somatics research paper
Post on 16-Jan-2016
41 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Kaley Johnson
Since having this assignment, I have noticed that somatics plays a huge role in
everyday life. In other words, if people really understood the basic concepts such as the
different patterns of total body connectivity and the twelve principles of Bartenieff
fundamentals, their lives would be so much more meaningful and purposeful! I observed
on many different occasions one of the most basic, human behaviors—walking. The
three distinctly different scenarios include observing people walk across campus, noticing
a telling kind of pattern while at a party/ social scene, and taking note of how being
pregnant has affected the walking patterns of my older sister. In all of these unique
situations, I will take note of the predominant and underlying patterns, tensions present,
and how the action could have been done more proficiently.
I must say that watching people walk across campus was one of the most
interesting and insightful things that I have ever done. I came to realize that so much is
revealed about a person from simply observing the way they walk—from their current
mood to their personality. The particular day that I watched was a chilly one—so it was
intriguing to observe the different ways that people dealt with the weather. There was one
girl who was clearly underdressed in only a light cardigan. In efforts to keep warm, her
shoulders were shrugged so tightly with tension that they were practically in her ears. As
a result, her spine was hunched over as she walked very slowly, making her look shy and
timid. It was almost as if this girl had forgotten that both ends of her spine are in a live
and functioning relationship. This misaligned posture indicated to me that this was a
Head-Tail Connectivity issue in which she lacked a proper, dynamic alignment. I wanted
to tell this girl that correct alignment is a dynamic process—a relationship of stability and
mobility that is ongoing to create a through-line of energy in the vertical. In order to
release this tension in her shoulders and fix this alignment issue, she must first
understand that the whole spine needs to constantly be involved and moving—especially
as she walks. If this girl utilized more fully the changes in flexion-extension, lateral
flexion-extension and rotation in a three-dimensional manner to create spiraling
movement—she would experience this full range and use of her spine! Furthermore, once
her spine is spiraling, she can establish a cross-lateral usage of her arms and legs as
opposed to hugging them to her body. In order to effectively demonstrate good posture,
she would need to constantly make three-dimensional shifts—as her internal relationships
are shifting to maintain balance as she walks. With this correct posture, she could get
across campus more efficiently. This essential Head-Tail Connectivity would allow her to
sense herself as an individual, with both fluidity and solid support coming through her
core to give attention out to her world—rather than looking insecure and timid.
In direct contrast to this girl, there was a boy who demonstrated an excellent
understanding of the sense of his own head-tail relationship. He walked confidently—
appearing both stable and fluid as he walked across campus. Despite the cold weather
that seemed to inhibit the girl before, this boy walked at a steady pace that made him
appear completely at solid ease. In each step, he effectively yielded to push—gathering
support and pushing into the earth and then reached to pull—sustaining and progressing
his walk out to the world and toward his final destination. What the boy demonstrated to
me was a fully developed cross lateral phenomenon of walking. You could tell that his
walk began first with the initiation of his pelvis, supported with a push from the grounded
leg, through the core, letting the arm provide cross-lateral balance while simultaneously
reaching forward with the free leg to accept the weight. This particular boy made what
seemed like work to the girl before much more natural and fluid—showing his
confidence and surety of himself in his world.
My second experience would have to be my very favorite. I realized in this
observation how much of somatics interplays into real life situations and people. Last
Friday night, I decided to go to a dance party at a nearby apartment complex clubhouse
with one of my good friends. My feelings of excitement were soon overcome with
anxiety as I saw my ex boyfriend across the room. After getting past the initial
awkwardness, things were fine and I had a great time dancing with my friends. In fact,
the whole situation was great closure for me because I was able to see him in his true
character. The way that boy walked around the party spoke volumes—his inner attitude
and self-perception were manifest in his outward expression of the way he carried
himself as he walked. He almost waltzed around with this bobble in his step like he
owned the place—as if he was the life of the party. He held his head back and up high
and proud as he walked around to several girls—working his magic with several innocent
girls at the party. This indeed made him come off as superior—or so he thought. He is
someone that literally needs to yield to the earth—establishing a humble sense of
grounding. Although he may always be the center of his own kinesphere, he certainly is
not the center of anyone else’s.
There was a noticeable difference between my ex and most of the other guys at
the party, who walked around with a firm grounded-ness and confidence that was not
overbearing or snobbish. It was interesting for me to observe my ex’s older brother walk
around the party in direct contrast to him—and he ought to learn from his brother how
walk more humbly. This brother, who is shorter and smaller in stature, walked with a true
sense of establishment and grounding. It was amazing to the see the difference with
someone who was actually centered—being fully aware of his power source, which
includes those key seven inches of the lower body. Being in touch with this center of
weight and its relationship with the earth literally made him look more grounded. One
could really sense the use of his core purpose as he walked with real intent in efforts to
get somewhere as opposed to just flouncing around the party for fun and attention.
My third experience was observing my older sister who is nearly eight months
pregnant. When I first asked her to walk for me, she replied, “I don’t walk—I waddle!”
Embarrassed and bashful, she compared her walk to that of a penguin. As I observed her,
I noticed a lot of tension particularly in her pelvic girdle. It was almost as if her limbs
were moving independently from her core which seemed to stop the transfer of alive
energy. This tension from the pelvic area—almost as if she was trying to hold her body
still as she walked—then transferred to holding her upper body rigid as well. This made
her spine seem very rigid as her arms and legs swung from their proximal joints—lacking
both energy and sense of diagonal connection through the core.
In order to help my sister walk more proficiently, I would encourage the sensation
of connection along a diagonal pathway through the body’s core between the body’s
cross quadrants. When this energy is properly transferred diagonally through the core,
subtle spiraling through the torso can take place—making the whole body more active
and alive. Down and up, anterior posterior, as well as side and side are connected.
Walking, when done properly, is an exciting experience for the entire body. It stimulates
nerve plexus in both the lower and upper, and engages kinetic chains of muscles all the
way from the foot through the pelvic floor, through the spine, scapula to arms and
fingertips, and lastly through the head. In effectively implementing these principles, my
sister will be able to eliminate these tensions and disconnections and be able to turn
walking from a pain to a healthy and beneficial exercise at this point in her pregnancy.
In conclusion, I am grateful for the experience I had to really observe walking in
three different scenarios. I learned that walking can reveal major characteristics about a
person. Many people, however, are not walking in the most beneficial way—which can
be improved upon by applying such elements as the ones found in Upper-Lower and
Cross-Lateral principles. A correct application of these fundamentals can make walking a
beneficial, healthy, exciting experience just as it is intended to be.
My second observation has been a journey filled with many enlightening
moments and realizations. The opportunity to observe and apply my somatics knowledge
has been greatly helpful to my personal learning and growth in my dance experience. In
this analysis, I will discuss the progression from a “391 level dancer,” through the upper
levels of the Theatre Ballet, to a professional ballerina. Choosing illuminating moments
from each observation, I will focus on the Bartinieff fundamentals used as well as which
ones could have been used to better serve the dancer’s virtuosity, efficiency and artistry
of their personal material.
I began this journey with observing one of Shayla Bott’s 391 technique classes. I
learned quickly that choosing her class to observe was a very intelligent decision. From
the way she gave corrections and explained concepts, you could tell that she has a
prevalent and deeply rooted knowledge in somatics. One of the biggest themes that
Shayla mentioned was the proper coordination of the upper and lower body. She kept
saying during their plies at barre, “Make sure your arms and legs arrive at the same time,”
and “Watch the coordination of the arms and legs,” which immediately made me think of
the Upper-Lower body connection. Because the core is not adequately developed in
these dancers, there seemed to be an Upper-Lower split with this “no man’s land” in the
center of the body. This problem, which was first evident in plies, definitely transferred
as there was a loss of coordination and confidence in their abilities in their later
movement sequences—which will be discussed later.
I continued to watch as the dancers performed some “rotator roll-ups,” focusing
on spinal articulation. One phrase that stuck out to me was Shayla’s brilliant comment,
“Now do this motion with true breath—not your fake ballerina breaths.” I thought this
phrase was completely genius—and I agreed because the girls were not using their breath
to move. I think that often times as ballerinas, we have this feeling of lightness and grace
and we forget that deep, meaningful breath is absolutely key to our dancing! In fact,
many times I have caught myself finishing a combination or exercise and then thinking,
“I am pretty sure I forgot to breathe!” Instead of feeling replenished and nourished like
breath is supposed to do, I am left exhausted.
The next week and weekend I got the privilege of observing this same 391 group
of ladies in their Ballet showcase tech rehearsals and performance. Ironically, I observed
these same principles of Upper-Lower and breath manifest themselves within their
performance. In noticing first their breath, I was able to pick up on a pattern that the
dancers followed in nearly every piece. Breath is absolutely essential to life, movement
and rhythm. It is the foundation, the ground base for all patterns that follow. Yet, as
dancers, I think we can forget how crucial a role it plays in our dancing. In the beginning
of each piece, I would hear silence—almost as if the dancers were not breathing at all—
which worried me! But, by the end, I could audibly hear the shallow breathing of these
dancers. This breath was not the kind that was necessarily aiding in their movement
sequencing, but instead seemed more of an after-math of their dancing. How beneficial it
would be for these dancers to understand that breath begins at the cellular level—that is
enlivens, and creates a dynamic, continuous flow and lively movement. In addition to
increased movement quality, effective use of breath would translate to the exertion-
recuperation cycle—replenishing movement vitality with less heavy or excess breathing.
Instead, the breath would be used to aid and enhance their movement.
Returning to the Upper-Lower split that I observed in their technique class, this
pattern was further noticed and highlighted in their performance on stage. Learning to use
the limbs in a connected way with the core makes such a difference on movement quality
and execution. A key principle that would improve the homologous movement—that is,
the upper and lower body moving together—is yield to push and reach to pull patterns.
Yield to push patterns provide grounding and power, while reach to pull patterns provide
access to space. In observing them on stage, many dancers yielded to the ground
effectively, but failed to reach through their distal ends to the edges of their kinesphere in
following through with reach and pull. In order to increase their movement quality, it
would benefit the dancers to visualize their energy initiating from the core, reaching out
of each of the six limbs rather than stopping at their fingertips. One movement that would
greatly benefit from the implementation of this principle would be in pique arabesque.
First, they would need to yield to the floor by deepening their plié and then using that
push from earth to pique onto their other leg. In this same moment of execution, they
must think about their kinetic chains extending out from the top of their head. Thinking
of laser beams shooting from the ends of their fingertips would not only improve the
dancer’s line, making them look longer in space, but also sustain the movement longer—
improving the efficiency and virtuosity of the movement.
During this time, I also got to observe (from stage) one of our very own dancers,
Natalie Taylor, in the new piece set on our company by Shayla Bott. Her duet with Paige
Hollingsworth in the third movement is absolutely stunning. First of all, her movement
phrasing of her unique solo is so smooth—as she performs one movement right into the
next. One of my favorite moments is when her whole body is brought down suddenly
because of her elbow, and then she is quickly brought back off the floor from again, the
initiation from that same elbow. What makes this moment brilliant is the intentional
preparation and initiation that produces such a fulfilling phrase that appears seamless.
Her patterns of connectivity were fully utilized and movement was successive and fluid.
Natalie is a beautiful mover—a joy and inspiration to watch.
Last weekend, I also got the privilege of watching Ballet West’s performance of
Firebird, Petite More, and Balanchine’s, “Who Cares.” Echoing the main principles that
were observed before, these dancers not only had a true grasp of Upper-Lower
connectivity and of Breath, but have also completely mastered the rest of the patterns of
total body connectivity as well as the principles of the Bartenieff fundamentals. It was
such a wonderful experience to witness the lively interplay between all of these concepts
in a performance that seemed to bring everything together. I came to realize that in the
professional division, what is most beautiful are the very basics of ballet technique that
are exquisitely employed. Their whole bodies are connected; from the moment they walk
on stage, all the different parts have a clear relationship—even in the most difficult
moves such as fouette arabesques en pointe. Although their movement is multifaceted
and complex, their awareness of body, effort, space, and shape is balanced and appears
effortless. I especially noticed this principle in their choreography as a core in Firebird—
as they were able to dance beautifully in unison with all the same shape in their simple
port de bras. Lastly, these dancers, I realized are no longer simply athletes, but true artists
—as each ballerina exhibited exquisite personal uniqueness—making the entire
performance an exciting adventure for the audience to watch.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this second assignment—learning what truly
makes the difference between a dancer and a professional artist. After the Ballet
Showcase performance, it was interesting to talk to one of the moms of a Theatre Ballet
company member. She said something that really stuck with me: “I’ve been thinking
about what makes a dancer really shine. I think it is the energy behind the movement.
Someone who catches my eye follows through with each motion and holds nothing
back.” A dancer who moves the audience not only understands each function of the body,
but they understand the purpose and relationship between all the parts. They realize that
relationship is fundamental; relationship is connection. A clear sense of these
fundamentals allows us to reach a goal of lively interplay of inner connectivity with outer
expressivity to enrich our lives.
top related