An unrelated Question

Hi,
I'm an acting student in North America and I have been learning about Stage Combat for the past few months. We recently began a discussion about whether stage fighting is a technical skill or an art form. My classmates and I all have our opinions on the topic, but I'm looking to get the opinions of some people who are actually in field, or even just somebody from outside my class. So if anybody reads this and has some insight I'd love to hear it.
Thanks,
Lily

Not sure I see the point in drawing the distinction, unless you're trying to cut out some of your job. Is there such thing as an art that doesn't have technical skills as requisite to involvement? Painter's got to stretch canvass and mix paint, and know about lines, shading, etc. Sculptor's got to know the tools and materials. Musicians still do scales, and know how to tune their instruments. Does this make what they all do not art?

I think the problem is that some people learn the technical skills of stage combat and then think they're done. That's kinda like learning script analysis and saying you are then a master actor. The art is in interpretation, using those technical skills to make artistic choices, create new combinations, provide insight in to existing characters.

What is often taught (by necessity, especially within any larger organization) is generic templates, on to which you can and should (I believe) layer your own (or the director's, or fight director's, or playwright's, etc) ideas about character and story and style. Don't perform it as it was taught to a large class with no set script or production vision, but let the technique from your training support the artistic choices of your performance.



That's my take anyway...