The aim of my teaching is to start and facilitate a dialogue with dancers, teachers and choreographers about ways to systematically look at sustainable physical training and bodily maintenance. The constantly changing demands on a dancer calls for a training approach that considers each individuals current physical condition the starting point. This in order to avoid injury and optimise performance in accordance to their own standards.
I am not proposing a training regimen but rather an approach that can serve as a support to any specific dance or movement practice. An approach that prioritises structural integrity and sustainability rather than temporary task completion.
My teaching is based on the principles that govern safe and efficient movement patterns deriving from our human anatomy. My aim is to show how and why these principles directly affect the dancer’s ability to perform the movement patterns that are the structurally pre-determined foundation for all other movements: pushing; pulling; lifting; rolling; crawling; squatting; lunging; walking; running; jumping; throwing; catching.
Starting from simple and clear formal expressions of basic movement patterns such as squats, push-ups and pull-ups I gradually move towards more complex situations, striving to provide accurate tools for each individual to adjust the complexity and demands of the movements practices in accordance with their current abilities. My main priority is to ensure that precision, safety and efficiency is always prioritised over volume or intensity of training.
Having established these principles and movement patterns as a framework, I focus on demonstrating how they relate to the dancer’s physical and artistic practices through the following series of questions;
MOVEMENT PRACTICE(S) > WHAT are you doing? > WHY are you doing it? > WHICH techniques do you utilise to complete a certain task? > UNDER what circumstances? > HOW do you know that it is the best way to do it, given the circumstances? > HOW does the performance of your movement practice affect your creative working process?
PHYSIOLOGY - ARTISTRY > Can you identify how the conscious and unconscious movement choices you make on a daily basis affects you physically as well as emotionally? > How can you mediate your movement practice so that you do not feel restricted artistically nor physically? > How can one utilise ones movement practice in a creative situation without being limited to a specific vocabulary?
When addressing movement patterns and habits, it is also important to look beyond the intuitive or analytical aspects of movement learning. If a clear understanding of appropriate technique have been attained, but an old pattern or restriction remains, a systematic way of addressing mobility restrictions is necessary. We can not simply assume that only practicing something repeatedly always will bring us closer to what we are trying to achieve.