Confidence is a word that gets used a lot stage combat and especially in acting.
The idea of trusting fellow actors, so as to let the best working partnerships to develop etc. Whatever one thinks about this, I honestly don't believe that most actors find this level of rapport with other actors, if they do it happens with specific people and/or over a long time .
However acting is a collaborative effort, I know stage combat is to. however if someone screws up in a piece of physical work, especially a fight, there can be more serious results than "the scene doesn't work".
So trust? Trust, trust in what? If someone is attacking me, they should be doing so with some layers built in to make sure that if I fail to do what is necessary, they will not hit me.
Do I trust them to do so? No! What I should have is confidence that they are going to do all they can can to insure it is done properly. When they attack me, there are certain things I should do to for my own safety. Do they trust me to do those things? No! However they should have confidence that I will be endeavouring to do all those things.
So we shouldn't trust anyone?!? Well yes and no. I should trust in my ability to the appropriate things based on the situation. I should have developed my skill to a level where I am confident that I have layers built in so that if something is off there are others to insure the actions are done safely, even if I or my partner/s screw up in some way, that I have the control to modify or change my action to insure that and/or that we are doing the actions at a pace where we can control the flow and movement.
Our issue is that when one considers trust and when this trust seems to be full filled then we start to become dependant on the "other" doing what needs to be done, we start to let our guard down and that is when things become dangerous because someone doesn't do what they should in the moment.
A common "trust" exercise done in acting classes is to fall backwards and have another or others catch you. Now I have heard of these things going wrong, the person being caught getting whip lash etc. so even when it works from one angle it may not be from another. However it is a) an extreme example, you are really wholly at the mercy of the person/people catching. There are few times in my opinion when you are this much at the mercy of others in a "real" situation. b) the situation is set up to push a boundary, but it generally can be done in a very controlled way, there is little chance of things going wrong. As such it would in most cases be as hard for someone to fall backward on to a crash mat. As such it is wrongly labelled a trust exercise in my opinion, really it is a letting go exercise.
Trust is something that is built up over time and through developing of confidence in all involved, including one self . When a dancer for example, literally takes a leap of faith to be caught by another/s they will do so with more surety after a large number of repetitions, where things have not gone wrong, than they will on the first couple of attempts, even with people they know.
However, even then I should not recommend whole dependence, both parties should maintain awareness so that if things change they have the opportunity to modify the behaviour, to catch themselves or tuck and roll, have the confidence and the trust that they can look after themselves as and when it goes wrong.
Otherwise we would be left with what I would is an untenable situation. Do you as a river going out on a journey on the road, trust all the other road users around you? Do you depend on everyone else doing exactly as they should? Or rather do you maintain your level of awareness and your skills to make sure that you keep yourself and those around you as safe as possible.
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