[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Can we start by having you show the process of preparing your body for an interview?
Acting Coach and Specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique Jean-Louis Rodrigue: Sure, I can do it right now as a matter of fact.
The first thing that I would think about is just to become aware of myself, from my head all the way down into my sit bones. I might move my legs a little bit so I can feel my joints and then get a little bit more forward so I can feel my feet so I can be grounded.
Then what I would do is I would check my head neck relationship right here. What I may do is just gently look down to the floor and then very gently free my neck to look up a little bit so I can feel that relationship with my head and my spine.
Then I might just bring my whole body forward like this and then back. It reminds me of being on a horse. Horseback riders are perfect students of the Alexander Technique, in fact Alexander [Frederick] was a horseback rider. Now I might put my hands like this to the side of my rib cage and do something called the whispered ah. It’s a way of calming my breath and calming my nervous system. Then what I may do is instead of letting a whispered ah, I may just do some counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Jean-Louis Rodrigue is an internationally recognized acting coach, movement director, and specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique to film, theater and television. In film, he coached actors and collaborated with directors in Passion Fish, Vice, J. Edgar, Life of Pi, W., I, Tonya, and many more. In theater, he collaborated with director Larry Moss and former NFL player Bo Eason in his play Runt of the Litter and playwright Pamela Gien in her Obie– and Drama Desk– award-winning one-person play, The Syringa Tree, both in New York and internationally. Jean-Louis has worked on- and off-Broadway and at major performing arts institutions such as Berlin International Film Festival, Cirque du Soleil, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, Getty Villa, Geffen Playhouse, Royal National Theatre, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Verbier Festival, Royal Shakespeare Company. For the past 34 years, Jean-Louis has taught at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Jean-Louis lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Kristof Konrad.
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