Connected Motion

Revised edition: https://www.waveland.com/browse.php?t=775&pgtitle=David%20%20Barker

When actors transform themselves on stage, they must escape the confines of their controlled behaviors and become “connected” and emotionally engaged in their movement. When connected, movement becomes an uncensored expression of internal creative impulses. David Barker brings over 40 years of acting and teaching experience to Connected Motion with one clear goal: training actors to move better. His process-oriented, improvisation-based approach has proven successful both on the stage and in the studio working with students. He presents concrete exercises and improvisations rather than theory and complex concepts. Instructors will find his ideas easy to apply no matter what movement system they use. 

REVIEWS

"David Barker turns actors into athletes of expression. His practical and accessible method guides the actor through the process of connecting to their own body, to the acting ensemble, and to the imaginary world of the play. Connected Motion  trains the actor to move with physical and emotional agility and with both precision and freedom. His method is unmatched for its clarity, presenting clear progressive steps for making the actor a better mover and fully embodied, moment-to-moment in the world of the play or film. Like jazz, Connected Motion gives you a structure that allows for greater freedom and expanded creative choices."

• Kurt Brungardt

               Bestselling author. The Complete Book of Abs (Random House), The

               Complete Book of Core Training (Hyperion/Hachette),  The Running

               Revolution (Penguin).  Strength and conditioning coach for elite athletes,

               a teaching artist and founding member of Shakespeare for Parkinson’s.

“Connected Motion: A Common Sense Approach to Movement Training for Actors by David Barker is more than yet one more ‘approach’ book to be shelved away.  This one is meant to stay on your night table, in your gym bag, and/or wherever you house your latest script.  It's not only an invitation to bring more to this work but it so clearly explains how that is to be done.  It's as honest in words as David is honest in performance.   It doesn’t need to be sanctimonious.  You know it works.  It's David's method.  He's advertising every time he walks on stage.  This book inspires, invites us to embrace, and give full attention to the ‘how.’  Like a good memory it nudges me to put into practice the art I love.”

• Sam

               Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus of Detour Theatre Company

               https://www.detourcompanytheatre.org/ 

"Finally a movement book I agree with!"

• Antonio Ocampo-Guzman

              Master Linklater Voice Teacher

              Associate Professor and Chair

              Department of Theatre

              College of Arts, Media & Design

              Northeastern University

"This book is innovative, concise and very instructional.  I have incorporated many of these activities, resulting in my students and I growing considerably from Barker’s overall movement philosophy. This book continues to hone and round out my own pedagogy of movement.  Truly great work." 

• John Wilson

               Teaching Artist at Stages St. Louis

               AEA/SAG

               Author: The Actor As Fire And Cloud 

The legendary Broadway director Marshall W. Mason says this in the Introduction: 

      "Connected Motion gives fresh insight into the concept of using the body as an instrument whose external expression is intrinsically connected to inner creativity. At the beginning, David tells us that the simplest approach to acting is the best approach. That is the outstanding characteristic of this book: the beauty of its simplicity. I wish I’d had this text to share with my acting students so they would have been better prepared for the creative use of imagination in acting. Artistic effortlessness is hard to achieve, but this book helps us to understand the journey, and thereby eases the way.”