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- Volume 1, Issue 2, 2009
Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 2, 2009
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Training bodies to matter
More LessThis essay traces three different pedagogical situations in which I try to shift what I see as the negative corporeal dynamics of our contemporary moment, one body at a time. Drawing examples from my experiences with the body-to-body interactions of Contact Improvisation, the dance form that first brought me into dance thirty years ago; Bridging the Body/Mind Divide, a first-year seminar taught to a general range of students at Oberlin College in Ohio, USA; and Girls in Motion, the after-school programme I run for adolescent girls at a local school, I present examples of skills that I believe create an important somatic foundation for a more mindful being-in-the-world. In these examples of corporeal rhetorics, I consciously harness the persuasive force of movement experiences to convince my students there is a better way to dwell in their bodies and in this twenty-first-century world.
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Towards an innovative model of teaching Greek traditional dances
Authors: Vasso Barboussi and Anna VidaliThis article describes an experiential qualitative research project related to dance education, in which the authors examine the effect of teaching Greek traditional dances to a group of students in a Preschool Teachers' Education department. The research process focuses on methodologies that can support Preschool Education students (future teachers) to utilize embodied-creative practices in learning traditional dances and, thus, to expand their views about culture as well. We would like to argue that dance education could be a means of self-knowledge, which contributes to self-development. This goal is approached by using an innovative model, which applies somatics along with creative dance methods in order to support students to explore traditional dance through movement improvisation. We also suggest that somatic practices are not to be considered as natural but culturally specific and developing in particular contexts. Indeed the findings illustrate that the practice gave students competence in involving themselves in a dialogue, through which they gained self-awareness in dance practice, they realized changes in body/mind perceptions and became confident both about their bodies and their cultural identity. The text is divided into the following sections: introduction, the aim of the study, the methodology of the study, findings, further considerations on the cultural construction of body movement, and epilogue.
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Skinner Releasing Technique: dancing from within
By Manny EmslieThis article begins by introducing some thoughts on the current place of somatic approaches to learning dance in higher education. Specific references are then made to the pedagogy of Skinner Releasing Technique and the ways in which this practice cultivates body awareness, creative play and personal artistry. The article concludes with suggestions as to why we should be making space for somatic approaches in dance education.
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The somatic practice of intentional rest in dance education preliminary steps towards a method of study
More LessEvery performing art has its caesura a resting pause a potent stillness in the rhythmic flow of action. For western contemporary dance, stillness is a powerful aesthetic tool. Far less understood are the physiological and behavioural benefits of rest. While rest intervals routinely are prescribed in sports science to promote physiological recovery and improve performance, such protocols are unknown in dance. Somatic approaches (somatics) purposely embed intervals of stillness and rest for active listening and reflection. This kind of intentional reduction in action alters typical space-time-effort values of a dance technique class, shifting attention to an array of kinaesthetic qualities, thoughts and feelings. While dance customarily relegates somatics to a wellness role, the larger behavioural implications of intentional rest within dance pedagogy merit further investigation. Although the purposes are not fully clarified, intentional rest potentially allows a deeper level of embodied knowledge to surface and be directed towards self-regulation and change. This article addresses the somatic function of intentional rest within the context of dance training. The author provides an overview of the scientific evidence substantiating rest. Further, the author opens an inquiry into the behavioural values of intentional rest as gleaned from written reflections of Master's degree dance students in a seminar on somatics. These narratives appear to advance not only with those benefits advocated by sports science, but also psychophysical embodiment and personal autonomy, values essential to becoming a dance artist.
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Artist-led, artist-used: experiences at Coventry's Summer Dancing 2009
Authors: Niki Pollard, Katye Coe, Gemma Collard-Stokes, Lizzy Le Quesne and Joe MoranThis multi-authored article arises from an artist-led festival of dance and probes what is entailed by the commitment to an artist-led structure. The festival, Summer Dancing 2009 in Coventry, is becoming significant in the United Kingdom as a gathering, both regionally and nationally, of practitioners whose expertise is grounded in what might be termed somatic dance practices. It is proposed that artist-led may indicate an aim to be led by artists for other artists; that is, for an event or organization to be artist-used and useful. With the question of artists' use at the fore, the article reports on a festival panel debate and on a project of practitioner-focused writing, examining how a dance practitioner may be stimulated, challenged or find connections to an existing practice.
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Written in the body: reflections on encounters with somatic practices in postgraduate dance training
By Jess AllenThis article tracks my exploration of the somatic practices as a postgraduate dance student, set against the background of my previous experience and my journey to this place through conventional dance training. Personal reflections and journal writings are combined with a more formal definition and discussion of the somatic practices and their application to dance training and performance, with particular reference to the Alexander Technique and Body-Mind Centering. What emerges is a personal record of the shifts in my thinking/moving that were necessary to realize fully what the somatic practices have to offer, both in dance and life. It also charts the struggle and frustrations as well as the delights and discoveries that I encountered in this rite of passage.
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One step back
By Ian LamondFrom 2005 to 2006 LUDUS Dance, a professional contemporary dance and dance-in-education company based in the English city of Lancaster were funded by the Arts Council England to deliver a dance programme to a school for children encountering profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). Following the reported impact of incorporating dance into the educational experience of the participating children, this article considers why dance and somatic practice may be of particular significance for the individual encountering PMLD, situating the question of the place of dance and movement in education, and its impact on those encountering PMLD, in a deeper theoretical context.
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Integrating semi-structured somatic practices and contemporary dance technique training
More LessPrevious research has examined the effects of more structured somatic practices, sometimes referred to as codified or structural integrity techniques, on contemporary dance education, yet few researchers have addressed the effects of open- or semi-structured somatic frameworks. This article is presented in two parts: the first part examines previous research as a ground from which to develop a method to deliver and study the effects of less codified somatic frameworks within a contemporary dance technique; the second part presents a short piece of practical research which developed from this basis. The research, conducted within a first-year college dance programme, consisted of a series of somatically informed contemporary dance technique classes. Results of the study included students' displaying enhanced bodily connection, creativity, confidence and critical understanding of tenets underlying somatic work, as well as some implications for dance technique. It also addresses some of the issues arising from introducing semi-structured frameworks within a contemporary technique class.
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Hara breathing applied to dance practice
More LessThis article sets out to describe the beneficial effects of breathing methods derived from the Japanese martial arts Aikido and Kashima Shinryu Kenjutsu, as applied to professional dance practice and dance education. I wish to illustrate how change in subjective awareness may be brought about through the fundamental human activity of breathing and how this may affirm and validate a sense of self. The article includes extracts from the thoughts of Japanese Budo master, Minoru Inaba, and observations of undergraduate dance students with whom I continue to explore experiential processes.
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