What does a Performance Coach do ?
A performance-coach is an actor-friend.
I like to think I work as an enabler for an actor. There is no right or wrong and our rehearsal space is a safe zone with zero judgement. As a performance coach, I work towards the vision of the director by enabling the actor to bring out what is already within them.
Every artist has all the ingredients they need, within them, for a wholesome performance. These ingredients may have been acquired instinctively, through observation, through mentorship, through education, through any stimuli that has affected their senses. The rehearsal/workshop space is where the real cooking begins. What ingredients do I have? What ingredients must I use? How do I use this particular ingredient? What does a combination of these particular ingredients create? Is there a universal taste? Would someone from another culture resonate with this taste palette? Would this appetiser take them back to their childhood? Would this dessert taste like the hope they’ve been looking for?
The most important role of a performance coach is to explore with the actor. Often, when we are completely involved in our work, it becomes hard to gauge our own performance. My dad would often say, even the world’s best batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar needs a coach. Why? - Perspective. Only someone as close to your work as a coach can dissect your performance, analyse with the performer, explore, devise, discover and create new techniques and styles with an outside perspective. An outside perspective is an umbrella for every artist; You may not always need it, but when you do, sun or rain, you’ve got one by your side ( provided you make it a habit to carry it with you ;) ).
Who Needs a Performance Coach?
Whether you’re an aspiring actor or a star with over 30 films experience, I truly believe the day one says, I know everything is the day that person has put an end to their growth. Being an actor means constantly observing, exploring and experimenting on the rehearsal floor to always be ready for or even create new opportunities. A doctor is a student for life, always reading, practising, learning and updating themselves with the advent of highly improved technologies. Aren’t we all students for life? Isn’t there always so much more to learn about what we already know and what we don’t? It’s the same for any field, be it a doctor, an actor, a teacher, a farmer or even an AI. The world’s climate (both literally and figuratively) is constantly changing. Only if we continue to be curious of our world and pursue the efforts of understanding the climate can we add more value to our lives and the lives around us.
So whether you’re a newcomer to the world of acting or someone with a lot of experience already, there is always room to learn something new, explore and experiment. Also, if you’re a director who is making a biopic or a fantasy film that requires for a new world to be designed with new cultures and languages to be created, you’d be surprised what the art of theatre has to offer for the construction of something as magnanimous. Ranging from research on the first life on the planet, to language influenced by location and facial structure to personality, to the most fundamental aspect of these creatures- how do they breathe?
Performance coaching is not new to the world of theatre and cinema, but it still is an unheard of department in the Indian film industry. Many theatre practitioners have thanklessly worked to help actors for either their first film or the most important role of their career. These noble trainers go unnoticed in the chorus of an army that it takes to make a film right up to the release. Film Institutes in Hollywood, Prague and UK usher their budding directors to take the help of a performance coach right from their first student film. The coach acts as a bridge between the director’s vision and the actor’s performance.
My Process
Personally, my process starts with a detailed narration of the story and the character’s brief from the director. Once the director’s vision is understood, it’s play time with the actor. While working with the actor I never tell them if what they are trying is good or bad, right or wrong. I allow them to explore while I explore with them and what we land with is a variety of options for the director to either choose from or develop on. Inspiration can be drawn from anyone, at any time, even just a second before the take!
Gratitude
I’m as new to this as anyone in the Indian Film Industry is. I’m learning on the job just as directors and actors are learning with me. I have only my experiences through travel and the opportunities of working under directors, mentors and life guides from South Korea, Australia, Hollywood and the Tamil film industry to thank for nudging me in directions to explore what I’m passionate about. My biggest thanks goes out to my mentors, Director Bharat Bala, Actor and Producer Vijay Sethupathi and Director Lokesh Kanagaraj for the willingness to try something new. It is only because of the space they have allowed for artists to experiment and the platform they have provided to create new opportunities, that unheard of technicians like performance coaches, intimacy coaches, SFX prop technicians and the likes are able to contribute their expertise in their respective specialisation to the director’s vision.
For actor, Vijay Sethupathi’s character.
For the title sequence of Navarasa
