Visual and Kinetic Languages in Actor Training: Viewpoints and Embodied Learning in undergraduate drama

This paper deconstructs the experience of students training in Viewpoints through one case study arising from an undergraduate drama degree in UK. The Viewpoints act to open a dialogic space to approaching the making of theatre in visual and kinetic languages rather than more traditional narrative-based approaches. Beyond the utilitarian application of Viewpoints, it is the way in which the training makes demands on the perceptual acuity and cognitive flexibility of the acting student that has elevated them to be considered alongside other acting training approaches. Notions of movement training and embodied practice for non-dancers frame the research, which considers the place of non-verbal language and the complexities of student learning when perception rather than cognitive understanding is central to making meaning (sense). It charts the learners' explorations of their body through the structured approach to time and space offered by Viewpoints and examines how this grounds the non-dance student as they experiment with movement beyond intangible and abstract pursuits towards a fluency in the language of the body. Shifts in student perception are documented through the consideration of notions of conscious and unconscious creative agency. Finally it shares some of the strategies that operated alongside studio time to scaffold students' critical learning.