Basics to Acting (Relaxation)

Hello all

I wanted to share with you some basics of acting that really help you with creating a believable performance as an actor. I'm actually going to break this up into three parts. So today, we'll be talking about relaxation which is the foundation of great acting.

Think about it. If you're worried about the camera crew or the audience or even making your performance believable while on stage, how is that going to reflect on your acting? Not well. But Gabby how am I supposed to get out of my head?

Now, this is easier said then done however it does take a lot of practice. So, ideally, we want to do this exercise every day as much as possible. The enemy of the actor is tension. The purpose of these relaxation exercises is to train yourself in identifying tension and learning how to get rid of it easily. This is so that when you're on stage and in front of the camera, it makes it easier for you to get out of your head and get rid of that nervous energy to stay in character. It also makes you more aware of your physicality that doesn't align with your character. Now, there's a wide range of relaxation exercises:

You can do the Alexander Technique (my favourite)
More Alexander
Strasberg 

Just to name a few... because those are the only ones I know lol.
Anywho I interchange between the Alexander Technique and Strasberg's method, in terms of relaxation exercises. One might work better than the other on any given day but both help you get into character and concentrate. Which is also super important and a whole other post all together so come back in a few days for that. But now we know, the foundation to great acting is relaxation and as we practice more and more often it will be so much easier for us to become relaxed into our roles.

I had an acting coach once, her name is Jane Kelly, she had this metaphor for what acting was when you're not relaxed. I can't quote her word for word but it was something along the lines of: imagine there's a chair and you and your character are both waiting in the wings for you to go on stage. You go on stage and your character is left in the wings, and he or she says, "I'll wait." You went on stage. Not your character. The point of this all is basically honoring your character. As an actor we are meant to honor a bunch of things. We represent so much to humanity and to individuals but when acting, our main focus is to honor the character. Only then can we honor the writer. Only then can we hold a mirror to the audience, so to speak, and reveal to them the human condition. Honoring the character is the most important thing when it comes to acting and if we can't be relaxed enough to do that, then we cannot become great actors.

Now, this is not to say, relaxation is all there is to acting. The second key to acting is emotions. Real emotions. How do we get those real emotions? Well I can tell you it's not easy and like relaxation it is going to take A LOT of practice. This is the next thing I will discuss in this three part Basics to Acting post.

Crowdfunding Challenges

1. For every $100 donated I will swim 1 lap at an Olympic-sized pool (that's $100 all together not $100 per person).

2. If we raise more than $15,000 I will shave my head.

That's it. That's all I could come up with. If you can think of something better go ahead and comment below.

Link to my crowd funding:
Get Gabby to School

Car Wash Fundraiser

Yesterday, I went to the Calvary Chapel in Georgia for the first time. It was nice. I talked to the pastor and he was supportive of my fundraiser idea. Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to his secretary and see what we can do, s far as Church involvement. I'm very excited to be doing this to go to school. I'm going to work my booty off to get this moneeeeyyyyyy.

Tomorrow, my father and I will start the car wash so we should be making a couple 100 bucks that way. I also found found some other way to make money. I can do a yard sale as well and advertise my crowdfunding while selling the candy, car wash, and  yard sale. I could also wear a silly outfit while selling stuff or advertising my crowdfunding.

More Fundraising Ideas

So I've been fasting... albeit unsuccessfully and not as well-purposed as I would like. Regardless, God answered my prayers. It just goes to show you God's grace. So I plan on doing a car wash 6 days a week until I get to New York. This serves a double purpose funds go towards me going to school and I can advertise my crowd funding. I need to get my campaign organized, talk to my church and see what can be done. So as a bonus bonus I'm gonna see if I can advertise my crowd funding and/or car wash at church. New York here I come.


You can help me get to New York too by donating here:

www.gofundme.com/get-gabby-to-ny

Getting to New York City

So basically, I discovered I wanted a career in acting when my friends were "too old" to play pretend and I still wanted to. I'm not sure when that was but that's when I discovered that I wanted to act. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. At 12 years old, I had my school picked out: The Juilliard school. At 14 I got my first lead part. At 17 I was auditioning for a variety of schools. No, I was not accepted to Juilliard. I kind of really messed up my audition and was distracted however I was accepted to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, notable alumni include Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, and Adam Scott.

I was more than excited but my pockets weren't on the same page as me. So, I took a year off to save up the funds I need. I took out the only loan I could take out (being 19 and lacking credit) and also received the maximum amount of financial aid the government was willing to give out to anybody. I won a few scholarships, I applied to a bunch. All of this and I still needed $12,000 for tuition alone. Not to mention food, housing, health insurance, metro card, etc. At this point, I'm betting a lot of you out there know what I'm feeling.

It is at this time, my father suggests to me crowd funding to raise the rest of the funds I need. Crowd funding is basically like your elementary school fundraisers for pizza parties. So I start up my crowd funding, I do my research I spend 12 hours making this video:

and I'm expecting, you know, something. But nothing is happening. Not even my family is donating and I spread the word like crazy. I'm posting flyers on churches, which are oddly enough being torn down. But that can't tear me down because now, you see, I'm calling churches. I'm typing up press releases. I'm contacting promoters. But so far nothing. Right now, I'm walking in faith. I know it will work out how God planned it to be even if I can't see it now. But hey, if you want to help get me to New York, that'd be great too.
Get Me to New York