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Somatics: A Tool for Empowering Modern Dance Teachers

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Title: Somatics: A Tool for Empowering Modern Dance Teachers


1
Somatics A Tool for Empowering Modern Dance
Teachers
  • By Sylvie Fortin,
    PHD
  • A PowerPoint Presentation
  • prepared by Sarah Hensen and Khon Tuy

2
Flow of the Lecture
  • Aims
  • Introduction
  • Research Methodology
  • Somatics
  • Video
  • Case Studies Glenna, Mary, Martha
  • Q As
  • Activity

3
AIMS
  • To give an overview of somatic ideology and
    practices.
  • To discuss the notion of utilizing somatic
    practices to empower both the teacher and the
    student.
  • To entertain the implications of somatic
    practices beyond the dance classroom and in the
    future.

4
Research Methodology
  • Postpositivist claim the existence of
    multiple realities constructed by each
    individuals encounter with the world (50).
  • Positivist aims to verify facts and causal
    relationships in order to develop theories that
    reflect reality and may be generalized as
    applying to large populations (50-51).

5
  • Somatics . . .generally includes several
    body-mind and mind-body practices, acknowledges
    the complex interdependence among the mind, the
    physical body, and social and behavioral
    expectations of both the mind and body. Such
    consideration can inform dance education and
    dance theory given, on the one hand, the
    dominance of the masculine, authoritative figures
    in mainstream formal dance education and theory,
    and on the other hand, the significant (and
    increasing) participation of those who are
    neither masculine nor authoritativewomen,
    children, indigenous cultures, the elderlyin all
    aspects of dance and dance education (2).

6
Somatic Practices
  • Feldenkrais
  • Alexander
  • Ideokinesis
  • Bartenieff Fundamentals (an extension of L.M.A.)
  • Laban Movement Analysis
  • Body-Mind Centering

7
Laban Movement Analysis
  • Derived from the practices and theories of
    Rudolph Laban (1879-1958), a choreographer,
    dancer, and movement theorist who made many
    contributions to the dancing world.
  • Laban developed Labanotation, a system of dance
    notation which, at his time, elevated dance as an
    art form.

8
  • L.M.A. is a system and a language for observing,
    describing and notating all forms of movement. A
    movement analyst can use this language to
    describe and interpret human movement from the
    gesture of a hand in conversation to the complex
    action of a skilled athlete. L.M.A. can be used
    as a tool by dancers, athlete, physical and
    occupational therapist, and anyone wishing to
    enhance, refine, and clarify movement.
  • The theory and practice of todays L.M.A. is
    based on four main components (BESS)
  • Body
  • Effort
  • Shape
  • Space

9
Body-Mind Centering
  • Body-Mind Centering is an ongoing, experiential
    journey into the alive and changing territory of
    the body. The explorer is the mindour thoughts,
    feelings, energy, soul, and spirit. Through this
    journey, we are led to an understanding of how
    the mind is expressed through the body in
    movement.
  • --Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

10
  • The study of BMC includes both the cognitive and
    experiential learning of the body
    systemsskeleton, ligaments, muscles, fascia,
    fat, skin, organs, endocrine glands, nerves,
    fluids breathing and vocalization the senses
    and the dynamics of perception developmental
    movement and psychophysical integration.
    B.B.C.

11
Video
  • Beyond the Light, by Denise White
  • --excerpted from Overtures, FSU School of
    Dance Masters Concert Series

12
Case Studies
  • After interviewing and observing Mary Williford,
    Martha Eddy, Glenna Bateson for four years at
    dance festivals and in dance classes, Sylvie
    Fortin discovered that the three dance
    instructors all strive to break away from the
    constraints of traditional dance pedagogy through
    the conscientious use of somatics in their
    classes.
  • Mary Williford uses L.M.A. (professional dancer)
  • Glenna draws sparingly from Feldenkrais,
    Alexander, and Ideo-kinesis. (degree in physical
    therapy)
  • Martha uses concepts from L.M.A. and Body-Mind
    Centering. (degree in exercise physiology)

13
Mary
  • Im teaching the students to move from the
    inside out. Most of these students are
    interested in style. They are not interested in
    learning how to get the style. Im sort of
    teaching the students what its like to get
    somebody elses work from the inside out (57-58).

14
Martha
  • The class is designed to experientially teach
    principles of anatomy, kinesiology, human
    development, and movement fundamentals in
    relation to emotional/artistic expression. The
    aim is to coordinate inner body focus with the
    outward projection needed in performance.
    Emphasis is on befriending unfamiliar, unknown,
    or taboo parts of the body and psyche, learning
    to include them in the creative process (54).

15
Glenna
  • Our culture has virtually a poverty of movement.
    We separate mind and body. The politics and the
    society is such that it does not help you. It
    just removes you more and more from your own
    sensation. . . Of course to me, the most optimal
    way of learning is to have a very accurate sense
    of the inner body while its moving. Visually
    you see the outside and visually you see the
    inside and the two match (57).

16
Glenna
  • My goal is to make a technique class so Ive got
    to put in a certain degree of repetition but
    repetition of a certain type that keeps the sense
    very lively. It may be the same movement strung
    together to show that there is repetition of a
    theme or concept, or repetition of a sense of
    awareness but not of a movement necessarily
    (56).

17
Review Question
  • How is the use of somatic practices in the
    classroom empowering to both the teacher and the
    student?

18
Answer
  • With somatic practice, there isnt a rigid
    structure. Because of this, teachers are able to
    form their own regimes and are more flexible and
    open to ideas from students. Students are
    empowered, in turn, by being able to give input,
    where normally they wouldnt. Furthermore, there
    is a shift from alienation to authenticity. By
    giving the authority to the individual rather
    than to the experts, empowerment is achieved
    through personal control over ones body.

19
Discussion Question
  • Why is it important for teachers who engage in
    somatic pedagogy to distance themselves from
    their apprenticeship of observaton?

20
Answer
  • Time spent as a student provides prospective
    teachers with images of teaching that prove
    difficult to overcome because they tend to become
    ingrained. (52) It is necessary to let go of
    traditional teaching/learning methods in order to
    fully embrace somatic pedagogy.

21
Review Question
  • What is institutional disempowerment, and how
    does it impede the individual?

22
ANSWER
  • Institutional disempowerment occurs when
    pressures from the students and from the
    institution force teachers to compromise and
    sometimes suppress their personal style of
    teaching. They have to comply with the
    institution in order to keep their jobs.

23
Discussion question
  • Does somatics play a role outside of the
    classroom and if so, how?

24
Answer
  • The increasing complexity of our society
    requires us and the students who will shape the
    future to function in tasks that demand
    imaginative thinking and the ability to suggest
    alternatives and formulate hypotheses. Education
    in general. . . should focus on developing the
    ability to see the connection between actions and
    their consequences, between means and ends, to
    take cognitive risks, and to extend thinking
    beyond the known in order to deal effectively
    with what might be rather than with what is (61).

25
And now for your very own...
  • Somatic Activity!
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