Posts - Part 203

Yoga For Young Actors

August 20, 2016 Acting Classes

Yoga For Kids & Teens

You may be asking yourself why there is an article about yoga on a website for kids’ acting. You may have an idea of yoga as holding a series of arduous poses in a steamy room or people sitting cross legged for stretches of time, while meditating, neither of which may seem particularly child friendly.

To dispel the myth of the first scenario, there are many types of yoga, most of which advocate practicing at a comfortable temperature, and one of these is yoga for children, which is vastly different from yoga for adults. In addition, although children can learn to practice stillness through yoga, silent meditation is not necessarily part of yoga practice for kids.

What, Who, When, Where, Why..

August 18, 2016 Acting Classes

The Five W’s

The Five Ws form of analysis pre-dates the 12th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws.) At Gary Spatz Acting Conservatory we teach our young actors to be able to look at a script and come up with the answers to the Acting 5 Ws, which differ slightly in that the “Who” is who you’re talking to in a script, the “What” is what you want and the “Why” is why you want it.

(There are a few additional items in script analysis that I’ll choose to leave out for simplicity’s sake.) We also teach our students that two of the most important things to figure out is their WHAT and WHY. What does their character want. and why is it important?

Acting & Stress Part 2

August 18, 2016 Acting Classes

Stress And The Creative Life, Part 2: The Way Out is The Way In

By the term “creative life” I don’t mean a life of taking on Martha Stewart craft projects, but rather, a life that may not have a predictable daily structure. It can be a life that offers little in the way of financial or emotional stability, but at the same time holds a wealth of possibilities.

Most artists live such a life–actors in particular. And not only do we need to use our creativity in our chosen path, we need to be creative in our daily lives, because life is unstructured. Most of us are honing our crafts, hustling acting work, as well as performing side jobs to support ourselves, because work in the former is extremely competitive and jobs are quite often few and far between.

Acting & Stress

the playground acting school acting classes and stress

August 18, 2016 Acting Classes

Stress and The Creative Life: The Meltdown Part. 1

This thought struck me a couple of weeks ago as I was racing to finish an article on relaxation for children. During the same week I was made aware that the car I had bought from a friend last year had never been registered in my name.

Aside from facing late fees, sales tax, and having the car smog tested, I also discovered the title was missing. Don’t ask how I missed all of this stuff last year during the transaction. I’ve been asking myself the same question. Needless to say, handling everything was going to entail a chunk of cash and time at the DMV, as well as a mound of paperwork, which was complicated by the fact that I needed the signature of my friend, who is in Brazil until November.

Stage Fright

August 18, 2016 Acting Classes

Does Your Child Experience Stage Fright?

Stage fright is a very common experience, not just for adults, but for children as well. Many children enjoy performing in front of an audience, but are held up by fear. Oftentimes, children are simply excited to perform and this nervous energy is misconstrued as fear by adults. Children then associate their adrenaline rush with a negative feeling.

In a sense many children learn to experience stage fright from their teachers, parents, or peers. Stage fright is one of the many issues we address at Gary Spatz’s “The Playground” – a TV/Film conservatory for young adults in Los Angeles, CA.