Saturday, March 14, 2009

Walk The Walk

Only a few friends have seen my impressions of people’s ways of walking. I don’t do them all the time, just if someone has a particular style about them that is recognisable or unique. There are various styles of walking: as a ballet dancer, pigeon-toed, knock-kneed and bandy-legged. There are also people who walk on the balls of their feet and have a slight spring to their gait. There are people who swagger, saunter, walk fast/slow, in a straight line/all over the footpath, sway their hips, shuffle, don’t move their arms or look where they are going.

Models are the easiest of all to imitate. They slouch their shoulders and stick out their groins to give them that relaxed look and then depending on the speed of their walk, move their legs appropriately – which I will now explain.

The Saunter

This is a slow, leisurely pace. The scene is moody so there will be lots of pouting lips and indifference written on faces. Beige, fawn, sand and taupe coloured basic sets with maybe some billowing ivory curtains for the lingerie section. Perhaps this is a standard fashion show where it’s all prêt a porter. Oh how common!

Step 1: Slouch shoulders, head down, eyes up and push your groin forward. Do not smile.
Step 2: Start walking with an exaggerated knee lift pointing the toes as you raise your feet off the ground
Step 3: Add the hip swing. When you lift your left knee, swing your hips to the left and vice versa for the right
Step 4: Continue these movements and move your head in rounded movements in slow motion as you throw bored looks to your audience. If you catch someone’s eye, without words tell them you are too good for them

The Mission

Changing scenes we are heading into the corporate world. Suits, pencil skirts, high waisted pants with flared legs, waistcoats and ties. Black, grey, the new black and more black.

Step 1: Posture slightly stiff, shoulders down and back but not slouching. This will elongate your neck. Head up, eyes straight ahead, serious almost angry face, groin slightly forward
Step 2: This time you don’t want to exaggerate your knee lift too much but you do need to do so to assist with the hip swaying.
Step 3: With one hand on your hip and the other holding a black leather folder, imagine you are late for a very important meeting that you are in charge of. Your shoulders will take the lead. Under no circumstances are you to make eye contact with anyone. If another model gets in your way then just push right through him/her. That’s it, create some tension out there baby!

The Skip and Twirl

Let’s lighten the mood and head to the fun park. Lots of colour, balloons, candy striped sets and token animals (stuffed toys as you are socially aware that live animals should not be used for entertainment). The clothing is tutus, leggings, shorty shorts and tank tops with lots of accessories.

Step 1: Relax your whole body with a shake from head to toe. Smile, yes you can do it. Now laugh with sound and throw your hair around. You are now ready.
Step 2: With a skip in your step I want you to really go for it when you exaggerate those knee lifts so much so that you almost knee yourself in the chin. The skip really helps and your arms will naturally fly in all directions as you twirl and whirl down the catwalk. On top of all that you are getting a terrific workout. Bonus!
Step 3: Add some gestures to the audience such as “hello waves” and “blowing kisses”. As hard as it is to smile in regular shows, you will find this is something you now can’t control.
Step 4: Lap up the attention and euphoria you have created in the room. All the other models are laughing and you are communicating with each and every person in the audience with your happiness. Backstage your stiletto heel accidently on purpose pierces the skin of your rival's foot, the one who smacked you in the face on the runway with her carousel arms.

The Improv

We are putting the bizarre into fashion now with the fantasy section. Clothing that is not made for everyday occasions and not practical to wear. This walk will test your skills at making it work and is the grand finale of your training. Extreme set design with mirror balls, neon lights, bold colours and dresses with headwear that could hide the rabbit and the white dove.

Step 1: Become the outfit. You may need to slouch, be upright or use your body in new ways such as crawling on your hands and knees. This is character work and a brief intro to your acting gigs on the sideline.
Step 2: Take extra care with your platform shoes as they will be your undoing if something is to go wrong. If you happen to trip and fall down that’s okay, people love to see that you are human and while they show concern on their face, inside they are laughing their asses off. Don’t worry if your skirt falls down, step out of it, pick it up and laugh it off. You’ve got legs that are the envy of all women and the desire of all men so show ‘em what you got!

I hope you all took part in this interactive training session and had as much fun learning and practicing as I did teaching. If you would like a private assessment of your new skills, feel free to contact me.

Congratulations, you are now on your way to becoming your household’s next top model!

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