My posture is not a trait that I believe will win any awards, so unfortunately for Claudia who does everything in life to win that had to change. After the tech Ben wanted to do some work with me on my posture because there is a clear difference between the way I hold myself and the way she does.
Let it be known that the route to good posture is not a pain free one; the exercises we did to- quite literally- push everything me about my posture out of my shoulders and back were a little strenuous. We first started with me in semi supine with someone applying weight through the palms of their hands down through my shoulders. Slowly over time more pressure was added with the aim of getting my shoulders to lie flat on the floor in smooth continuation with my back. Next was an exercise that was one of the strangest exercises I have ever performed in a rehearsal room. Staying laid down, someone positions their feet so as to sit in the right angle between your shoulder and your neck. Then you raise your hands over your head so the person sat by your head can have a firm grip on your arms. It is important (and seemingly less painful) to release all tension in your arms and give the other person full control as it just makes the whole activity work better. Then the person sat by your head will begin to push down on one of your shoulder; almost pushing down through your shoulder whilst pulling the opposite arm towards them (left shoulder pushed, right arm pulled). They will continue this, switching which shoulders and arm is being pushed and pulled until the final step of pushing and pulling on both shoulders and arms simultaneously. I would recommend that through this exercise you maintain a steady breathing pattern; I tried to hold my breath to hide the part of me that felt my body was undergoing a medieval torture technique, but as Ben pointed out to me, I wasn't fooling anyone anyway so why not allow my body the one thing I was able to provide it with in that moment- plus it helped a lot when I allowed myself to breath through the pain. Then your partner relinquishes their control of your shoulders and arms and allows you to just lie there for a moment so your body can readjust to it's new found length. After slowly coming up to standing Sam and I performed one of our scenes and with Ben pulling my shoulders down and back occasionally we had a new woman in front of us and more importantly one who replicated Claudia more closely.
The purpose of these exercises are looking about opening, relaxing and lengthening my spine, dropping the shoulders and gaining a posture which oozes 100x more confidence, class and Claudia. Then we looked at how to move with this posture. I have a tendency to tilt my head down, whereas someone who wanted to walk into a room looking confident and self assured, both of which Claudia are, they would keep their head up at all times, not afraid of anyone's eye contact or anything they see because they are above most of it anyway- why would they be apprehensive? Then it was about leading with my chest. Walking around leading with your chest not only helps your shoulders to stay down but it helps keep your head up, so it was the glue holding the two together. Walking around like this at first made me feel so stupid because it's so different and it felt a bit wanky if I'm honest because it's not me at all. It is something that makes me feel really uncomfortable because this posture is so open and you have no defence, but people like Claudia don't need them. That's an odd concept to grasp. yet as I continued to walk in this way, in fact it was only once I'd walked to the station trying to keep this new found posture that I genuinely felt like this had cracked part of her character for me. It's one of the final puzzle pieces and it has opened up new doors for me in my approach to the character. It has made me feel more confident and that's what matters because even if I'm not on the night if something makes me look like I am, that illusion is sometimes enough.
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