"The Moving Body": Making Actors Become More Alive
- Dylan Day
- Jun 2
- 5 min read
“The body knows things about which the mind is ignorant.” – Jacques Lecoq
Introduction: Why You Should Care About Jacques Lecoq
Before we get into exercises and masks and elemental embodiment, let’s ask the big question: Why Lecoq?
Well, if you're an actor who is tired of stale performance and wants to become more alive, then you'd be silly not to incorporate elements of Lecoq's theatre into your work —
Because Jacques Lecoq was one of the great theatre pedagogues of the 20th century. His work isn’t just for physical theatre nerds or mime lovers — it's for anyone who wants to live truthfully in the moment with their whole being, not just their head and voice. Lecoq didn’t teach “acting” in the conventional sense. He taught movement, rhythm, tension, and presence. He taught actors to see the world physically — and move like it.
“I am not teaching a style, but a way of looking.” – Lecoq
Who Was Jacques Lecoq?
Born in 1921 in Paris, Lecoq was originally a physical education teacher before moving into theatre.
He was influenced by commedia dell’arte, mime, clown, Greek tragedy, sport, and architecture.
In 1956, he founded L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
He trained actors in movement analysis, neutral mask, mimodynamics, clown, and collective creation.
Died in 1999, but his influence lives on in actors, theatre-makers, and entire companies.
Notable Lecoq Alumni
Lecoq’s influence is global. His students have created some of the most innovative theatre and film in recent decades:
Simon McBurney (Complicité)
Geoffrey Rush
Julie Taymor (Director of The Lion King on Broadway)
Steven Berkoff
Ariane Mnouchkine (Théâtre du Soleil)
Members of Cirque du Soleil and Slava’s Snowshow
These aren’t “conventional actors.” They’re creators, visionaries, storytelling bodies.
The Book: The Moving Body (Le Corps Poétique) - Making Actors Become More Alive
Title: The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theatre
Author: Jacques Lecoq (translated by David Bradby)
Publisher: Methuen Drama
A rich blend of Lecoq’s philosophy, exercises, anecdotes, and theatrical principles.
Lecoq’s Core Ideas
1. The Body Comes First
Speech is secondary. Lecoq begins with silence and movement. You are a moving body in space, before you are a character with lines.
2. Movement is Meaning
Every gesture has weight. Lecoq teaches that movement expresses thoughts and emotions before words do.
3. The Neutral Mask
This is Lecoq’s foundational tool. A neutral mask strips away character and emotion, revealing your natural state. It teaches:
Stillness.
Openness.
Connection with space.
Listening to impulse.
“The neutral mask is a mask that masks nothing.” – Lecoq
Key Concepts From Lecoq: Making Actors Become More Alive
The Ten Seconds Before Acting
Before you act, you must wake up the body. Not "warm up" — wake up. Lecoq trains the body to respond to space, not internal self-consciousness.
Mimodynamics
The poetic study of movement and life. You observe a material, emotion, animal, or phenomenon... and then become it. You're not imitating—it’s embodied imagination.
The Moving Body: making actors become more alive by incorporating their imagination into the body.
Lecoq Exercises (Yes, Do These!)
1. Childhood Bedroom Memory
Sit. Breathe. Close your eyes. Now: walk through your childhood bedroom.
How did the light come in?
What did the floor smell like?
What’s under the bed?
Purpose: Waking the imaginative body. Reconnecting with sensory memory.
2. Waiting: Being Watched, Watching
Set up a dinner party. You’re alone in the room. Now each guest arrives, one by one.
How does your body respond?
What rhythms emerge?
Are you being watched? Are you watching?
Purpose: Awareness of rhythm in social dynamics. Acting is timing + response.
3. Responding to Sounds (6 Stages)
No sound — the world is quiet. You miss it.
You hear it — but you don’t react.
Loud sound — you listen again; it doesn’t return.
Very loud — you think it’s a train.
Still loud — but it’s not a train. Confusion grows.
Jet flies overhead — it changes your world.
Purpose: Cultivating nuanced listening, delayed reaction, and suspense.
4. Neutral Mask
Put on a neutral mask.Walk slowly.Let your breath settle.Notice: what space are you in? How do you stand in it?
Purpose: Find balance and simplicity. Let the world move through you.
5. Journey Improvisation
Without speaking, take this journey with full presence:
Emerge from the sea
Move through a dense forest
Climb a mountain
See a vast island in the distance
Cross a stream, a desert
The sun sets
Now repeat — but this time, it’s a storm.
Purpose: Narrative through physical space. Heighten stakes without a script.
6. Be the Elements
Fire: quick, consuming, hot.Water: flowing, heavy, undulating.Air: light, scattered, elusive. Earth: grounded, resistant, rooted.
Purpose: Discover different inner rhythms and weight.
7. Be Different Materials
Rope: soft but tense.
Honey: slow, sticky, sensual.
Iron: hard, unyielding.
Now: be these materials becoming human. A honey person. A rope person.
Purpose: Character from substance. Not stereotype.
8. Humanise the Object, Animalise the Human
Be a door. Open. Close. Creak.
Be a cat. But not cute — tactile, calculating, alert.
Now be a cat trapped in a door.
Purpose: Physical theatre's greatest gift — transformation.
Lecoq’s Seven Levels of Tension (by Jacques Lecoq, developed further by John Wright)
This is a goldmine. The actor learns how energy, stakes, and engagement evolve.
Catatonic – No tension. Sloth mode.
Laid-back – Cool. Casual. Low-stakes.
Neutral – Alert, poised. Ready.
Suspense – Something’s coming. Active stillness.
Passionate – Engaged, emotionally open.
Tragic – The body is full of tension, driven, near collapse.
Rigid – Locked, too far. Comedic in extremity.
Play scenes at different levels. Then shift levels mid-scene.
Lecoq’s Rhythm & Reactions
Acting = responding. You don't create rhythm; you discover it in your relationship with others.
Lecoq emphasised: “It’s not about doing more, it’s about doing what the moment requires.”
Lecoq’s Legacy: A Philosophy for Creators
Lecoq’s approach goes beyond acting:
It’s for directors who want truthful staging.
For writers who want characters with breath.
For comedians, clowns, dancers, filmmakers, educators, activists.
Final Thought: Be as Alive as Possible
Lecoq teaches us not to begin with psychology or backstory — but with space, rhythm, and movement. If you can see the world with a sense of play and wonder, and if your body can respond truthfully, then you are already an actor.
“Above all, don’t play the result. Play the discovery.” – Jacques Lecoq
Follow these exercises and read The Moving Body, and your performances will become more alive.
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