Action Arts How can we use physical storytelling techniques to portray heightened emotional situations on screen and stage, while conveying inherent risk in a way that is both repeatable, for the performer and crew, and focused on character development and the story?

Day 1, Role:

What role does physical movement play in storytelling? Compare what you learned in stage combat and aerial work today. How can we apply narrative storytelling ideas to working with stage combat partners and trying stunts with aerial silks?

With physical movement, you can detail emotion and charge a scene with conflict or even beauty. With Stage Combat, you can show the escalation of conflict and heightening of emotions. With what we learned, we were able to get a chance to portray hand-to-hand combat, which is much more of a personal (and vaguely intimate) kind of combat. The role of this could show desperation or ferocity: if a duel with two actors wielding weapons, and one of them is disarmed, the shift from armed to unarmed combat could change the tone of the battle—now it’s more serious. With aerial work, we learned some basic climbs and footholds so we can begin to work in the air and apply that knowledge in the future. This is important to build a foundation off of and then work on expanding the ideas we have. Perhaps there are ways we can do combinations of climbs and poses to build a full performance, and maybe even get the chance to do aerial work with other people close to us on the ground or suspended nearby (if that’s even gonna happen—I doubt it. BUT it would be cool). - Miles Sargent '25

Acting is hard. Characters are acting out all those dramatic scenes in movies and theater shows, while all of the scenes are not really happening in the reality. However, learning physical movement tricks can really help with acting realistically.

The two fields of physical story telling that I have been introduced to today are stage combat and aerial work. They both engaged body movement, but they both had their focuses. One wanted to make fighting on stage more realistic, while the other was about showing an elegant and beautiful posture. One used trick to simulate sound effects, while the other used techniques to secure our body.

Our actions, facial expressions, or just the entire acting would be very realistic if all actors, in this case, our partners, are having a vivid narrative storytelling idea in our head. A story of an idea could guide actors what moves to do and what faces to make, and therefore helping the overall storytelling engaging and believable. - Enshuo (Eric) Zhang '27

The role that physical movement can play in storytelling is varied. It differs between the two aspects to movement that we learned today: aerial stunts, and stage combat. In stage combat, storytelling is more literal. In some scenes, stage combat is necessary to move the plot forward, and this helps tell the story. When working with aerial silks, storytelling can be more metaphorical. Since the types of movements that can be made with aerial silks are arguably more limited than with stage combat, movement can symbolize a story. Aerial stunts are similar to storytelling through dance because while actors are not necessarily saying lines, they are telling the story through movement. This is also true for stage combat, as it is possible to use dialogue during a stage combat scene, but generally has more dialogue than stunts or dance.

Aerial Silks and Stage Combat movements both have a clear role in storytelling. But there are many ways for them to be applied to continue the plot of a performance. Applying aerial stunts and stage combat to storytelling requires an understanding of how to convey a plot point to the audience. This means it’s important to differentiate what is better used to tell a story. For example, stage combat is better for scenes of high danger, while aerial stunts can be more symbolic of violence or other movement. Different types of stage combat movement are also necessary in storytelling application. An example of this is when choreographing, how to portray different characters and their personalities. Their movement has to do with whether they know how to fight or don’t know how to fight, as well as whether they want to fight, as we talked about with the character matrix in Stage Combat class. - Adia Robinson-Wood '27

Day 2, Ethics & Repeatability:

What did you learn about ethical performance and the responsibilities of actors during physically demanding scenes? Why is it important to maintain awareness of both your own and others’ safety?

I learned about how the actors are responsible for upholding ethical morals, such as honesty, and accountability. These principles are important during physically demanding scenes because you should say something if you feel like you can not do something that you are being asked to do (honesty), and hold yourself accountable for whether or not you can do those things. It is important to maintain awareness for everyone’s safety because when doing stage combat like sword play, for example, if you accidentally tip the sword backwards, you could accidentally hit one of your peers in the face, which would result in a trip to the health center. It is especially important to maintain awareness while using the aerial silks as there could be multiple people in the air, and although there is a mat underneath that person, it is important to make sure they do not fall. During aerial silks you should be maintaining awareness similar to if you were spotting someone do an activity like rock climbing or high ropes, for example. These are important things to maintain so everyone can stay safe, and have a good time doing these fun activities! - Ava Smith '27

This was an outside conversation that I had to have today with Mx. E-K. I can get very stuck in the whole “the show must go on” mentality when in reality that’s the thought process that ends careers. With physically demanding actions comes a greater potential of injury. If these injuries are not treated with the proper care from the get go, further damage will likely occur, preventing future opportunities. It is important to stay engaged, but it is also important to advocate for your needs and find modifications whenever possible. For care of both yourself and the people you are working with, you should respectfully check up on them and bring it to attention when they are not treating their body properly in a time where it needs some extra protection. - Alycia Leriche '25

Today, we learned how to use swords in combat. They were not sharp swords and were unable to cut through anything, but they still were capable of hurting others around you. While using them, we had to make sure that we always had enough room and that there wasn’t anyone in danger nearby us. It was important that we listened and were responsible with these items because that’s what helped us learn best as well as keep ourselves and others safe. During physically demanding scenes, actors have to be very careful when swinging around large weapons like the ones we used today. They were kind of heavy and after a while of using them, it was difficult to continue holding them up. This could be an issue for actors during their scenes because if they get tired, it might be hard to keep holding up the swords. This is what other actors nearby have to notice and be responsible while they are also swinging around weapons. They have to make sure everyone around them is just as safe as they are. It is important to maintain awareness of our own as well as others safety because it creates trust. While working together in a show, or even just for a little bit of time like we are right now, we have to be able to trust each other. Everyone is learning something new, so it’s important to be aware of your surroundings when moving around, that way everyone is safe. That helps create trust within the community, which is the best way for a theater show to go exactly as it’s planned. - Katelyn Edson '27

Back Row (from left to right): Enshou (Eric) Zhang '27, Kenes Azim '27, Miles Sargent '25, Adia Robinson-Wood '27, Ryane Dembiec '27, Ava Smith '27, Inaya Robinson-Wood '27, Ezra Grehan '27

Front Row (left to right): Kevin Roost (Havoc Movement), Katelyn Edson '27, Sam Lancaster (Havoc Movement), Alycia Leriche '25

Day 3, Collaboration & Effort:

In what ways do you collaborate with your scene partner during a stage combat sequence? How do trust and communication impact the success of your performance? How does Laban's Movement Analysis (LMA) help with collaboration and communication between partners? How does LMA help with communication of a story to an audience?

There are just a lot of communications needed for acting a fluent scene with my stage partner. Not only does one person has to be familiar with the moves, but they also need to make sure that their partner are comfortable. With both sides ready, a combat sequence can be then carried out. Trust is also a key factor here. If I give my partner my full trust, I could pay enough attention on my own moves and therefore maximize my accuracy and fluency.

This Laban's Movement Analysis thing is interesting. Combat (or perhaps many more) movements were given three qualities, and if my partner and I all know what kind of qualities our movements should show, we could be more mindful of how our movements were supposed to look like. With more strong movements, our audience would also have a better experience. - Enshou (Eric) Zhang '27

During a stage combat sequence, you collaborate with your partner through verbal communication and intent. Since stage combat requires at least two people to be present, you have to communicate so you know what you and your partner are doing. Intent through LMA can help communicate to your partner (and to the audience) a story—different intensities, movements, and intents can help with showcasing different emotions. A lighter attack, like a dab or a flick, can be a lot less aggressive than a punch or a slash. That then tells a different story—lighter is perhaps meant to be less with intent to kill/harm, and could be friendlier. Heavier attacks could be used to react more, with more recoil after and the emotional charge of violence. The different intensities can also signal to your partner how to react accordingly: a light attack isn’t necessarily going to result into someone falling onto the floor. It then also signals to the partner how to react after emotionally: is the character peeved? Alert? Scared? The different usage of LMA can show those different intentions and results. - Miles Sargent '25

Communication is really important for stage combat. While doing a scene, you have to talk to your partner about what movements work, and make sure that you go over boundaries. Trust is another key factor, since you have to be able to trust your partner to move when they’re supposed to. Sometimes, they may be pointing a sword or some other weapon toward you and you have to trust that they’ll do the correct movements.

Another important part of this is LMA, Laban’s Movement Analysis. Both the action and the reaction are important, so working with your partner matters. You both have to be on the same page about where you are with LMA. It also shows the intention for the audience, and the magnitude of the attack. To conclude, communication and collaboration are both important for working with partners, and LMA can provide context for the audience. - Inaya Robinson-Wood '27

Day 4: Physicality

How does your character’s physicality change when they are engaged in combat versus other moments on stage or screen? How do you balance staying in character while focusing on combat techniques?

It’s really important to have a balance of staying in character while also focusing on combat techniques because if you bring it back to the game we played today. You really had to focus on where you were walking in to make sure that you were walking in 90° angles, but you also had to focus on what’s around you and that was the hard part trying to balance those two things, but once you get the hang of it when you’re actually in the combat, you can pay way more attention to your feet and what you’re doing, but also to the person that might be fighting you and that way you can work more with them

You can also relate this to when at the end of the day we took videos of ourselves, be more into character and acting, and it’s really important to also portray your same character when you’re listening to your spokesperson talk to you behind the set. - Ryane Dembiec '27

When engaged in a combat scene, characters have to take on almost a completely different persona. When fighting, characters are typically in a combat like stance, and they are much more serious compared to other movements in a performance. While it is still important to act as your character, while fighting those characters sometimes have to differ in the way they are perceived. Sometimes, actors try and look bigger while fighting, to become more powerful on stage. Other times, they may try to use facials during a fight to portray parts of their character while also being serious while they fight with others. When you are first learning combat techniques, it is hard to think about anything other than doing them correctly. However, I have noticed that the more you practice them, the more confident in them you become. When you trust yourself in doing these actions, it is then that you can try to add small parts of your character into those movements and fighting scenes. - Katelyn Edson '27

You always need to be careful about spacial awareness onstage, but this is especially important for stage combat. With so many moving and potentially harmful pieces, there needs to be extra distance, communication, and caution in both your own and your partners movements. For these reasons, you also have to heavily rely on angles even more with stage combat so that the distance is not visible from the audience and it looks realistic. Even though each person in the scene may be technically doing different things in the combat sequence, the overall choreography relies on the connection and togetherness of the scene partners. When in lower-stakes scenes, sometimes it is okay to improvise slightly and be at different angles and energy levels. However, with stage combat, you have to work together 100% to make sure everything is safe and secure and everyone is knowledgeable about what is going on. Still, you can use this mutual energy you share with your partner and relate it to your character to find their motivation to stay connected with the context of the plot. - Alycia Leriche '25

Day 5: Physicality

Stage combat can be very aggressive movements and cause fear or excitement in a scene. This week while working with swords, we also used songs while we fought. This helped with adrenaline which also contributed to the intensity of the scene. When someone pulls out a sword, it shows that they want to fight. The same if someone takes on a natural fighting position compared to the position they were in before. These simple movements can change the pacing and energy of a scene. For example, if there was a conversation before a fight scene. It could start civil but as the scene goes on it gets more and more intense, causing a fight. This causes heightened emotions as well as shifting the mood or energy away from calm to fear or adrenaline. Starting a fight could also make a calm and slow scene become very intense and sped up. - Katelyn Edson '27

Although verbal conflicts can add intensity, physical fights (obviously fake ones) make scenes more intense. They also add a lot of emotion, and help to portray the characters in the scene. Stage combat can reveal the true feelings of characters and create more aggression and add to the emotion that’s already in the lines. It can also help the audience realize the motivation of the characters, and what matters most to them.

Certain movements can change the mood of a fight, for example, more lethal attacks can show more anger. Shoves and pushes seem less dangerous, and more antagonistic than lethal. Faster movements can also make it seem more dangerous to the audience, since as you increase the speed, the movements look more real. To conclude, stage combat adds intensity to arguments, and specific movements can also affect the energy of a scene. - Inaya Robinson-Wood '27

When combat begins in the middle of a scene, usually the emotions are quite heightened then, and is usually a moment of increased intensity. Since violence is used to create a physical conflict, it provides an obstacle that must be removed. Combat can even intensify more WITHIN the conflict. For example, during one of our choreo moments, there is a moment where there is a glissade (is that how you spell it?) and one combatant’s sword is launched back, and a sword is swung at their chest. As this happens, there is a moment of “whoaaa, what’s gonna happen??” Then as the recoiling person recovers and preps a thrust, there is another moment of “oh jeez what’s gonna happen??” again. Then the tension is released when the one who thrusts is parried and punched. - Miles Sargent '25

Seems like stage combat is about creating realistic combat scenes with out causing actual harm. The movements (made by experienced ones) can be so real that they create illusions of real violence, and violence swings people’s mood. Using stage combat techniques in shows can level up the audience’s emotional intensity drastically, even making some uncomfortable. The pacing of the scene, with the excitement it may cause, would be fast.

As someone who does not LOVE violence, the fake slaps at the beginning of this project got me every time. I feel my heart beat hard and some other uneasy feelings when I see them. It is not a thing at all now, and it would be cool if we present a show to the school using the combat techniques we have studied and see how our audience would react. - Enshou (Eric) Zhang '27