Slow is Smooth

So with 3 days of leisure left before Les Mis rehearsals begin, I'm starting to get excited--the adrenalin is a pumpin'.

At Chloe's today she told me about these Navy Seals she had worked with and how they talked about controlling their adrenalin. They explained how the key to what they do (besides being trained to basically shut down the fear sensors at the base of their brains) lies within this mantra: Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast.

When the body starts pumping adrenalin in that whole fight/flight series of bio-chemistry, it's not exactly conduscive to the Seal performing safely undercover. They concsciously try to slow things down, in a way controlling that adrenalin pump, to remain at the peak of their abilities to perform. Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast.

Granted, Enjolras is not a trained Navy Seal, but he is a guy who is in a pretty fierce adrenalin pumping situation for most of the time he's on stage.

As actors, we have to monitor our own adrenalin and how it serves or takes away from the characters we play.

How many times during a nationally televised sporting event do we hear the announcers talk about how a certain star player remained really calm underpressure or showed true patience and leadership skills in moving his team down the field with only a minute to go, etc; They say this player seemed completely at ease despite the chaos swirling around him...

Well here's Enjolras--the leader of the team of ABC students, with chaos swirling around him and MY adrenalin pumping like crazy. In 3 days I look forward to exploring slow is smooth and smooth is fast to see what I discover about him. Now if only it works at home so i can get some sleep...:)