Hi, I’m Steph. I’ve recently opened Bodlondeb Studio & Retreat in north Wales which sleeps up to 12 people. I’ve been struck over and over recently about people who may spend Christmas on their own or are seriously in need of something different to give their hearts a chance to heal and it just occurred to me that instead of opening the retreat to Airbners this Christmas, that it could be put to better use closer to my heart and values.

So if you know a theatre/film maker or creative who's in need of connection this Christmas, please, please share far and wide. 

I’ll keep it simple for now...

Come to North Wales for some self care over Christmas.
23-27th December
#PayWhatYouCan

You’d spend a few days in the rolling hills of North Wales, going on adventures, resting, playing, sharing food and most importantly, connecting. I’ll spend some time with you exploring you, self care, mindful practice and we’ll go for a beautiful walk.

You'll need to send in a video introducing yourself so I can make sure the people who come here are well suited - it’s an integral part to of how this space runs beautifully and easily. 

Simply fill in this form to register your interest.

We've been a little quiet over the last six months because I have been busy, busy building Bodlondeb Studio & Retreat here in North Wales, in my garden. 

We open in a matter of days (9) and there is still a huge amount to do so I'll keep this short and sweet - I am deliriously tired!

It's really important to me that I make sure people who genuinely can't afford the training can come. Adam and I have run several year long and course specific scholarships to ensure our doors remain open to those who need it. 

I've been so busy with the build and choosing wood, paint and taps that I had missed some elements of launching the retreats that are deeply important to me and this is one of them. So I had a think. 

For this 9 night course specifically it costs me just under £200/person to have someone on site (not including my time, accommodation or paying off loans etc) so I couldn't offer a full scholarship as we don't have the funds to cover the rest but I could at least offer it at cost price, giving my time and accommodation as a gift. I reached out to some people in the industry to ask if they knew anyone who might be interested in the training and specifically those who wouldn't normally be able to access it. 

One very kind soul, writer, maker, director, VO artist Dermot Daly, offered to cover the cost of one place, as a gift to someone who would deeply benefit. Well that blew me away. 

"I’ve been lucky in the opportunities that I’ve had and continue to have and am fully aware that stories like mine are few and far between. If I can rebalance in some small way then I will. 

The idea of using a fee for a voiceover to gift training to someone is just beautiful and I know that what you do is awesome and brilliant."

So here we are, able to offer a fully funded place on our first ever Actor Training Retreat to a brilliant and deserving soul who is in a position to down tools and get to Wales on the 12th July!

We'll keep it simple. Email me on stephanie@both-feet.co.uk or fill in the contact form by Wed 7th July about why you'd like to come on the retreat and why we should offer you the scholarship.

12-21st July
Introduction to Meisner, 9 night retreat in North Wales
With the great outdoors to guide the training into your body

Here's Steph chatting about it https://fb.watch/6rY_ejvPNx/ 

A deeply immersive, experiential and tailored programme designed to deeply connect you to yourself, each other and your craft.
Includes:
- Accommodation
- Food package for arrival evening and first morning and kitchen basics ie tea, coffee, spices, oils etc (you can let us know food requirements on booking).
- 7 days training in The Meisner Technique from basic repetition and exploring the impulse to move all the way through to text analysis and scene work.
- A beautifully fused coaching experience from the acting studio into the wild and back again with Steph and our partner activity instructor.  
- Activities: Stand Up Paddle Boarding, Archery, White Water Stand Up Paddle Boarding and Foraging & Campfire,
NB we reserve the right to change or adapt the activities if necessary
- Food at the campfire and something foraged & handmade to take away ie teas, cordials muscle rub, salves, first aid ointment.
Full info: https://www.bodlondebretreat.co.uk/introduction-to-meisner

Arrive Open, Leave Changed

Money is tight. Headshots are important, an investment, your marketing material. Yet for some reason I see so many actors be unprepared when it comes to choosing photographers and attending their shoot.  Here are a few thoughts from me on making every penny count.

1. What do you need?
   A question I ask in the training room and rehearsal room a lot but it’s also relevant here. I do mean literally - are these your first headshots or are they top ups? What kind of pictures do you need? But I also mean what do you need to make you feel good, to get the best out of the session? I believe as an actor, knowing what you need is your best tool. 
2. Choose carefully
   Take your time and research properly, don’t be lazy. Find actors you know and look at their head shots. Are those pictures a true representation of them? Is there a good range? Are they over edited or are they real? If so, see who the photographer is. Just because someone gives you a recommendation, this doesn’t mean you should just book them. Everyone is different. 
3. Trust your gut
   A good headshot photographer will make you feel comfortable, and this should be reflected in their communication with you beforehand. If your gut is questioning your choice, listen to it. 
4. Before you go
   Don’t get carried away in the beauty salon. Of course if you want to do the usual, do it but remember these pictures need to be a true reflection of you. So going and getting a mega fake tan, inch long eyelash extensions and/or your nose pierced the morning of the shoot to make you feel more confident may not be the best plan. Same with clothes - if you're not used to wearing those shapewear knickers or that woolly jumper, now might not be the time to rush out and buy them - think carefully about what items you choose - you want to exist in front of the camera with as much ease as possible. 
5. Be ready
   What can you do with clothes, makeup and hair to give yourself as many basic options as possible? Of course you can’t do all options but what small changes can you make to encourage a casting directors imagination? Make sure you think about this before you go so you’re fully prepared. Beard/no beard. Slick back hair/free down hair. Glasses/no glasses. Hoodie/shirt. Be clever. Even the material of your clothes plays a part, soft clothes soften you, sharp clothes (like a stiff collar) harden you. 
6. Enjoy yourself
   I don’t actually know many actors who like getting in front of a camera so check in with yourself - what small things can you do to allow yourself to be open and to make it an enjoyable experience? Is it that you need to arrive early to grab a coffee? Smells can have a profound effect on our senses and state of mind, use it to your advantage with a spray of your favourite perfume or a few drops of lavender. Might music help, on your way there and/or during the shoot? Even though shoes won’t get seen in the picture, they can have a huge difference on how we feel so why not take a couple of options? Work with the photographer, don’t rely on them to do everything, they don’t know you like you do.
7. Be honest
   If I trust anything it’s that honesty reads better than bullshit. Once you get there if you’re feeling nervous, don’t hide it. Let it be a part of the moment. If you’re shooting different ‘looks’ don’t fake it, feel it - use preparation techniques you’ve tried and tested during your training or work.
8. Most importantly, you are who you are, you have what you have
   These pictures are a marketing tool for you. You are enough, just as you are: your colouring, size, shape, lines, curls, markings are all you. Celebrate it all. Be kind to yourself. Maybe it’s the bits you’re less fond of that’ll get you the role so let them be seen.

Since writing this blog we've actually started to run our own Headshot Days with me (Steph) coaching and James of Shift Focus behind the camera. Find out more HERE.

Money Talk
I'll be honest with you, without my teaching I won't earn a penny. Both Feet is my full time job and I'm the sole provider for my lovely little family so I'm not sure what our way through is yet but I'm trusting we will find a way. I also know that you will be in a very similar position and for many of you money is now a serious issue - potentially to the point that it's hard to put food on the table and pay rent let alone pay for training. SO... 
For now all the online stuff, I'll do on a (guilt free) Pay What/If You Can basis and I'll trust that if you can give anything at all, you will and if you can't, from the bottom of my heart, it's OK. Yes, we all have bills and food to pay for, this isn't about money, this is about working together. This is about adjusting and exploring something new, our now. 


(With that out of the way) Let's Play
Obviously there are certain things we can't do online, and that's good, because at least it means that when this all blows over we won't have created a world where everything can be done online so we will have to reconnect in person! BUT there are things we can do, which is ACE. 

Let's keep working, keep challenging ourselves and flexing those muscles. It's good for our head, heart and gut. 

So over the next few days and weeks we'll be releasing some fun challenges and things to do and we'd love for you to get involved. It might be for just you, you and another actor (familiar or not) or even you and your family. Either way, it'll keep you on your toes and ready for anything whilst continuing you on your journey of simplifying, calming the chaos and trusting. 

​We'll be looking at...

• Daily or weekly challenges - with a slightly competitive edge  - Including...
  • Self tapes
  • Monologues 
  • Scripts 
  • Giving each other given circumstances 
• Script work / Text analysis practice 
• Looking at Shakespeare (I'll be drafting in help with that!)
• Skills sharing
• Various live streams (gulp) and/or group video/calls to help us connect with grounding, our breath work and general maintenance. 
• Cold calling with a text (I'm guna have a lot of fun with this one...!)
• Adam is building a full on self-tape course too which will be awesome
• I'll see about guest tutors too
• And of course, if you want to do anything with me on a 1:1 basis, you know where I am!

​
I shall be looking into online platforms which means some of these we can do and share together and others we'll do on a 1:1 or a 2:1 basis. 

They're just the ideas bouncing around atm, I'm sure there's a million more. Do you have any other ideas or things that would be useful to you during this time? Tell me what you need - you know that's the most important starting point for me. Drop me and email stephanie@both-feet.co.uk

ARE YOU IN? ARE YOU UP FOR SOME CHALLENGES AND SOME FUN?

Right, I've been working since 5am so I'm going to switch off now and pick up again tomorrow. 

Steph xxx

If you're someone who can get stuff in your head and need to calm the chaos (and even if you're not!) then definitely take this time to connect with your present self. Replaying the What Ifs through your mind is probably not going to be great for you so trust you have loads of tools to help with that, if you choose to use them.

• Breathe 
  • Those of you who have come to my class recently will probably be familiar with this song.
  • ​​Feet on the floor, eyes closed or softened and allow your attention to come to your breathing: in your nose and out your mouth. Just notice. What is it doing? Is your in-breath longer or shorter than your out-breath? If your mind wonders, allow your tongue to rise to the roof of your mouth with each in-breath and drop as you breathe out. 
• Take some time to release
  • ​You can add this to your breath work by moving your attention around your body, starting with your eyebrows, across your face, down your jaw, your neck, your shoulders, your hands, spine, tum, bum, thighs, ankles and to the end of your toes and as you go notice where you're holding tension and allow it to melt away with every out-breath
  • There are plenty of other ways to release too - maybe it's having a bloody good shout or cry or dance!
• Stretch
  • Have a good stretch. I do it a lot throughout the day, when I'm "tab flicking" or feeling disconnected or disorientated and I should be working - it's a winner. The blood flow to the muscles increases which kicks in the "rest and digest" (parasympathetic) part of our nervous system promoting relaxation and also releases delicious endorphins. Who doesn't want a few of them?!
• Drink water and eat well
  • ​Easier said than done, of course. But what we put into our bodies will affect our thoughts, our sleep and our energy. I know you know this but we all need reminding, don't we? It's made me have a drink of water, so, thanks ;-)
  • Around 80% of your immune system resides in your gut so by strengthening digestion you also strengthen immunity.
    
• Get as much air as you can
  • ​Noone can stop you from getting out and going for a walk (or if you're wild, a jog!)
  • It's easy to get sucked into the very tiny world on your phones but look up, allow yourself to notice the beauty that is around you. 

That's all I have to say right now. I'm going to figure out ways we can stay connected, because we need to so if you have any ideas, talk to me. We are a family, we'll get through this together. 

All the love,

​Steph xxx

and of course, Adam sends his love too "Onward we go! We’ll be fine, we got this. Plus, if we can be useful to any of you you know where we are." 🙌🏻

Every time I design a new course or come up with a new idea, it’s always in response to listening to actors talking about things they’re struggling with or frustrations about the industry. I’ve seen a lot of headshots over the years. Some great and some really, really poor ones. When an actor joins this industry, how do they know what is good or not? How do they know how to prepare themselves properly for the shoot and do they even know themselves well enough to be creating their sales pitch in the first place? It got me thinking. 

I approached my really rather talented cousin James of Shift Focus / James Green Photography to see if he wanted to join forces to offer headshots to actors training with us at Both Feet. He was totally game. And what a wonderful treat for me - I only have three blood relatives left and he’s one of them so getting to bring together our two lives/major passions is really quite special.

James is technically a phenomenal photographer, he absolutely knows his stuff. He is most definitely an artist rather than someone who’s just bought a nice camera so I knew our skills would be a perfect match.

The biggest hurdle with headshots is providing a space where an actor can be themselves, which means it needs to be safe. I figured if I’m working with actors who I’ve been training, they already trust me, they already know the space will be safe. Plus I know them well enough to be able to coach them on different looks and through any struggles they might be having and push them to be simple but bold and brave.

I’m a firm believer that we’re better together. So, instead of doing solo shoots I wanted to run a whole day shoot with up to 8 actors. This would mean everyone would have time to change clothes and hair etc without a load of pressure but most importantly comradery would lift spirits, ease nerves, offer inspiration and raise the bar. 

James and I ran our trial shoot in January and I’ve got to say, we’re both pretty chuffed with the outcome. Always learning and ready for what's next, we’re now planning our next Headshot Day and designing a similar set up for Showreels - very exciting!!

It’s worth saying that I have zero interest in going into headshots and showreels but I do have a deep rooted investment in the actors I work with so, what James and I are offering will only be open to actors training with Both Feet. ​

See you soon?
​Steph x

Despite Stephanie Morgan being pregnant for 7 months of 2019, having major surgery and then gaining another baby to be a little brother to Fox and Adam Stadius creating and launching the brand new Musical Theatre BA at Leeds College of Music conservatoire and losing our Leeds space twice we have somehow managed...

• 31 evening classes
• 7 Intro to Meisner courses
• 5 Core Intensives
• 2 Transferring to Camera courses
• 1 Emotional Preparation, Monologue and Audition course
• 4 Tech Gym intensives
• 3 Scene Study Intensives
• 1 Intro to Meisner, Voice and Movement Intensive
• 1 Core Intensive with Voice and Movement
• 1 Barbara Houseman Voice Intensive
• 1 Audition Gym
• 1 website overhaul
• 1 R&D using the exercises to assist new writing

Really what is more important is that we are building actor training that is trusted by actors and other industry experts. Trusted for quality. Trusted for honesty. Trusted for a technique.

That list also doesn't represent everything the actors who have been training with us have achieved, the auditions attended, parts and credits gained, the drama school acceptance letters received and the many hours of mentoring we have offered. It also doesn't show the millions of beautiful moments of failure and honesty that we have shared in our spaces.

Every actor we meet and every class we run we are learning from too and we love it, deeply.

Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for being part of our journey and letting us be a part of yours.

2020 is going to be a big year for Both Feet. It will see the return of many courses plus newly designed ones, a retreat studio space with accommodation in North Wales, new relationships and collaborations (coz that's what it's all about, right?!), performance platforms, headshots and showreels collaborations and so much more.

We're even kicking off the first couple of weeks with 2 sold out Intro to Meisner courses and a brand new Into Your Body and Out of Your Head series - which makes our hearts sing.
​
Join Us as we jump feet first into a new decade.

July last year Nicki Davy cautiously made contact with me (we knew each from another life time) saying she thought she wanted to be an actor. She'd had zero training, just a suppressed hunch that this is what she should be doing. 

After discussions she signed up to our Foundation training and by the end, despite being terrified of this giant leap she had quit her job, booked headshots and started to apply for roles. Lucky for us she's done almost every course we’ve ran since and been mentored by me along the way. She has not floated into this industry, she has bulldozed her way in. She has worked hard. She knows the development of her instrument and craft is essential to her success. Alongside our training she’s gone to dance classes, voice 1:1s, Play With Fire Productions’ Scene Studies and probably more.

Over the last 18 months she's done loads of script in hand nights, research and development projects, Slung Low Shorts, done student films, worked with Northern Film School, the bread and butter school theatre work and no doubt loads more that my baby brain has forgotten. Over the last couple of weeks she's been in her first two full length plays. 

I managed to drag my sleep deprived self to King John by Cream Faced Loons on Sunday night in Manchester to see how she was getting on and I'm so glad I did. 

I have a funny relationship with the word "proud" because it rings of ownership, maybe that's just a weird hang up I have. But it is the only word I can use to how I felt driving back home to Wales. She was unapologetic for taking up space in the room. She watched attentively. Listened acutely. Her huge chunks of text were powerful and human. She was present and honest and raw and unafraid. 

Is she at The National being reviewed by Time Out? No. Not Yet. But she will finally be on Spotlight in the new year and then she can get an agent so she can be taken seriously as an actor (don't get me started on that entire statement). 

I put this in a blog because she's an incredible example of what actors should be doing. I see far too many actors floundering and/or waiting or being too scared of failure to be all in. Be all in. No excuses. You might just be brilliant. 

I am not taking ownership of her "exceptional" performance, as I said above, she's jumped into other training over the last 18months but I do feel like Adam and I have had a decent amount of input into the tenacious and open actor she has been developing (and continues to develop). 

Proud? Yup. 

Steph x

Recently I've had a few students who have now started at some of the top Drama Schools in the UK/world get in touch to thank me for the training we provided them and how thrilled they are that Meisner is being taught where they now are. This makes my heart sing. 

For as long as I've been training in and teaching this work it has felt quite underground. The majority of actors I met along the way (The North being more behind than London) either saying they'd never heard of it or they'd heard the name but didn't know what it was. But recently there's been a shift which is seriously exciting. 

There could be many reasons for this but my reckoning is based on the rise of mental health awareness. 

Everyone teaches this work differently, of course they do, because no one is Sanford Meisner apart from Sandy himself but there are some key principles that I'd like to believe go wherever the training is:

• Listen with your gut, not your head
• Learning to be better at seeing and listening
• the most important thing about me, is you
• What happens to me depends on you
• It's not about the past or the future, it's about the now
• The foundation of acting is the reality of doing

Until I discovered The Meisner Technique I believed the only way to be truthful as an actor was by experience, therefore I relied heavily on emotional recall - because that'd what I'd been taught, even from a very young age. But here's the thing, if you've not had the training and grounding to trust yourself and be safe in the knowledge of all those beautiful emotions you're full of, how could recalling the most traumatic event of your life (for example) for the good of your role be good for your mental health? My mum died in 2014. The last week, the last day, the last hour, the last breath was horrific, I had nightmares for months. Is it a good idea to replay that over and over again in order to bring sadness or rage or guilt or relief to my character? I don't think so. 

The fact is, I am made up of hundreds of thousands of experiences and memories and they fill me. Someone could stroke my face how mum once did and that feeling would rush through my veins like lightning. Because it's always in me, it'll never go away. I don't need to go digging for it, it's all there, available to me, if I let it.