Penny O'Connor
The Higher Creative Self
The application of the work to actors in finding their characters from an 'uncluttered' space, a 'neutral' balanced centre from which they find their character. Michael Chekhov calls this 'uncluttered' space, or 'neutral' balance, the Higher Creative Self. In the Alexander world we may term it 'being in our directions', our 'unified field of attention', the gap of inhibition, the potential for choosing anything.
I developed this on the degree courses in Acting at the Arts Educational School as part of their Alexander curriculum, with the collabaration of Lee Warren. Although clearly suited to actors in training, I have used the process, albeit modified to help other individual students with their understanding and expereince of the work.
Be prepared to participate in exploring other people's use patterns!
Penny O'Connor has trained with David Gorman and Margaret Edis in AT following a career in theatre acting and writing. She still occasionally writes plays, but mostly her time is in teaching AT in London and on the magical Greek Island of Alonnisos, where her partner, dog and cats live. She has studied a little NLP, Tai Chi, Japanese Tea Ceremony, Feldenkrais and overtone chanting.
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