The student inhales deeply through the nose into her abdomen, then releases through her mouth in short bursts, trying to maintain relaxation in her limbs as she attempts to empty completely of air; the coach places a hand low on her belly, urging her to pull the breath more deeply into her body. She does, and is startled and confused when she suddenly begins to sob. Not only is she certain that this is not the intended effect, but she doesn't know why she is crying: she is experiencing no memories or images, only an acute physical sensation of deep despair. The coach encourages her to allow the release of feeling; she weeps for nearly half an hour. Days later, after much practice, the student accurately reproduces the three elements of the pattern (breathing, facial expression, and posture) and finds herself just as suddenly joyful: not from a feeling of success, but because the pattern has finally induced the genuine emotion to which it organically belongs. She feels the effector patterns resonate with the myriad tiny individuations that make her joy her own: joy that she can now call up at will. This is Alba Emoting tm, a scientifically devised system for generating emotional states through precise physical patterning, without the use of memories or images, that is slowly penetrating American actor training. Known for years among groups of theatre practitioners in Europe and South America (where the system was initially developed), Alba training has reached perhaps a hundred actors and teachers in the US to date (the student cited--myself--among them); several hundreds of others have been exposed to the technique in presentations and workshops at national and regional theatre conferences since 1991.
BASES CIENTÍFICAS DEL EMOCIONAR
EL ALBA DE LAS EMOCIONES
BIOLOGÍA DEL EMOCIONAR
SURFEANDO LA OLA EMOCIONAL.