Bartenieff Fundamentals- 19/10/11

This is the 3rd lesson we have had on the Bartenieff fundamentals, which consequently means we are on to the third principle of the technique, alignment.
In the past we have worked on exploring breath within movement and how this can assist you not only in this technique but in every technique, every step that I do. Look at whether it helps, how it adds dynamic to my movement and the opposite effects whether we hold the breath when under pressure or if we relax and breathe does this help? We have also looked at core stability, the strength and how using this also assist us when moving, how curling everything in and stretching everything helps again with the dynamics.
 These are interesting principles to look at and remember when choreographing, if I ever get stuck or a block and I need to change some movement to give it a different look or dynamic I can remember these ideas and ask my dancer/dancers to move in a certain way focusing on one of them and look to see how this changes the movement and whether this gives me any more movement material to work with.

Alignment brings focus to the movement of the spine, the different sections of the spine and being able to explore the range of movement available to myself; whether one part of the spine moves more than the others, whether I have more movement than I originally thought. There are main parts of the spine: atlas and Axis, cervical, thorasic, Lumbar and sacrum and coccyx.

http://www.spineinfo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/spine_anatomy_diagram.jpg (accessed on 19/10/10)

Peggy Hackney who wrote the book  "making connections" mentions that a healthy spine should have a bend and not be completely straight, we think as dancers that we should have a straight spine and always be upright this is especially the case in ballet dancers. Ballet doesn't really explore the movement of the spine in the same way as contemporary dance does  e.g. Cunningham and the back curves and release technique. In this class we did exercises that involved using all the spine which felt nice as I personally tend to not focus on the movement in the spine, at first we improvised and then we added it to a movement sequence, I could tell the difference straight away when watching other people dance, I can see the connection between the head and the tail. I found that when focusing on spine and after dancing that actually my spine ached this goes to show that I really don't use my back as much as I should be doing. we also did an exercise where we either led the movement from our head or from our tail and the let the rest of the spine and body follow. Its hard to class this as a true improvisation because I find it difficult to not think about what I'm doing, improvisation is supposed to just happen but when focusing on different parts of the body I do find myself thinking about it.

http://www.spineinfo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/spine_anatomy_diagram.jpg (accessed 19/10/11)
This is one of exercises we did which involved being in this position and rolling the head forward, we did this so we could see all the movement in the spine and where abouts it gets stuck or where the least amount of movement is in the spine, from doing this we could also feel the weight of the head into the floor, you have to lead with your head and pull back with your tail. we then applied this to movement material that we already had to see where about we can add this principle in to the movement. e.g. on a handstand you the tail that bring you back down.

Technique classes are about being able to explore movement and to push your body, its not about being perfect or precise. You have to push your body to improve and see what you can really do, with exploring these principles that's whats it all about just trying it and seeing if it works and how far your own body is able to go.