Dancers executing with instinct, becoming victim of their own characteristics in response to the environment presented around them moving through powerful impulse and creating their own path and reacting to the subconcious reverberations that echo throughout the body at all times. As dancers we are generally told specific ways to move, to place and to react in a sequence but when a sequence is engrained into the bodys memory over a period of time is it possible for elements to then become instinctual? Or do you in fact add parts of your own instinct to create your signature style with the movement? Is personal movement style a blend of outside influences that years of training have provided us with to become instinct? Odd moments of inspiration, natural beahviour, critisisms, praises that we have remembered somewhere in the back of our head that express through our bodies when we dance? I would ask these questions as I find with release technique I have a habit or letting my instincts take over the movement before my body has the chance. By watching the video below I can see points where control over my body is lesser than the drive forcing it, the drive instinctual from constant drilling and pushing of jazz routines in my developing years, especially towards the end of the video I can see myself rushing through the movement as my body becomes tired and relys more on my physical memory of movement to carry me through.
From this video I can see that I need to be more grounded and lower where I seem to store my energy, here I am holding my engery up in the chest area, which is a positive in some respects as this gives the body lift and a sense of presence on stage . However, in this routine with a lot of work taking place in plie to provide the drive for certain moves such as the grande jete, I need to hold my energy lower in the centre muscles or the abdomen to give me a sense of awareness of my centre, a greater feel of the connection between the upper and lower halves of the body and stability by focusing the the effort involved in holding myself upright. By concentrating on sending of the breath and placement of the breath this should really assist in providing me with the relaxtion to root the feet into the ground and place my body on top of this.
These tips for improving alignmen in the body work with a range of style but I would say alignment of the body is a weakness of mine and idetifyably in this sequence. My legs appear strong in this sequence, especially in moments such as the leg swipe at seven seconds, the two handstands and the preparation to jete. I need to be more aware of my allignment in the beginning, making sure my leg is extended behind me instead of slightly to the side at 3 seconds, but this can be improved by rigorously going through the routine, practicing moments like that on the bar, standing still and then moving to ensure precision throughout the body, this will also help with placement of the arms as this is one of my weaknesses across all my techniques. Brandenhoff makes an interesting point in his evaluation of alignment, remembering to use opposition to create a pull from the head to tail would really add quality to my movement by extending it through as much as possible, I am going to focus on not allowing my shoulder to pull inward which is allowing my leg to drift outward in the beginning motions and experiencing the sense of pulling in opposistion throughout the body. My arms have a tendancy to fall into instinctual patterns of following the dynamic pattern of the movement but never exerting any power or intention, amr strengthening excercises such as press ups for the biceps and also tricep curls will give me a greater sense of my arms and allow me then to connect with them more during movement phrases.
"Use the mirror. If you look crooked, you probably are." Brandenhoff, Peter. "Improving alignment." Dance Magazine I am told regularly by peers that I focus too much on the mirror during class, I am making a concious effort to look above and beyond the mirror to change this habit and remove myself from the zombie like staring that occurs when staring at ones self in the mirror for too long, however, Brandenhoff does have a valid point. Watching yourself and identifying with your bodies inperfections or incapabilities can help you change them, as opposed to turning a blind eye take a good look at yourself and criticise to correct yourself. You have to be able to feel the sensations of the movement in the correct state, if you do not correct yourself then you can not feel it, every body is different and teachers can tell you a general ruling of doing something but you have to experience it to know how your body develops the movement. Even something as simple as rising to the balls of the feet and lowering, I have had to adapt against the general ruling of how to balance on a rise due to injury, that was not neccesarily something a teacher could have taught me I had to find my own path and by observing myself and how my feet reacted on a rise I developed my own way of balancing to suit my body.
"TIPS FOR IMPROVING ALIGNMENT
* Think of stacking your skeleton like boxes, but keep a small space between them: Pelvis over the feet, rib cage over hips, shoulders over ribs, and head on top.
* Keep the weight evenly distributed throughout the foot with the fifth metatarsal contacting the floor.
* Remember opposition: Keep the shoulders down and keep pulled up through the hips; keep the feet rooted into the floor and the crown of the head lengthening up.
* Use the mirror. If you look crooked, you probably are.
* The muscles should be engaged but not gripped, so that at any moment you can move without having to release.
* Don't tuck the pelvis under, but think of lengthening the tailbone down.
* Practice alignment during the basics. Bennett says, "If you can't do it in tendu, you can't do it anywhere.""
* The muscles should be engaged but not gripped, so that at any moment you can move without having to release.
* Don't tuck the pelvis under, but think of lengthening the tailbone down.
Brandenhoff, Peter. "Improving alignment." Dance Magazine Sept. 2008: 96+. Infotrac Collection of Full Text E-Journals. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.
These tips for improving alignmen in the body work with a range of style but I would say alignment of the body is a weakness of mine and idetifyably in this sequence. My legs appear strong in this sequence, especially in moments such as the leg swipe at seven seconds, the two handstands and the preparation to jete. I need to be more aware of my allignment in the beginning, making sure my leg is extended behind me instead of slightly to the side at 3 seconds, but this can be improved by rigorously going through the routine, practicing moments like that on the bar, standing still and then moving to ensure precision throughout the body, this will also help with placement of the arms as this is one of my weaknesses across all my techniques. Brandenhoff makes an interesting point in his evaluation of alignment, remembering to use opposition to create a pull from the head to tail would really add quality to my movement by extending it through as much as possible, I am going to focus on not allowing my shoulder to pull inward which is allowing my leg to drift outward in the beginning motions and experiencing the sense of pulling in opposistion throughout the body. My arms have a tendancy to fall into instinctual patterns of following the dynamic pattern of the movement but never exerting any power or intention, amr strengthening excercises such as press ups for the biceps and also tricep curls will give me a greater sense of my arms and allow me then to connect with them more during movement phrases.
"Use the mirror. If you look crooked, you probably are." Brandenhoff, Peter. "Improving alignment." Dance Magazine I am told regularly by peers that I focus too much on the mirror during class, I am making a concious effort to look above and beyond the mirror to change this habit and remove myself from the zombie like staring that occurs when staring at ones self in the mirror for too long, however, Brandenhoff does have a valid point. Watching yourself and identifying with your bodies inperfections or incapabilities can help you change them, as opposed to turning a blind eye take a good look at yourself and criticise to correct yourself. You have to be able to feel the sensations of the movement in the correct state, if you do not correct yourself then you can not feel it, every body is different and teachers can tell you a general ruling of doing something but you have to experience it to know how your body develops the movement. Even something as simple as rising to the balls of the feet and lowering, I have had to adapt against the general ruling of how to balance on a rise due to injury, that was not neccesarily something a teacher could have taught me I had to find my own path and by observing myself and how my feet reacted on a rise I developed my own way of balancing to suit my body.
