Read and Respond: Body

Read and Respond #1

Body

Has there ever been a time when you have felt totally closed off from the outside world? Maybe you stood with a bit of a slouch, talked in a mumbled fashion, walked by shuffling your feet, and never really connected to the outside world? Or maybe you have experienced the complete opposite. Were you ever too open, too loud, too tall, just too much in general? We have all been there. We have all been either too open or too closed. The first experience can be called the "First Circle," while the second instance is the "Third Circle." Well, what about "Second Circle" then?

"Second Circle" is the ideal space in which we as performers, and human beings, should live. When we are in this state, we are open, accepting, really connected with others, ourselves, and our environment. According to Patsy Rodenburg, author of The Second Circle, everyone is in second circle when they are born, it is just a matter of finding that again in our later years. It is so hard to find our second circle in adulthood because of all the habits we have acquired over the years. Habitual tension and movements impair our ability to fully emerse ourselves in second circle energy. Once we are in second circle, however, we are connected, focused and present.

The moral of this post? We need to find our "Second Circle," and train ourselves to live in this state of being as frequently as we can.