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.
My experience with authentic movement was interesting. It was hard for me at first to completely let my mind go and let my body speak and move me. It is still difficult for me but I am definitely trying. I think it’s important for everyone to slow down in their lives and release all the tension that’s inside. I know, for me at least, my schedule is very busy and hectic, so I don’t get much time to do much mediating or listening to my body. It’s a good way for me to release the tension and be more in tune with my body. The first day, my experience with authentic movement was mostly stillness with a little motion in my hands and feet. I was still learning how to listen to my body and waiting for impulses from it. Today it started out the same, I scanned for tension, but I was able to feel a few more impulses. I was really grounded to the floor, I never really stood up but my body was definitely speaking a little more. A lot of what I did today was a blur- there were only a few prominent movements I remember. My ankles and wrists and neck did a lot of movement and my partner said that a lot of movement was either from my limbs(1st day) and joints(2nd day).
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how in the article, who is the witness(pg 23), said “transpersonal, then means a moving across, over, and beyond the illusory boundaries of individual separateness, beyond the masks that characterize nationalities, cultures, differing professional orientations, or personalities to that understanding that everything is connected at its most basic level.” I really liked this, because it shows that essentially everyone is connected by this basic level of movement and has the potential to discover who they are.
In the same article, page 24, it said, “In authentic movement, the “right way” is defined through the movement itself- not specific body shape or form, only the shape that awakens or is awakened by the psyche, spirit or the Self.” This really helped me with authentic movement, because it allowed to take the idea that whatever my body does, it does. Nothing is right or wrong. It’s just natural movement and for that, there should be no judgment. Hence, it also helped me when I was watching others. I didn’t judge, I just witnessed their movement.
I also like on page 31, of natural intelligence, “ Chenge Man Cheng, the famous tai chi master is quoted as saying, ‘if you have pain, rub it…it is so simple and direct yet somehow for our body-illiterate culture, it is profound.” It’s interesting to see how distant we are from our bodies. I never really noticed it, until it was pointed out to me. In our society, there is so much to do and everyone is always running around, that we forget to take care of our body. We may take care of ourselves and somehow within that “our self” we forget to take care of our body.
Have an amazing weekend!
Juhi
“Inherent in being a person in the cultures of the West, is the longing for a witness. We seem to want, deeply want, to be seen as we are by another. We want to be witnessed. Ultimately we want to witness, to love, another” (Adler, 29).
ReplyDeleteI feel safe, exploratory, curious and free moving through this space. Knowing that another is unconditionally holding space for me to be, and to move is liberating. As the bell tolls, I am overwhelmed by a feeling of timelessness. Joy washes over me as I steep in the moment free of time, free of judgment, and free of expectation. I go to my partner and in sharing I am struck by the presence of this individual who is a stranger to me yet even before she speaks, I know that in witnessing me she has seen me in a way that many in my life never have. The desire to be seen that Adler speaks to in the quote above rings true with me. In our daily lives it is quite possible that ten, to twenty, to thirty people may see us going through the motions of life: eating, drinking, talking, walking, bussing, biking, shopping, sleeping, etc…but are we really seen? Too common, I believe people are caught up in the layers of the mind the many peaks and valleys that keep us stuck in our stories and unavailable to really seeing someone. Thus the act of witnessing feels extremely important too, enriching on a different plane. The practice of being witnessed, being truly seen and bearing witness to another in Authentic Movement is reminiscent to being seen by, or seeing a lover, a partner or close family member; it feels intimate, genuine, simple and whole.
Daphne Lowell says, “embedded in every fiber of the practice is a belief in the wisdom of the body – that through the body we can find insight, inspiration and healing,” (Lowell, 15). Revisiting Authentic Movement this quarter I am experiencing the practice in a new light, by truly allowing impulses to rise out of me and surrendering to the possibility of sequencing the impulses wherever they need to go, I am liberated.
“When it (AM) works, as when a piece of art works, the clarity and simplicity – the gift – is stunning. It is somehow, in those moments of grace, remarkably like what Suzuki describes as the Zen experience of seeing oneself as one is” (Adler, 29)
Thank you.
"Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if this activity is the axis
on which the whole earth revolves.
Live the moment.
Only this actual moment is life."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
-Lindsey
Having been briefly introduced to authentic movement previously, I found that with this experience I was able to move further into a place of comfort and a more full sense of my body. Thursday’s exercise brought me to a place I thought only existed in my dream – like states. I was standing in an erect position, swaying from side to side, but I was completely in my own space, my mind and body in another world, completely focused on each other.
ReplyDeleteWhile doing the readings on Wednesday, prior to Thursday’s class, I attempted the exercises that were given in the book. I had for a few days that my body was “off” somehow and I did not understand what was wrong. As I went through some of the given exercises in our Natural Intelligence reading, I began to listen more fully to my body – how was I sitting, where were my toes, did my back pain because it was sore or uncomfortable? I decided to put the book down for a bit, take in my surroundings and be still for a few moments in attempt to listen to what my body might have to say. What I heard was not necessarily a desire to adjust my physical body, but a desire to communicate – immediately- with a friend who I was not on good terms with at the moment. I reacted without thinking, and pulled out my computer to write him a note. Within the note I communicated some feelings I realized existed, apologized for following the easier emotions – my anger and frustration- instead of dealing with the true feelings of loss and acceptance. Immediately after I wrote the words, my body changed. My head stopped spinning, my stomach grew calm and stopped “speaking” to me and my body relaxed. Acknowledging the feelings I had been pushing away released the distortions within my body.
I have learned from this experience that I truly am one to push away the emotions I do not want to deal with at that time and deal with them when they burst out of me. This year has shown me that my way of dealing with stress might be more harmful than letting myself focus on issues when they come up. It’s as if I am holding down a really lousy meal in my stomach that just won’t digest, when suddenly my body decides to reject the food and vomit it up. Rather graphic description but that’s truly how I feel each time I have a “break-down” or “realization.” I am really glad to be discovering these things about my personality and lifestyle so that I can continue to listen to what my essence is telling me rather than ignoring the messages screaming out of me.
Tuesday’s class on authentic movement was an exploration of uncertainty for me. Much of this had to do with the fact that I misheard Louis’ instructions and thought I was supposed to keep my eyes open and not closed – silly me! However, after a while, I felt that my eyes should be closed and it was then that I began to tune into my body’s sensations more and more. The second obstacle I had to overcome was feeling comfortable in what my body’s instincts were in relation to my fellow movers in the room. My body felt quite energized and craved movement while my mind was observing and supressing many of these desires since I did not hear much movement from others in the room. I was unclear and insecure about whether it was ok to move so much. I struggled with the idea that less movement might be what my body needed since it seemed that it was for other people, but eventually (and more so on Thurs) my body took more charge over how it wanted to move and I felt freer to move in accordance with its impulses. These struggles of my mind and body exemplify some of my occasional tendencies in lacking confidence and security/confidence in my personal life and the arts that I perform.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on Thursday I had a much different experience. The freedom that my body felt in every moment of class was unbelievable. The image of the freedom a puppy has rung especially true for me. I felt like the 7-year-old version of myself – carefree and spirited and ready to face the world with eagerness and freedom. Though I felt I had a broad ranges of emotional peaks and valleys in my movement, I could not help but break out into a smile at certain points because of the joy that this freedom of movement allowed me. I am definitely a person who loves to dance in their room when no one is watching and do whatever my body feels it wants to do whether or not it looks weird (which I might term as a form of authentic movement). Because I felt comfortable and safe with my witness and the other movers in the room, I almost felt that my own personal ‘authentic movement/dancing in my room’ was heightened and my body was allowed even more freedom in this space. This was established in the “safe environment” which Daphne Lowell discussed in her article “Authentic Movement – an introduction.”
There were many moments in my movement on Thurs when I would crave touching other movers, particularly when I heard someone let out a low groan which sounded a little sad – I wanted to seek out and comfort that person. My body almost seemed to react to these impulses by moving closer to fellow movers before my mind could even comprehend it.
When my body was moving in it’s most organic impulses, my mind felt relaxed and just seemed to notice and observe these changes in movement, non-judgementally. It was a really beautiful to experience a little of my unhibited self on Thursday.
In the readings, I was struck by the observations made about the relationship between the mover and witness. Janet Adler says, “…the presence of an external witness is critical, especially when the phenomenon of tension (which is the seed of growth) is apparent. As long as the unknown is being explored through the arrival of and encounter with unconscious activity there is the element of fear and/or awe.” This last statement regarding the element of fear/awe was especially apparent in witnessing Sinae. I found myself wanting to breathe with her and be kind of in awe with the authenticity with which she moved. Her simple movements were very true to her body’s feelings that particular day and it was lovely to witness. Adler’s continuing discussion of the necessity of a witness is beautiful in the realization that “the very first experience of life is that of being seen.”
Adler’s illustrations of the connection and intertwining of mover and witness was also a very vivid image for my experience in class in that there were moments where I really felt the presence of my witness and conneted with her and other times when my body led me and I felt completely alone with myself.
I’m looking forward to more movement on Tues!
p.s.
Adorable video :)
Hi Louis!
ReplyDeleteMy experience with Authentic Movement was really interesting. After reading Authentic Movement by Daphne Lowell, I thought that the "task of responding to a sensation, to an inner impulse, to energy coming from the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious, or the superconscious. . . " was going to be simple. But with my first experience with it on Tuesday, I found not letting the mind get in the way was really hard. But as we repeated the task on Thursday, I found it was more simpler to let the mind go. I found that my mind kind of went numb, that I was aware of what my body was doing but I was not controlling it.
But even though I was aware of what my body was doing, there were somethings that I found out in the harvest that I didn't know I was actually doing. With my harvest with Morgan on Tuesday, Morgan observed that my hand was on my foot and that I was lightly massaging it. On Thursday, Maria witnessed my heavy head, that my head never left the ground. I did not know that I was doing this. "The mover learns consciously to observe her own unconscious material as it finds form through her movement." (Adler) Apparently, I still need to work on being more conscious:) But my most favorite part about Authentic Movement is being able to hear what the witnesses witnessed and learning about my body through them. I liked learning about myself through them.
My largest struggle with my experience in Authentic Movement was talking in present tense. I found that forgetting to talk in present tense just made me aggravated and annoyed with takes me out of my zone. It makes holding onto my experience really difficult as I fluster my tenses. I feel really restricted on what I have to say because of the present tense. I find myself not being able to say what I want because Im too worried about how I am saying it. I found it really funny that as I was the mover, I worked to block the mind out, but was I was harvesting, I really had to concentrate on what I was saying. That was probably the struggle I had the most.
To end on a lighter note though, I actually really enjoy Authentic Movement. I feel my whole body involved and I just love the feeling of getting to know myself. Plus, it makes time go by super fast:)
-later,
cougar
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHumans have traversed the earth for eons, in search of different resources, different climates, different shelters, and different possibilities or potentials. The metaphor of moving through space holds a lot of meaning for our health. Body centered movement has been a primary mode of bioevolution. Humans have developed our higher faculties of consciousness. A main question that is informing this class is how can we explore the relationship between these two stages of life; and, perhaps, how can we benefit from an acceptance and continuation of both. The paradox between the body and the mind seems like a part of the exploration going on in our class. There is a lot to investigate here. I find, for my life, the metaphor of the mind, the body, and the spirit as integral and immense parts of the complex whole. We are the whole. Like the river, return to the source. Lowell discusses on page 15 that our "impulses arise from a range of sources-personal history, kinesthetic initiatives, and spiritual insights." As I was moving during the Authentic Movement practice, I experienced many of these resources. The practice allowed me, in different moments, to connect to this material. I did not experience myself attaching to a particular source or form. I felt my self being very fluid, moving through various states of consciousness. This process seems a little like shamanic visioning. I felt safe in myself in that I was open and accepting to any of the stories or archetypes that could arise. I felt assured that I would experience something important and worthy of manifestation.
ReplyDeleteThe universe is sugar, rich sugar. If we refine it, we may lose the important complexities. What happens when we compromise its wholeness for only the sweet?
The source of the universe is energy. Energy is dynamics of existence or relationships. Authentic movement was an opportunity for me to explore some of the binaries of the human experience. I am feeling, through this practice, the development of my body image and structure. I am, through this practice, becoming more aware of the conscious and unconscious patterns of my energy. I am, through this practice, engaging in a right-brain dialogue, one without words, and rather movement and image as the form of expression. This is great! I practice dialogue in conscientization groups, where we discuss and share stories and theories, in word form. There is an emphasis on the principle of listening and learning through the process. In Authentic movement, the same structure has been set up. A witness and mover, a listener and speaker. In this way we are coming to know one another, growing in our understanding around the body and the soma, and expanding our acceptance of experience. This is very energetically stimulating. In addition, as Adler states, "several years of commitment are necessary for the continuous development of the process which can bring experiences of balance, clarity, and wholeness," (24). I see my commitment to dialogue in both word and movement as such.
My experiences this week awoke a great deal of insight into my being, my mind, my body and their connections. Thursday was an especially powerful day for me. The diagrams that Adler drew in her article on authentic movement described fairly accurately what I was feeling as I was moving. I would feel my mind being present with me and trying to take over control of my body and then my body would come into motion on its own and my mind would quiet itself. This exchanging of body and mind felt like a continual spiraling of efforts and presence. This image that Adler gave in her text was more of an engagement between the mover and the witness, but it connected with my internal awareness as well.
ReplyDeleteI think the most information and learning that I gained this week was from being able to reflect on what my mind was doing while I was moving. My mind wanted to constantly be in control of my body at all times. I tried to have my mind just observe what was happening from a neutral point, but even then it wanted to give my body constant feedback on what the movement must look like, and everything that was coming from my mind was analytical and opinionated. So what I found was that most of the time it was best for me to just shut off the mind as completely as possible to allow the body to just experience what it wanted to do on its own. This took some time, but by the middle of Thursday’s class I was moving was a much greater amount of freedom in my body and my mind was in a gentle state of existence. It felt as though my mind was a kind of ever-present fog. It was just there, just in existence but no longer being so critical.
Another thing that happened while I was moving and trying to shut off my mind was feeling that my mind wanted something to do. If it wasn’t going to observe my body actively then it would daydream about alternate realities or create stories of people in my life. At one point I realized that I had been caught up in a dream for what felt like a couple minutes and that my conscience had moved from my body to my mind and had gotten distracted.
All of these experiences have taught me that I can learn a great deal from looking inward and observing not only what is moving outwardly, but what is moving me within as well. What Whitehouse says in Lowell’s article about teaching people and not just movement also resonates with me. I certainly love dance and movement in general, but the connection that it gives to people I also treasure. I have been exposed to many forms of therapy and alternative healing techniques throughout my life and I can see great possibilities of using this authentic movement as a form of healing and therapy for people. In a sense I think I consider all movement to be therapeutic when needed
Authentic movement was a very difficult concept for me at first because it was hard for me to imagine my body purely dictating the movements of my body. One of the passages in Natural Intelligence that was most interesting to me was on page 24 when Aposhyan states that “we are captivated by people who allow this continual flow of natural movement” but also points out that “most adults of our culture have learned to truncate movement-to stop it before its natural completion”. I believe that all of these things are very true and was very intrigued by the idea of authentic movement. It was a struggle, however, to just let my body dictate what it wanted to do because doing so was so different than anything I was used to. After several authentic movement sessions and thinking about the idea of the study, I realized how much we truly suppress movements that we have because we stay relatively still for most of our lives. There are few opportunities that we have to do what truly feels good to us because it is not seen as part of the norm in our society.
ReplyDeleteBy the end of the week however, after several different sessions of authentic movement, I began to better understand the concepts and successfully experimented with different ways of how to listen to my body and not include my mind in the mix. In the Thursday session of authentic movement as a witness, I saw that my partner was not exploring the position of being off the floor and instead was only on the ground. Thinking about my experiences, I realize that I too tended to explore the ground region and did not experiment with different levels. I am not quite sure why this is, but it was interesting to see that many people were moved to explore different levels during the session. In this regard I feel that I began to understand the facets of authentic movement. Janet Adler, in discussing the role of the witness in her article “Who is the Witness?” on page 21 says that “there are two major reasons it is more difficult. First the witness is responsible for seeing her mover as well as her self. And secondly, the witness does not literally embody, enact, engage in her own experience; she witnesses it”. Certain aspects of authentic movement are starting to become clearer to me, but I feel that there are still a lot more concepts of authentic movement that I have to explore before I can fully realize and understand the benefits or this art form.
I admitted from the very beginning that I was very comfortable with dissociation. Just reading about authentic movement, I was prepared to enter into a new realm of connection with my body. Concentrating on trying to move the way my body directed meant focusing on removing the concentration of the mind and just allowing my body to roam free…but to know that someone was watching and sharing this experience with me added a huge burden. I felt a responsibility to be somewhat entertaining. The observation by a witness gave me some sense of obligation to be more creative or elaborate in my movement, but I resorted to staying true to my body. In order for my movement to be authentic, I had to be a little selfish.
ReplyDeleteWhat Darwin referred to as “complete expressions” manifested in my body as sporadic movement. I felt the connection between these independent impulses with my breath, but I didn’t know if this was my own experience or shared with my witness. By Thursday morning, I was exhausted and any kind of movement so early in the morning seemed unbearable. But to be a witness to someone with expressive and almost narrative movements, and in turn be the mellow mover but still feel a similar sense of connection both ways made me understand that “response is joined seamlessly to experience” (Aposhyan, 25).
Mary Whitehouse said that movement “originates in…a specific inner impulse having the quality of sensation. This impulse leaps outward into space so that movement becomes visible as physical action.” As a novice, I am most attuned or receptive to the parts of my body that demand immediate attention. For now, authentic movement was a way for my body to communicate where it needed healing. Maybe in the future it will be a more expressive form of communication.
-sinae
My experience with Authentic Movement was much deeper this time around. I really thought starting out in motion instead of in a still state helped get the ball rolling for me. This week I really was more in touch with my body, it was rather surprising at first because the previous week was so different. This past week I had a deeper connection with listening to my body, it’s like the connection with my body was the focus and my thoughts were on the back burner, on low as a matter of fact. This week, I didn’t have to direct my attention back to my body as much as before. My body moved in ways that felt right, ways it felt like it was supposed to move. At first it started out as a comfort issue and tension, I wanted to move to rid myself of any uncomfortable sensations whether it was within me or part of my environment like the floor. I enjoyed reaching those moments when movements felt right, it was at these moments when I felt like my body was truly moving the way it wanted to. I didn’t have the normal thoughts that pass when I’ve choreographed in the past, how does this look? Have I done too much on this side of the room? Is this giving off the feeling I want to convey? Etc.. My body was deciding what was right. I experienced moments where breathe just came out in appropriate ways, no mental direction was necessary. I noticed sweat on my palms after touching the floor, I wondered if it was cause my body was expressing itself, releasing these sensations that brought it about. I feel like I getting a deeper connection with my body, I like it.
ReplyDeleteOne section of the readings really clicked after talking with my partner and Louise added some insight to our experiences. As a witness, I wanted to basically label the movers experience but Louise helped me see that her experience ignited an experience within me. Her movements triggered particular feelings, physical sensations and thoughts within me. It was like the picture on pg. 23 of A Description of Authentic Movement, while seeing the mover I saw something within me. This was an exciting moment, because I had a personal connection to the readings which really helped further reinforce the ideas within our readings. It’s so easy to read about something and think you know it, versus personally experiencing something. Oh, to be continued...
Rachel
In my exploration of authentic movement I looked to the readings to guide me as to what could be considered authentic. I was very nervous by the idea of moving without any music, however, I found the process to be much more organic than I anticipated. In my movement explorations so far, I keep going back the concept in chapter one of Natural Intelligence where Aposhyan speaks about dialogue with the body. In the beginning, I viewed authentic movement as a process of expressive dialogue with specific parts of the body. If my feet wanted to express something than they would express it with movement, if my tummy felt unsure I would respond to it. By focusing in on body parts, I felt I was able to key into the process of authentic movement more easily than if I had just tried to wait for movement inspiration from my body as a whole. In chapter three, Aposhyan speaks to the nature of authentic movement,
ReplyDelete“...perception is movement that becomes internal physiological events that are sensation. Sensation is a movement that becomes response, a shifting of position or relationship to the environment. This natural continuity between sensation, perception, and response is natural movement” (22).
I saw this description as a depiction of the idea of dialogue from chapter one. For me this description really helped me solidify the idea of authentic movement as being an internal inspiration that series out of the body. Once my body is aware of an internal event it gains sensation that flows out into movement, response. For example, on the second day of the authentic movement I began on the ground. After breathing myself into my body I had this perception that my tummy was uncomfortable. Internally, something I ate for breakfast wasn't settling right, or I was nervous or stressed out about the day, possibly both. My body responded to this sensation of discomfort by enclosing my tummy by drawing my legs in and arching my back over, not a conscious thought of what would cause more comfort, but a sensation that lead to a reaction. I then began to breath into my tummy and as I held this position, the tension in the area alleviated, I felt amazingly better. This perception lead to a different sensation in my legs which caused them to react by stretching outward.
I knew in my mind the qualification of “am I doing this right?” would enter. In anticipating this mental response in myself, I wanted to alleviate this potential mind interference as much as possible. The “Who is the Witness?” article gave me a useful evaluation for authentic movement. On page 24, “In authentic movement the “right way”is defined through the movement itself- not specific body shape or form, only the shape that awakens or is awakened by the psyche, the spirit, or the Self.” This quote really helped me be able to wait until movement inspired me. On our first day of authentic movement, my movement was very staccato. I would be inspired to move, move a bit, and then thoughts would enter trying to evaluate my movement. At that time I would stop, refocus, and wait for inspiration again. On the second day, my movement felt much more fluid. When we exchanged with a partner I began stomping around like a 5-year-old version of myself, in a way that I hadn't moved in years. This movement was completely inspired by an awakening of my psyche that wanted to express a childlike aspect of myself. That was when I really felt I had keyed in with authentic movement for a moment! It was the right movement to be doing at the time because it sprang from an opening fold of my psyche. This movement allowed me to make noise, to make strong movements and my body felt enlivened by it. My mind, where was it at this moment? I do not even know, but it was not controlling my bodily movement. It felt as if my mind was watching my body a second after my body performed the movement, as if it was a second slower than time. I think this is partially the concept of a self witness, though I don't believe it was achieved fully.
In the overall authentic movement experience, I was able to key into a few movements where I really felt I was authentically moving. It amazes me how limited our bodily expressions are on a day to day basis. On occasion, during the class sessions, I found my mind envision movements to try that I thought would feel good. I did not indulge these ideas, however, because they were from images in my mind. Maybe, eventually, those images will find their way back into my body and not only manifest as conceptual movement potential. In day to day life we are taught to think through our actions. I feel, though, that when it comes to the body and all we do is think first, we loose the ability to release our energies or to express in a way that is in response to our body. Instead, we respond to concepts in our mind and it takes years and concerted effort to unravel where these conceptual influences came from. However, when the movement comes as a response in the body, we know where it comes from and it is authentic. The movement experience is a much more self satisfying one, I feel, when it comes from a response in the body and not an attempted embodiment of a conceptual idea. This has many implications for the aesthetic and performance based aspects of dance, but I hope, in future, these ideas and applications will become more interwoven into mainstream dance practice.
-Allexa Laycock
ReplyDeleteAuthentic Movement seems to be extremely hard for me. My mind is constantly going ... sometimes I feel like it never stops. It seems so different to let the movement happen instead of creating it. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this form of movement and I'm not really sure what I have to say on the subject.
ReplyDeleteThere was one section in chapter 2 of Natural Intelligence that particularly stood out to me: "In our culture we are confused about pain. We try to camouflage physical pain with drugs. We try to distract ourselves from emotional pain. This is very different from attending to pain so that the emotional/psychological event can process and complete. An area that was ignored in pain can silently harbor that pain for years. When we ignore an area of the body, the circulation into that area decreases. We can slow our metabolism down locally so that a particular area can go into a sort of hibernation or coma state; there is minimal flow required to stay alive, but nothing beyond that. This is the opposite of full participation." This just gave me chills to read.
* Kali Allen
My brief introduction to Authentic Movement prompted me to ask what is natural movement and how to distinguish it from mind controlled ones. Tuesday’s exercise was more docile for me as I played around with this question in mind often. I was more bold on Thursday and explored more, though I still have difficult recognizing and distinguishing natural movement.
ReplyDeleteI was unable to be fully uninhibited yet during the exercises as I was still keenly aware of my mind and social inhibitions. The body felt unaccustomed to such unrestrained freedom while the in the mind, it is a constant struggle to ‘free’ the body. There were times I felt as if my body wanted to stand up and move but my mind suppressed the impulse. It is a challenge to reconnect to my inner self and these exercises has started me exploring, questioning and finding it.
Looking at other people move, I always have the overwhelming urge to interpret their movements. This can be a good thing when story is obvious to the witness but not to the mover, then the unconscious can be brought to the conscious by sharing. However, I realized the potential pitfall of making up a story that isn’t there in the first place.
The part of the readings that most influenced my class experience is the feeling of the specific quality of attention or presence to the experience of the mover. This particular part, self witnessing and external witnessing, brings the practice to a whole new level. The awareness of this witnessing makes me more conscious of my movement and its motivations, without which, the practice would not have gone as deep.
A Description of Authentic Movement by Janet Alder effected my idea of what authentic movement might be as I have experienced in before, and added on to my previous knowledge and experience. I love her description of the dynamics of the mover and witness and how they reach a certain point where the mover is fully immersed in the material. This chain reaction further engages the witness into the authentic dance. Then, one can interpret the movements of themselves and of the mover and possibly compare and contrast. Seeing similarities in movements, the observer can tell the mover, if the mover choses how they interpreted the movements and how they saw some similarities in how they visualized their movements appeared on themselves along with the mover they witnessed. This in an experience I had at some moments observing my mover.
ReplyDeleteIn knowing that you are being witnessed, an individual develops self-witnessing in authentic movement. As a mover, I thought at first about what my movements looked like, why I was doing them, and the stimuli that may be effecting my movements. After I allowed my body to take over, I became fully immersed in the authentic movements led by my body. It's hard for me to go back and say every movement I did or what I was thinking. I seemed to only remember some highlights of my authentic movements individually at the beginning of class, as well as at the end of class with a witness.
I had a few visual images of myself with other people socializing. I seemed to not really have control of my body during these moments. As I was standing up, I felt somewhat tired or dizzy as I was swaying in the wind. Almost like the way I dream, I had one idea my body worked with for a while, and then my body would switch to do something else as my stories would change. Through these transitions my authentic movement seemed somewhat sporadic.
As a witness in class, I noticed how engaged I became after a few minutes into my partner's movements. At first I felt like I was focusing too much on what she was going to do next, and visually remembering some shapes that stood out. But then it came to me that I wanted to know why her body would move in certain ways, if she was hurting anywhere, or if some of the positions were comfortable. I started to question why her body would become still, and what motivates her body to move in the ways it did. Why she never got up off of the floor was another situation I tried to analyze. I knew I had to visually think to myself what I saw and how I felt, but I was truly interested how my partner who moved first felt during her movements. Most of my feelings about her movements seemed similar to her descriptions in present tense. When she asked me to describe what I saw, I told her all of the feelings I felt within myself and how I saw her piece in my eyes. I didn't want to tell her at one point she was a duck, when that was nothing like how she imagined or felt it to be!!!
Today, I was driving home from my parents house, and lost track of how many freeway exit signs I passed. I almost felt like my body was just in automatic driving me home. I was somewhat disconnected from the driving because it was somewhat of a natural experience. I then noticed how my arms slightly adjusted to drive straight, and how the freeway curved slightly and my arms just moved to follow it. This sensation reminded me of how I felt when my body was moving myself, but in a less sporadic way. I enjoyed feeling my body and arms adjust to the road without even thinking about it. I looked at highway signs soon after and realized I was already almost home. Crazy how fast time goes by when you are literally just cruising home of the freeway. I seemed to not have a care in the world, and that is a sensation I love to have.
Katie Boulanger
Swimming in the world of authentic movement... swimming in myself or just being... On Tuesday, during the first session of authentic movement, I felt like I was struggling with doubt. I could hear my body speaking to me. My knee was loud and clear and it would confuse me; in fact I tried to quiet it down. I would question myself, do I want to move this leg because of you, knee. hm... Then I would realize that I was thinking too much. stop. feel. do. Your body is loud and clear, stop questioning and just do. To be able to trust myself. I went in and out of my authentic movement.
ReplyDeleteDuring the second session of authentic movement I tried to let go. I wanted to move more the entire time. My partner even read my body language as resisting it's impulses. She saw me resisting the energy in my breath, the pulse or rhythm of this state... I still moved in and out of my authentic movement.
"Sensation is movement. We point our sense organs and grasp each phenomenon in particular ways. Perception is movement, which we experience as internal sensation. Our responses are movement. Sensation, perception, response: this is the continuous cycle of movement in which we live, The sequencing is not complete until we are brought into a new relationship to the environment, that is until our internal expressions become externalized" (Aposhayan, 25).
-Annie
The exercise of natural movement was interesting to me, not so much, because
ReplyDeleteas the book seemed to state it was a distant quiet voice long suppressed,
but rather I realized it was actually quite loud. The time this was the most
apparent was the first part of Thursdays class were Louis witnessed. My body
was tired and had no interest in moving or in anyway participating with his
directions (was feeling more the grumpy lazy cat than the frolicking
puppy!). I kept trying to goad it to wake up and well move. I was feeling
rather foul tempered by the end of the exercise and really had to work to
get out of that frame of mind. My body really was the dominant voice, to
have inner peace I can't fight it. I have noticed this in the past and it is
actually one of the reasons I take dance classes. For the second part, I
moved nearer to the window and light hoping that would help to wake me up,
it took a little bit but soon found myself in a wide-awake body. The part I
found the most fascinating was sound; it was as if everything was greatly
amplified. At one point, I found myself turning inward and listening to my
own heartbeat, breath and even blood flowing through my veins. Another
interesting sensation was being able to feel my balance in a way I can't
really think to describe in words. I noticed both these things on Tuesday
too, but the longer session really made them more noticeable. The nicest
side effect is after the pain and tension in my back was almost completely
gone, I felt realigned. I also noticed my end-points (as Susan described on
page 28), on Tuesday the very much wanted to ground into the floor, almost
like roots, and on Thursday my hands were like antennae trying to feel out
an obstacle free path.
Witnessing was also an interesting experience. When moving I didn't really
think about the fact I was being witnessed, but I did like the outside view
when we shared the experience. So I agree with As a witness I felt quite
honored to watch, the definition of one being "moved and moving" (Adler)
seems quite apt. It was interesting to watch both my partners different
inner movements and they both seemed to have some sort of story to tell.
Maybe less of a story in the traditional sense, but more journeys they went
on. I felt it was different than just watching someone, as I felt a sense of
responsibility to them. Natalie Ramien