"To practise means to perform, in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired." Graham, M . (2010). I am a dancer. In: Carter, A and O'Shea, J The routledge dance studies reader. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge. p95
Before entering back into my studies in September I read an article written by Martha Graham titled "I am a dancer" giving her insights into what it means to her to truely be a dancer and the parrallels between what it means to dance and what it means to live, "...the symbol of the performace of the living." I found this article particularly spoke to me as I returned to the course as it reminded me that performance is not solely about technique, technique can be developed and improved for decades and still never be perfect but it is injecting your own slice of life into the movement that makes it amazing. Graham makes an interesting point saying "How many leaps did Nijinsky take before he made the one that startled the world?" Graham, M . (2010). I am a dancer. and it is that idea, the idea that we go into the studio every day striving for those moments that will change and impress upon others, thats keeps us as students of dance motivated and inspired to keep working and pushing our instruments to reach what Graham would describe as being reborn in the moment. I feel this approach is going to be the basis of my exploration through technique this year, there are different elements to technique that I aim to improve but I want my movement to be more than technique, I want it to be real in the sense it is exposing a part of myself and comes from a place within myself. More of a performance of exposing something inside myself than an excercise, I strive to become an open and honest performer which is enhanced my technique, not limited by it.
Dance technique is used to strengthen the tools that we work with, tools being the muscles that move us through space. "The body is shaped, disciplined, honoured and in time trusted" Graham, M . (2010). I am a dancer. Technique allows us to fine tune our body and understand it, we have a very intimate relationship with our bodies in that we are all unique. We are given infomation in technique classes that is a rough guideline for everybody but my body will process and react to that information differently to your body and every one elses bodies, technique allows us to explore how our own body works and what works for us to create the choreography beng given to us. The practice of technique allows us to become precise in our movement which gives us the confidence to perform on top of that, technique is the base of movement but its the life given to it that brings choreography to life.
As a dancer it has been expressed to me over the past year the I have a great energy about me when I perform, that I have a drive about my movement whist exploring the directions the my body can push itself and travel in. When I move I enjoy the thrill of pushing myself with a strength and force, this is both a weakness and a strength. A strength in that I commit 100% to the all of movement and attack it to explore its feel in terms of dynamics but a weakness as this can sometimes enable me lose control of my body, I aim to focus on controlling this energy this semester by focusing on my centre and limbs to allow my articulation in my movement. I am also going to work on allow this strong energy to sometimes relax a little more into movements to allow myself more contrasts in my phrasing, focusing on the contrasts between suspension and stabiltiy in relation to and expanding my own style as a performer.
A weakness of mine is lengthening through the legs and fully engaging the feet to the maximum, to help me find better precision in my movement I really need to improve this element by strengthening the feet and legs by engaging them fully, especially in turned out posistions as I have weak inner thigh mucles so developing these through technique, especially ballet. So concentrating on turning out from the tops of the legs and constantly pushing my turn out as far as it wll go in every excercise will help strengthen and develop my a majority of my leg muscles as well as increasing my turn out.
A challenge for me at the minute is with my feet, in particular my right foot as I broke im toe earlier on in the year and as a result the muscle on the outer edger of my foot is under developed and is proving difficult in certain excercises, in particular where required to balance of my right on a rise as my foot struggles to spread the weight across the foot and more pressure is being put on my inner foot and the ankle. To try and correct this I am doing foot strengthening exercises daily to help improve the muscular balance and prevent injuring other parts of my foot or ankle area from the extra strain. Excericese such as having the feet flat on the floor and pressing the toes downward without allowing the toes to curl or ankle to lift is good fo strengthening the feet or simply walking around on the balls of the feet allows the foot to strengthen natually and also helps get used to adapting to movement so when it comes to balancing it is easier to stabilise.
This year I aim to be honest with myself as a dance performer and choreographer, by videoing myself and photographing myself I will be able to see the physical changes within myself as a dance technician and performer and analyse these changes within myself and whether they are for the better or worse as the semester goes on.
