Delivered at VFS Acting Class 29 Grad, December 14, 2007 @ Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie Street, Vancouver BC.
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On budget day, Canadian finance ministers often wear a pair of shoes that represent the fiscal priorities of the budget they are about to present in parliament.
What does that have to do with us? Well, I would like to introduce you to class 29’s shoes: * takes shoes off and tosses them aside*.
Film school is expensive. That, and we did a lot of our work this year in bare feet!
In our bare feet, we shared secrets that we thought we’d never have to face, or own up to in public.
In our bare feet, we looked into each other’s eyes and swore that we could read into the souls of the others.
In our bare feet we were stretched to our elastic limits, and when we exhausted our give, we snapped. Curiously, after the storm, we recovered and often became more elastic.
And on some days, we were too shy to take off our shoes.
Most of class 29 will agree with me – we had no idea what we were getting into when we signed up for the acting for film and Television program at Vancouver Film School.
I don’t quite remember what we expected to find, but I know what we found.
We found a safe place where falling apart was not just okay, but really okay. We were allowed to start from a place of just being, meaning that we didn’t have to hold up appearances for anybody and everybody.
We danced.
We told stories, each truer than the last.
We talked to each other in our sleep, and then in our waking hours,
sharing dreams,
sometimes without words,
and sometimes needing as many words as the body could possibly manage to conjure up to avoid telling the truth of the matter. And then we told the truth.
We learned how to create stories.
We learned how to move our bodies,
We learned how to move other people.
We made music out of noise, resolving discordance to beautiful discordant harmony.
Each from a different place.
Each with a different story.
Each with a different objective.
In the end, did we achieve our original objectives? All I know is we all got something from the others. We fell in love. And we bravely told the truth.
And THEN we learned (and are very much still learning) how to make truth come alive on camera.
Class 29, composed of 40 students, is the largest Acting cohort to graduate from VFS to date. We had to work hard to work together, but we did. We learned how to put up with each other’s eccentricities, and to be generous with each other. And then after we learned to be generous, our teachers told us to be more selfish in our acting! What gives?
To all our family, friends, and teachers, who have supported and encouraged us through the year with your love, we acknowledge you gratefully. Thank you for being here with us today. That in itself means a lot to us.
And finally,
There’s an old Irish blessing for times of parting with those you love – i send the following to you, class 29, with all my hopes and dreams for your futures.
(song)
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be ever at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
and the rain fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you
May God hold you
ever in the palm of his hand.
We’ll always be together in spirit.
Class 29, Face your fears, and continue to run forward, because, you never know what’s waiting around that next corner. And that’s … the best part.
Thank you.
