Final Blog

My final blog!  My aim is to determine where I think I have improved, in what, have my personal goals been accomplished, am I more aware of my body.  Will I use this knowledge in the future and how?  What are the biggest insights I have noticed and felt throughout writing this blog.

As you may have noticed in most of my previous blogs I talk about my back.  This is because I find and feel that this has the weakest and the least amount of movement range and restricts me a little. From writing this blog and having to really consider and think about it, I have been trying to focus on it more in class. I am currently being choreographed for a solo and this is very much based on the spine.  I was cautious at first knowing the little movement I have in my back but do feel that the techniques we have learnt about and practiced have helped me with this choreography.  I have been aware of the workings of the spine through the techniques we have practiced and feel that they have possibly helped me personally extend the range of movement in that area within the solo choreography. Working on the blog has helped me to reflect as well, it really helps to put the practical nature of our classes into 'the whole'.   I have realised I have to put my body into different positions to get to the actual positions needed and stop compensating for the lack of the movement in another part of the body.  An example I have used is about about my middle back curve and how I used to compensate for my middle back by using my plie more when in fact this was hindering me from getting the shape I should actually have. Researching into different methods and techniques such as the Alexander technique and the Felkendrais technique has helped me understand more about the back and helped me realise I can extend the movement I have by using different exercises.  The positivity of thought is something which I have truly reflected on and the use of positive energy throughout other aspects of life. 
I feel that my personal goal in relation to breath and breathing is almost there!  It is a 'work in progress' rather than a weakness.  From practice and knowledge of techniques I do realise how breath does help increase stretches and breath helps the pain when stretching, sending the breath to where the pain is. Breath also helps in the Graham contraction and allows me to get to my maximum, helps in Cunningham again with the curves. Breath helps relieve tension in places whereas if your holding the breath it creates tension maybe in the neck or shoulders as an example. Breath helps movement look more fluid and adds weight into the movement. When I dance I have realised I hold my breath because as soon as I finish the dance I am so out of breath. Breathing is a natural body movement so why fight it?

I know that I will use many of the techniques we have learned and which I have recorded and explored in this blog for future use either for future technique classes or in my own choreography.

I am currently creating a solo which is energetic and I have included some breath techniques in this.  It has widened my choreographed movements.  Had I not done this course it certainly would not have been something I was aware of and would not have used - this knowledge has extended the range of movement I am able to ask in my choreography.  I really feel now an awareness that breath and breathing has to be part of the dance and should be embraced, not fought against.

An insight and something I could use or think of in the future is the barrier between ballet and contemporary, they oppose each other but at the same time some aspects of them both are so similar. This is something I would like to explore in my own time, I could experiment with this for a choreographic project e.g. taking typical ballet moves and putting a contemporary twist on to it. I am aware that this has been done before and this isn't an original idea but it would be something I would be interested in personally exploring and experimenting with. the idea of making my mind switch between the two techniques in literally a second rather than thinking ballet mode or contemporary mode.

Writing this blog has been very useful as it has made me think about my weaknesses and not just improve them by practical practice but researching into the meaning behind it and reasons why I am the way I am and how I can improve.  The focus on blogging has made me think differently and reflect far more on the techniques we have covered.  It iss also good to see myself dance.  Had we not been completing our blog I wouldn't have filmed myself dancing, but being able to watch myself I have being able to see what are my strengths and where I need to concentrate further work. The pictures show physical progression in my movements which help to have as evidence to be able to see progression rather than just feel it. I hope to keep blogging in the future with progression on techniques and also on ideas for choreographic practices over the next year.

Practicing pirouettes

This is just a short blog to show private practice of pirouettes because I really would like to be able to do a clean double pirouette and even a triple. In order to be able to do this I need to use my spot and spot quicker and also go into the pirouette with a positive attitude, I know I have the strength to do this and the co-ordination so its just thinking about my spot and not being negative about it going into the actual turn.

This video shows an attempt at a double but I actually think I only made a one and a half, this maybe because of my spot or thinking I had to do it because I was being filmed. No matter what I need to remember to finish the pirouette and not to just fall out of it.

This video shows an attempt at a pirouette that fails! I have uploaded this to show that I can go wrong . I have being uploading videos when something is right but when something goes wrong this is when you learn more, seeing the mistakes. As I mentioned above I should finish the turn off and land it no matter what but on this I just fell out of it and gave up and this is not the attitude I should have. My spot obviously wasnt quick enough.

I aim to keep practicing the pirouettes because as I have said my goal is to be able to do a clean double with no problem and possibly triples. I want to challenge myself and push myself.

Release Technique 17/11/11

Today's class was quite intense, and constant, we didn't have time to relax really because even if we were in groups we were watching the other people and getting ready to go. I love the feeling of being worked and constantly going even if watching,  even when sweating, it shows my body is working hard! When other groups are dancing it is helpful just to stand and watch because you learn a lot from other people and learn a lot from other people's strengths and mistakes. Watching I can see when people are out of time so that makes me think about the timing etc I feel that one of my main strengths in dance generally is timing and a lot of people say it to me, I think this is because I have been brought up in my dance life with counts.

When I first came to university for this course I found it strange when we had a sequence and there were no set counts and I would automatically set my own counts without even knowing. This class is very much based on counts there is a count for every move and we have to stick to that if we don't then we do it again till we are correct whereas in some classes we have counts but they're a bit more relaxed so we can flow through the counts.

The question is; do you have to be able to count and keep in time to dance? Is timing important? I'm sure there are many arguments both for and against this. From past study at university Cunningham uses the chance method and often doesn't bring the music with the dance until the last minute but I'm sure even in this case the dance sequence will have counts and will still use the same counts and timing even if the music doesn't fit to this. Something to explore is to challenge the music, be with the beat of the music or not? I have just typed into google " is it important to have timing in dance" and this answer came up:

In dance, timing refers to moving with the beats of the music. However, having perfect timing means more than performing basic steps perfectly with music beats. It's not difficult to move with the beats, but it takes lots of practice to teach your mind and body how to actually feel the beats of the music.

Perfect timing is being able to "let go" and allow yourself to express your feelings through your movements, instead of trying to keep count of the beats in your head. When you achieve perfect timing, your dancing will appear relaxed and natural. You will no longer need to count beats, as your body will be fully aware of its place in the music at all times. Professional dancers are masters at perfect timing.

Bedinghaus T. http://dance.about.com/od/getstarteddancing/f/Timing.htm (accessed on 17/11/11)

My opinion is this may be applicable to some styles e.g. ballet or lyrical but I think in contemporary dance it varies and Cunningham proves this idea wrong with his "chance procedures".

This video below shows the floor sequence in this class and I think you will be able to see that every movement has a count and the movement goes with the music. To apply this to choreography it would be interesting to explore in the future going against the music and not going with the natural beat of the music, It would be an interesting exploration for me for the reasons I mentioned above about being brought up with going with the beat of the music and having counts for everything.

In this sequence I feel quite strong and grounded into the floor, In certain parts I could give more weight into the floor this gives a sense of 'umph' and shows the strength in the body gives it an extra dynamic.  the parts where I could give more weight are in the roll on my back make sure I get my feet planted into the floor and don't arch out of my back,feel all my back and feet connected to the floor. also on the very beginning don't control my legs too much, let them fall into the floor and also on the leg swings let my knees fall into the floor and let them be the initiation for the leg swing and my back coming off the floor.

This is the same sequence but of a different side, The bit that really catches my eye on this side and from this angle is from the backward roll and the spin round onto the floor, it gives a really nice twist in the back and head movement it allows me to give my weight into the floor but on this part I need to remember to keep my leg on the floor and not let it fling upwards,I need to find the right balance between being controlled but also giving my weight and not being controlled at all.

This is the Right side again but from a different angle can you see the movement that I mentioned above? I think this is a more clear angle and from this view I can see that in my press up that I let my core go down to the floor first instead of being in one piece. This is something I need to work on, my upper body strength as I feel this is quite weak and even if I'm strong for this sequence most of the way through this little bit lets it down brings attention to it for the wrong reason.

For this sequence I have had many corrections, before this quick section we do this movement but slower and feel quite strong and connected between my legs and arms whereas when we go quicken the movement up I feel that I loose the connectivity. I really need to think about this and also on the slow but at the end I need to think about leading from the knee and not letting the knee drop either when extending it or bringing back in. I think you will be able to see this more when I am doing it towards the back.

I have uploaded this video of a slap turn because in a previous blog I mentioned about having length in my movement and this is one movement that I had corrected.  At first I didn't really understand what was meant by length or having length but I have practiced and feel that I have understood now by the feeling in my body. In this turn I also need to remember to show my leg in second but again not to be too careful and let the initiation of my leg "slapping" against the other leg take my body round with weight and heaviness.

This technique feels comfortable. My body, feels relaxed but also quite strong and connected, I think when doing floor work I need to let more weight be given into the floor. I take the corrections given on board and practice and hopefully go to the next class improved or still working on it but showing that I'm thinking about it and haven't forgotten the corrections that have been given to me in the previous weeks.

Bartenieff Fundamentals 16/11/11

I know I have uploaded a couple of these video's on previous blogs or that they are the same sequence, the reason I have done this is because throughout the weeks working on the Principles of the Bartenieff Fundamentals we have often kept the same sequence but added different principle to them. In this clip we have been focusing on the pelvis on the ball and socket joint connecting the femur and the pelvis. We started off at the beginning of class improvising the pelvis, what surfaces of the pelvis can lead us and can we make it travel us through the space. When doing this I am always cautious of using my pelvis to so much extreme or just focusing in on this one particular part of the body as I have a back problem which can lead to my pelvis becoming out of place so in this respect I feel I do need to look after my body.

We then looked at using the pelvis in different ways, we tried an exercise that involved us laying on the floor on uor backs with our feet planted on the floor not in line with our hips but in line with our sits bones we then had to press up using 'yeild and push' through out feet and switching to having more weight in our heels or in our ball of our foot. How does this feel different? well for me personally when putting more pressure on the heel of my foot  it felt as if i was curling my pelvis up and shrinking it almost whereas when putting weight through the ball of my foot it felt as if the pelvis and my back were being opened and had more of a sense of lengthening behind the movement.

We also look at the rotation of the hips and different ways of moving your leg around yourself e.g from the front to the side rather than lifting your hip up. Peggy Hackney used the term 'gating' when opening and closing your leg and taking it straight round, opening it up like a gate. A different exercise  was to feel your pelvis rotating underneath your leg almost at your sits bones and feel the femur rotating. When I practiced this at first, laid on my side on the floor I could feel my legs start to work and ache this must have been because I was using them in a different way, I could especially feel the rotation in my inner thigh and feel my pelvis rotating. I could feel the two way battle that my body was having because I knew deep down I wanted to lift my hip up to rotate my leg because this is the easier way but trying to stop it from doing it and using my femur and the ball and socket joint that connects the femur and the pelvis physically rotating. Apparently we don't use this joint enough we use the knees and the back to compensate for not using it when in fact it makes everything more natural to do even walking!

This video shows one of the sequences that we have been using to explore all the principles.  It gives me a chance to feel how different principles work on different feelings rather than having a new sequence for each principle. I  feel I will be able to apply this more to future work and technique and it wont be just for that one sequence. For this sequence today you can see the pelvis and the legs working from the pelvis, when we first go on the floor, the legs are hanging from the pelvis because all the core is doing the work.  To see myself do this I can see that I don't use my 'scoop' this means I'm not holding my core correctly if I used my scoop it would give me more stability and strength to hold things for a length of time. Also on part of the video when we lean on to hand I have been lifting my leg up right to the side rather than in line with my hips and my turn-out this might mean that it is slightly forward compared to my body but this is the correct line.

At the very start of this video it shows the idea of the gating and the rotation rather than lifting from the hip, I hope this shows in the video because I find that when practicing these principles I get the grasp of the idea but when coming to put them into practice in an actual routine its not that I forget about them but I feel I have a lot to think about so its almost like an after thought or I remember in some places but not others. Can you see the gating and also the yield and push? The yield and push is a big part to play on the handstand I have to really yield into the floor before pushing to go out and reach out into the handstand. I also need to try to go through my feet more when coming out of the handstand which makes it more fluid and helps regain myself for the next movement. 

This is an old video of the same routine as shown above, when watching this for the first time I thought I seemed grounded but from watching the updated version I feel I am more grounded and I am focusing more on the yield and push for example right at the very end doing the arabesque line and using the yield and push to get out of it, I think I am focusing on more in the new video above. I think I can see an improvement can you? One thing I really do need to focus on is walking out of the movement remember to take my pelvis with me and not leave it behind, walk heel first and feel connected to the floor, lift out of my waist, it looks then as if your walking for a purpose and not just relaxed.

From watching new and old videos I can have a sense of improvement and I can see the focus on the principles of the bartenieff fundamentals, I think its making my work stronger and I hope to take this on to other technique classes and also in performance and choreography also give me the opportunity when teaching to try things out on students to help them improve.

14/11/11 Video's and Pictures

This video shows the two way movement and separation of the hips and the upper torso in more detail. I need to take more risk before falling in to the lunge, find my centre in rise and let gravity do its work to bring me into the lunge and also make sure I get a deeper lunge and push myself to the maximum. Use breath to add more dynamic to the movement and add phrasing to the movement, without breath it all has the same dynamic and length of movment whereas breath emphasises different parts and sections of the sequences and adds a softer feeling to others.

Using the back for the initiation of the movement, I find this difficult because I think I could use my back and spiral more but I know that I need to keep my hips still at the same time. Its like the two halves of your body need to be separate and independent of each other, spiral the upper part whilst keeping the bottom half still. This means keeping the two independent of each other. Also include my head in the spiral don't forget about it.

Preparation into the handstand/cartwheel. Preparing to lift my hips up and keep my legs low. You can see that I'm not really thinking about keeping my head relaxed it should be relaxed in this position ready for the handstand.



You can see the stretch in my right side whilst leaning into my left side, I think from looking at it I could take the risk more to lean more to the right side and trust that my centre will bring me back and if not I fall over so why does this matter? as I have said many times before its about taking the risk in class and not being perfect. Doesn't matter if I fall over just pick it up with the group at the next chance I get. Also I'm not holding my ribs in this position but I need to keep them 'quiet' so it gives nicer line this Will also show me holding my centre.



This picture shows me about to go into a lunge, as you can see in the background of one of my fellow dancers. I need to be down further to the floor and then use my front leg to push off from to get to the middle for the next move. To help me with this I could draw upon another technique class and use the idea of the 'yield and push' to help me up.



This picture shows the handstand/cartwheel you can see that I'm lifting my hips up here and keeping my legs quite low. From this picture I can see that I could push my hips up more so that from the front view there is a straight line down the back, to enable this as well I need to drop my head more so my head is in line with my spine and my neck isn't 'crunching'up. We have been given an exercise to do so that we get the action of the handstand correct it will also help us on our upper body strength.



This is the first movement of the sequence the idea is to brush the floor like you would in a grande battement excise and then bring it back into the body, use the length of the leg and more before bringing it back into the body. The momentum of this will allow my supporting leg to go up on to a rise as you can see my fellow dancers doing in the background.

Full video and sequence. The pictures are a broken down version of this sequence, I appreciate that the picture above are not perfect but they have been taken in class, this give me a true picture and what I actually do when I dance and I'm not putting it on just for a photo. 

Release Technique 10/11/11

This is exercise was all about using the back, which is one of my big weaknesses I think. I know that I have a bad back so I get scared of over using it in case it starts to ache or hurt etc. After doing this exercise for a few times i felt that I had improved just in that short space of time, really knowing how my back work in connection to my arms as well. I need to try and almost think of the back and arms as one rather than two separate limbs almost.  For example in ballet or in fact contemporary when we hold our arms in second we need to feel like we are holding are arms from the centre of the back, not from the upper part of the back as then we will be pinching our shoulder blades. The back needs to feel open but in turn can feel the muscles engaging to hold our arms. 

In a book by Linda Ashley called "Dance theory in practice for teachers: physical and performance skills"  ( 2005) she mentions that for an example we should imagine a current of electricity running from one fingertip to the other this can help the arms look 'alive' and 'energised'. I think also that this makes you also connected to your centre making you feel more sturdy and in control of your balance this will help in a rise etc as well.

The back gives many weaknesses away you can tell that someone is not using the back as this restricts their movement if they are using the back then the movement almost ripples through the body e.g. Graham technique has a strong connection to the back in contractions, the contraction is the initiation but you can see this straight away in the spine and the back and also on the release the back is the initiation and you can See it starting from the base of the spine and the ripple up through the back to the tip of your head.

At the end of this video sequence I could make the movement ripple through my spine more thinking about the release at the base of the back all the way up, this could make this move a lot more fluid and striking to watch as well to see the spine really move. I also think I could take more of a risk in the turn, and really let the weight of the body take me round and the use of my back, technique classes are about taking risks and not being perfect. Its a chance to test things especially In release technique let gravity take us, Use the initiation of the back to take me round in my turn lea out of it more and trust that if  hold my centre that I will balance but then again so what if I fall over its about testing the grounds, how much I can give, do I need less momentum or more?

Some other feed back that I got in class was to lengthen my movement out more especially when I finish my moves so that I don't just get to a position and settle in one set position constantly keep moving. It gives the movement more fluidity but in a way more of a sense of grounding and always one movement to flow into the next for example in a slap turn when I land and finish the turn don't just 'slump' out of it let the length flow out of my arms and out of my waist and legs.

This could also work on grande battements if you use the length of your legs to reach and brush against the floor and reach past the length of your own leg then it makes the movement more 'juicy' and gives it more ' umph'. This is something I need to improve on and through time I think it will come, this has only just been brought to my attention so I haven't been able to work on it as of yet but I will and upload videos and pictures to show an example of this.

Cunningham Technique 7/11/11

Again one of the most challenging  sequences in this class is the triplets sequence, I get the general gist of the triplet, three equal steps taken either forward, backwards, turning any way really but the sequence that we do involves turning a 180 degrees I find this hard because to enable me to do this I have to be able to turn in one piece, to accomplish this I have to hold my centre lift out of my waist and legs and also changing the focus quicker will help me. I think since we first started doing this that I have improved and it is starting to feel more comfortable rather than awkward. Through practice and practice then I will keep improving but at the moment this is one of my goals for this class to turn a weakness into my strength.

Weaknesses

• My arms in second are always a weakness, I  need to keep my elbows on top and not let them drop and also not hold tension in my wrists and , let my arms hang from my back and not hold them from any other place.
• I also need to use the depth of my plie more, I know I don't have a massive range of movement in my plie because I do have tight Achilles but what movement I do have I need to use it to the full e.g. in the jumps.
• focus-especially on the feet exercises I need to look more present and alive in the room rather than getting sucked into the mirror and sucked into what I'm doing, I should just let my body do what its doing and think afterwards
• Need to finish movements off before I go into the next movement rather than it all moulding into one big mess. This helps with phrasing as well!!!
• Also need to flow through the movements and not make them jerky, me on the counts but don't stop at every count.

Before

After

I know I have uploaded this picture before but this is also something I need to work on, being in a curve while being in this position, let the curve be the initiation of the movement, not the head dragging the body down. and also the leg doesn't need to be very high it just need to be in relation of the curve because if you have a high leg then there is a possibility that you could release the curve.

Before

 After

From a different angle

Again I have uploaded a picture of this before and I plan to upload another one so I can show some improvement,  I feel like I have suddenly clicked with the concept of the curve and hopefully this will show on picture etc although it might just mean that i feel it more internally so should this matter if it doesn't make a difference to the external view?  Dancing is internal as well as external ?

I feel out of everything that jumps are my strength and that I travel through the space when I perform them, this is because I am confident that I have the strength in my legs and also I feel comfortable in my body when doing them. I think from this sequence you can see one of my weaknesses that I don't use my plie to my full potential especially before the barrel jump in this sequence. If I got deeper into my plie it would allow me to get off the floor more and also take more of a risk with the lean backwards on the barrel turn to make it more on a diagonal. When I jump I also hold tension in my shoulders and in between my shoulder blades I think I need to relax more to release the tension but also, like I mentioned above if I hold my arms from the back this will give more space between my shoulder blades and less space for tension.