INDETERMINATION: THE APPROACH FOR THE TRAINING OF ACTORS by LUIS DE

TAVIRA.

The first part of the training of actors in the acting approach of Luis de Tavira, is called
“The Indetermination” in this period is the idea of re discover the possibilities of movement,
expression, thought and the development of motor qualities such as flexibility, coordination
or strength for physical acting work. It is the training and physical conditioning space for the
development of the expressive qualities of the body and mind, the latter being the main
vehicles of acting communication. This period is described as “ ［ … ］ pre-theatrical,
negative, deconstructive phase, focused on the actor's work with himself, from which the
1
conditions for the future creation of the character will have to be created.”
Training in dance, music, plastic arts, biomechanics, voice management and
Indeterminacy are subjects that are closely linked and related to the ultimate goal, which is
learning an acting technique. Indeterminacy is a nodal part of the acting preparation
technique for the construction of fiction (Structuring). Practically the physical work that is
done during Indeterminacy is contained in the following quote from a personal work log that
I reproduce in full:
It begins with “immobility”, but, in a strange and paradoxical way, this
“immobility” of being, refers to a stillness in movement, where we learn to “be”
in the present, a present that constantly flows and that at the moment we
They point out, it is no longer; to be and not retain any thoughts, let the thoughts flow,
simply being in the moment, in the specific space, in the elapsed time and in
the indication that marks “being”, relaxing and freeing the mind, to allow the body to “be”
willing and alert to the work of creativity and action; On the other hand, the work of the
neutrality of the body and gesture, which comes from immobility and is worked on during
walking, starting from the correct positioning of the body, starting from the hip axis,
“crosshead”, the spine and each of our extremities, we seek to eliminate
any expression or intention that could hinder the work of “being”.
We have also explored silence, which is like opening an infinite space of
possibilities of world, action and movement, bodily, gestural, textual silence is the
prelude to creation, improvisation and character, the silence inherent to the

1
Savariego, Morris; “The Indeterminacy”; Lithographic Eros, SA de CV.; Mexico City, October 15, 2002, pp. 96;
p. 10.
 immobility and starting point of neutrality, a necessary condition of the actor/actress to
be able to express later; to finally reach the emptying (emptiness) of the
person/actor, this emptiness occurs in the area of introspection, that is, emptying the mind
and the soul of the actor, from distracting elements such as moral, emotional,
social, fears and defense mechanisms that do not allow the actor or actress
show themselves and that can pre-establish the condition of the “being” of the
actor/actress and prevent
its development in the stage space and in representation, on the other hand, this is also
the
external void, we work on the basis of an empty scenario where everything that is,
It is constructed by the mental operations of the actor/actress, by their imagination. All
This is oriented towards the objective that the student-actor/actress in training can
fully and honestly access the here and now of the present, the true “being” 3 .
Important concepts that define this stage of training are: development physical
conditioning, emptying, self-denial of personality, self-knowledge, neutrality and
disinhibition. The intention is to neutralize the personality and identity of the actor/actress in
training so that, from this blank slate, any character that is proposed is possible.
We also work with some elements of stage improvisation, starting with the search for
the person, their way of reacting to real situations, eliminating the multiple masks that do
not allow us to see the true “self.” It begins by illustrating the genesis of one's own life, of
one's own origin, " of the ancient spirit that had engendered us "4 , to continue with the first
steps and remember again how one learned to walk (to be in the world), finding the forces
of gravity and the force of the center of the earth.
After understanding that you have been born and that you have learned to survive,
comes a stage of recognition of others; All of this is a process of improvisation, that is, of
construction of fiction, but at the same time, a process of deconstruction of the person and
their ways of being.
Risk exercises and development of group and individual trust are addressed, as
well as training the mind for “mental operations”; We work with coordination at the
individual level and at the group level. In the part that corresponds to disinhibition,

3 Crowned Meadow, Gunnary; Work log, 1st. Module of the Intensive Diploma in Acting for professionalization, Centro
Dramático de Michoacán, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, August 2005.
4 All quotes mentioned in this part, except those that indicate otherwise; They are quotes taken verbatim from the work
sessions with the Master. Luis de Tavira, the teachers Stefanie Weiss, Mauricio Pimentel, Rodolfo Guerrero and Antonio
Zuñiga during the Indetermination and theater sessions of the 1st. Module of the Intensive Diploma in Acting for
professionalization, Centro Dramático de Michoacán, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, August 2005.
On the one hand, there is a moral disinhibition, that is, an internal struggle with the person,
and then seeking disinhibition with the other, this is a struggle of the person but towards a
social level.
There is a fundamental training strategy in Indeterminacy which is a technique called
“point work”; under the premise: “Mental operations work if they are done, not if they are
assumed ”5 ; “the point” is constructed in the person's imagination, then it is taken
outwards, it is visualized, it is thought, it is thought that the point thinks of you and that it
observes the person just as the person observes it.
The space for theoretical reflection on Indeterminacy is called “Theatrology or
Genesis of Performance” according to the pedagogical approach of Luis de Tavira. It is, so
to speak, a spoken account of what is experienced in Indeterminacy, it is the counterpart, it
is “the path of verbality” in relation to the training of the actor/actress, it is a reflection on
what is acting?
For Stanislavski, acting is “living the part”; Here the concept of living by doing is
interpreted; De Tavira affirms that it is truly necessary for “an actor/actress to prepare”, it
begins long before “doing the part”, for him, acting is the invisible spectacle that happens in
the mind of the actor/actress, before materialization. scenic, acting is showing what is
hidden6 .
It is necessary to remember that Stanislavski emerged as a response to a crisis of
the actor/actress, he is the initiator of a profound theatrical revolution. The artistic condition
of actors has been in constant debate, and it was not until the end of the 19th century, with
the inclusion of the concept “staging” that the renewal of the art of acting was promoted;
same that has been reviewed throughout this research and that corresponds to the entire
20th century.
De Tavira establishes three equally relevant dimensions in the discourse of acting:
1.- Acting as language, this means that the actor/actress must be able to build a
convention, through physical and verbal action, to establish truthful communication with the
viewer; 2.- Acting as a technique, that is, that the actors have the ability to found a logical
stage discourse; and finally, 3.- Acting as poetics.- Actors must, through their stage work,
integrate a vision of the world, of life 6 .

5 Luis de Tavira.
6 Theoretical approach that already appears in the speeches of Artaud, Grotowski and Brook.
6
Savariego, Morris; “The Indeterminacy”; Lithographic Eros, SA de CV.; Mexico City, October 15, 2002, pp. 96;
p. 14.
 In a process parallel to the practical experimentation, each of the exercises of the
Indetermination phase is analyzed, as well as the approach of “ being and being ” of “
dwelling in thought ”, “ of thinking that I walk, that I walk because I think”. and I think
because I walk "" of doing, thinking, and wanting "; We talk about the danger that exists
when the actor/actress begins to mechanize (repeat without organicity) during the
Indeterminacy sessions.
“ The being is in motion, so you never know what you know it is, until one dies ”, the
only thing that the actor/actress has to be in the situation is to be in the “ being thinking ”,
since you cannot define what I know is, because being “is” under construction all the time, it
is not possible to affirm “ if I know it is” . To be is to inhabit the thought, and to inhabit is a
need, which can be an image, a smell or an impulse; The work of the actor/actress is in the
dilemma between: what I am doing, feeling or thinking. The situation can only be
experienced. Other than that it is pure mechanization.
Through the study of the genesis of acting, it is explained how Stanislavski's
concepts are transformed to adapt them to this particular form of work, for example
Stanislavski talks about antecedents and Luis de Tavira talks about circumstance.
Indeterminacy is equivalent to what we have been calling the work of the
actor/actress on himself (a) and is defined as the period dedicated to the “elaboration of
meanings”, it is a training space to empty the actor/actress, to externalize . All this is born
from thinking and the job of the actor/actress is to take thinking to its ultimate
consequences. The comparison scheme between Stanislavski and De Tavira would be as
follows:

Stanislavski Luis de Tavira.

There are three elements that underlie the genesis of the performance: immobility,
silence and emptiness. Immobility is defined as a dynamic stillness, it is the origin of
movement. It is the search for mental silence and a total disposition of the body. On the
other hand, Silence is the very possibility of language, that is, the possibility of giving
structure to words. Silence has a meaning like the word, like the action
or any gesture. “Everything unusual, singular, surprising and strange goes beyond the
discursive word and only silence can name it.” 7
For De Tavira, the actor's training process begins precisely in this silence, this stage
of pre-verbality, which will culminate in verbality according to the dramatic text. For its part,
the Void refers to the external void, the scenic space lacking scenery; and to the inner
emptiness, which is the mental state of the actor/actress where there are no pre-
established ideas or a priori emotions.
Indeterminacy, explained verbally, is specified in the following steps:
1. Disinhibition, “opening the thing so that the world can fit in.”
2. Reach the moment where the person disappears for being.
3. Capturing the outside through the senses to produce a state through feelings are
more elaborate structures.
4. Change no to yes.
5. Don't miss anything, or omit anything.
6. Develop it and take it to the ultimate consequences.

The main creative source of the actor/actress is within him/her, in his/her perception
and intimate relationship with all sources of meaning. “Inside us there is an entire Freudian
world in which the invisible areas of the ego, the superego and the id are found; or also a
Jugian one, which houses the equally invisible areas of the person, the ego, the shadow
and the anima or animus and the self (a); either accept the theses of transpersonal
psychology, which proposes the existence of an essential self (core of identity) and a series
of varied and changing personifications through which it is manifested and externalized, or
ascribe to another theory. In any case, we sense that in the human being there is a greater
complexity to be unraveled, a series of enigmas, secrets and hidden movements that resist
our knowledge." 8
Given this panorama, it is evident that the answer to the question of "who am I?", or
what is the same, "the incessant search for the self", is a task that has no end. Exciting for
many and with countless obstacles, traps, shortcuts and sophisticated psychic mechanisms
that distort self-perception and prevent us from reaching the primary parts. But it is fair, on
this path of self-knowledge or the search for the self, where the knowledge of the
actor/actress is established, does the mechanism of

7 Savariego, Morris; “The Indeterminacy”; Lithographic Eros, SA de CV.; Mexico City, October 15, 2002, pp. 96;
8p. 33
8
Savariego, Morris; “The Indeterminacy”; Lithographic Eros, SA de CV.; Mexico City, October 15, 2002, pp. 96;
p. 14.
orientation? Paradoxically, intuition, as the instrument of perceptual divination that allows
the person-actor/actress to become immersed in themselves, to find themselves again.
The nodal point of theater arises with the construction of identity; Given that acting is,
among other things, the art of presence, it allows us to construct the subject who in turn will
construct the character. That is why the actor/actress, above all, must take ownership of
himself and subsequently abandon himself to the otherness of the fictitious other. From this
vision, we deduce that the actor/actress builds and knows himself, through all the
characters to which he gives himself, “the path that the actor chooses to become himself is
9
to be other". De Tavira says that the actor/actress works on himself as if he were a
“substance of metamorphosis”, in other words, the self as something that does not finish
being, but that, without any other option, has been.
Indeterminacy is the basic principle of action, according to the methodological proposal
of Luis de Tavira and it happens thanks to what is known as “cerebral bifrontality”, that is, it
is the space for critical judgment to accommodate the fact that being is enlarged. On the
other hand, the exercise of the point is the beginning of the work of personification, without
further abstract meaning, it is only the construction of the other.
De Tavira brings together several concepts, which are expressed in his book "
He
“Invisible show”10 for example:
“ Metaphysics in Action ”, is where the actor/actress gives body to the incorporeal,
takes the dramatic text, which is written fiction, gives it life and body through his art; This is
what is called the invisible show, where the actor/actress builds an invisible world through
mental operations and makes it visible to the viewer.
“ Fiction/reality ”, reality or the knowledge of reality is inaccessible to the knowledge
or senses of the human being, theater is not reality but it is everything we want it to be, and
this is possible thanks to the mind of the actor/actress, works by different, “extraordinary”
laws.
“ Stage ” is the space where the objects take on a separate dimension, deposited on
the stage in view of the spectator's eyes, simply because they are within the framework of
fiction, and at the same time there is a process where each thing or object is different for
each of those eyes that observe it, that is why there is a stage convention, which guides the
perception of the spectator, all this, from the beginning that everything that is on the stage
is because it is, and to be It has to “ be in the mind of the actor.” “Open the thing so that the
world fits in” , Tavira's methodology comes from analysis and goes towards synthesis, it is
9 Savariego, Morris; “The Indeterminacy”; Lithographic Eros, SA de CV.; Mexico City, October 15, 2002, pp. 96; p. 38.
10 De Tavira, Luis; The Invisible Spectacle: Paradoxes about the art of Acting. Editions el Milagro, 1st. Edition, Mexico,
DF, 2008.
an inductive/deductive method, you work with the thing and all its properties, the analysis
yields a social, cultural, relationships with people, due to situations, causes or reasons for
stimulation; “ The thing gets involved with the actor and thus we open the particular world
of something in the thing, and thus the identification with the spectator happens.”
“ The great theater of the world ” , to open the world of fiction, first you are a person, then
you are a character, acting is maintaining the supremacy and autonomy in the construction
of the other, that is, first, “know yourself” and From there it is possible to propose a plan to
be able to support the other.
Acting is:

ME + ME CHARACTER + CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CHARACTER.

The “I” can only enter the plane of the “other” if it entered with its “circumstances”;
Circumstances are what make us different, we are different when the circumstances are
different; That is why you have to work on the esteem of the “I” because what you have to
do is work on the self in the circumstances of the other, the self becomes responsible for
the other and that necessarily changes.
Everything discussed in Theaterology must be landed in the space of Indeterminacy
and vice versa, everything experienced in Indeterminacy has to be verbalized and analyzed
through Theaterology. The Dramaturgy of the Actor11 It is a construction proposal that each
person intends, there is no model to impose. The proposal initially starts from asking what it
means to act? A condensed answer must be sought, going through the path of discussion
and reflection; Also, one must reflect on the actor/actress as an instrument of the art of
theater, in how the spectator's unconscious is disrupted. Among these reflections, the
aspect related to the social, political, artistic and economic project of the actor/actress is
also delved into, as well as the rescue of the spectator.
De Tavira assures that the current crisis in theater is a crisis that benefits it, because
more theater is produced; The idea that arises in Theaterology is to think about the
possibility and procedures of the preparation of a different actor/actress, it is to look for an
actor/actress who is waiting and who makes fiction possible, who is always in the
recognition, in the question of what is happening to him.
The “Dramaturgy of the actor” is a technique that withdraws “critical judgment” towards
one's own work and towards others through self-denial; The points that build the fiction are
the following:
a. You have the responsibility to build the other.

11 Pedagogical technique of Mtro. Luís de Tavira, named after Mtro. Antonio Gonzalez
b. Be honest.
c. You work collectively, with others.
d. Abnegation.
e. Think.
f. Live.
g. Live the present.
h. The feeling is recognized.
i. It is done, it is not assumed.

Recognizing the feeling feeds all the images that the actor/actress needs, however we
do not have to look for the feeling, we have to look for the action, later we add the structure
taking into account that the emotion is something that does not necessarily appear, the
important thing is to develop. “ Indetermination is opening the actor's internal space to the
void, so that it contains the world of fiction.”

“The actor's mission will be to remind the viewer of the time of his death, because no one
he is more alive than he who stands firmly in the face of death; is before the
death of the other that we realize that we are alive.”
“The character's greatest action on the scene is to leave; this action is the greatest
action, because when the character leaves the scene, we can know who has left the
scene.
scene, we really know the character.”

Another important part of the internal work with the “self” is that of “meditation”, this
is a discipline, they are a meeting point with the “internal self”, it is learning to reside in our
internal silence, speaking in silence, developing our mantic sense of communication, and
just as in theatrical art there are points that function as a structure of meditation, meditation
is a method of education and sentimental formation of the actor/actress, is a resource that
generates internal calm and the ability to distinguish the most personal impulses.
Meditation is individual, it is an intimate and sacred activity, it leads to two types of
consolation-desolation feelings, and then reaches the discernment of spirit:

“Enter the heart of life.