The Lion and the Breath: Combining Kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework Techniques Towards a New Cross-Cultural Methodology for Actor Training

This research looks at the effects of kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework techniques as a training methodology for the contemporary actor, redefining the fundamental principles that already exist within the two forms and placing its emphasis on the articulation of the imagination through their combination. Fitzmaurice Voicework was inspired by yoga, shiatsu, and bioenergetic psychotherapy, and its methods include releasing patterns of habitual holding within the viscera causing an autonomic response known as a tremor. Training in Kalaripayattu, an ancient South Indian martial art, is a preparatory tool for the body to develop a kinesthetic awareness: an organic ability to be in the optimal state of readiness. In the process of defining our research findings, we created a systematic methodology that consisted of four stages: 1) Studio training combining Kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework; 2) Training with Kalaripayattu masters in Kerala, India; 3) Experimentation and exploration of the two forms of collaborative training; and 4) Analysis and dissemination of findings at a conference of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association London Conference. This systematic approach provided us with the framework to answer our research questions: 1) Can combining techniques from Kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework lead to an effective new cross-cultural methodology for professional actor training? 2) What kinds of psychophysical and somatic affect can arise from the combination of these two forms?

This research looks at the effects of kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework techniques as a training methodology for the contemporary actor, redefining the fundamental principles that already exist within the two forms and placing its emphasis on the articulation of the imagination through their combination. Fitzmaurice Voicework was inspired by yoga, shiatsu, and bioenergetic psychotherapy, and its methods include releasing patterns of habitual holding within the viscera causing an autonomic response known as a tremor. Training in Kalaripayattu, an ancient South Indian martial art, is a preparatory tool for the body to develop a kinesthetic awareness: an organic ability to be in the optimal state of readiness. In the process of defining our research findings, we created a systematic methodology that consisted of four stages: 1) Studio training combining Kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework; 2) Training with Kalaripayattu masters in Kerala, India; 3) Experimentation and exploration of the two forms of collaborative training; and 4) Analysis and dissemination of findings at a conference of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association London Conference. This systematic approach provided us with the framework to answer our research questions: 1) Can combining techniques from Kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework lead to an effective new cross-cultural methodology for professional actor training? 2) What kinds of psychophysical and somatic affect can arise from the combination of these two forms? Stephanie Loh is an actress based in Singapore. She is trained in both Kalaripayattu and Fitzmaurice Voicework for 5 years. When I first began working at LASALLE about nine years ago, I observed a class that Elizabeth was teaching and she was teaching a Kalarippayattu class. You know, it was very exciting to me to watch the forms that she was working with and I immediately thought it would be a great way to collaborate those forms with the Fitzmaurice Voicework.
[de Roza:] And I met Budi through a workshop that he did for three days on Fitzmaurice and it was dealing with this kind of vibration that was happening in the Knowing that every breath is a decision to be alive. And every release of that breath is a communication that you are your environment. You're feeding a tree every time you breathe out and the trees are feeding you. And so There is a term in the language Malayalam, when translated, it means 'making the body all eyes'. Now, I would like to use this term to describe the intuitive body responding to the sensory environment. This state of being transforms the performer to attain a certain relationship to achieve power and a type of behaviour that can only be actualised through the body in practice.
The actor achieves what we call ' dynamic stillness'. What is this dynamic stillness? And can this dynamic stillness be evoked when combining the two forms?
"Making the body all eyes" -from Phillip Zarrilli, When the Body Becomes All Eyes:

Paradigms, Discourses and Practices of Power in Kalaripayyatu, a South Indian Martial
Art. New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Stephanie Loh

Chad O'Brien
Finding tremors in the Kalaripayattu poses. The restructuring elements come out of an anatomical way of using the breath with a rib-breath, and engaging from the transversus, that's commonly known in bel canto singing. What we are working on with the Kalaripayattu research and the Fitzmaurice Voicework combination was looking at the destructuring elements and how the breath is affected when the autonomic nervous system is engaged because of the postures.
And the restructuring components of how we can activate the sound while in these Kalaripayattu forms moving through a more anatomical way of expressing the voice. [9:27]

Voice of Elizabeth de Roza:
My first encounter with Kalaripayattu was with Phillip Zarrilli's summer intensive workshop in South Wales. There I was introduced to the form of Kalaripayattu, but before we did, we did some yoga, and then we did taiji, and then we went into the form of Kalaripayattu itself. The difference is that here in this research, we are actually just focusing specifically on Kalaripayattu, which is focusing on the form. We're focusing on this basic elephant, lion form. And how that strong position, aided through the vibration and the breath work that happens in Fitzmaurice Voicework -which tends to be slightly more adaptable and I would like to use the word fluid, or flexible -and together with this form, create this sound that the actor can use as part of their training, as part of their work, going beyond what we call a pre-rehearsal form, but using that to go into rehearsal. Using those two worlds to create for them a sense of presence.
Kalaripayattu may look relatively muscular. But what I like about it is the flow of its energy. It creates this agility in the body. It creates flow because it uses the spine. It takes its forms from animals. In the elephant, your feet are slightly wider than your hips. So, your whole body is supported. The essence of the elephant is its strength. A lot of Kalaripayattu movement is all about being grounded. Having the strength and agility that you will need. In the elephant, he looks very grounded and there is release in his upper body and shoulders because of the lengthened spine. Now, in the lion, you will notice he is down. His back is flat. And his whole spine is extended. He is in a very compact position, but at the same time, he can move forward. So, there is a movement in the spine. It is strong. It is solid. With the movement of the body, there is this sense of grace. One of the physical forms that we are looking at is the body being compact, and at the same time, having a release.
[de Roza:] He does this in the lion position. There is an extension in the spine. When he pivots on the front leg, there is a slight movement that happens in his hips. The body is moving in and out while twisting. The movement is activated through the hips. This is what we mean in Kalaripayattu that the body is compacted forward, because at any moment, there will be a slight shift that happens. It is not stationary. The centre of gravity shifts in the body. His imagination is activated. His breath is activated. He is right there.
He is ready to move. As he moves forward, he goes down and shifts the weight forward slightly, sending his energy down through the ground. So, when he goes right down into the base of his pelvic floor, there is a twist and opening of the hips and pelvic floor. There is a point of resonance that is akin to truth. When an actor has fully integrated awareness of both voice and body, and is therefore able to fully activate this body in performance. At the intersection of this world, he is offering tremor awareness. He still has the form but he is allowing the impulses of the tremor to be an active expression during the development of his creative exploration. And to be more interested in the in-breath than the expression of vocal sound. He has a lovely movement of his chest. It is full of free dynamic movement. This is a very active place.
And the form of Kalaripayattu encouraged movement in the most efficient areas of the respiratory system while still being strong and sturdy. He becomes very active. I get caught in this world between the release in the gravity, which is part of the Fitzmaurice world, but my torso being so far from the floor. So, I need my muscles, but I can get that release and then from that release, how can I get back into the form? And when I first starting with Kalaripayattu and tremor work, I actually got some quite intense tremors that travelled up and down either side of my spine. Just in those muscles, and I can feel in the release and lengthening in my spine. And vocally, I think it comes from that grounding of Fitzmaurice work, where I have to keep this release so that I'm conscious of awareness for me. And now, I've learned how to play with the extreme sounds through the basic destructuring sequence. So now when I go into something like this, which is a little bit more intense, I think after five years of doing the work it's kind of like, whatever the sound is going to be, is what it's going to be.