We warmed similarly to earlier weeks, on the floor, we rolled the knees and other joints slowly to warm these areas up. We then lay in a semi-supine position, with our hands placed firmly on the floor. We were asked to lift our pelvis away from the floor, trying to lift our spines slowly, one vertebrae at a time so that only our shoulders were on the floor and our pelvis was being lifted towards the ceiling. This was good for warming up the spine and also increasing my levels or awareness and concentration as it was quite a particular exercise. We performed the exercise several times.
After this we stood up, we were to imagine that different parts of our bodies (knees, hips, sits bones) had eyes! We were to allow these eyes to look at the space around us. This was really hard to comprehend and nobody wanted to commit to the exercise fully to begin with, once we began to become more comfortable the movements became a lot greater and more structured so that they had a purpose. I found it hard to imagine what space the different parts of my body were looking into, I think this is to do with spacial awareness, something which I have really been trying to work on.
The next part of the workshop was focused on the arms, the first time we had used these specifically within an exercise for today. We stretched our arms above our heads, and tried to release any tension from within our shoulders. I felt confident about doing this, my arms felt very relaxed, which surprised me as I have started noticing in my everyday life that I tend to sit with a slightly hunched posture and I have to really focus on lowering my shoulders. We explored which muscles were used in order to lift our arms, and looked at the role of the rib cage and muscles in this region to aid the motion of lifting the arms. I was surprised that so many muscles were part of that one basic movement.
We then returned to back (sort of). We worked in pairs, one partner was assigned the role of 'leader', they had to place one hand on the other's lower back (the centre of the body), and use this as a way of leading the other person through the space. Liz encouraged us to use a variety of directions and pace so that both partners had to remain focused and aware. It was hard to feel through this part of my body which way my partner was trying to go, I found myself trying to look at my partner more in order to anticipate their movements rather than relying on my awareness of them through my lower back.
The next emphasised the importance of work with and against our own centre of gravity. Whereas in the previous exercise we worked to move with our centre, this next one proved to be really testing. In different pairs, we were told that one person should stand behind the other and hold onto their pelvis. The person being held onto was then instructed to try and break away from the other person, using a variety of pace and direction once again. Our centre of gravity was being pulled away from us, and with the change in direction it was sometimes quite hard to remain quite grounded. To begin with, a lot of us lacked creativity when trying to break away, we simply ran through the space. Liz demonstrated how using different movements worked more effectively as a way of breaking away. Towards the end, it became a lot harder to hold onto my partner's pelvis, this exercise was really exhausting, and so we only performed it for a few short periods of time.
As a way of continuing the work on our centre of gravity, we worked as a whole group, we were instructed to stand in neutral positions within the space, every now and then someone would move through the space and upon seeing a free hanging arm, they would first yield themselves into the floor and use the force to lift the other person's arm slightly. This was continued and developed so that we were able to lift one another from our centres. This part of the exercise was finished by allowing everyone to move through the space at the same time, the same idea of yielding was used but this time in order to lift ourselves as we performed a (karate style move???) whereby we would go to strike one another, but stop before making contact. The person who had been struck would then have to crease at the hips as previously explored to lower themselves to the ground. I found these exercises hard to complete as it became a mad rush where everyone was striking one another at the same time, there were no real moments where nothing happened and people simply moved through the space. However, there were some great moments where I really felt that my centre was being lifted and supported from the initial yielding action.
In pairs, we developed the idea of the striking action and our centre of gravity even further, to begin with, we stood facing one another, one person would perform the striking action and place their hand on the others shoulder. We tried this with both arms several times. After, we started to work on our positioning, instead of placing our hand on the other's shoulder, we were told to wrap our arm over the shoulder so that our armpit was above their shoulder and the rest of our arm went down their back. So far me and my partner found the exercise quite simple to complete, we felt quite confident going into the next part. This involved both people yielding into the floor, one would 'strike' the other, as both went down towards the floor, the action involving the shoulder and the armpit was completed and then the partner who received the strike would push away from the floor with their legs to lift the other person slightly. This was continued for a long period of time so that we developed it to a stage where we could lift our partners off the floor quite high and then either push them in a certain direction away from us or spin slightly to move them around the space. This was a lot harder to complete, several attempts ended after we tried to hard to perfect the first part rather than allowing the action to happen. I feel that I was trying to focus to much on some of the actions because of my responsibility to my partner and so I kept making small mistakes such as forgetting to sue my breath which meant the action could not be completed. We did manage to perform it a few times but did not get the chance to explore some of the bigger endings to the process as other pairs did.
We ended the session by watching a video called "Ionization". This was a very unusual piece, and is definitely something I had never seen before. The performer and choreographer Bill. T. Jones was very powerful in this piece. His approach to the movement was not to perform big expressive dance moves, instead he worked with the music, which the piece was named after, in order to move. A lot of this dance was based on the individual muscles within the body, which were very clear to see, each was moved in accordance to the music. This was good for me to see as I realised a powerful performance doesn't always mean doing the biggest things that I am capable of, and it is more important to consider my surrounding factors within a performance.
Week 5 - Monday 18th February 2013
We began this week by warming up on the floor once again, I felt a lot more comfortable starting on the floor this week after seeing the results it can have over the previous few weeks. In groups of three, we worked on the idea of exploring the movements each joint can perform, one person was instructed to lie on the floor facing the ceiling, the other two then held alternating legs and arms and whilst giving support, moved them to warm up the joints. It was important for the person lying down to completely relax their body and try to allow the control to come from the other two people. I found it hard to relax both limbs simultaneously I went through stages where I would be able to relax one but not the other. Whilst warming other people's joints up, I felt confident that I was exploring a variety of motions in order to completely work that part of the body.
After this we worked as individuals, we remained on the floor, and started to work on the patterns of total body connectivity but looked at this from the point of view of evolution. We began by imagining ourselves as blobs, no main frame or structure, we simply wriggled through the space supporting ourselves with our breath. This developed slightly so that our head was used in order to lead our movement through the space and we felt more centred, which was followed by the introduction of the spine, we were now able to wriggle more efficiently through the space towards a particular direction. This then developed so that we had very small limbs, we were able to use our spine a lot to help with a swinging motion which moved from side to side, our arms and legs were used to pull ourselves along the floor. We then developed full limbs and began to move through the space by crawling, our legs and arms did most of the movement for us, our spine helped to keep ourselves centred, and again the breath was used to support all of the movement. I found this exercise very useful, it showed just how important each of the individual patterns are, and also reminded me that the breath is always the most basic and important pattern to use, even once the creature had evolved fully.
In small groups, we were handed a sheet of paper which had diagrams showing the skeletal structure of a group of monkeys (Gibbon, Chimpanzee, Gorilla and Orangutan) against that of a human.
We talked as a class about the different structures and any of the main features we could notice. One thing that we all agreed upon was the similarity of all of the skeletons shown, including the human. We could see elements of all the other skeletons within our own. We did note however that the skull of the human differed significantly. Whereas most of the other have a very large jaw, the human is considerably small. However, the size of the skull is a lot greater in order to contain the larger brain.
In our groups, we were asked to pick one of the skeletons from the sheet other than the human, we were given a few minutes in which we had to decide how an animal with this skeleton would move through the space. We then performed these to each other without revealing which had been chosen, and the other groups had to guess which one we were representing through our movements. Some of the demonstrations were very clear due to certain features, for example, my group chose the Gibbon, we performed this by really emphasising the fact that this animal stands quite upright as opposed to the others, and also by extending our arms above our heads to show how the animal has had to adapt its basic posture in order to facilitate such extended arms. A couple of the other monkeys were quite similar, the chimpanzee and the gorilla in particular, were hard to differentiate. Because we were using our own bodies to show these, it was hard to show how differently sized each of the monkeys was. What we did notice when watching each other perform was that despite each of the skeletons being quite similar, the movements because of the odd feature were so different to that of a human.
Leading on from this, we looked at the pelvis of the human as had previously been explored. We were asked to stand still and focus on the movement of the pelvis, we tilted the pelvis forward and backward and from side to side, whilst trying to keep the head and shoulders still in order to emphasise the pelvis' ability to move seperately. We also worked on the idea of the thigh bones which are connected to the pelvis, the greater and lesser trochanters. We moved through the space, trying to lead the movement with these parts of the body, we tried moving whilst relaxing different muscles within the legs to see what difference this made to our motion. I found it hard to relax certain parts of my legs whilst using others, and realised that it was a lot easier to move when using all of my muscles. This helped to show the importance of all the muscles within the legs.
Screening Number 2 (Thursday 21st February 2013)
This week we also had our second movement screening of the semester. The two videos were focused mainly on contact improvisation, and one of the pioneering practitioners, Nancy Stark Stark. The first film "Fall After Newton" explored the idea of gravity and its importance within contact improvisation. Throughout the video there were many clips of performances Nancy was involved in, her movements were very impressive and seemed effortless, she and her partner remained in definite contact at all times despite the big movements they were performing. It was good to see how by working with each other for so long they became so connected to one another that they were able to trust each other completely to explore their bodies so freely. It was also good to see that whenever she came into contact with the floor, she would use her breath to allow her body to relax into the floor, something which we have explored a lot in our workshops.
The second video focused more on the origins of contact improvisation with Steve Paxton, who, as part of a dance group, began to develop contact improv in the early 1970s. Although this video was interesting to see where the form of dance/movement had begun, I found a lot of the performances similar to that which we had already seen in the previous video. Especially as these two artists have collaborated quite a bit, especially within the earlier years.
After this we worked as individuals, we remained on the floor, and started to work on the patterns of total body connectivity but looked at this from the point of view of evolution. We began by imagining ourselves as blobs, no main frame or structure, we simply wriggled through the space supporting ourselves with our breath. This developed slightly so that our head was used in order to lead our movement through the space and we felt more centred, which was followed by the introduction of the spine, we were now able to wriggle more efficiently through the space towards a particular direction. This then developed so that we had very small limbs, we were able to use our spine a lot to help with a swinging motion which moved from side to side, our arms and legs were used to pull ourselves along the floor. We then developed full limbs and began to move through the space by crawling, our legs and arms did most of the movement for us, our spine helped to keep ourselves centred, and again the breath was used to support all of the movement. I found this exercise very useful, it showed just how important each of the individual patterns are, and also reminded me that the breath is always the most basic and important pattern to use, even once the creature had evolved fully.
In small groups, we were handed a sheet of paper which had diagrams showing the skeletal structure of a group of monkeys (Gibbon, Chimpanzee, Gorilla and Orangutan) against that of a human.
In our groups, we were asked to pick one of the skeletons from the sheet other than the human, we were given a few minutes in which we had to decide how an animal with this skeleton would move through the space. We then performed these to each other without revealing which had been chosen, and the other groups had to guess which one we were representing through our movements. Some of the demonstrations were very clear due to certain features, for example, my group chose the Gibbon, we performed this by really emphasising the fact that this animal stands quite upright as opposed to the others, and also by extending our arms above our heads to show how the animal has had to adapt its basic posture in order to facilitate such extended arms. A couple of the other monkeys were quite similar, the chimpanzee and the gorilla in particular, were hard to differentiate. Because we were using our own bodies to show these, it was hard to show how differently sized each of the monkeys was. What we did notice when watching each other perform was that despite each of the skeletons being quite similar, the movements because of the odd feature were so different to that of a human.
Leading on from this, we looked at the pelvis of the human as had previously been explored. We were asked to stand still and focus on the movement of the pelvis, we tilted the pelvis forward and backward and from side to side, whilst trying to keep the head and shoulders still in order to emphasise the pelvis' ability to move seperately. We also worked on the idea of the thigh bones which are connected to the pelvis, the greater and lesser trochanters. We moved through the space, trying to lead the movement with these parts of the body, we tried moving whilst relaxing different muscles within the legs to see what difference this made to our motion. I found it hard to relax certain parts of my legs whilst using others, and realised that it was a lot easier to move when using all of my muscles. This helped to show the importance of all the muscles within the legs.
Screening Number 2 (Thursday 21st February 2013)
This week we also had our second movement screening of the semester. The two videos were focused mainly on contact improvisation, and one of the pioneering practitioners, Nancy Stark Stark. The first film "Fall After Newton" explored the idea of gravity and its importance within contact improvisation. Throughout the video there were many clips of performances Nancy was involved in, her movements were very impressive and seemed effortless, she and her partner remained in definite contact at all times despite the big movements they were performing. It was good to see how by working with each other for so long they became so connected to one another that they were able to trust each other completely to explore their bodies so freely. It was also good to see that whenever she came into contact with the floor, she would use her breath to allow her body to relax into the floor, something which we have explored a lot in our workshops.
The second video focused more on the origins of contact improvisation with Steve Paxton, who, as part of a dance group, began to develop contact improv in the early 1970s. Although this video was interesting to see where the form of dance/movement had begun, I found a lot of the performances similar to that which we had already seen in the previous video. Especially as these two artists have collaborated quite a bit, especially within the earlier years.
Week 4 - Monday 11th February 2013
This week we worked mostly on the idea of our bodies moving in a circular motion, this included looking at all the joints in the body which are shaped like a ball and designed to move spherically. We began the session by lying on the floor, moving the legs to start off with, and towards the end of the warm up we had completed circles using our legs, feet, arms, wrists, head and shoulders. Some of my joints were stiffer than others and were not able to move as freely. We worked in pairs to warm up some of the joints, particularly the shoulders, we moved these in relation to our legs, as one leg bent and circled across the other, we were asked to extend our arm in the opposite direction, our partners guided our arms so that we were in a safe position and to have more of an awareness of what our bodies were doing. As well as this, we massaged each others shoulders and the flesh around the shoulder blade, trying to locate different features of the shoulder. This was good at releasing a lot of the tension that naturally builds up in this area.
We then worked as a class to look at a model of a human skeleton.
We looked at some of the major bones within the body which we use everyday, and those which are focused on within movement. We named the bones as a group and located these within our own bodies, becoming familiar with where they are located and their size in relation to other parts of the body.
I found the position of the spine especially confusing, it was hard for me to visualise my own spine being so centred within my body! No wonder so much importance is placed on finding your centre, that's where everything is.
We looked at the design within the ribs, and how a lot of it is connected by cartilage because of the importance of breathing and how much change this causes within our bodies. We focused on our breathing and how much the shape of our rib cage changes.
Another thing to note is the shape of the pelvis, it is almost like a bowl, this was interesting as we all stood up and worked with the pelvis which we had never done before. We imagined the bowl (pelvis) was full of water, it was fascinating to see how mobile the pelvis is, something which I once thought was very ... stuck?
I was even more surprised when we looked in detail at the foot. The lack of bones in such a delicate part of the body astounds me. Some people thought that the whole foot would be made from one big bone, I imagined it to be made up of dozens of little bones. The fact that each toe, even the little one, extends right into the centre of the foot was unbelievable. We massaged our feet a great deal, trying to work the space between the bones and to find the bones of the toes and create circles with these.
This was mildly related to the exercise done previously where we warmed up our feet and toes by jumping and stretching, I now understand just how much of my body was being warmed up even though I didn't know or realise it at the time. I wonder if my hand and fingers are the same inside as the feet? I can't imagine they are because they are even more mobile than the feet.
Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections states that "Your hand contains 27 bones with innumerable articular surfaces" (Page 157). I found this a few weeks after the workshop where we looked at the human body and found it interesting how different the hands and feet are, even though I imagined them to be the same at one point in my life.
Hancock Museum - 12th February 2013
As part of the idea looking at skeletons, we were asked to visit the Hancock Museum in Newcastle to look at different types of skeletons and how they differ or mirror those of a human. Whilst in the museum, I found the skeletons of a very large deer and a tyrannosaurus rex.
One of the most interesting things about the skeleton of the deer was the spine. It consists mainly of one curve just above the rib cage which allows the head to be held upright. As well as this, in comparison to the human spine, the greatest vertebrae are located at the bottom of the neck, this is in order to provide support for such a great weight from the antlers. Other notable features are the elongated toe bones which we possess, only those of the deer are bent at the bottom. The deer too has a bowl like pelvis only is it the opposite way to that of a human skeleton! Both of the skeletons include a shoulder blade which is very triangular and pointed.
Overall I found that the skeletons of all three were relatively similar, the major difference was the size of the bones, and considering how different all of the creatures are, that is very remarkable. This reassures me that our bones are designed in a way that is best for us and I should trust my bodies abilities a lot more in future.
We then worked as a class to look at a model of a human skeleton.
I found the position of the spine especially confusing, it was hard for me to visualise my own spine being so centred within my body! No wonder so much importance is placed on finding your centre, that's where everything is.
We looked at the design within the ribs, and how a lot of it is connected by cartilage because of the importance of breathing and how much change this causes within our bodies. We focused on our breathing and how much the shape of our rib cage changes.
Another thing to note is the shape of the pelvis, it is almost like a bowl, this was interesting as we all stood up and worked with the pelvis which we had never done before. We imagined the bowl (pelvis) was full of water, it was fascinating to see how mobile the pelvis is, something which I once thought was very ... stuck?
This was mildly related to the exercise done previously where we warmed up our feet and toes by jumping and stretching, I now understand just how much of my body was being warmed up even though I didn't know or realise it at the time. I wonder if my hand and fingers are the same inside as the feet? I can't imagine they are because they are even more mobile than the feet.
Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections states that "Your hand contains 27 bones with innumerable articular surfaces" (Page 157). I found this a few weeks after the workshop where we looked at the human body and found it interesting how different the hands and feet are, even though I imagined them to be the same at one point in my life.
Hancock Museum - 12th February 2013
As part of the idea looking at skeletons, we were asked to visit the Hancock Museum in Newcastle to look at different types of skeletons and how they differ or mirror those of a human. Whilst in the museum, I found the skeletons of a very large deer and a tyrannosaurus rex.
Deer
One of the most interesting things about the skeleton of the deer was the spine. It consists mainly of one curve just above the rib cage which allows the head to be held upright. As well as this, in comparison to the human spine, the greatest vertebrae are located at the bottom of the neck, this is in order to provide support for such a great weight from the antlers. Other notable features are the elongated toe bones which we possess, only those of the deer are bent at the bottom. The deer too has a bowl like pelvis only is it the opposite way to that of a human skeleton! Both of the skeletons include a shoulder blade which is very triangular and pointed.
T-Rex
The skeleton of the t-rex was incredible! Firstly, the sheer size of the bones, one vertebrae was almost the same size as my head, if not bigger. Similarities between the skeleton of the t-rex and a human were the number of curves in the spine, at different points the spine begins to curve inward and outward. Also, the biggest vertebrae were located in the centre, where most of the weight was. The hip bones of the t-rex were very unusual, from what I remember they weren't connected immediately through a pelvis, instead they would have been capable of moving independently from one another! Again, the t-rex had a triangular shaped shoulder blade which was pointed.
Overall I found that the skeletons of all three were relatively similar, the major difference was the size of the bones, and considering how different all of the creatures are, that is very remarkable. This reassures me that our bones are designed in a way that is best for us and I should trust my bodies abilities a lot more in future.
Week 3 - Monday 4th February 2013
Today, we started by warming up on the floor, something which I found quite odd. I didn't see how we could warm up all the parts of the body if most of the body was relaxed. We were asked to close our eyes whilst lying on our backs, then we were to bring our feet together, pull our knees up to our chest and then allow the knees to drop either side of our body before returning them to the original position. The best way to imagine it is like doing breast stroke ... on your back ... without the water. We then did this again but in the opposite way, bring the knees up to the body seperated, joining them at the top and allowing the feet to return to the starting position together. We completed this warm up by adding the arms, whenever the legs and feet were stretched out, we had to also stretch our arms, whenever the legs were bent and close to the body, so were the arms.
We stayed on the floor after this, we rolled over onto our bellies, initially we used very small movements. We began this exercise by pushing slightly with the hands and arms to lift the top half of our bodies. After a while, we made this motion bigger, after pushing with our arms, we had to roll back onto the balls of our feet. We rocked between these two positions, pushing and yielding with our arms and legs until we were able to stand up using the force from the original pushing action. We then performed a cycle whereby after standing we would go back down to the floor and then down onto our hands. I din't particularly struggle with these exercises but they weren't as easy to comprehend or put into practise as some of the others.
We then continued with this idea of yielding and pushing with different parts of the body, we were all asked to find a part of the wall and lie down with our feet against the wall with our knees at a 90 degree angle. The first part of this exercise was to transfer force from the feet into the wall, and then push with the feet and legs to rocket ourselves away from the wall. A lot of us felt quite silly shooting around the room, but I could understand that the principle of the action is the preparation before the actual movement takes place.
Again, we worked on the idea of yielding and pushing, this time in pairs, one person positioned themselves in a sort of squat, trying to keep their back as straight as possible and their head upright. The other person then placed one hand on the hand and tried to push the person squatting down towards the floor, the person squatting had to bend their knees to move up and down working with and against the force of the other person. We then worked in these pairs to lift one another either from the waist or from just below the bum cheeks, as the person yielded and then pushed, we would support our partners to lift them through the space. I was confident in my abilities as a partner, but my partner wasn't comfortable with the idea of where we were lifting from so we instead focused on the earlier exercise where the hands were placed on the head instead. This made me realise that I am willing to try any exercise which we are given, and that I am open to trying new techniques and ideas, but it is unfair to expect others to be as open to new suggestions as I am.
Upon finishing this task, we formed a circle as a whole group, we did something similar to the rocking of Qigong from the previous week, but both feet were placed in parallel to one another, we rocked forwards so that our chest would come closer to our knees and then placed our hands on the floor. Eventually we made the motion bigger and faster so that we were soon rocking from a standing position into a half handstand, we lifted one leg higher that the other and the lowest leg left the floor for only a small amount of time. To make sure we were tucking our heads right under to perform the exercise properly we were asked to look behind us as we reached the closest position to a handstand. Again part of the yielding and pushing process, I didn't really see the use of this exercise after some of the other work which we had been doing as for me it felt like a small step backwards. Perhaps it was used as part of a warm down but I'm not entirely sure.
As a definite warm down, we worked in pairs, one partner lay on the floor on their back, they had to try and completely relax their whole body. The other person would lift one of the legs using both hands, supporting the leg by the ankle and knee, the person lying down had to try and give the entire weight of their leg to their partner who was exploring the possible movements of the leg, starting off slowly to give the person on the floor a chance to become accustomed. It was really hard to entirely trust the partner with the weight of my leg, I felt comfortable with all of the movements my leg was doing but i definitely wanted to be in control. When lifting my partners leg I had to remember to keep my own back straight so that I was comfortable and under no strain. After the exercise, a lot of people agreed that one leg felt more relaxed than the other.
Screening Number 1 (Thursday 7th February 2013)
This week we also had our first movement screening. We watched a DVD called "Breath Made Visible", a documentary about the life of dancer Anna Halprin. A lot of her work is based on events within her life, such as the time her husband was in intensive care, when she discovered that she had cancer etc. I found her movement very free, it looked very natural and as though it was not too considered. I did feel that a lot of her work was very abstract, and although it worked on a personal level to help her through some troubling times, I did not feel it was suitable for an audience as it was quite hard to watch. It was good to see how deep of an understanding she had for her own body and the ways in which it could move, even at the age of 86!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBE2ljCUokE This video is a trailer of the movie, it includes quotes from Anna Halprin herself, one of my personal favorites is "I danced for the fun of it". It's great to see how much she enjoys dancing, but how she uses something that she enjoys for such serious issues later on in her life.
We stayed on the floor after this, we rolled over onto our bellies, initially we used very small movements. We began this exercise by pushing slightly with the hands and arms to lift the top half of our bodies. After a while, we made this motion bigger, after pushing with our arms, we had to roll back onto the balls of our feet. We rocked between these two positions, pushing and yielding with our arms and legs until we were able to stand up using the force from the original pushing action. We then performed a cycle whereby after standing we would go back down to the floor and then down onto our hands. I din't particularly struggle with these exercises but they weren't as easy to comprehend or put into practise as some of the others.
We then continued with this idea of yielding and pushing with different parts of the body, we were all asked to find a part of the wall and lie down with our feet against the wall with our knees at a 90 degree angle. The first part of this exercise was to transfer force from the feet into the wall, and then push with the feet and legs to rocket ourselves away from the wall. A lot of us felt quite silly shooting around the room, but I could understand that the principle of the action is the preparation before the actual movement takes place.
Again, we worked on the idea of yielding and pushing, this time in pairs, one person positioned themselves in a sort of squat, trying to keep their back as straight as possible and their head upright. The other person then placed one hand on the hand and tried to push the person squatting down towards the floor, the person squatting had to bend their knees to move up and down working with and against the force of the other person. We then worked in these pairs to lift one another either from the waist or from just below the bum cheeks, as the person yielded and then pushed, we would support our partners to lift them through the space. I was confident in my abilities as a partner, but my partner wasn't comfortable with the idea of where we were lifting from so we instead focused on the earlier exercise where the hands were placed on the head instead. This made me realise that I am willing to try any exercise which we are given, and that I am open to trying new techniques and ideas, but it is unfair to expect others to be as open to new suggestions as I am.
Upon finishing this task, we formed a circle as a whole group, we did something similar to the rocking of Qigong from the previous week, but both feet were placed in parallel to one another, we rocked forwards so that our chest would come closer to our knees and then placed our hands on the floor. Eventually we made the motion bigger and faster so that we were soon rocking from a standing position into a half handstand, we lifted one leg higher that the other and the lowest leg left the floor for only a small amount of time. To make sure we were tucking our heads right under to perform the exercise properly we were asked to look behind us as we reached the closest position to a handstand. Again part of the yielding and pushing process, I didn't really see the use of this exercise after some of the other work which we had been doing as for me it felt like a small step backwards. Perhaps it was used as part of a warm down but I'm not entirely sure.
As a definite warm down, we worked in pairs, one partner lay on the floor on their back, they had to try and completely relax their whole body. The other person would lift one of the legs using both hands, supporting the leg by the ankle and knee, the person lying down had to try and give the entire weight of their leg to their partner who was exploring the possible movements of the leg, starting off slowly to give the person on the floor a chance to become accustomed. It was really hard to entirely trust the partner with the weight of my leg, I felt comfortable with all of the movements my leg was doing but i definitely wanted to be in control. When lifting my partners leg I had to remember to keep my own back straight so that I was comfortable and under no strain. After the exercise, a lot of people agreed that one leg felt more relaxed than the other.
Screening Number 1 (Thursday 7th February 2013)
This week we also had our first movement screening. We watched a DVD called "Breath Made Visible", a documentary about the life of dancer Anna Halprin. A lot of her work is based on events within her life, such as the time her husband was in intensive care, when she discovered that she had cancer etc. I found her movement very free, it looked very natural and as though it was not too considered. I did feel that a lot of her work was very abstract, and although it worked on a personal level to help her through some troubling times, I did not feel it was suitable for an audience as it was quite hard to watch. It was good to see how deep of an understanding she had for her own body and the ways in which it could move, even at the age of 86!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBE2ljCUokE This video is a trailer of the movie, it includes quotes from Anna Halprin herself, one of my personal favorites is "I danced for the fun of it". It's great to see how much she enjoys dancing, but how she uses something that she enjoys for such serious issues later on in her life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)