ABSTRACT
In the relationship between training and practice the actor is continually forced into a reassessment of the worth of the former in relation to the latter, the actor's present sense of self and way or mode of acting being invariably determined either in part or wholly by his past experiences. For the Lecoq trained actor this poses interesting questions particularly concerning the neutral mask and the activation of the state of neutrality in the actor; the significance and importance of which has been duly noted by Eldredge and Huston (1978), Felner (1985), and Frost and Yarrow (1990). Given that the neutral mask in Lecoq's teaching takes as its starting point the process of forgetting, ‘erasing the psychological past in favour of a discovery of the immediate, physical present,’ how does the actor arrive at this point? How does the actor locate himself physically in preparation for mask work? In what ways does he/she seek to realise the sense of economy so essential to the form? Can clarity of definition in movement be actively reconstituted in the moment? It is in seeking answers to these questions that Jos Houben has sought to integrate the practice, philosophy and teachings of Moshe Feldenkrais's ‘Awareness Through Movement’ programme into his own work on neutral mask as influenced by his training with Jacques Lecoq. Jos Houben qualified as a Feldenkrais teacher in 1994.
