Sometimes you have to go backwards

Well, today is a holiday here, but I thought I would blog nonetheless.

Last week some of my students experienced something quite unpleasant. After working intensively for two hours, they learned something new about their craft and they were full of confidence about applying it to their scene, but when the scene came to be performed the next day, the new spark was absent.

What had happened? Had they failed to learn from the experience? By no means. They understood what they needed to do and yet it escaped them. The scene wasn’t bad, but it felt like they had taken a step backwards.

This is natural and if any of you experience this, please know that it’s okay, don’t be dismayed. You have become conscious of learning something new and when you go from unconscious practice to conscious practice, the gears tend to slow down to allow for the learning to happen. Then when you get enough practice, and it becomes a new habit, you won’t have to think about it, you won’t be conscious of it and your competence will become unconscious once more. When this happens, you will be propelled forwards.

So, whenever you learn something new, you may often experience an awkward period in which things feel like they’re going backwards for the actor. But don’t be disheartened. It’s a natural part of the process of learning, developing and improving.