Release technique 25/10/11

Release technique covers a number of different techniques, it is a kind of umbrella term. This technique is based on the use of breath and also weight, being able to release your weight into the floor. this makes it a more heavy way of dancing and although you need the control obviously to dance, when you watch someone dancing it looks so natural to move in that way.

The technique has strands of different techniques with in it, such as the Alexander technique, feldenkrais technique as it is also very much focused on the alignment as well as the breath. Using these techniques gives it a somatic approach as well, where the aim is to have a feeling of an internal experience of the body as well as being able to see an analytical outside view of the movement. Somatics in dance is becoming more and more common, I have personally only recently heard of this and when I have been taught it I can very much see the relevance to it in contemporary dance and especially in release technique.

Somatics and dance
somatics and dance are now becoming more and more integrated together, a lot of dance courses at universities are using somatics to help the dancers when coming to technique. Somatics is a sense of mind-body centering, the idea that they both work together and not against each other. When in class this morning a correction was given to me to use the breath more. When I did this I found it helped with the movement, helped me get deeper into this movement and also make it look better from an outside view.

In class this morning we were doing the exercises that have become a set routine, from doing this I am starting to be able to improve from week to week. from looking at my past blog that I wrote about this class one of my goals was: To use my breath more as this will give me a deeper movement quality and allow me to really get into the positions that are needed for this technique. From learning about somatics in one of my lectures today this will help me to improve on this. One main thing I need to remember is on the final phrase of this class, I need to remember to breathe all the way, it seems that I almost hold my breath all the way through I think this is because I am under pressure whereas if I used my breath it would add different dynamics as well as giving me time to think about whats coming next as I will be  more relaxed.

The very first exercise we do in class is very relaxing and just involves getting in tune with our body, feeling our weight fall into the floor and getting a sense of gravity, after researching somatics. The idea of somatics in a dance context is to

          " remove dancers from a typical space-time-effort constraints and physcological demands of a dance class. A somatic learning environment often begins with quieting the mind-body "chatter" in order to focus attention on the body's sensory stimuli (from breath, muscle tension,contact the body with the floor etc)"

http://www.iadms.org/associations/2991/files/info/somatic_studies.pdf accessed on the 25/10/11

This is exactly what we do in the very first exercise, there is no counts no sense of having to be correct in technique it is just about becoming centred and allowing your body to get used to the way of moving and get ready for class. This is all becoming clear now as I have researched it further, This is something that really interests me so an additional blog will be uploaded about somatics in more detail.

I now know that out of my 3 goals that I have previously listed, I need to focus on the breath one the most as I know when I improve on this everything else will follow, obviously corrections with technique will still need to be made but I feel that if improve on breath this will help me not only in release technique but in every technique that I study.