All action should be graceful in mechanism and definite in
expressiveness. The speaker should keep his place--all his motions may be
easily made in one square yard, but the stage or dramatic action requires
more extended movements.
WALKING.
In walking, the head and body should be carried upright, yet perfectly free
and easy, with the shoulders thrown back, the knees should be straight, and
the toes turned out. In the walk or march, the foot should be advanced,
keeping the knee and instep straight, and the toe pointing downward; it
should then be placed softly on the ground without jerking the body; and
this movement should be repeated with the left foot, and the action
continued until it can be performed with ease and elegance.
"In a graceful human step," it has been well observed, "the heel is always
raised before the foot is lifted from the ground, as if the foot were part
of a wheel rolling forward, and the weight of the body, supported by the
muscles of the calf of the leg, rests, for a time, on the fore part of the
foot and toes.
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