The Art of Experiencing
We have a big week in Performing Arts coming up. The College Musical opens next week and then Year 11 play rehearsals commence. It is a good time to think about the value of the art of experiencing, a term coined and used by revolutionary Russian theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski.
Stanislavski was fascinated by the psychology of acting and the idea that an actor could prepare through a process that included self-reflection, drawing on their experiences to embody and transform toward an emotional and physical truth in performance. Stanislavski refers to this process as the art of experiencing and is most likely why many young actors who present to acclaimed acting schools in their youth, are regularly encouraged to get a few years of life experience before returning to study.
Students of drama learn about and use this idea of ‘method acting’, but I think students can apply this ‘art of experience’ throughout their education, impacting and shaping their future life experiences.
Do we sufficiently value the moments when our daughters are so tired that they feel like they want to give up, but don’t? Do we sufficiently value the opportunity to make new and lasting friendships in an ensemble or team, above selection in a higher-ranked team? Do we sufficiently appreciate that learning to deal with disappointment is essential in life? Do we appreciate that it can take days, months or even years of hard work and practice to create a maestro, a champion or an expert, and that success doesn’t happen overnight?
Stanislavski once said, ‘that there are no small parts, only small actors’. I love this quote. It’s wisely relevant to much in life. In sport, it can be the unseen move that’s made by a player without the ball that opens space for the dynamic run and a winning shot at goal. It’s in the orchestra when for just the briefest moment, the percussionist plays a single crash on the cymbal. Consider, that if we don’t have a second or a third violin player there can’t be a first violin player. On our stages, some roles are labelled leads, yet it’s often the actor with the briefest moment of perfect comic timing, or the fully invested performer in the back row, that is the most memorable or moving for the entire audience. This quote forces us to reconsider what we value in our experiences and why they are of value.
We have all suffered disappointment, missed out on something we dearly wanted or felt unjustifiably omitted from a certain selection. There is often a feeling of certainty in these moments – that ‘they’ got the selection wrong. These experiences can naturally manifest into judgemental thoughts, the suggestion of political agendas and even bias. Looking back however, many of us can see the value in these experiences and with the benefit of hindsight, often refer to them as life-affirming, essential experiences that prepared us for the challenges of life ahead.
We are frequently reminded that young people are being confronted with a mental health epidemic and that as a society in general we are becoming less able to handle stress and adversity. We read and hear about the need to build mental toughness and mental fitness, and that we should all be promoting opportunities and programs for the development of resilience and grit. Yet, how we best manage this, amongst the current social, political and economic climate is a huge challenge for us all. Perhaps the answer partly lies in a slight paradigm shift, to reconsider and revalue the art of experience. If we can, then it’s certainly possible, that like Stanislavski’s actor, we might harness, embody and transform the challenging experiences of the past, into an emotional and physical truth in our life performances to follow.
Owen Vale
Director Cocurricular
