Dance and Yoga Connected

Next Tuesday, October 30, is the penultimate installment of the Opening the Space series.  Anna Leo, Associate Professor, will be teaching a Yoga Class open to all levels. Below, Leo tells us how she has connected Yoga to dance and how it has been implemented in the Emory Dance Program.

What are a few of the many ways in which Yoga can be beneficial to the dancer?

I have begun creating what I call "modules" of yoga poses for specific dance classes.  For example, George Staib came to me seeking a way to help students access the arch in the upper back, I put together a series of yoga poses (a module) that address this area of the body, and provided a new way for students to observe that area of the body.  A singular pose may enable students to gain insight into a specific dance concept that they couldn't find through regular dance technique channels. I have worked on various dance concepts through modules including leg rotation, pelvic placement, specific ballet positions (such as passe, arabesque, and attitude, and general alignment.  For Greg Catellier's Fitness for Dancers course I prepared a module that works on strength, and then another for flexibility, especially of the hamstrings.  

 

Yoga focuses a lot on breathing, something that can often be overlooked in dance.  How do you think the breath work in Yoga can positively assist the dancer?

Although I include attention to breath in yoga poses and in dance classes, I actually teach about breath in separate sessions. The practice of pranayama (refinement of the breath) is a class in itself.

Any other words on the relationship between Yoga and dance?

It is my belief that a sense of well being is often the result of self awareness attained through activities  that connect the mind and body - like yoga. Great for dancers and everyone!

All Opening the Space events are free.  Please see our Facebook page for more details. For information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website. 

Touching Base with Contact Improvisation

On Tuesday, October 23, Lori Teague, Director of Dance,  will be leading a Contact Improvisation Jam as part of the Opening the Space series.  Teague touches base with us with her perspective on contact improvisation in preparation for this event. 

1. How do you think contact improvisation best helps us as movers?
Contact Improvisation (C.I.) is mostly about exploring weight and flow in the body in three-dimensional space.  The timing and pacing of the movement is determined by the two, or more, bodies that have connected.  Concepts we explore in technique class, such as being grounded, transferring weight in any direction, or leading with various body parts are utilized while the mover is in the act of improvising with someone who is doing the same.  C.I. develops a sensitivity to someone else's timing while simultaneously deepening how they are moving from the inside out.  You are sensing through the skin; you are understanding leverage; you are following your own impulses and listening to someone else.

2. What do you think is most difficult for beginners to grasp when first trying contact improvisation?

Probably touch itself, and that is directly related to giving weight to your partner and the trust involved in that process.  Because C.I. is inherently intimate there has to be immediate abstraction— a way of discovering movement choices without a personal way of identifying with the source. I am not saying that you are detached. I am saying that you move your body and feel their body as an element, a mass of weight leveraging, skimming, following.  Our inhibition with touch is attached to social and psychological components of our lives. We can simply move and be moved by someone else by responding to an environment of tone and landscape.

3. What is your best piece of advice for all contact improvisers out there?

C.I. is incredibly fun.  The range of ideas and possibilities are magnified through touch, trust, community, and self-knowledge.

All Opening the Space events are free.  Please see our Facebook page for more details. For information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website. 

Preview: Blake Beckham's Artist Talk on Threshold

Blake Beckham ('01C) gives us a sneak peak at what she will be discussing in next week's Opening the Space: Artist Talk about her latest work, Threshold. Beckham and her Lucky Penny design team built a life-sized two-story house made entirely out of cardboard and created an acclaimed dance within it. Don't miss this event on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 7:30pm.

How exactly did you come across such a unique idea as performing in a life size house made of cardboard?

The initial idea was to create a performance piece addressing the fragile nature of home. In the course of my research, I started dreaming of a house of cards - an image that eventually transformed into a house of cardboard. The concept and material, I realized, evoked the tension at the heart of the work. Most of us associate houses with permanence, security, and stability. The cardboard box suggests transiency, packing, moving, even homelessness. To see a fully designed house made out of cardboard is a compelling contradiction. For me, its both provocative and evocative.

How does the theme of crossing thresholds into environments that are normally kept private and out of public eye come across in your choreography?

In the piece, we destabilize home by building it out of paper and fragmenting its architecture. We also call into question the fluid nature of its thresholds - spaces of transition where we might lose ourselves. From the very beginning of our creative process, I was interested in the dialectic of interior and exterior. Thresholds are icons of boundary that call our attention to this tug: inside/outside; public/private; the sacred/profane. Home is a refuge, but because we feel protected there, its also where we unleash something of ourselves usually kept hidden from the outside world. I wanted the audience to have a bit of a voyeuristic experience - to feel that they had gotten a little too close to the intimate relationships played out by the dancers inside this house. As such, the dancers expose themselves through an intimate physical language that's both tender and terrifying, dreamlike but familiar.

What were the challenges of choreographing a piece while simultaneously building the set in a limited amount of time?  Did these challenges influence your choreography in any way?  How did the structure of the set in general influence your choreography?

DramaTech Theater was incredibly gracious to offer us a five-week residency in their space, during which time we built the house, conducted all the technical rehearsals, and performed the piece. The short timeline for construction meant that our efforts had to be heroic. Thankfully, we had a devoted crew of 30, plus over 70 volunteers who made the extraordinary commitment. It took over 2,000 hours in 28 days to build the house, through a complicated process of gluing, cutting, assembling, hoisting, hauling, and problem-solving. We were physically exhausted, stretched to the limits of our endurance and imaginations. The dancers demonstrated incredible resolve, learning in a very short time to work with the set and its moving parts. In most of our rehearsals, we had to rely upon just drawings, models, and renderings to envision how the choreography would fit into the space. That was a fun but complicated challenge for me - to develop the work for the set, but without the set. And to create something that used the space without destroying it. Despite its hefty appearance, the house itself was actually fragile. With use, it would easily sag, dent, and rip. 

What do you think you will take away most from this experience?

Threshold generated an amazing and diverse community - people who came together to participate in the work, volunteer on our behalf, and assist with financial and production support. These were professional artists representing a host of disciplines, local arts patrons, architecture aficionados, all kinds of students from the Georgia Tech campus, moms, friends, members of the stage hand's union, and others who recognized that this was a very substantial effort for Atlanta's performance scene. The ambition of the project was magnetic. Those who helped build the house were empowered by the process. It was truly a remarkable sight: to start on day one with nothing but a giant pile of cardboard, and end several weeks later with a monumental structure. I think the artists at the center of the work (myself included) were all challenged in meaningful ways. I think we grew as creative thinkers and expanded our vision of what's possible. 

All Opening the Space events are free.  Please see our Facebook page for more details. For information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website. 

GYROKINESIS® Q & A with Sally Radell

Sally Radell answers a few questions about the somatic practice of GYROKINESIS® to shed some light on her upcoming Opening the Space class on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 7:30pm. 

What is GYROKINESIS® and what are its benefits?

GYROKINESIS® movement training involves circular movements of the spine, rhythmic breathing, and continuous flow to develop improved body awareness, core strength, flexibility, and movement integration. It was developed about twenty years ago by injured dancer Juliu Horvath as a way to bring movement back into and strengthen his injured body. The form was originally referred to as yoga for dancers and is suitable for movers of all experience levels. To me it feels like a form of Pilates for dancers because of the continuous flow that focuses on building core strength. It is now being taught in university dance programs across the country as a somatic form that strengthens dancers' technique.

When did you first come across GYROKINESIS®?

I first encountered GYROKINESIS® movement training about three or four years ago. As a dancer who has moved my whole life I kept getting injuries, primarily due to the fact that I spent most of my recent movement life teaching and not enough time training my body. A few dance colleagues told me about the work, I took a few classes and I was hooked. I was able to complete the teacher training process primarily in Atlanta and became certified to teach the form last April. 

What is your favorite aspect of this technique and why?

As a somatic form I particularly like it because it really strengthens ones core, which for me was the key to reducing my injuries and it definitely has. Also, it feels like dancing as opposed to just doing exercises. This interested me. One thing I have definitely learned in my movement life is that if you don't really enjoy it you won't do it. Additionally, in the Emory Dance Program we are working to increase our somatic offerings, so I am currently teaching our first class in it this semester. Next spring I will be teaching the material in a freshman seminar format and am really looking forward to it. I am also presently offering community classes in the form as well.  

All Opening the Space classes are free.  Please see the facebook page for more details.