Duration + Tempo...
Time. More that seconds, More than minutes
Time.
So precious. More than hands on a clock.
My relationship with it is littered with lies: Not enough. Too Fast. Wasted.
I remember watching a delightful TikTok video by @benjhandy who shared the idea of the 4th dimension, and the way we tend to interpret time from the POV of an apple.
Essentially, the timeline being the apple in its entirety.
And if the apple (was sentient and) could look at itself through the lens of time, in a linear fashion… it would view it self in the way of longitudinal slices.
“I am a little bit of skin.”, “I am a little bit of skin with some fruit.”
“I am a lot of fruit with a little bit of skin””I have seeds”….
and on and on until we reach the other side of the apple.
There is something so satisfying when I think of time, not just as this moment being something I can define as what I AM… but this moment just being a sliver of knowing something I will never fully be able to witness.
May each slice be precious. May I be open to seeing the next as its own and not the whole. May I have gratitude for all the slices that preceded giving me shape
and experience to recognize the fullness that is life.
The first two weeks we looked at Shape and Spatial Relationship. These ViewPoints live in the world of ‘Space’.
This week we are going to be stepping into Time….
beginning with Tempo + Duration.
Tempo…. the pacing… cadence - pulse - speed - rhythm - measure
Duration… how long… span - interval - extent - spell - period
Defined separate… explored together… as most things are.
The energy of what is happening radically affected either way.
TEMPO…..
Speeding around my home, rushing around and trying to find my keys so I can leave the house for back to back meetings, making sure everything is switched off, then I remember I needed to send in that payment, “did i remember to send?” I stop in my tracks and try to bring forth the memory of if I did or I did not.
Or walking slowly in the direction of my car, and the rain hits. My pace picks up to a rush.
There is always an impulse for change.
Sometimes from within, sometime from with out.
Other moments, I deliberately CHOOSE to change my tempo.
I feel anxiety coming into my body, so I purposefully slow myself down, focus on my breath, I stand still and look at my hands.
I feel tired and sluggish at the computer, my impulse is to shut it all down… but I shake my torso vigorously to wake up my system, briskly walk about the room to inspire some energy.
When working on a project, or preparing in rehearsal, and I feel stuck in what to do or how to be inspired. Tempo is one of the first things I turn to.
Say the line faster.
Speak t h e l i n e s l o w l y.
It is simple enough, yet will radically shift my connection to what I am doing.
There have been moments that simply by trying a different tempo with the script or with my blocking that I have learned something new about my character or the scene itself. I will instantly know if it is a right or a wrong choice.
I will say that Speeding something up requires me to have a close relationship with the material. I can’t do something fast if I don’t know what I am doing. That can be dangerous, that can be messy.
The neutral pace of a “4” I’ve talked about in regards to “scale” comes into play with tempo and duration as the middle ground of our learning space. It is important to spend time in that pedestrian landscape and really explore a shape or a gesture, a relationship so I can play with Tempo in an expansive way.
For example: I have the option to explore a differing external tempo and an internal tempo happening. The pace at which my emotional life may be swirling could be radically different from the pace of my physical movements.
SIDE NOTE: An actor can fall into a cliche of anger meaning “big energy” or sadness must mean “I am precious with every word so you really can hear how sad I am”. Just typing this makes me giggle.
If I am looking to manufacture emotion through these View Points? It may look just like that manufactured, forced, pre-determined.
That is the beauty of preparation.
By diving into Shape, Spatial Relationship, Tempo, Duration, and the other building blocks in a purely objective state, I build connection with my body and the space around me. Then when it comes time to emotionally connect, I can LIVE THROUGH my emotions in any shape and in any tempo.
I am free to make creative choices because I know that the emotion of sadness can live in flurry of movement, and anger can happen with absolutely stillness. I avoid the performative so I may live fully in the moment, imaginary or real.
Duration….
And just like Tempo, the Duration of how long or how short you are doing something is revelatory.
When I am on a dance floor, and I feel like I need to be interesting or clever, I will constantly be changing my shapes and my movement.
Never satisfied, just constantly moving.
Never long enough to get to really feel connected to something,
just next, next, next with the hopes I will feel inspiration.
And other times I will find a shape, I will find a gesture a movement, something repeatable, and I keep doing it. Over and over. and over and OVER. I do it for longer than feels comfortable, to the point I feel like I just might be ridiculous. And then I keep doing it. I make the duration of this movment go on so long, that it becomes fascinating to me. I am now no longer focused on the movement itself and it turns into some what of a meditation. Different parts of my body start coming on line and I can feel them in new ways.
What is interesting to me in duration is, can I choose the counterintuitive choice? Just to feel what it feels like. If I want to keep changing can I stay with it? or if I want to stay with something, what happens if I change?
Shorter duration is not always a frenzy, It can also show up as a restricted experience. Maybe I don’t allow myself to finish and give the satisfaction of properly ending an 8 count or the musical stanza. Maybe the conversation was cut short before it could complete. Maybe I went to reach for the door and I stopped.
While playing with duration, I can lulling the audience into a sense of safety with consistency or create tension by stopping a rhythm before it completes…. I can peak curiosity when something has gone on just a little too long… or like a magician, never stopping the redirection of focus so the trick can take place.
What are your comfort tempo’s?
Do you thrive in a fast moving speed? Or are you more at home with a slow pace?
Are you someone who prefers a shorter duration, the get-to-the-point of life so the next is always on the horizon? Or do you linger, never quite ready to move forward?
”Know thyself” is a phrase my friends use almost as a permission slip to finding acceptance with how we function naturally as being absolutely ok. If I know my comfort zone, my naturally moving state, I may have a little more compassion for myself and others as I try to step outside of it.
Until soon….
See you at the next threshold,
xo
Kirstin
