The last two Mentorship Masterclasses—the one in Paris in November 2024 and particularly the one we just finished in London—have become the closest we have ever been to our real nature: an open space for true research in presence and performance.

I have been deconstructing the tools of the Lab with one clear goal – to support all actors involved to dive further into the embodiment of their free spirit. Spiritual Embodiment — the essential foundation for authentic presence in acting

The invitation here is to liberate one’s True Nature, beyond what I have been taught to call “natural” — which is, in truth, no more than a mere habit.

This is a twofold process:

A. To cultivate one’s free spirit

B. To embody it!

A happens through:

Actors, and people in general, often lose ourselves in reproducing the patterns we inherited from previous training or even from personal life. The invitation here is to liberate one’s True Nature, beyond what I have been taught to call “natural” — which is, in truth, no more than a mere habit. This is an intellectual process that opens up windows to new ways of thinking and of course performing. Understanding the mechanics of human psychology and one’s own limitations is the key to freedom. Raising one’s own questions, identifying, understanding, and owning one’s limitations is key to this process. The next phase is to start seeing all the new possibilities ahead, and this is where the second phase of embodiment comes handy.

The point of entry is always the body, where everything lives – and more than ever, I understand the fullness of what embodiment truly means.

B. Then we dive into the embodiment of this inquiry, and we embody the scene and the character of their choice from that place of freedom.

The technical tools of the Lab such as: 

• The dialogue between relaxation and selected tension, which brings flow and release in any kind of acting approach; 
• The pleasure exercise as a principle element for embodiment as well as emotional approach
• The ownership of the text exercise, which opens up a dialogue between the embodiment of the language/text and an actor’s subconscious activity, which leads to understanding and designing of the scene and the character from a place of essence and artistic freedom
• And finally, the invitation to experience catharsis with every performance through an active state of a moment to moment research in presence in performance – were all of our  tools in our practice.
• The point of entry is always the body, where everything lives – and more than ever, I understand the fullness of what embodiment truly means.

The results of the research were moving. I witnessed scenes and characters with both vulnerability and fierceness – qualities rooted in one’s real and free essence. A real and significant transformation from the habitual, conditioned ways of performing that were present at the start of the workshop. Often, one actor’s question was supported by another actor’s insight. One’s work became everyone’s work. And all of us evolved through true care for each other’s evolution – and our own. We all grew together. All on the same boat. 

We took this evolution with us, along with all of our questions to sit with. We all agreed that the real workshop starts on Saturday night, when we said goodbye and promised to ourselves and each other our commitment to the pathway of personal and artistic freedom.

With love,