My Technique Statement

I wrote the statement below for myself in Meghan Durham’s modern dance technique class.  I am hoping to also use it as a reference for myself as a technique teacher.

My physical practice is a daily commitment to myself as a dance artist and a fundamental expression of my will to live. In studying ballet and modern dance technique over a twenty-two year period I have gained a rich body of information about those styles, and their contexts, my soma, time, and space; through dance technique I ground myself in my culture and engage in a praxis-oriented reification of that body of knowledge. I also study ballet and modern dance to become more articulate in my other practices within the art form—teaching, choreography, performance, reconstruction and direction, and Labananalysis.

This practice usually consists of ballet and modern classes augmented by yoga, ball rolling, constructive rest, imagery exercises, tap dance, African dance, improvisation, and resistance exercises for dance conditioning (as designed by Erik Franklin). My technique values include:

· Maximum mobility in the limbs with a lively but stable body core

· Sustainable use of the body through efficient fundamentals

· The ability to create balletic lines and use maximum outward rotation in the legs.

· Articulate use of weight including rooting to the center of the earth

· The ability to wander away from balletic line and style to embody other styles and articulations – to practice being a beginner again, to be vulnerable

· Acknowledging my mind and spirit and gratitude for the offerings of the others in the studio

· Improvisation as a way of finding lost-ness in dancing

· Rest, imagery and ball rolling when dancing just won’t “work” that day

I reiterate these concepts in daily classes. The outward rotation and line of ballet is somewhat unnatural to me; in my youth I forced my turnout and developed injuries like tendonitis and torn cartilage. Because of this I practice ballet daily through a barre or full class in order to maintain a facile and consistent connection with its artificiality. I regularly take postmodern dance classes in which I get to move my torso, be off-balance, improvise and release more of my weight into the floor. I value a body that dances in the tension between qualities, e.g., on- and off-balance, bound and free flow, stability and mobility, asymmetry and symmetry.

A question I currently have about technique is with whom to study, and when, for how long. I would like to have as many teachers as possible; this gives me opportunity to develop as a teacher and to access the place of vulnerability that I find so interesting. However I also want to develop relationships with teachers who can become familiar with my body and technical progression in order to receive the mentorship that many teachers have to offer.

I have been frustrated in the past with the arc of my dancing over the course of a few months. I almost always become tight after six weeks of dancing and injured after two to three months. I would like to explore ways of dancing more sustainably, so that I can go longer times without needing to miss a day due to injury.