Last Class

Butoh Videos

Final Harvest

Congratulations all on a fantastic quarter!

We began the quarter in stillness with meditation and moved into progressively larger and more expansive movement, all the while staying connected to our inner experience. For this final blog entry, I ask that you reflect on the journey of the course and share what moments or learnings that have inspired or changed you.

We began by meditating on our senses and embodying relationships through touch, sight, listening and being present with one another. We move authentically in the present tense ;-) and then evolved from single celled organisms to our falling walking erect selves. We connected to our endpoints and fundamental movements. Doug MacKenzie came and guided us in Body Mind Centering. F.M. Alexander taught us to lead with our heads and to let the rest of us follow in order to use the body efficiently. Stephanie Skura showed us how Joan Skinner took Alexander's work into dance technique by creating images with strings and body graphics with touch. Contact Improvisation brought us together to deeply explore listening through touch. Joan Laage with Butoh brought us back to moving from within by connecting to images like cocoons and broken glass. The 5 Rhythms connects our inner creative movement source to the rhythms of flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical and stillness.

In addition, each of you explored even more deeply into topics of your own choosing: Butoh, Applied Anatomy and Ecstatic Dance. Everyone, spent hours in contact improvisation.

That's a lot of work!

We sometimes forget that our education is for ourselves even though we are working to fulfill requirements for our professors. With that idea in mind, I'd love to hear a few words about your own personal gain through your own efforts. What is your harvest?

Thanks for being a part of my masters coursework. It has been a gift and pleasure for me to have the opportunity to teach this course. As a group, you have been beautifully present, invested and self-directed and truly courageous. I wish you all health, happiness and peace on your journies and hope that you continue to benefit from the wealth of listening, connecting and moving from within.

Congratulation on all your wonderful work!

5 Rhythms Dance and Chakra Dance

On the last day of the official class, we explored the chakra system. We began on our backs and visualized the chakras. The root chakra of earth connection, sacral chakra of creativity and sexuality. Solar plexus holds ego energy, heart is love and hate. Throat chakra is communication and third eye is intellect and intuition. Crown chakra connects us to a higher order of reality. We explored the chakras with movement, gesture and with sound.

What do you think about the chakra system? Coming from the traditional Indian system of medicine, it is not a scientific study (yet) but as I said in class, can you connect to this material in a personal or creative way.

What will you harvest from this class?


On Tuesday, we talked about the work of Gabriel Roth and the 5 Rhythm Wave. The 5 rhythms are flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. We did two waves today. The first wave we did without any explanation and then we sat and spoke a bit about the experience of the work. Then, after a brief exploration of each rhythm, their energy, elemental and emotional, we did a second wave.

How did you respond to this work? Would you seek this out again? How does this work connect to other topics in this course? What will you harvest from this class?

Butoh

This week began with a lecture on Butoh founders Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno and the influences of Mary Wigman, Ausdrunkdanz and World War II. On Tuesday, we took a journey through the eye balls all over the surface of our bodies until we mated and decayed and blew away.

On Thursday, Joan Laage taught a fantastic master class that I cannot begin to describe.

What will you harvest from this week on Butoh? How do you think Butoh fits into this course of Moving from Within? In what ways does Butoh connect to some of the other topics discussed in this course?

Contact Improv Concluded

The week we addressed some of the specific needs of the class in terms of contact improvisation. We began by working on spirals. Students worked with partners and engaged the spirals in the body first by physically leading a partner into a spiral
by drawing an arm or leg across the center line of the body. Students rolled one another over onto their fronts and backs and worked on finding the spirals tipping points. Afterward, we we worked with these new physical realizations individually by rolling and falling into the floor.

Monique Courcy and I demonstrated some of the common problems that sometimes happen with contact. The arms as speed bumps. Getting caught in patterns and the thought stream.

On the jam day, I played music and the class found its way. We jammed, flowing in and out of contact for an hour and twenty minutes of the class. I spoke briefly at the beginning and then, let the space do its thing. It took about twenty minutes for any of them to make contact. I just danced today. I allowed myself the space to teach as a participant.

On Wednesday evening, there was a jam and many of you came to that. It was a great time of dancing. I really felt that many of you came alive and the community was there to meet you half way. Personally, I think this is the best way to teach contact. Through osmosis. Through the body.

In the last half hour of class, I played Fall After Newton, the video that describes contact and its creation with Steve Paxton arrating. The footage is fantastic. The fact that we can see the first piece Magnesium and the evolution of the form in the short time that it was existed is pretty amazing.

What will you harvest from this week of contact improvisation?

Skinner and Contact Improvisation

Skinner Releasing

Building on our master class with Stephanie Skura, we continued to explore the work of Joan Skinner. We began with a whispering dance that traveled throughout the body. On the floor, we explored gossamer strings attached just above our ears, at the base of our middle fingers and at the tips of the knees. We allowed an exterior puppet master to play with these strings and surrendered ourselves to their movement.

Adding the partner graphics that Stephanie gave on Thursday, we added the suspended ribcage and the deep valleys of the hip sockets. In trios, our dance partners continued to remind us of this work as we moved slowly in space.

At the end of class, I gave a short lecture on Dr. Skinner and her journey to create Skinner Releasing Technique. From her career in New York with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, her healing process through Alexander Technique and the creation of her own technique at the University of Illinois and here at the UW.

What will you harvest from this class?

Contact Improvisation

Deepening our practice in contact improvisation, we began today by deepening into weight sharing, yielding our weight and pouring weight through the point of contact. We started in stacks, releasing our weight into our partners. We poured weight through our hands and torsos. We poured weight in and out of our partners through our backspaces while back to back seated on the floor. We practiced rolling over one another by maintaining contact and rolling over our partners waist.

On hands and knees, we draped and poured weight into one another as table tops. We then moved to standing and followed the rolling point in short sequences of movement. We listened to one another as we stopped and started again without words to signal our beginnings. At the end of class, we explored with our partners for 15 minutes before coming together to share.

What will you harvest from this class? What new information did you incorporate into your contact practice?

Stephanie Skura - Skinner Releasing Masterclass

The masterclass with Stephanie Skura on Thursday offered up a fantastic new version of moving from within. We covered so much material in class that could occupy many months of exploration.

We began swaying, creating softness in our feet, ankles and knees which then accelerated through space and speed. We melted into the floor, melted into rolling, melted into rising and came to standing. We worked with partner graphics: head strings, knees strings the reach down into the earth, shoulder and floating head. After each new idea we played with the idea by moving through space and exploring. We did the floppy shoulder dance, and the tippy head string and grounding force. We floated around the space and melted into contact with one another. And so much more!

What will you harvest from this introduction into releasing work?

Contact Improv Primer and Jam

On Tuesday, we prepared for the contact improv jam on Wednesday. After the warmup of running around avoiding people and walking in their footsteps, we listened to the point of contact through our fingertips. We continued to warm up our bodies with a game of pass of the golden ball of light as it rolled around the inside of our skin. We brought the idea of the rolling point of contact to our forearms. We followed the point of contact as it rolls over the connected surfaces of our skin.

We also spent some time taking weight and sharing weight with a partner by sitting back to back, rising and falling. We did this face to face holding wrists and side by side touching hips.

Then, we had the jam! What are your first impressions of contact improv? What are your questions? What are the joys and the challenges?

Week 5 - Body Systems Body-Mind Centering - Doug Mackenzie guest teacher

Body Mind Centering practitioner, Doug Mackenzie visited our class and lead us on a deep exploration of the body-mind. We explored the anatomy from within including the skin, bones, fluids, organs. We pointed at pictures exploring our relationship with lymph. We shook our bones and visited our cerebral spinal fluid. The journey covered a vast landscape of images and sensations. Each of us explored a unique world.

What will you harvest from this class?

If any of you interested in learning more about Body-Mind Centering, Doug would be happy to help direct you in that exploration. He can be reached at dougmack@crocker.com.



Please add any thoughts from Thursday's class on Body Systems to this posting. On Thursday we explored the breath, organs, nervous and muscular systems with a hands on approach. What lesson or experience will you remember from this class?

End Points, 5 Fundamental Movements and Alexander Technique

We began this class with an exploration of our end points: the top of our heads, our pelvic floor, fingertips and toes. Using the idea of the starfish, we focused on the idea that we developed neurologically around these endpoints.

Next, we explored the five fundamental movements: yielding, pushing, reaching, grasping and pulling. We felt these five fundamental movements physiologically as well as emotionally in a variety of ways. We yielded the weight of our arms into the arms of partners. We pushed away what we did not want and reached and pulled what we did want to bring into our world.
On Thursday, we explored the Alexander Technique. What exercise will you remember most clearly from this class? Which learning would you most like to integrate? How do you think you might achieve this goal?

F. M. Alexander

Remember to include citations from your readings.

Joan Laage

Joan Laage in her Very Intimate Stage butoh dance performance to honor butoh founder and master Kazuo Ohno.
We are very fortunate to have Joan teach a masterclass on May 28th for our class. Don't miss it!

Week 3 Developmental Movement

This week, we explored the evolutionary story through movement. Beginning with the single celled organism, we danced through millions of years of evolution in these two classes. The asymmetry of the cell to the radial symmetry of the starfish are still apparent in our present day selves. Our head/tail connections evolved in the oceans until the push of the head brought us onto land as both species and individually in our own lives.

If we believe the evolutionary story, as early mammals we took to the trees where we learned to crouch and extended our spines by hanging from branches as life on the ground became dangerous with large carnivorous animals. When our ancestors returned to earth, the brachiation (cross lateral swinging of the arms) allowed us to reach upward with our heads and balance as we learned to walk by falling forward.

We finished this journey in class by standing still and taking note of the small dance of proprioception that keeps us from falling over. Each day this week, we also took time to revisit Authentic Movement.

What will you remember most from this week of evolutionary movement? How do your in-class experiences connect with your readings for this week?

Week 2 Authentic Movement

Waiting to be moved. Following the body's lead. Gathering with others to move and be still together. Making time and space for the unconscious to manifest in the movement and stillness of the body. Attending to impulse. Embodying the flow of the imagination in movement and stillness. - Daphne Lowell

The universe unfolds in the body, which is its mirror and its creature. - Octavio Paz

"Animals, children, and all the elements are constantly responding to the forces of life moving through them. Imagine a horse full of excitement--prancing, whinnying, rearing its head, tossing its mane. Of all the life forms on this planet only humans have the option of not responding with such immediacy to thr forces of life. Through the twists of evolution, humans have the ability to shape, modify, and outwardly inhibit their organic responses to the world.

The British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) called the responses of animals complete expressions. Darwin believed that the full repertoire of animal movement that preceded us in evolution remains with us. Consider the toddler excited to see a friend. As they greet, he may resemble a horse described earlier, prancing about, squealing in delighted anticipation, unable to contain his spontaneous natural movement. Unfortunately, by the end of toddlerhood, around age three, many children in our culture have already begun to inhibit their natural movement." Susan Aposhyan from Natural Intelligence, (20-21).

This week, we began the exploration of Authentic Movement. To review, we explored the relationship between the mover and the witness. The mover moves with eyes closed following any impulses and the witness simply observes making no judgements nor interpretations. After the period of moving, the mover shares her impressions first speaking in the present tense. Then, if the mover wishes, the witness speaks to what they observed, again speaking in the present tense.

What was your experience with Authentic Movement? Could you experience your uninhibited self? Perhaps you had glimpses, what did it feel like in the body. What does it feel like in the mind? If this was purely a struggle for you, that is completely fine. Struggle is still learning. What learning can you take away from the struggle? How does this idea about inhibition change your understanding about you, your body and/or the human species?

What parts of the readings most influenced your in class experience?

Authentic Movement invites participants into a very deep, personal experience. For something a little lighter, check out this video.

5 Rhythms

Butoh Videos

Choreography by Butoh founder Hijikata Tatsumi.



Documentary of Kasuo Ohno, the other Butoh founder.



A performance by Imre Thormann, a Swiss Butoh dancer in Japan.

Go here for an amazing Sankai Juku video.

Week 1

What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky? David Whyte

Hi Everyone,

Great start this week! I'm really happy with our group and I anticipate this being a wonderful quarter of learning and connecting to ourselves and one another.

This week began with a guided body scan meditation. Taking time to become aware of the nature of the mind will be key as we continue to explore our physical intelligence. Our thought-streams carry us away from our physical selves and sensations. Again and again, we will free ourselves from our thoughts and return to the present moment through the portals of sensation.

On Thursday, we continued to scan the body and moved into a standing meditation focusing on the small dance. We moved through space to discover the sensations of proximity, touch and eye contact. In pairs, we sat and spoke of our experiences while working to maintain an awareness of our embodiment.

The reading for this week was Chapter 1 and 3 from Natural Intelligence by Susan Aposhyan. These chapters discussed Concepts of Body/Mind Integration and Embodied Relationships.

What connections did you make between the classes this week and the reading? Which experiences or learnings were most clear for you? Did you discover something about yourself or others that gave you new insight?

Course Outline

Course Outline

*All blog entries due on Sunday at midnight for the previous week of classes.

Week 1

3/31 Sensory Meditation, Syllabus and Class Protocols

Reading: Natural Intelligence, Chapter 1, Susan Aposhyan

4/2 Embodied Relationships

Reading: Natural Intelligence, Chapter 3, Susan Aposhyan

Don’t Forget to Blog!

Week 2

4/7 Authentic Movement Introduction, Project Overview

Reading: Authentic Movement; An Introduction by Daphne Lowell,
& Natural Intelligence, Chapter 2, Susan Aposhyan

4/9 Authentic Movement Practice

Reading: A Description of Authentic Movement by Janet Adler

Blog entries due midnight on Sunday!

Week 3 * Topics due!

4/14 Water Evolution

Reading: BodyStories, Day 5, Andrea Olsen
& Body and Earth, Day 3, Andrea Olsen

4/16 Evolution to Standing

Reading: BodyStories, Day 6, Andrea Olsen
& Body and Earth, Day 4, Andrea Olsen

Did ya blog?

Week 4

4/21 5 Fundamental Actions and Endpoints

Reading: Natural Intelligence Chapter 4, 60 – 73.


4/23 Alexander Technique

Reading: Body Awareness in Action, Frank Pierce Jones.

Bloggerrific!

Week 5

4/28 Guest teacher Doug MacKenzie Fluids, Organs

Reading: Natural Intelligence, Chapter 5, 105 – 128.

4/30 Body Systems

Reading: Natural Intelligence, Chapter 5, 128 – 148.

Blog entries due Sunday at midnight!

Week 6 * Project Check In!

5/5 Contact Improvisation

Reading: Some Thoughts on Improvisation, Yvonne Rainier
& Looking at Movement as Culture: Contact Improvisation to Disco, Cynthia Jean Cohen

5/7 Contact Improvisation

Reading: 10,000 Jams Later: Contact Improvisation in Canada, 1974-95., Peter Ryan & Sense, Meaning and Perception in Three Dance Cultures, Cynthia Jean Cohen.

Blog, Blog, Blog


Week 7

5/12 Contact Improvisation

Reading: Experiencing the Body, Cynthia Novack.

5/14 Contact Improvisation Jam!

Reading: Contact Quarterly, Read any article! Found in periodicals in Odegaard Library

Blog for the fun of it!

Week 8

5/19 Skinner Releasing Technique

Reading: Releasing into Process, Chapter 3, The History of the Skinner Releasing Technique, Bridget Iona Davis. & You can’t make a leaf grow by stretching it, Kirsty Alexander

5/21 Skinner Releasing Technique

Reading: Releasing Into Process, Chapter 4, Description of the Skinner Releasing Technique, Bridget Iona Davis & Unraveling the Dance, Kirsty Alexander

Blog entries due before midnight!

Week 9

5/26 Butoh

Reading: Embodying the Spirit, The Body Concrete, Chapter 3, Joan Laage

5/28 Butoh Guest teacher – Joan Laage

Reading: Embodying the Spirit, The Body Ethereal, Chapter 4, Joan Laage & Hijikata Tatsumi, The Words of Butoh, Kurihara Nanako

Contact Improv field notes due!

Can’t wait to read you blog entries after this class.

Week 10

6/2 Ecstatic Dance,
* Journals due!

6/4 Final Presentations

Guess what!...Blog

Final Period

Final Presentations:

Syllabus

Moving From Within - Course Syllabus
Dance 490 (3 credits)
Spring 2009
Instructor: Louis Gervais
Meeting Times: TTH 8:30-10:20
Location: Meany Studio 267
Office: Meany 59J
Office Hours: Tuesday from 10:30 – 11:30 or by appointment
E-mail: lgervais@u.washington.edu

Course Texts:
Natural Intelligence, Susan Aposhyan, at UW Bookstore
Reading Packet, Dance 490, pick up a copy at the copy center on University Way.

Course Description
Moving From Within is an exploration of movement that originates within the body. The first half of the course explores the body, its evolutionary story and natural states through a variety of somatic practices: Authentic Movement, Body Mind Centering, the Alexander Technique and Experiential Anatomy. Somatics are the study of the inter-relational process between awareness, biological function and environment, all three factors being understood as a synergistic whole.
The second half of the course moves out into space. Contact Improvisation follows a rolling point of touch. Skinner Releasing Technique and Butoh are dance forms that are connected to images held by dancers while in motion. Ecstatic Dance connects the inner psychological and spiritual landscape with a variety of rhythms.
Objectives
At the successful completion of this course students will:
• Create a new relationship with their physical selves by exploring a variety of somatic practices.
• Acquire a basic understanding of a variety of techniques and dance forms that may provide relaxation, centering and personal growth.
• Explore a topic within this spectrum of dance in depth in the hopes that it may provide them with a body based movement practice and/or community connection that will support them beyond the class.
• Feel confident to improvise and follow movement as it sequences from within to without.
• Find a means of connecting to creative resources.

Requirements and Grading
Studio Participation (50%)
Participation grades reflect the following:
• Regular participation is absolutely crucial in this class. This is considered a lab class. There is no substitute for the laboratory experience. If you are more than ten minutes late, you may not take class (please don’t ask me) but are encouraged to observe.
• Arriving on time or early so that you have time to focus and prepare to participate fully in class
• Taking risks in improvisation and being fully invested in exercises.
• Demonstrate commitment, enthusiasm, respect and support for fellow classmates.
Online Journal Responses (15%) Due Sunday night before midnight!!!
A blog has been set up for this course. Over the course of the semester, this blog will be the place where as a class we will share our thoughts and reactions to the course. You must post 10 blog entries to get full credit. Each entry must make reference to your reading for this course. Each blog entry is due on Sunday before midnight for the previous week of classes.
Questions will be posted after each class and your responses will be submitted electronically. Post your responses to the blog in the comments link below each blog entry. You must post a response to each blog entry within a week. The URL is http://www.movingfromwithin.blogspot.com/. These postings need not be overly long, no more than a paragraph. Clicking on "follow this blog" leads you to creating a prompt that will deliver reminders in your email when new assignments have been posted.


Contact Improvisation Project (15%) Due May 28, 2009.
Each student must attend four hours of contact improvisation jams outside of class. Field notes from these jams will be posted to the blog. Field notes are due May 28th.
Project of Choice (20%) Due June 2, 2009.
Students are required to engage in a project from the curriculum (or outside, if you have a special interest that ties in with the course). Students may work in pairs or by themselves. Follow the instructions on the project description of your choice. Written materials are due June 2. If you are doing a performance related project, these projects will happen on either June 4 or during the exam period.
ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND THE FINAL EXAMINATION PERIOD!!!!
Attire and Changing
Bare feet or cotton socks may be worn for class, no shoes. You will want to wear warm comfortable clothes like sweat pants or pajamas. No jeans/slacks or excessive jewelry. Long hair should not be a distraction to you as you move or lie on the floor. Bring elastic bands or clips that are easy to put in and remove. If you are not prepared to dance, you will not be allowed to take class. You may change your clothes in the dressing rooms on the Lower Level. Please do not change in the restrooms on the Upper Level. You may secure your belongings by bringing a lock each day for a locker in the hallway outside of the studios. Locks MUST be removed after each class. Locks may be purchased for $5 from the Dance Office. DO NOT bring personal belongings into the studio. Shoes, clothes, purses, cell phones, etc were stolen every week last quarter. Lock up your belongings!!

MISCELLANEOUS
For this class, you will also need to bring a journal and markers. You will also need a pillow or blanket that you can store in the studio for the duration of the course.
Studio Etiquette
• Demonstrate an understanding of the class structure by arriving in the studio, on time, prepared for class
• Be respectful of your peers and instructor at all times.
• Receive and apply corrections in a respectful manner
• Work safely and effectively in class and allow others to do so
• Contribute to the classroom by applying focus, concentration and enthusiasm
• If you are unable to dance or have any injuries, please inform the instructor before class begins
• No oils, creams or lotions on exposed body or hair––they make the floor slippery and dangerous
• No food, gum or beverages are allowed in the studio with the exception of water bottles
• No personal belongings in the studio––NONE
To request academic accommodations due to disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, (206) 543-8924, indicating that you have a disability that requires academic accommodations. Please present the letter to your instructor so we can discuss the accommodations you require.
Learning goals for the Dance Major
1. Understand dance as a cultural practice that reflects and impacts local communities and global cultures.
2. Develop and practice analytic, evaluative, and contextual skills requisite to critical thinking, kinesthetic understanding, and personal growth.
3. Develop and practice skills in rhythmic, movement and compositional analysis.
4. Develop effective communication and research skills to promote and articulate a deeper understanding of dance practice and theory.
5. Engage in personal assessment and reflective practices that encourage self-directed learning.
6. Understand how basic principles of dance science and teaching methodologies can be applied to technical and aesthetic development.
7. Recognize and expand creative, artistic, and intellectual potentials.