Rhythm exercises (pretend there is somebody we hate)

Aim of Task: To know be introduced to the concept of internal and external rhythms.

Description of Task: Our teacher explained to us that there is two type of rhythms: external and internal rhythms. Internal rhythms are the inside pace of the actor, the pace of his emotions. On the other hand, the external rhythm is the pace of the physical actions of the actor. So for example, a situation where there is a lot of tension would have a very fast internal rhythm, but if the tension is created by the waiting of some important news, there wont be a lot of physical movement so it would be a slow external rhythm. In a running competition, for example, there would be a fast rhythm, both external and internal because of the excitement and the quickness of physical actions.

So, to put this into practice, we experimented with an exercise that would require us to have a very slow external rhythm but a very fast internal rhythm. We grouped into partners. Partner A would pretend to be a person Partner B really dislikes, however, Partner B will try to be as condescending and "nice" as possible to Partner A. Nashwa was Partner A and I was Partner B. I pretended I was on the canteen table and then Nashwa came to ask me some questions and ask me if I wanted to go out to get bubble tea. My internal rhythm increased a lot because, inside, my emotions where bursting, I didn't really like this person. However, I couldn't show this because I was trying to be nice, so my external rhythm had to remain calm, slow.

Even though I really tried to remain with a slow external rhythm, my external rhythm started to increase slowly, as Naswha kept on insisting. I also started to look for ways to get rid of her, which kinda increase my external rhythm too.

Reflection: As an actor, I think having fast external and internal rhythm, or slow internal and external rhythm, is not that difficult to do, one comes with the other normally. However, a combination of slow/fast internal/external rhythms comes only in some very specific situations. It's rather uncommon, and this might be the reason why it is the most difficult one to imitate.

Conlcusion: External and internal rhythms normally have a same pace, because our bodies express their emotions naturally. However, sometimes because of societal norms, we shouldn't really express this emotions. But as we are more and more pressured, these expressions will start to show, regardless of how much we try to oppress them. Stanislavsky focuses greatly on emotions, and with this exercise, we can pay attention to how the rhythm of our internal emotions affect the rhythm of our external actions.