THE DRAMA BODY BLUEPRINT FOR THE WORKPLACE: How to Read and Use Body Language to Gain an Edge at the Workplace

One of the key principles of drama is that ‘art imitates life’. In order for drama to be taught and performed at a level that touches the raw emotions of the audience, it needs to be conveyed in a manner that captures the reality of the human experience. This essence is then infused in the actors’ portrayal of their characters, and in the scene that they are playing, so that the actors can feel the emotions of the scene, which in turn inspires their acting to greater heights. Fundamentally, teaching actors how to perform their roles is no different to teaching professionals the fundamentals of body language. Each movement symbolises the same objective - A character portraying a spiteful antagonist would behave in a similar manner to the office bully, and would portray similar body language. How the protagonist would react to counter the aggression would be similar to how an office worker would need to react to neutralise the negative body language displayed by the bully. The Drama Body Blueprint was created as a result of this crossover in disciplines, where the same body language in acting could be read and taught to portray intent, power, and emotion to gain an edge at the workplace, within as little as an hour.

ABDULLAH MOHD NAWI

Ph.D (Education), University of Canterbury, NZ

M.Ed (TESL), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia

B.Ed (TESL), University of Exeter, UK

Primary Email: abdullahmnawi@utm.my