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?
Stephanie's class was amazing. I really enjoyed it. I loved how we let everything loose and let the tension out. I didn't really know what to expect from this class as I had never taken Skinner release but it was eye opening. It's crazy how much tension and stress we hold in our bodies. I really enjoyed the melting to the floor exercise. I really felt like ice cream that just slowly melted to the floor. I really enjoyed the floor after that- just letting our body sink into the floor and releasing all the tension. Rolling and grounding myself into the floor really helped me release a lot of tension- it was a calm and peaceful place. I just took in the space and everything around and I really wans't thinking of much- it was just a clam, relaxing experience. I also really enjoyed the work with the skull. The brush behind the knees felt really good, as if I was letting it go. The skull strings was an interesting idea as well. I also really liked the work with the shoulders and arms- I definitely hold a lot of tension in my shoulders so it was nice to try and let it go. I probably still have tension there but my arms felt a lot lighter and my shoulders a little more relaxed. I liked the ending exercise afterwards- just working with the arms, shoulders and shoulder blades and slowly adding the rest of the body- a floating skull, the spine, kness, legs and everything. I felt looser and less tense. It was a good experience and I really enjoyed the class :)
ReplyDeleteJuhi
This Thursdays class was great. I was able to explore new ways of moving. Thinking about the softness in my feet was a completely eye-opening experience. I have never taken so much time to consider how I am stepping and with what parts of the foot I am putting weight into. Concentrating on the feet, then moving to the ankles and knees gave a suppleness that allowed such freedom of movement. I pushed into the floor at the same time giving into the support the floor provides. My steps became softer and more weighted. I felt light and agile.
ReplyDeleteA part of class that I found energizing was the partner graphic work we performed. Having the physical manipulation on my body always relaxes my muscles and leads them to fall in their natural directions so I can begin relieve tension. The image of the head strings pulling up my body actually created a physical stretch throughout my spine. I felt myself stand taller and realize I was slouching a bit while standing. Images can do so much!
After learning so many different concepts in this class, I am amazed that every class period we learn about yet another way to think of and use our bodies. The imagery of having skull strings was something that I had never thought about before because we often think about the same idea in different terms. For instance, in ballet, we are always told to keep a strong core and to elongate our spine, but thinking of being pulled upwards helped bring those techniques to a whole new level. I felt that my entire body was lighter when I thought of being pulled up by strings and also noticed that it was more effective and I felt even longer by using the idea that my body extended beyond just its physical space. After the Thursday class, I continued into ballet and noticed that my balance was much better and I was able to stay up during my terms because of the string imagery.
ReplyDeleteThe other exercise that was really powerful (and I have been thinking about ever since) was the one where we worked with a partner to make sure that our shoulders were not holding tension. It was so powerful when I was doing the exercise to my partner because I was able to visually see the difference that it made in working with our shoulders. This exercise along with the exercises where we were supposed to yield our weight to the floor really made me realize the importance of being supported by the floor and letting go of tension, but also making sure that you are elongating your body through the use of the string imagery. I really enjoyed the class because I think that the idea of lengthening and also the idea of letting go of tension are two very universal concepts that will (and already have) have an impact on my movement in all aspects of my life, not necessarily just while I am in the dance studio.
There were two things that stuck out to me on Thursday. Experiencing around with our skull strings really effected my movement. It made me feel like my head was a balloon filled with helium air. My head felt light and airy as I walked around the room or moved around the room. With my attacked skull strings, I felt that the tension in my neck and shoulders were released and made my movement more relaxed. Like what Maria said in her post, I too, felt really elongated and I felt that my range of motion was wider. Skulls strings really put a twist to my movement.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that I harvested was in the beginning where we walked lightly around the room by allowing the padding of our feet to pour into the ground. Even though I was walking around the room at a fast pace, my feet were really light as they melted into the ground. There was minimal noise. Allowing the padding of the foot melt into the ground was really interesting. I felt breezy and I felt like moving fast was really accessible!
It was a really cool day!
After reflecting on our class, I realized that I could look within to uplift my physical state of being. When I came to class, I was bit out of it, my head hurt, I felt groggy, despite getting ‘enough’ sleep. But by the time class was over, I felt rejuvenated, feeling rather lovely. This transition I experienced showed me, I could explore my inner self to assist in rising above my previous negative-ish not so lovely state of being.
ReplyDeleteThursday’s class was awesome for so many reasons, I really felt my head strings! My strings when beyond the building, into the upper atmosphere. I liked feeling constantly connected to the revolving earth I reside on. It was fun to play with the ideas of being connected but letting the strings lead or just be present. It was fun to move and explore space with these ideas. I felt like the head strings helped my shoulders relax, in a non forceful or constrictive way. It was like bones were hanging off of my head and spine, and spine hanging from my head.
Besides the head strings, I felt like breathing into the center of my back helped my ribs lay flat, once again in a natural, relaxed way. It was also a way of connecting to your partner’s contact, their energy. I enjoyed connecting and reconnecting with different partners during this exercise. It was fun to feel the different vibes with different partners.
Throughout the tail end of the class, I made an effort to turn off my eyes in a sense. I made it so… seeing people, was just a part of the environment instead of getting my thoughts involved. Then my eyesight became secondary, and feeling energy became primary. Yes, my eyesight did help with “traffic control”, ya know, not smashing into someone else while spinning and swaying all over the place. When putting my eye sight secondary, it allowed me to feel the energy of others when we were like billiard balls, acting and reacting. Engaging in the interactive ebb and flow. I feel like exploring my own energy and the energy of others is what I have harvested from this particular class, at this particular moment.
Thank you, Stephanie & Louis.
These past weeks have been difficult for me to conjure up the desire to move. As a result, I stopped coming to dance class. I missed a great deal, and I regret it. Yet, as I would lay in a state of disillusion or pure exhaustion, I listen to the voice within me. It keeps reminding me that I am will, and that I am tired. My dance within was abruptly turned to stillness as I fought a viral infection that took me out of school and work and into the hospital and bed.
ReplyDeleteMy energy is returning, I am see now, that there is a fine line between allowing the body to rest and heal, and avoiding the challenge that provides such fruitful rewards.
The suppleness of feet; finding the layers of tissue in my heels and balls of my feet and within my toes was sweet. “Suppleness,” she generously repeated over and over again, until my feet were like liquid honey, gliding all over the floor. As a, "supple group" it was amazing how quiet we were, sliding from one corner to another.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh….the skull strings. What a gift! The length and accompanying alignment I felt was remarkable. Such a slight suggestion was an incredibly powerful tool. Since our session I have found that the skull strings are extremely useful in yoga. I have practiced three times since our class and have found more ease in the balancing poses. This tool inspires length, lightness and postural alignment that even for a process as simple as walking is beneficial.
I really appreciated the partner work, releasing tension in my neck and shoulders and sequencing that energy out the tips of my fingers was such a RELIEF! I noticed a dramatic difference between the two shoulders as my partner moved from one side to the other.
To nurturing ourselves through release and lightness of being,
Lindsey
I imagine string and other materials that connect object to object quite a bit. This practice was fun to engage with because it too provided simple imagery to guide our movement. I always enjoy in our class when Louis brings in another teacher. This is a great way to engage with some of the people that have influenced his work and see how people beyond the academy work with their bodies. I imagine that Stephanie is a trained dancer, and that she finds this work to be beneficial to her career and her process in life. I too agree that it is beneficial to relax. In fact, I can imagine doing a week long of intensive relaxation, using Skinner and Alexander, and authentic movement techniques to move into my body. I enjoyed the Skinner practice because it emphasized many facets of my body, and it used partners as a tool to benefit this experience. From this experience, I am grateful to have practice something that we also read about. I'm having a difficult time writing about the Skinner technique and my experience with it because I feel that it is hard for me to see the differences between this and the other few techniques we've explored. Perhaps it is in the imagery and the rhetoric that are unique to each, because my movement is often similar. The results, I see, in Skinner are that my body moves into itself, comfortable in its home. Thank you Stephanie! What a wonderful flow I felt.
ReplyDeleteThe gradual accumulation of the class, starting from our feet, all the way to our whole body, allowed me to delve into this concept of releasing work better. The idea of floating our head through the “head strings” and releasing our weight through our feet onto the ground is something that have stuck with me for the past few days. The exercise of moving ourselves and allowing the head strings to follow and sometimes allowing ourselves to be moved by the head strings struck me as being in sync with the environment; sometimes we move however we need to minimally in tandem with the environment, other times, we allow the environment to move us. The strange thing to note was after my partner was done with one side of my shoulder exercise, I feel that side sagging lower than the other. This session showed me the power of our imagination. The reading did mention about using images to aid releasing and throughout the session, we were asked to think about things in a certain way and that certainly helped in experiencing the desired effect.
ReplyDelete“I experience therefore I dance” (You can't make a leaf grow by stretching it, Alexander). I was amazed at how quickly my body adapted to the imagery of supple feet. It changed the whole way I was moving my joints and the way I conceptualized this movement. I love the idea that we release the tension in our bodies and move from that released energy. I felt so fluid throughout the whole class, I spent the rest of the day walking around in a swishy, fluid, supple state and it felt fantastic! The idea that I got from the reading of the movement being more focused skeletally than muscularly, in the alignment, was also intriguing. I completely related to Dr. Skinner's earlier observations of “Everything was being forced against something else” in technical dance classes. From this forcing comes muscle tensions and pulling in order to achieve this force, but looking at alignment skeletally I felt much more connected to it. I have had a lot of chiropractic experience and I wonder if these two disciplines would be a good tie in together. The idea that movement and perception are interconnected was crucial to the movement on Thursday, it really did feel like an integrated non-linear progression of movement. For most of the class I felt in a different mental state or rather body state; it became hard to disentangle the two. A couple of the exercises we did reminded me of earlier exercises from class, but I somehow noted this without actively thinking about it, or of really thinking back in time to the earlier occasions but rather integrating both experiences at one time. When we were doing our arm dance and we were encourage to stop and look I noticed a connection to the pointing exercise we did with Doug and connected it to reciprocal movement of lymph. When we did the shoulder exercise with a partner I was reminded of that element in the previous partner massage we had experienced. Also, when we were rolling of the floor and envisioning a large puffy pad, I felt as if I was rolling during our evolution in water class. The kinesthetic movement really brought me to an understanding of the quote at the beginning of the article, “I experience therefore I dance.” I wasn't moving with a goal or time limit or purpose, yet my body was intimately being guided through movement. When the imagery was suggested, I felt, not as though I was trying to dance the image, but through experiencing the image, it naturally engendered movement. I relate to Dr. Skinner's assertion that the answers reside within the body. By extending conscious expression through the body, I felt the energy just bubbling and shining outward, it was the best experience with sequencing out that I have had so far in the class. Oddly, or perhaps aptly, I felt as I used to when I was younger and was mimicking a person I had seen in a movie, or pretending to be a certain character. I had the perception I wanted to experience and I moved accordingly. I remember feeling so enervated and uninhibited and I rarely could achieve that same sensation of movement within a dance class. Especially concerning the idea of multi directional balance, I had different experiences moving on my own versus in class or on stage. On my own I could flip flop around and find a way to catch myself, on one leg over on my side, pushing off an arm, a shoulder. In class I had to pull every thing including the cheeks of my bum so tight that I was solid as a rock, willing gravity to pull me down directly below my point of contact. On stage, the nerves could turn my muscle to jello and I never knew if a balance would stick or not, but I didn't dare try to re-adjust. I assumed that “real dancing” meant more conditioning and that the movement of my younger days didn't qualify. Having actually experienced SRT, I felt this technique was unleashing something that already existed innately in my being, that allowed my expression of natural movement. It was extremely refreshing and very exciting to dance through experiencing.
ReplyDelete-Allexa Laycock
Well ... on this day I was late unfortunately. I came into the class right around nine. I was a little unsure what was going on in the class, but I quietly asked if I may join and she told me to find a space on the floor. From there I joined class but throughout the whole class I felt a little lost and not completely sure what I was supposed to be doing, but I went with it. I think that I would have gotten a lot more out of the experience had I been on time. Sorry for being late Louis.
ReplyDelete**Kali
I experience therefore I dance” (You can't make a leaf grow by stretching
ReplyDeleteit, Alexander). I was amazed at how quickly my body adapted to the imagery
of supple feet. It changed the whole way I was moving my joints and the way
I conceptualized this movement. I love the idea that we release the tension
in our bodies and move from that released energy. I felt so fluid throughout
the whole class, I spent the rest of the day walking around in a swishy,
fluid, supple state and it felt fantastic! The idea that I got from the
reading of the movement being more focused skeletally than muscularly, in
the alignment, was also intriguing. I completely related to Dr. Skinner's
earlier observations of “Everything was being forced against something else”
in technical dance classes. From this forcing comes muscle tensions and
pulling in order to achieve this force, but looking at alignment skeletally
I felt much more connected to it. I have had a lot of chiropractic
experience and I wonder if these two disciplines would be a good tie in
together. The idea that movement and perception are interconnected was
crucial to the movement on Thursday, it really did feel like an integrated
non-linear progression of movement. For most of the class I felt in a
different mental state or rather body state; it became hard to disentangle
the two. A couple of the exercises we did reminded me of earlier exercises
from class, but I somehow noted this without actively thinking about it, or
of really thinking back in time to the earlier occasions but rather
integrating both experiences at one time. When we were doing our arm dance
and we were encourage to stop and look I noticed a connection to the
pointing exercise we did with Doug and connected it to reciprocal movement
of lymph. When we did the shoulder exercise with a partner I was reminded of
that element in the previous partner massage we had experienced. Also, when
we were rolling of the floor and envisioning a large puffy pad, I felt as if
I was rolling during our evolution in water class. The kinesthetic movement
really brought me to an understanding of the quote at the beginning of the
article, “I experience therefore I dance.” I wasn't moving with a goal or
time limit or purpose, yet my body was intimately being guided through
movement. When the imagery was suggested, I felt, not as though I was trying
to dance the image, but through experiencing the image, it naturally
engendered movement. I relate to Dr. Skinner's assertion that the answers
reside within the body. By extending conscious expression through the body,
I felt the energy just bubbling and shining outward, it was the best
experience with sequencing out that I have had so far in the class. Oddly,
or perhaps aptly, I felt as I used to when I was younger and was mimicking a
person I had seen in a movie, or pretending to be a certain character. I had
the perception I wanted to experience and I moved accordingly. I remember
feeling so enervated and uninhibited and I rarely could achieve that same
sensation of movement within a dance class. Especially concerning the idea
of multi directional balance, I had different experiences moving on my own
versus in class or on stage. On my own I could flip flop around and find a
way to catch myself, on one leg over on my side, pushing off an arm, a
shoulder. In class I had to pull every thing including the cheeks of my bum
so tight that I was solid as a rock, willing gravity to pull me down
directly below my point of contact. On stage, the nerves could turn my
muscle to jello and I never knew if a balance would stick or not, but I
didn't dare try to re-adjust. I assumed that “real dancing” meant more
conditioning and that the movement of my younger days didn't qualify. Having
actually experienced SRT, I felt this technique was unleashing something
that already existed innately in my being, that allowed my expression of
natural movement. It was extremely refreshing and very exciting to dance
through experiencing.
-Allexa Laycock
The Perception of Movement
ReplyDeleteIt was such a pleasure having our guest, Stephanie Skura in class on Thursday for the masterclass on Skinner Releasing. These images and ideas have been incorporated into some of my technique classes for several quarters from Louis and Jamie (especially the head strings idea in balancing) and it was a PLEASURE to be able to dive further into this amazing technique and there were many different aspects of it that I enjoyed.
First, having squishy feet on the floor made an interesting connection for me in the softening of my knees. Also, like I discussed with a classmate, both of us had not noticed how quite the room had become from the softness of our feet until it was brought to our attention by Stephanie
There were so many important and revelationary aspects of the reading of Joan Skinner’s ‘Skinner Releasing Technique.’ In chapter 3, ‘History of the Skinner Releasing Technique,’ Skinner’s approach to her dancing is so incredibly admirable and brings such a heightened sense of accountability for me and my own dancing. I was especially struck by one of Skinner’s observations about the pelvis - “The lifting in the pelvis is a suction of the inner organs -- feels as if body were suspended way deep inside.” This image has been incredibly useful to me as I have recently focused much of my intention for ballet technique on maintaining a neutral pelvis. This was an invaluable quote.
In a similar quote, I love the way that Skinner seems to make casual observations about her revelations, “Perhaps dancing is more a matter of pressure into the floor and lift out of it, rather than gripping any muscles.” This was especially helpful for me in imagining our head strings and knee strings securing us in the ground and allowing us to dangle in our practices of balance. This aspect of class was incredible for me and I feel that my body made many new discoveries about my potential for balance. And, I highly agree with Skinner’s quote that “awareness is the first step to change.”
I was also very pleased to find that “Zen in the Art of Archery” was influential for Skinner as this was a book I read last year as an assignment for piano pedagogy. The lessons in this 'art of archery' are so profound and applicable to all other art forms. The art of allowing something to dance you, instead of trying to dance is a beautiful image which felt especially clear to me in our earlier studies of Authentic movement this quarter. And, since I am discussing my connection with music, how can I not include this quote?
This is when as student speaks about trouble with tightness in shoulder:
“…the music that was played had an effect on me…I became engrossed in the music. Then, I felt I was part of the music, that I was the music -- tension dissappeared.”
In chapter 4, Skinner discusses some of the more specific aspects of learning this technique in that, “…much of the mechanics of movement is unconscious and not immediately subject to the control of the analytical mind.” And, I feel blessed to have had such teachers at UW influenced by this technique that I have already had distinctions in class made about the importance of using muscles versus nerves, using visualization in discussing technique and incorporating ideas like multi-directional balance, imagery, etc.
There is so much more that I feel I still need to learn from this technique, but I know that I will never forget some of these concepts in my dancing for the rest of my life - Thanks again for coming in, Stephanie!