GUEST BLOG: KARLI EVANS – PILATES AND ACTING

Today’s blog is a guest blog from Karli Evans, an actor and Pilates instructor, and one of the students in our advanced scene study class:

Practicing Pilates is hugely beneficial to actors. It gives you more awareness of your own body, a stronger core and better posture.

Many actors feel a disconnection to their bodies when they get onstage. This is largely due to the sense of vulnerability felt. When we feel vulnerable we use familiar movements and stances to defuse tension. Because very few people have perfect posture and alignment all your bad postural habits surface which distracts the audience and detracts from the performance. Most people are not even aware they have these habits until they are pointed out.

Pilates is a mind/ body exercise program that focuses on the way we use our bodies in order to get them functioning more effectively and efficiently. There is a range of different reasons why someone’s posture is not perfect, but when the body is out of its ideal alignment some muscles are held in a state of tension, while others are stretched. This means the muscles cannot function properly. For every movement we make there are a group of muscles responsible for making that movement and an order or sequence in which they engage. When a muscle is held in a state of tension or if it is over stretched and cannot function properly the balance of that group is disrupted and other muscles need to step in to take over the job. That makes that particular movement less effective and less efficient. The chance of you knowing this is happening in your body is very slim, so more often than not the faulty movement pattern continues until it becomes habit.

Just as bad habits develop over time, so do good ones. With consistent Pilates practice you can change these bad postural habits and faulty movement patterns.

Pilates brings your awareness to what is going on in your body, and attempts to correct these bad postural habits and faulty movement patterns by working the deep core stabilizing muscles. These muscles are generally under used and are intrinsic in keeping good posture and safe movement. As the name suggests, they support and stabilize all the joints in the body. Once these stabilizers are working correctly the body is then able to relax all the over working muscles that cause tension, and as we all know tension is an actor’s worst enemy.

The results from consistent Pilates practice are exciting. Many people feel taller and more supple and have increased muscle tone and better posture. For actors, it is one of the best forms of exercise you can find. Once you feel more connected to your body, have more confidence in your movements, have better posture and are moving effectively and efficiently you should find an increased sense of confidence in your movement onstage as well.

Karli Evans