Arts Theatre, London, 19 March 2018

A short-notice booking from City Academy sent me to London’s West End where on the top floor of Arts Theatre in its Pigeon Loft studio I found tutor Stephen Nicholas. A splendid chap, he had pre-arranged for heaters to be switched on much earlier, and he gave me licence to time myself for some “very short” opening poses. I started with two of 1-minute, one of 3-minutes and one of 5-minutes.

Stephen was engaging with his small group throughout, providing encouragement and advice, and finding out what challenges would interest them. One said foreshortening, another asked about movement poses. Ah, movement poses! Very well. First I strode four steps towards the artists; a pace, then freeze, a pace, then freeze. Next I walked from side to side across the room, four times in a slow smooth continuous action.

As the act of walking is the act of continually unbalancing oneself, a very slow walking pose – or freezing mid-pace – can be more strenuous than it might seem. No problem though, especially as for the remainder of the evening I would be seated with my heels up on an adjacent chair. Very comfy, and an ideal pose for practising foreshortening. In all, this turned out to be an interesting, interactive, thoroughly enjoyable little session.