Making the impossible possible: Feldenkrais and the impact upon the training of the actor/singer at London College of Music.

Feldenkrais suggested that “the object of education should be to eliminate these compulsive states and to help the person to acquire the ability for potent action; that is to be able to control the body excitations and act as if in the case of spontaneous action” (Feldenkrais, The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion, 2003). The training of the actor/singer at London College of Music embraces this ideal as a core principle with a course premised on developing the reflective (or ‘self-thinking’) performer, intelligent as well as skilled. Movement is core within the structure of training as it is through movement (or action) that we are able to understand our own movement history from which we can then begin to realise and capture the skills and techniques of play and spontaneity to create character along with the obvious benefits that a body free of superfluidity and aware of movement can support through posture and alignment techniques within the spoken and sung word. Feldenkrais aligns itself within the training through the support of recognising the superfluous and informing choice, through challenging compulsive states within each individual, “When I am presented with a trouble in function, I make a special effort not to think in words. I try not to think logically and in correctly formed sentences….I have found this way of imagining so fruitful that I cannot do without it. It often shows me where my knowledge is insufficient so that I know exactly what I am after…I form a working theory and change it in the light of new observations I must add to make the theory work” (Feldenkrais, Body Awareness as Healing Therapy: The Case of Nora, 1993). The structure of the ATM supports ever growing class sizes and the supports the individual movement potential within every performer which is developed through four years of training and with the implementation of FI engages in making every student curious about their learning environment and the potential to be discovered resulting in a body in control and yet spontaneous in action.\ud \ud \ud Feldenkrais, M., 2003 The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion. North Atlantic Books. U.S.\ud \ud Feldenkrais, M., 1993 Body Awareness as Healing Therapy: The Case of Nora. North Atlantic Books. U.S