Dance Technique and Performance

In my final blog for the progression of the cohort within their Dance Technique and Performance module, I am going to focus on the assessment overall because I believe there is a lot of progression to evaluate from the beginning of the year through to the final assessment. I could see a very strong development of the clarity of movement within the cohort. At the beginning of the year it felt like there was a lack of understanding in the clarity of the movement, however in the assessment I could see that through projection, focus and effort the clarity of movement was much more apparent. I also thought that the muscular strength in the group had progressed because they were holding their balance in the adage sequence for a lot longer than I had previously seen; I think this might be to do with the pressure of the assessment. The posture and alignment was clearer in the assessment because I think the dancers were focusing more on performing the movement. This made their posture sit more naturally which was more accurate for the posture and alignment required. “Alignment is often associated with more effort. In fact, the opposite actually holds true” (Franklin, 2014, 119). This quote shows that the more effort you put into correcting your posture; it actually does the opposite and causes hindrance to the improvement of your posture.

I still feel like there was room for improvement in challenging their movement. I could see that as a group the dancers were scared to take themselves off balance and this is what Robert and Alice wanted to see them doing. I observed that they would rather use their personal kinesthetic space instead of exploring the general space. Therefore, this is something I believe the group still needs to work on. Overall, I could see so much progression through the twelve weeks and it was interesting to observe the developments from class to class, and from dancer to dancer. I really enjoyed watching the two techniques; Cunningham and Release performed along side each other within the technique assessment. It made me realise how different the techniques were and how well the cohort encapsulated the requirements for both techniques.

The reason I have decided to write about focus and projection for this class is because Robert spent a lot of time showing the class where their focus should be on certain movements throughout the exercises. The line of focus which Robert was setting was to improve the line of extension through their bodies. As shown in the first picture the head pulling away from the arms, which are in a diagonal position, prove aesthetically pleasing due to the enhancement of the pull through the body. I could see that the class were focusing on the places that Robert wanted them to embody, however I felt they were looking but not really connecting with the space in their focus. Within Franklin’s writing he speaks about my experience of this; “focus is crucial. Your focus needs to have vibrant energy, not a droopy gaze” (Franklin, 2014, 278).

This week I have decided to focus on the progression of movement memory. Movement memory is a physical skill and I agree that the skill is very important to a dancer in order to be able to perform effectively.

“The key with movement memory is that you’re exercising the mind and the body. The body gets used to doing a movement after it has done something any number of times, the mind also adapts so that it has to think less in order to perform that function” (The Dance Routine Corner, 2010).

This online quotation suggests why it is important for the cohort to keep revisiting the phrases that they have learnt, so that they embed the movement both physically and mentally. I can see that through revisiting the phrases for the last twelve weeks the class are embedding the sequences into their movement memory and are now able to focus on performing them effectively. I believe that as a whole the cohort should be able to recall movement from their movement memory faster than they currently are doing, therefore I believe it is a skill which still has room for development.

Now that the technique assessment is approaching I can see that the dancers are making a conscious effort to display their dance performance skills. I can see this through the projection and focus of their movement. When the class were still learning their phrases their focus would be down, or they would be staring into space because they were concentrating so much on remembering the movement and performing it effectively. Now that the dancers have shown an improvement in their movement memory, I can really see them looking around the space as they are dancing this makes them look like they are becoming more confident in their performance. Within the next few classes I believe the focus will show continuous improvement for the dancers.

The cohort is now also putting a lot more effort into their movement. In release technique Alice said to the class “Please imagine that you are auditioning for a dance company, and this is your only chance”. After this was said the whole class performed their sequences to a much higher standard, displaying a greater performance quality.

Throughout Roberts’s class today I decided to focus on the development and progression of the posture and alignment of the cohort. “Somatic principles may provide useful tools in injury prevention among dancers; one proposed way in which this may be achieved is through self- awareness of poor alignment and faulty movement patterns” (Hutt, 2010, 251-260). They started the class by going through exercise seven. This exercise includes a lot of movements extending and kicking the legs. As the exercise has lots of movement in the legs, I focused on the posture because it was easy for the posture to curve when performing the grand battements.

In order to help the dancers keep their correct alignment Robert told them to squeeze their abdominals really tight to make sure they were engaging in a 25% contraction and this was to be maintained for the physical state of their dancing. I could see throughout the exercise that the posture deteriorated and towards the end, many dancers began to release in their lumbar spine causing bad posture and alignment.

The three key postural focuses within this exercise were pelvis alignment, releasing and relaxing in the hips and stretching through the back of the knees by pushing through the floor. By aligning the pelvis correctly this enhances the aesthetics of the movement and it will make sure the grand battements are performed correctly. By relaxing and releasing in the hips this will make sure the ‘baby hips’ movement is soft and loose rather than rigid and placed. By using the floor to push through the knees this will develop the length which is required in the tendus.