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Learning Alba Emoting
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Typical class sessions, learning process, and comments from professional and student actors on completion of beginning training.
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More detailed descriptions of material on this and other pages are available through published articles and books. See page 2 for a bibliography of sources.
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the beginning Alba Emoting training course
Alba Emoting arouses emotional response in the body through conscious application of effector patterns of breath and muscle tension organic to basic emotions. Though present in the body since infancy, these simple but precise patterns take some time to master: physical and emotional habits built up over years ingrain muscle tensions which can be challenging to penetrate. Most people experience significant release of habitual emotional tensions in the course of beginning training.
A typical session involves extensive physical work alternated with discussion of theory and application, technical clarifications, and sharing of experiences. Each session begins with warmups and exercises to develop physical control, flexibility, and awareness. Effector patterns are introduced step by step in exercises of just a few minutes' duration; as skills develop, exercises explore use of patterns in interaction with others and in combination with movement and text.
Learning rates vary according to emotional readiness and previously developed skills in physical awareness and tension control. A few participants will experience genuine emotion from a pattern within the first few hours of work; most will have these experiences by midway through the course. Control develops with command of technique; expertise develops over time, with practice, exploration, and application. A beginning training course is structured to allow most or all participants to develop sufficient understanding and technical command to use the patterns independently, including application to acting work. (This is defined as Level 1 Certification. See Certifications, p. 2)
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Stages of the learning process
The Alba Emoting training process can be broken down into three stages. Most people will have progressed to the second stage by the end of beginning training; the third stage develops independently with applicaton and practice.
1. Robotic:
Patterns are produced to their greatest intensity, with attention only to technical precision. The appearance of the emotion is stereotypical, oversized, and usually ingenuine.
2. Induction:
Accurate technical production of the effector patterns induces a genuine experience of emotion in the actor (this may or may not involve the emergence of memories and/or images). The patterns merge with the organic experience and subtly individuate without losing their basic integrity; the
appearance, and experience, of the emotion becomes genuine.
3. Integration:
The actor is able to engage the physiological experience and expression of emotion with or without corresponding subjective experience: i.e., the actor can choose whether, and how much, to engage personal associations. The actor can, at will, control intensity of emotion, move from one emotion to another, and blend emotions to create truthful interaction.
As technical ease increases, expression of organic emotion flows freely from concentration on circumstances, interaction with fellow actors, etc. -- with no need for conscious use of the patterns. The actor can also chose to make conscious adjustments to change, clarify, intensify, or sustain an emotional state.
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Actors comment about Alba Emoting
...a sampling of the many written comments received from professional and student actors following beginning training, in their own words.
--I love the technique... and the freedom of having these emotional patterns ...gives me a confidence I haven't experienced with other methods.
--The theory behind [Alba Emoting] made perfect sense. It's given me a new approach to acting.
--It has given me confidence personally as well as professionally. Some emotions have become unlocked because of the work.
--I am much more vibrant and present. This class...has [helped] my emotional development incredibly.
--It's opened me to a whole new world as an actor. It's unleashed something in me as a person and as an actor. Overall, the class is much more than I anticipated. ..a rare, wonderful surprise.
--an awesome, freeing acting tool... All my basic acting skills have been sharpened.
--I have better acting skills than I have ever had before.
--A tangible, workable method with almost immediate results... I wish I could go back and re-do some of the parts I've played -- there's so much more I can do.
--Making choices...is going to be a much shorter process. And choices are so much clearer!
--More is at my disposal emotionally and physically... My awareness has grown significantly.
--I've learned that all emotions are available to me.
--I know how to more easily decode emotions in others. This has improved my empathy.
--The ideal connection between the physical and emotional. [Alba Emoting] aligns your entire being.
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