"The dance, just as the performance of the actor, is kinesthetic art, art of the muscle sense. The awareness of tension and relaxation..." - Rudolf Arnheim
Dance can,
undoubtedly, be classified as a sport, and dancers are definitely
athletes. The difference between dancers
and traditional athletes, however, is that dancers need to be concerned about
the aesthetic lines created when they move.
Although dancers must have strong muscles, it is also imperative that
their muscles be long and not bulky.
This length preserves the aesthetic appearance, creates healthier
muscles that are less likely to tear, and provides the dancer with a greater
ability to move.
One way to
encourage the development of longer muscles is to discourage gripping in any of
the muscle groups. A body that is
properly aligned should be able to stabilize itself by lengthening rather than
tightening muscles. If a dancer has
previously been gripping muscles to maintain stability and hold positions, he
or she will have a very difficult time breaking this habit, and will need to be
educated about thinking of dance in an entirely new way.
The dance
educator can help by always emphasizing proper alignment and presenting
technique in a different way. If we
begin to think about approaching an exercise in a new way, our muscles will
begin to activate and work differently.
A dance educator might tell a student, who is waiting for an exercise to
begin, to imagine his or her pelvis lifting the kneecaps while the kneecaps
lift the ankles and the feet press down into the floor. Newton’s third law states that for every
action there is an equal and opposite reaction, therefore, pushing energy down
into the floor results in the body lengthening upward. The dancer should also imagine his or her
torso being lengthened equally in front and back as if it was being sucked up
through a straw while the sternum lifts toward the sun and the neck lengthens
as if the head was a helium filled balloon.
All of
these suggestions will result in a longer, aligned body and are much more
effective than asking the dancers to straighten their knees, which encourages
hyperextension; tighten their bottoms, which limits range of motion; and pull
up their stomachs, which often results in an opened ribcages and raised
shoulders.
Simply
presenting exercises in a different way, using new imagery, can change the way
a dancer performs. Body lengthening
frees the muscles to move without being bound, which is physically exhausting,
limits a dancer’s range of motion, and does not feel good.
My next few
posts will address specific exercises and the imagery and wording that can be
used to encourage dancers to stop gripping and begin to dance by lengthening
and elongating their muscles.
