Dance Technique and Performance

I saw during the swinging floor exercise that endurance would be very important as the cohort were rushing when they became fatigued. “Endurance is your body’s ability to supply your muscles with the oxygen they need to continue working over extended periods” (Welsh, 2009, 96). In order to keep this movement aesthetic the cohort needed to use their endurance so they did not rush and so that the movements had the same clarity at the end as they did at the beginning. I believe that working on developing their strength will help them to improve their endurance, as they will not be as tired when holding the strenuous positions.

In order to improve the class’s strength, through endurance, the dancers were required to hold planks and do a sit up abs exercise making them tired but returning to these exercises helped to improve their strength and endurance. I think that using repetition in both dance technique classes will assist in developing the cohort’s endurance, which then improved their movement quality.

In the main exercise danced at the end of Alice’s class, the phrase included lots of fast rolls, turns and jumps. When the class first started practicing this exercise, at the start of the semester, they became really lethargic towards the end of the exercise. However now they have added more onto the exercise and can complete it all without stopping which shows strong progression through the improvement in their stamina.

Within this week’s class I was drawn to the flow of the movement within the exercises. I was interested in this because Robert expressed to the class on many occasions that he would like them to link all the movements so that the transitions were fluid in structure rather than executing a body action for each count. He explained how he really wanted them to use the musicality to explore this. Musicality is the;

“Ability to connect with accompanying music, interpret it, or phrase and add movement dynamics that relate to music even in the absence of accompaniment, in a way that is unique or interesting” (Dance Advantage, 2010).

This is a definition I found online which made me realise that the dancers need develop their connections with the music in order to enhance their musicality skills.

When I was asked to peer assess the group and give them all individual feedback I was struck by the numbers of dancers who were not linking the movements at all. Therefore, I gave them all personal feedback and helped them to make the movements flow. I asked the class why they were struggling with making the movements flow and they said it was because each count in their brain represented a movement. I believe that the class will gradually learn to connect the movements as they encompass the flow which is required.

Robert’s teaching techniques within this weeks Cunningham class really interested me and therefore I decided to see how the class responded and improved through his teaching skills.

Extension is a physical skill within dance technique and as seen in the photo below the class are extending down through their left arm and extending away and up with their right leg to perform a Cunningham tilt.

In order for the class to embody the full aesthetic of this movement Robert used imagery as a teaching tool by saying ‘imagine pulling up before tipping over’. As an observer I was drawn to the way the class interpreted Robert’s instruction. I also noticed when Robert said to imagine ‘hugging a ball’ (when curving the arms) that the class performed this movement a lot clearer than saying put the arms out in front with a small curve at the elbow. “Imagine a large ball supporting the forward curve of the body. Watch the ball inflate to create a larger curve. Watch the ball inflate to create a larger curve. Imagine it deflating to create a smaller curve” (Franklin, 2014,224). I believe that this text was a key influence for the class and the use of imagery made the class embody the movement and perform it in a much clearer sense.

Within Robert’s final sequence there is a strong sense of a falling which the class were not fully encompassing, I could see that Robert wanted them to test their balance more to encourage a falling sensation. In order to make the class do this Robert told them to imagine hanging on the end of a cliff and then falling at the last minute. I could see strong progression through this imagery that Robert had just used and the class suspended within their movement for longer.

The sequences in both classes progressed in skill level this week; I was struck by the big jump in difficulty making me realize that the dancers were progressing in skill level. Alice and Robert would not add onto the sequences to this extent if the movement sequences were not already at the required standard.

In the sequence which applies the ‘bunny’ and ‘donkey’ movements I could see a strong development because most of the class were now holding the upside down movement meaning they had found their centre of gravity and built some strength in their muscles to hold this position.

I observed that strength is very important within both Release technique and Cunningham technique studied this year because in Release technique there is a lot of physically demanding movements whereas in Cunningham technique the strength is through stamina as his sequences are very long meaning the muscles become tired. This might also be because Cunningham technique is performed upright with a classical body design whereas Release requires floor bound work.

This image shows the class working on their sequence named the ‘thigh’ killer and their progression of strength through stamina in the legs in this sequence has came on so much I can see this because they can now get to the end of the sequence with more ease and efficiency.

This week’s focus for me was fear. I chose to focus on this because I saw a lot of fear for the new unfamiliar movements within the class. I believe that most of the time within dance it is a case of mind over matter and it was something which happened in today’s class making me think this.

When the cohort had to add on a new section, which included a feared movement, I saw that they would no longer be uncomfortable in performing the ‘feared’ movement. This was because they had a new and unfamiliar movement to focus on, taking their mind away from the old and feared movement. To me this showed development within the class because the movement they previously could not perform due to fear was now being performed.

“An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm“. (Oxford University Press, 2014) This online definition made me realise that within dance technique it is not always the threat of danger, damage, pain or harm within the movement making it to be feared but that it is usually just the unfamiliarity of the movement instead.

Below is an image of the first ‘feared’ movement that they now perform without a thought.