Virtual Course

Educate your body and prepare your mind for acting and stylized movement subjects with my online course “Essential Stage Movement.” This program is the first attempt to teach a one-semester Stage Movement course to students via the Internet. It will prepare your body and mind for better acting as your muscles become more obedient and express the nuances of your artistic imagination.

You are all familiar with online programs that many universities offer nowadays in a variety of subjects. It is one thing to learn a theoretical course by reading from a screen instead of from the book, and another thing to acquire psycho-physical abilities from an image. My practical course delivers just this. It has been successfully tested on several groups of students varying in experience and age.

As you probably know, there are plenty of books on the market that offer exercises in all kinds of movement disciplines. Still, I do not believe anyone can improve the psychophysical qualities by reading a book. You must exercise the body to achieve this. The best that can come from reading a textbook on Stage Movement is the thought “I should try this one day.”

That is is why I have decided to produce the Video Instructor course first, and then the textbook for those who would like more in-depth knowledge about the method I am employing and to understand why things are done the way I do them.

This video course consists of thirty (30) lessons, each lasting one hour and fifteen minutes, approximating one semester of lessons in a college program, plus a Prologue, an Introduction to the course, and a concluding Test Lesson. Every lesson in the program is a continuation of the previous one, with about 100 exercises included. Some exercises like warm-up are repeated in every lesson, others -- only once or several times. It is done intentionally, as a drill, to overcome the natural resistance of our bodies and minds to develop new skills.

With the same goal in mind, we recommend taking these classes two or three times a week, stretching the program for a period of 3 to 4 months. It takes that long to develop all Faculties, Habits, and Skills gradually. As continuity is very important when dealing with muscles and ligaments, we cannot guarantee good results if one tries to do it infrequently.   This online program has almost all the attributes that a real class would have. 

There is an Instructor, who gives you the description of the exercise and a command to begin it. 

There is music to accompany the exercises. Varying types of graphic illustrations and animations help you to understand the particulars of the tasks. 

There is even feedback from the experienced Instructor on what kind of mistakes and errors a student might make when performing a particular exercise. 

It is up to you, the student, to follow the instructions and directions, be honest with yourself, and put maximum effort into the exercises.

Every class in the program is designed so that the time spent on exercises takes about ¾ of the lesson. The rest is the Instructor’s explanations. A variety of exercises and tasks are offered in each lesson to stimulate the student and not render the lesson monotonous.

The Method used in this program possesses a distinguished pedigree that begins in the 19th century with Dalcroze and Delsart. It was then influenced by Russian teacher/director Konstantin Stanislavsky, further developed by Russian pedagogues of Stage Movement, and finally adopted for English speaking educational institutions.

This Method concentrates on developing the Faculties, Habits, and Skills needed by an actor for successful work on Stage, in TV, and Film.

Some of these are:

Balance

Coordination

Concentration

Flexibility

Sense of Rhythm

Sense of Space

Courage

Decisiveness, etc.