coherence and structure of the acting or behaviour. Assembling the elements into a whole and achieving structural unity in each aspect of the actor's Imagery does not occur automatically and is not merely a rough addition of component parts.

Coordination in space and time requires effective mechanisms for building a harmonious dynamic unity of components. Everything should have its place and its time. It seems that there are no special problems with the place, but there are problems with time. If the division of labour is established - everything in the body performs its direct functions - then the assembly of elements in time raises questions. To answer them, we proposed the so-called method of conscious «dephasing», or the method of phase shift. It is clear that the processes of acting are already spontaneously out of phase. It is impossible to do everything at the same time and synchronously - in one phase, as a lined up company of soldiers marches.

On the other hand, the speed of the processes differs; although they can be adjusted, there are such phenomena as the impulsivity of some and the restraint of others. Adapting all processes to a single, even sophisticated standard is not an option; any compromise requires the imposition of restrictions and reductions. Suppose harmonic dephasing is the only way to keep the acting or behaviour alive. In that case, the only correct way out is to take conscious control of the dephasing processes of the elements. So, we defined phase shift, or dephasing, as an effective way of harmonising the elements of acting.

Phase shift as a way of coordinating complex processes

Phase shift, by its nature, is a time resource that allows you to control your own behavioural manifestations. A phase shift is a backlog or preemption of one process in relation to another (speech–gesturing, understanding–speech, dynamics of emotionality–facial expressions, within gesturing: head-hand, within speech: rhythmic-intonation). In general, these processes are not periodic and endless. The magnitude of the phase shift usually exists within small limits: from tiny instants of a hundredth of a second to a few seconds. Consciously «dephasing» two processes, we change the magnitude of the phase shift, directing attention to both processes and to the whole, to the interweaving that they form. Namely, there is a general view and attention to detail.

«Dephasing» in time is a way of connecting elements, since there is no instantaneous harmonisation (for example, thought and speech at the same time). The shift should be optimal for coordination. Dilution by phase provides internal tension and gives the behaviour volume and expressiveness.

We focus on this management tool in the second part of the course "Individual Imagery": Individual Imagery in social forms. It is not easy to learn to keep in dynamic at least two processes. Students fuss, twitch: in order to speak, one must stop the mental process, in order to think - stop speaking. But step by step, with great overcoming, they master the process of self-management.

Students regarding «dephasing»:

«Dephasing is a way of preparing to react to words before the words are spoken. It has proven to be effective during dialogues, arguments and negotiations. In general, «dephasing» is the ability to build new constructions at the time when the old ones are pronounced, while speaking; allowing in addition, observing the interlocutor and reacting to his actions. One of the «side effects» of (de)phasing has been that my focus is largely on managing the conversation, which keeps me from getting nervous and gives the impression of soundness in my arguments. A variant of «underphasing» is thinking in pauses between sentences, when I have already finished speaking, and the interlocutor has not yet started. This option is simpler and serves as a transition link to full «dephasing».

I use «dephasing» to gain speed at the expense of greater energy consumption. It is simply a way to exchange one resource (energy) for another (time) that is more needed at the moment. In fact, the conveying of thinking and speaking seems to be only the first stage of at least a dozen possible ones. Thus, by improving the administration, I can build up the pipeline with observation and reaction. There are already 4 elements of communication that are performed simultaneously and sequentially. For some reason, it appears to increase the productivity of the brain - the involvement of different areas of it, not sequentially as it used to be, but simultaneously.»

«Phase shift is a guarantee of the absence of fuss and haste, which prevent creativity. It allows you to discover your own individual rhythm. Self-respect is embedded in the phase shift process: I allow myself to place accents, pauses, colours in my speech, and gestures exactly as I consider best. There is no slavish appeasement, adjusting to everyone and everything. I feel like a master in my own household. My behaviour becomes a phenomenon for me.»

«When you shift the phase, it changes the attitude towards everything that happens around. A playful perception of reality appears.»

What is the value of just one disconnection or disintegration of the processes of thinking and formulating out loud? When the phase distance between these two processes is confidently maintained, vanity, haste, and lack of words disappear. It turns out that actually, there is time and inspiration. Just as a careful owner grows a beloved living creature, without pushing it and holding it until maturity, so a professional actor, using conscious harmonic «dephasing», composes the elements into one complete image.

Disidentification

Constantly maintained behaviour as a complex dynamic system has a short life time. An actor has a chance to receive an impression from his acting, from his creativity, from his own art. For this, the actor needs the second "philosophical" attention to his creation, the one we were writing about above. If «dephasing» is a temporal distance, a temporal resource, then dis-identification is a systemic distance, a systemic resource of acting. It should be noted that there is one, but very important, prerequisite for using this resource. Dis-identification is possible only if the object is kept in an unchanged state. This is usually a dynamic and multi-factorial condition.

Disidentification is not a self-sufficient resource; it opens up opportunities for a procedure that is very important from the energetic side of the actor's existence, the one we call impression. The actor's own impression of his own creation is the goal of disidentification. When all elements of Imagery are out of phase and harmoniously maintained, only then can you consciously choose a systemic distance for disidentification and get an impression. Impressions are not only energy, they are also information, feelings that only the soul of a creative personality can feel. This is food for an active acting soul.

In fact, this is how the energy returned, after spending attention on the creation of the Image. But this is not the only discovered energy effect. The most impressive effect we get is when we consciously change the degree of disidentification after receiving the initial impression of the Image. By continuing to maintain the Image and changing the degree of disidentification, in either direction, the actor gains additional power or reserve of strength, or energy that can be immediately invested in additional attention.

It may be appropriate to note that the vast majority of psychotherapeutic methods are aimed at either disidentifying a person with his problem or identifying with it even more strongly. To move from the point where the problem possesses a person, draining his life force. Such a shift gives energy and allows you to master the situation and transform it.

Theoretically, a lot can be said about the use of this resource, but it is enough to try it once, and the understanding, feeling, and effect arise instantly. [Tokarchuk A.V., Tokarchuk N.Yu. School of imagery: Actor's art. Psychology, pp. 128-144]

Some quotes from written works of students regarding work with the system resource of Imagery - disidentification.

«I use disidentification when I need to distance myself from reality in cases where it poses a threat to me. So when some super-powerful emotions reign around me, I turn my attention to the «inner kitchen» and get impressions only from my own mechanics. Dis-identification is simply the movement of the circle of attention from the external environment to myself. Since attention is a finite resource, there is not enough of it for the entire universe. And thus the threat disappears for me personally.

Or vice versa - if there is a need to cooperate more effectively with the environment, I identify with myself, / that is, I shift my attention to this very environment and get an impression not from myself, but from the environment. Among other things, it makes it easy to forget, to abandon the current state in favour of an external image.

The procedure is complicated by the fact that attention can shift partially, and the parts themselves are not regulated anywhere or by anything.

An intriguing possibility is that attention may increase due to a change in the level of identification. Attention cannot be kept for a long time on one unchanging object, at first this object seems new, and the organism itself tries to infuse it into, but in a short time it turns out that «that’s it» - the object is already familiar, there is nothing more to look for. Attention weakens, and the body goes into energy-saving mode (falls asleep). To refocus attention, it is quite simple to shift it from yourself to the surrounding world and back. This is, in general, an artificial technique that allows you to simulate some changes for the instinctive entity and thereby force it not to fall asleep while conserving strength, but to be on guard while spending it. In a short period of time, this technique stops working. Then I add some unevenness in the changes of the identification, be it skews in different directions or the speed.

For me, the identification has become a convenient tool to monitor the condition of the people around me. In general, it works in such a way that an image of the specific person, together with his state of mind, appears in my imagination, and I only get an impression from this image.

It turned out that the identity has several aspects - energetic, social, and research».

«Disidentification is the ability to separate oneself from one's behaviour. It is also the sense of «living behaviour» that an image apparently is and that can be identified separately from its creator. The image is felt as something separate, but also alive. Dis-identification is a prerequisite for both the operative management and for receiving an impression of the image.»

«I spent a lot of time trying to overcome the internal moral conflict associated with dis-identification. When I created a gap between my guiding centre (soul) and my behavioural manifestations, subjectively, it seemed to me that I was not sincere in relation to others, and this caused a feeling of guilt and shame. Disidentification caused energy to be fed, and it was also shameful from a moral point of view, as if I was hiding something from people. "To be internally filled is selfish, and as such, shameful," - I discovered this was the internal attitude that prevented me from acting. I think that this is an ugly legacy of the Soviet past».

Therefore, the management of the elements of Imagery is completed by working with the system resource - disidentification. The two main effects of dis-identification are gaining an impression and receiving energy as a reward for productive work.

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