Dan Grimm's "Shut the F*** Up" Elective

[Ryan Hill]

Hey Folks,

Just wanted to give a shout out to Dan Grimm. This elective was amazing. I learned so much. I hope Dan does more of these. I'll be looking for other opportunities.

Had a great time with Ryan A., Luke, Chris, Rachel and Chad. (Please tell me I didn't miss anyone.)

More of you should take this guy's curriculum. It was really, really good.

Ryan

[Jon Bolden]

Woo! I really wanted to check this out. I hope you did it again soon, Dan.

[Alex B]

Sounds great -- shutting the hell up is a valuable skill.

What were some of your takeaways?

[Ryan Hill]

Takeaways:

1) You don't have to walk into a scene with an awesome opening line. This was big for me because (as a newbie) this is my biggest fear-producing issue right now. (I was telling Ratliff this earlier and he said, "Scene starts are over-rated." Word to that.)

2) We communicate volumes with tiny bits of physicality. Touching someone in the smallest way can be incredibly powerful.

3) Avoiding someone's touch, pulling away, is AMAZINGLY powerful.

Paging my list of folks in the first post to add to this, please.

Ryan

[Ryan Austin]

Agreed!

This class was very insightful. I'll definitely take one of Dan's classes in the future.

Takeaways for me (in addition to Ryan Hill's)...

-Approaching each scene as if it were going to be 20 minutes long. Not rushing those first few lines or defining too much right out of the gate

-CONNECTING. We did a great warmup where we sent/received very specific relationships and statuses non-verbally. We played some non-verbal scenes using just the send/receive method. We then combined it with touch and were blown away. It definitely gave me practical methods of connecting with my scene partner and being affected became much more logical (and easier).

-Touch Game: We could only talk when we were touching another character and the touch had to be justified emotionally. Once we got the hang of it, it felt even more natural than being allowed to talk any time.

Highly recommended!

[bradisntclever]

1) You don't have to walk into a scene with an awesome opening line. This was big for me because (as a newbie) this is my biggest fear-producing issue right now. (I was telling Ratliff this earlier and he said, "Scene starts are over-rated." Word to that.)

Rather than focusing on an opening line, I find it really helpful to walk into a scene and obtain/discover a specific point of view before I say anything. You can filter all sorts of things through a point of view, including opening lines.

[Lukew]

And there was James as well from New Movement/Snackers/James & Ames.

It was pretty damn cool.

I agree with just walking out and saying a word as you're walking out there. You can justify it later. It makes the scene really fun to work out.

Also working on emotional emPHaSIS behind the words regardless of what you're saying really helps as well.

[bradisntclever]

Also working on emotional emPHaSIS behind the words regardless of what you're saying really helps as well.

That's a big one that too many people tend to forget about.

[Ryan Hill]

And there was James as well from New Movement/Snackers/James & Ames.

Damnit. I can't believe I forgot James. I knew I forgot someone.

[Ryan Hill]

Rather than focusing on an opening line, I find it really helpful to walk into a scene and obtain/discover a specific point of view before I say anything. You can filter all sorts of things through a point of view, including opening lines.

Thanks

[PyroDan]

Thanks to all who came out. I had a blast, and it was nice to share my passion with a new group of friends.