The semester so far

In my first post I set myself targets to work on during these last 8 weeks, and I personally feel I have really come along from the start of the semester. I wrote how my main weakness was holding back in class and not giving the movement phrases my 'all'. Having to write about this and analyse myself as a dancer/performer made me consiously think about this in lessons, so instead of thinking about myself in a negative way and asuming because I find certain lessons harder than others, i've tried to find the similarities between the lessons so I can then think 'If I can attack other lessons with confidence, then I can be confident in all of them'. Using this mentality has really helped me to improve, I obviously still have areas to imporve on as my technique is flawed but I leave technique lessons really beleiving I have given my all and worked as hard as I could. I'm definitely going to use this confidence throughout the year and apply a good mental atitude to other mudules, and paths I take.

I wrote also how I struggle to keep my shoulders and hips aligned after slipping back into old habbits after summer. With this I also think that having the awareness of keeping my shoulders and hips square in the first couple of weeks meant I keep them aligned atoumatically now, although I am not always perfect and still need to work on not tensing when I find something difficult and really turning out from the backs of my thighs to stop sinking into my legs and sending my hips off.

Although I have found analysing and writing about myself as a dancer quite difficult I really think it's helped me to look at my technique and not as the things I do 'wrong' but things that I can improve on and can work on every lesson. By having this understanding of my body I realise how I can apply myself better in lessons. My personal learning and understanding is just that; personal. I am only ever trying to be better than myself, and will carry on to do so.

I've really enjoyed the semester so far and feel I have really improved, although I know i still have areas to work on with my technique I know i can go forward and apply myself to these with a good and positive attitude that I have developed over this process.

Thankyou for reading!

Chroma and Graham

Over the last 8 weeks (and years) i've also been looking at a lot of dance works online, I love the amazing works that are available to see just from my computer. Recently the works i've been looking at have made me think about my own technique and especially how I encorporate my torso and use my focus. As i struggle with alignment and confidence within lessons I tend to forget about using my torso to it's maximum. In Geoff's lessons I am always being told to use my maximum curve and whilst performing the phrases I tend to cut them short of what I can do. When I discovered Wayne McGregors "Chroma" I was in awe at how the dancers articulate their torsos, especially in the opening duet, combined with their sheer strength and extensions the use of torso combined seems to give the dance a whole other dimension, almost animal like.



Wayne McGregor is famous for his colaborations with technology and his unique technique.

"McGregor’s own long, lean and supple physique and in his body’s ability to register movement with peculiar sharpness and speed; at one extreme McGregor’s dancing was a jangle of tiny fractured angles, at the other it was a whirl of seemingly boneless fluidity."

http://www.randomdance.org/wayne_mcgregor/biography

Any spectator, even those who are not knowledgable of contemporary dance cannot deny McGregors detailed use of sharpness and speed combined with brave contact work and interesting angles. He has a technique and a choreographic style that I really admire.

In one of my first blogs I wrote about how in Rebekah's technique lessons I wanted to build up my strength, especially whilst doing the Graham floor work. At the beggining of the semester I found it quite difficult to keep my back flat whilst in second position on the floor. During the last 8 weeks i've found that using my turn out on the floor is just as important as standing, as it stops me from sinking into my legs and arching my back. The image below is of me in second position on the floor, not using my turn out fully and sinking into my legs, which causes me to lean forward and my back to slant.

The above image is me in the same position but using my turn out fully and pulling up so my back is flat. At first I found this position really hard to hold but the more I thought about pulling up and turning out in lesson then the easier it became. When curving and moving from this position I still think about pulling up from my centre so when I return to this position I am on top of my legs and not sinking into my hips.

Release

In this morning’s lesson we had Geoff for release technique. Below are a few points I noticed in myself;

• Whilst in grande plie, I sink into my legs at the bottom and it becomes harder for me to rise which causes me to go off centre. To keep my centre strong I need to plie to an inch or so higher to stop myself from sinking into my legs and this will make it easier for me to control the rise.

• As I rise to standing from plie I must also push my ankles forward and use the pressure of pushing down to send me back up. I need to not just lift myself by pushing my bum out and sending me off centre.

• At the bar I also need to use this resistance. The feeling of pushing against something whilst extending my legs to create energy instead of just placing my leg.

• Although I have improved I still need to take more risks whilst performing regarding my momentum. In the last phrase I am grasping the movement and qualities but I can still push it furthur so i can really travel through the space.

• Since my first post I really feel I am performing more and am more confident in my own ability. I feel I am applying myself more to the movement and not getting disheartened when it takes me a while to grasp something. I just go for it!

Ballet

In ballet today I felt like it was a really good lesson, I felt I picked the material up really quickly and I was thinking about the quality and flow of movement rather than just the technical steps.

In adagio in the centre I was sturdy on my feet and used my focus to really give the movement a feel of extension as over the last few weeks I have been working on keeping myself steady and really trying to keep a good mindset and mental attitude even if I stumble.

I still feel I need to work on my use of focus at the bar and have a greater understanding of where I should be looking and when. I feel if I’m unsure on where my head is facing this comes across in my entire body, so to familiarise myself with where my focus should be and in doing this it will come across in my body.

At the start of the semester I especially struggled with the end travelling sequence. Today because I felt happy with the lesson I was really confident by the end of the class, I felt that approaching the end sequence like any other exorcise instead of something I struggled with really helped me. With the travelling sequences thinking about getting back into fifth position helped me distinguish between the movements and break the movement down into smaller sections in my mind so the phrase as a whole didn't feel overwhelming. Once I grasped which legs were infront and getting back to fifth position then i found the sequence alot easier and coudl perform with more confidence.

Ballet Lorent

On Tuesday we went to go see ‘La nuit intime’ by Ballet Lorent and I was amazed by the entire show. We were sat on the same level as the dancer as all the tiered seating was pushed back and replaced by casual tables and chairs dotted about in-between and around raised platforms that the dancers performed on throughout the piece. There was a bar serving drinks in the corner and as well as being able to see the dancers any one person was also able to see the rest of the audience, that really gave a felling of being in and a part of the spectacle. A real ‘club’ atmosphere took over automatically when entering the space and at times I found myself forgetting where I was.

Personally I thought all of the dancers were extraordinary but I found my self really drawn into and remembering the sections where they use extension and balances. Especially the female dancers really gave the impression of their limbs being longer than they were and used the strength and stability to create this illusion. The really striking theme of this entire performance was the use of intimacy between the performers, the use of subtle looks, slowly undressing each other, hugging, laughing with and smiling at each other was so captivating. To an audience so used to watching performers on a proscenium arch style set up; (where as an audience member you are made to feel like you should sit making no noise watching as if in your own bubble) La nuit intime pushed the boundries and included the audience in these intense intimate moments and made the audience as a whole feel safe to engage each other and feel more connected to the performers and the piece.

One of my favourite parts of the entire 2 and a half hour performance was the relatively simple section where the female dancers were balancing on their bums holding their legs extending in front of them, and a close angle. As they balance they fall and are caught again by one of the male dancers, and this is going on simultaneously at different points in the room. I couldn’t help myself being envious and their strength and power as when I tried to explain this section to my peers the next morning, I found it extremely difficult! The piece overall really did make me think about my strength and control in technique classes and really motivated me to become stronger and able to hold balances and lifting my legs for longer.

http://www.balletlorent.com/index.php?lanuit

Dynamics

In Monday's technique lesson we had Mona again, and were going over the exorcises and phrases we did with her last time. I found the main focus for me was concentrating on the dynamic feel of the movement.
Whilst thinking through the main phrase of movement I felt the more I prolonged and suspended certain movements, then the sharper dynamic contrast when I dropped and the momentum was able to carry me more.

I also got quite confused with the timing in the main phrase as some parts are quick and sharp and others are soft. To make the most of the movement and the counts I needed to slow some parts down and go through my maximum. For example, whilst kneeling on the floor and brushing around from behind to in front of myself, to maximise this movement and use all of the counts I made sure I was reaching out as far as I could instead of cutting it short.

Also linking to my use of dynamics and giving moves quality I thought about Rebekah’s lessons and how I tend to rush through the movement and not think over the dynamic qualities. To help me with this I need to use my breath to calm myself and stop rushing. As holding my breath and forgetting to breathe at certain moments makes me tense up and rush more.

The body emotion

In Wednesday’s class we were concentrating on our tail bones and our head to tail connectivity. We were thinking about how our tail bone and head is connected by our spine and feeling in our bodies how this connection made us want to move. At the start of the lesson just warming up our bodies this made me really exaggerate my torso movement and use my spine to its maximum.

http://polestarpilatesasia.com/pilates-continuing-education/ceu-study-options/pathokinesiology-of-the-lumbar-spine

During the lesson I kept thinking about my head to tail connection and it made me think about my core distal as everything is connected to my centre in someway and thinking about my head/tail connection reminded me of my relationship with my limbs and how each one is connected to my centre and has a relationship with the other.

In this class I also realised to let emotion come out in our movement if that’s how we feel. As we do classes every morning and I concentrate on feeling the flow of the movement sometimes the movement can create a feeling that I can express through a certain phrase. To really feel the movement flow can cause me to express an emotion which therefore gives the movement a real sense of freedom.

In the reading ‘Motion and emotion’ it talks about how our emotions are ‘doorways’, and some of the stronger emotions are ‘gateway’ emotions that permeate the entire body like fear or anger for example. These emotions lead to more diverse emotions and sensations (e.g. relief) and protect us from some feelings that are overwhelming. I can think about myself personally reading this as I can see how feeling sadness or loss is sometimes followed by frustration and anger, to protect ourselves from the overwhelming feelings of sadness that can lead to depression.

Linking emotions to dance can increase out resources to work with; and can ‘open more doorways’.

“When we can surrender to a feeling of participation in out emotions, creativity abounds” pg 198.

Letting you feel certain emotions and work with them to create movement and choreography that if you were feeling another emotion at the time; would not have been created.

I was particularly interested with the exorcises at the end of this extract that track our emotions in the body. Using breath, sensing emotions and the physical changes that they cause in our bodies. One exorcise notices the capacity to change mood with mind and asks me to ‘talk myself’ into a bad mood, and then again into a good mood. Noticing what happens to my body; get hot, get irritable and fidgety or remain calm and serene. This can then be linked to movement and posture, as there are certain postures which can cause an emotion. E.g. upright and weight above the legs will feel energetic whereas slouching with shoulders hunched and head slightly hanging will cause a sad and calm emotion. ‘Movement affects mind, and mind affects movement’