Acting, much like ordinary life, is largely a game of status. Actors often start playing a scene at a particular status level based on their character’s given circumstances; yet, they can utilize their body language to raise or lower their status as the scene progresses. The fact that an actor may inherently be playing a lower status character does not limit the actor from trying to raise the status of his character throughout the arc of a show. These shifts in status and inherent contradictions that we try to reconcile as audience members largely contribute to what makes a show interesting and holds our attention.
Just as actors can utilize body language to convey shifts in status on stage, we too can manipulate our body language in order to raise our status in everyday settings. While you are interacting with friends at a dinner party or conversing with fellow colleagues around a boardroom table, status is constantly at play. The way that people express themselves both within and in relation to one another helps to establish the status levels of the various actors in the scenes that we encounter in our everyday lives. How can we differentiate high from low status players through simply examining the way in which people exert themselves? How can we shift our own body language to raise our status in situations where it might be appropriate to do so?
If you want to raise your status, try using the following tactics to shape your body language accordingly:
Keep your body physically open. You are ready to embrace whatever life throws at you, and you are comfortable in your own skin. You never contract your body, nor does it ever occur to you that you could possibly be taking up too much space.
Command space and time. You are in control of yourself and your surroundings, and you don’t move on behalf of anyone but yourself. You don’t move fast, nor do you move excessively slowly. You move steadily. You beat to your own drum. This ability to maintain control over your position in space and time is your greatest power. You never let anyone take this power away from you.
Maintain a steady energy. You display an absence of insecurity. There is a laid back sensibility about you, and you are seemingly indifferent and unworried. When you walk, your steps are steady and evenly paced. You walk in a straight line (effortlessly, of course).
Be still. When you speak to someone, you don’t move your head or neck in space. You are aiming for ultimate stillness. You don’t play with your hair when you are speaking, nor do you fidget in any way, shape, or form.
Execute effortlessly. For you, everything is effortless. You accomplish great things, but they come easily to you. You already have high status, so there’s no need to work for it.
Flow into other people’s space. You are expansive. You allow your energy and your body to expand into the universe. You are not afraid to occupy a significant amount of space or to flow into the space of others.
Don’t initiate staring. You rarely initiate staring at people, but if you catch someone who happens to be staring at you, you don’t look away.
Send your energy slightly past people. You exert a casual nonchalance when speaking. When you interact with someone, you are seemingly looking at them but yet so subtly sending your energy slightly past them.
Be non-reactive. You don’t change your behavior simply on behalf of others. You don’t get up and leave the dinner table simply because two people in front of you got up and left the table. You are not phased or rattled by the actions of those around you. You are definitely not compliant towards your peers. You are simply indifferent towards them.
Be conscious of your bubble, but let it pop. You have a significant bubble of personal space consciously surrounding you at all times. This helps you to maintain your center and always remain in control of your own movement through space and time. Yet, if a situation calls for it, you are not afraid to pop your bubble through initiating or being receptive to physical contact.
When executed well, the body language exhibited in the steps above can help you to raise your status in ordinary social settings. Like many things in acting, your status is not only derived from how you act within yourself, but also how you react when others try to flow into your space. While the exhibition of high status behavior is often associated with positive attributes such as confidence and power, it is important to acknowledge that playing a ‘high status’ role is not appropriate in every social setting. Through understanding how your body language shapes the type of energy that you project, you can selectively choose the appropriate status level that you hope to exhibit and alter your physicality accordingly.
