Body Awareness

As an actor, body language is an essential tool in your toolbox. 

Not only does it bring awareness to how you slate or behave outside your performances in an audition setting, but it also sheds light on the characters you play. 

Understanding what body language conveys to the people around you (whether you’re on stage or in front of a camera) is the best place to start when physically crafting your characters. 

So, what exactly is body language?

What is body language?

From the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of body language states it’s “the process of communicating nonverbally through conscious or unconscious gestures and movements.”

It includes a variety of behaviors such as facial expressions and the use of space. 

Body language is both universal and cultural. 

It’s the whole idea of being lost in translation. Not everything is about verbal language.

Have you ever misinterpreted the tone of a text message or email?

I certainly have. 

It can be tough to gauge a situation when we can’t see the person.

“Communication is made up of so much more than words. Nonverbal cues such as tone of voice, gestures, and posture all play their part.”

So, as an example, if you’re playing a character of a different culture, it would benefit you to do some research to see if there’s any specific cultural gestures you could incorporate into your character’s movement signature, 

One great way to do this is to consume media of that culture. 

Whether it’s the news, movies, music videos, the internet is your friend here. 

Importance of body language

I don’t personally see body language as being good or bad inherently. However, they do convey positive and negative information, often unconsciously.

Forbes said, “With the face alone being responsible for over 250,000 signs (the body over 700,000), according to a report by Personal Power Information, the silent signals you portray may be harming your business without you even knowing it.”

The Personal Power Information post it refers to also offers some incredible insights, mainly that: 

“Albert H Mehrabian experimented in the late 60’s and early 70’s and came up with this calculation in terms of how important the non verbal movements, signals, and gestures are when it comes to the overall effectiveness of our communication in relaying our message to others. Words account for only 7% Tone of voice accounts for 38% Body language accounts for 55%”

Safe to say, body language and understanding how we communicate non-verbally are essential as a human and vital to acting. 

Now, let’s dive into some examples.

Fristly, because pictures are worth 1,000 words:

Some other examples of body language:

• crossed arms 
• eye contact
• a smile that doesn’t meet the eyes
• personal space
• blinking quickly
• blinking very little
• leaning in 
• playing with hair
• nail biting
• upright posture

So, expanding on this, someone who has their arms folded can come across as uninterested or angry. 

When you’re introducing yourself during an audition, this probably wouldn’t be your best choice. 

But, if the character you’re playing is in an argument or is closed off emotionally, crossing your arms can become a fantastic movement choice. 

Talking with someone who smiles, and that smile doesn’t seem to reach their eyes? How does that make you feel?

And yes, I’m thinking of Tom Cruise and how Christian Bale used Cruise as his influence for the serial killer, Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. This is a great post diving into that if you’re interested.

Now, all of this leads to first and foremost, we have to be aware of how our bodies move BEFORE we can truly dive into our character movement work.

Awareness of your bodies habits

If you’ve read other posts of mine, followed me on social media, or worked with me personally, you’ll know this is a big thing for me. 

Body awareness always comes first. 

See, our bodies and minds are conditioned from a very young age to behave in specific ways.

We’re sponges where we’re small. We absorb all the things around us from who raises us, our local community to the larger society we live in. 

Do you naturally slouch? Nod when you say ‘thank you? Gesture whenever you talk?

To be clear, this conditioning isn’t a bad thing at all. 

It’s simply you.

But, to be a chameleon as an actor, you have to become aware of your own conditioning if you’re going to portray characters different from you. 

The foundation of character movement work is you, like yourself, at your baseline.

I wrote more about why character movement work is so vital to the work of an actor, you can check it out here.

So, how, as actors, do we harness body language?

Leveraging body language 

Leveraging body language to your advantage as an actor and for the characters, you play is vital to basically everything we do. 

In the audition space or performing. 

One great way to become more aware of body language is to people watch. 

Casually people watch. No need to make anyone uncomfortable. 

Another is to tape one of your monologues, or even just talk about anything you’d like and watch it. 

Guarantee you’ll spot gestures or micro-expressions or other aspects of how your body moves that you didn’t know about. 

When in doubt, as those close to you if they could share their thoughts on your default body language. 

Then, in turn, think about theirs. 

The best thing you can do is continue observing, experimenting, and learning.

Happy moving!

As an actor, I bet, at some point, you’ve said: “I don’t know what to do with my hands!”

If you haven’t, then I’m sure you’ve heard another actor say it. 

Now, there are many ways our hands like to operate in this context.

They like to flap about, pretend they’re a T-Rex, go into mime mode, or freeze in unnatural ways. 

Our bodies, especially if we’re not terribly aware of them, like to run riot sometimes. 

It happens to everyone, actor or not. 

The key is our bodies are kind of incredible. 

See, we’re energy-producing creatures. 

Our “movement produces kinetic energy, which can be converted into power.” 

Which is absolutely brilliant!

And, one way or another, that energy, that power, has gotta get out. 

The energy’s gotta get out

When we’re learning how to act, say in school, a workshop, or on the job, be it on stage or in front of a camera, chances are, we’re nervous and maybe a bit excited. 

Either nerves or excitement, that energy has to find a way to exit the body. And it can sometimes happen when we don’t even know it. 

It’s why body awareness is so important for actors. You can read more about that here.

See, if we don’t allow this energy to flow, to work with it, it builds up and finds its way out. 

Some ways it may do that is:

• Bouncy-knees
• Tapping feet
• Fast flying hand gestures
• Pacing
• Finger wiggling

The list goes on. 

Now, back to those hands of yours. 

They’re the tip of your extremities, right? Upper extremities, to be exact, as they’re connected to your arms. 

(Now, this applies to those who suffer from wandering feet, the tip of the lower extremities: your legs.)

As nervous energy likes to tumble out of our bodies, a way to work with this is to relax or release said energy. 

(Pro tip: If you’re playing a nervous or excited character, it helps to channel the nerves you’ve already got.) 

Having a short routine or ritual before a performance, whether it’s for an audition or a scene study class, that releases some of that nervous energy that’s building can help lessen those hands from lifting off on their own. 

Some examples of such rituals are:

• Box breathing
• Meditation
• Body scan
• Jogging in place
• Shaking it out (kinda like this)

Another option is to shift that nervous mindset towards excitement. 

Nerves vs. excitement

From a psychological standpoint, anxiety or nerves and excitement are very similar. 

In how our bodies respond, that is.

“Anxiety and excitement are both aroused emotions. In both, the heart beats faster, cortisol surges, and the body prepares for action.”

At times, it can be hard to tell the difference. 

And sometimes, they happen at the same time. 

Sure, you’re nervous about an audition, but you may also be excited because you get to perform. You love this monologue/scene and are excited for the potential opportunity of working on the project.

I’m thinking of Little Red Riding Hood song I Know Things Now from Into the Woods, where she’s recounting her run-in with the wolf and says:

“Once his teeth were bared, 

Though, I really got scared-

Well, excited and scared!”

So, if anxiety or nerves and excitement operate similarly in the body, how does that help us with uncooperative hands while acting?

Working with the energy

If you’ve tried one or all of the tools listed earlier, such as box breathing, and they’re not working as well as you’d like, it can help to focus on the energy of the character you’re playing. 

By working with your character’s psychological makeup from all the script analysis you’ve done, can inform how your whole body moves, especially your hands.

I love this quote from the Acting School of Scotland,  “…have a psychological action to do as we speak.”

Think about how this character would have their hands. 

Folded calmly in their lap or on a desk?

Perhaps they do gesture a lot. But, be specific. What kind of gestures? When? 

If they move their hands, do they do it slowly or suddenly?

These types of questions can help you link these movements to your character’s personality.

And by asking other questions like this and answering them, you’ve created a basic movement signature for your character. 

You’ve crafted the baseline for how their body moves. 

This means you’ve also already done a lot of work to understand how your body operates differently from theirs.

And as actors, body awareness is critical. 

Happy cooperative hands

So, as an example, by combining a ritual of shaking out your nerves AND having gestures logged away that are psychologically linked to your character, your hands are in a much better place to play along. 

Because we want to work with our bodies, not against them. 

Happy moving!