Somatics: A Tool for Empowering Modern Dance Teachers

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Somatics A Tool for Empowering Modern Dance
Teachers

• By Sylvie Fortin,
  PHD
• A PowerPoint Presentation
• prepared by Sarah Hensen and Khon Tuy

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Flow of the Lecture

• Aims
• Introduction
• Research Methodology
• Somatics
• Video
• Case Studies Glenna, Mary, Martha
• Q As
• Activity

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AIMS

• To give an overview of somatic ideology and
  practices.
• To discuss the notion of utilizing somatic
  practices to empower both the teacher and the
  student.
• To entertain the implications of somatic
  practices beyond the dance classroom and in the
  future.

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Research Methodology

• Postpositivist claim the existence of
  multiple realities constructed by each
  individuals encounter with the world (50).

• Positivist aims to verify facts and causal
  relationships in order to develop theories that
  reflect reality and may be generalized as
  applying to large populations (50-51).

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• Somatics . . .generally includes several
  body-mind and mind-body practices, acknowledges
  the complex interdependence among the mind, the
  physical body, and social and behavioral
  expectations of both the mind and body. Such
  consideration can inform dance education and
  dance theory given, on the one hand, the
  dominance of the masculine, authoritative figures
  in mainstream formal dance education and theory,
  and on the other hand, the significant (and
  increasing) participation of those who are
  neither masculine nor authoritativewomen,
  children, indigenous cultures, the elderlyin all
  aspects of dance and dance education (2).

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Somatic Practices

• Feldenkrais
• Alexander
• Ideokinesis
• Bartenieff Fundamentals (an extension of L.M.A.)
• Laban Movement Analysis
• Body-Mind Centering

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Laban Movement Analysis

• Derived from the practices and theories of
  Rudolph Laban (1879-1958), a choreographer,
  dancer, and movement theorist who made many
  contributions to the dancing world.
• Laban developed Labanotation, a system of dance
  notation which, at his time, elevated dance as an
  art form.

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• L.M.A. is a system and a language for observing,
  describing and notating all forms of movement. A
  movement analyst can use this language to
  describe and interpret human movement from the
  gesture of a hand in conversation to the complex
  action of a skilled athlete. L.M.A. can be used
  as a tool by dancers, athlete, physical and
  occupational therapist, and anyone wishing to
  enhance, refine, and clarify movement.
• The theory and practice of todays L.M.A. is
  based on four main components (BESS)
• Body
• Effort
• Shape
• Space

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Body-Mind Centering

• Body-Mind Centering is an ongoing, experiential
  journey into the alive and changing territory of
  the body. The explorer is the mindour thoughts,
  feelings, energy, soul, and spirit. Through this
  journey, we are led to an understanding of how
  the mind is expressed through the body in
  movement.
• --Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

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• The study of BMC includes both the cognitive and
  experiential learning of the body
  systemsskeleton, ligaments, muscles, fascia,
  fat, skin, organs, endocrine glands, nerves,
  fluids breathing and vocalization the senses
  and the dynamics of perception developmental
  movement and psychophysical integration.
  B.B.C.

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Video

• Beyond the Light, by Denise White
• --excerpted from Overtures, FSU School of
  Dance Masters Concert Series

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Case Studies

• After interviewing and observing Mary Williford,
  Martha Eddy, Glenna Bateson for four years at
  dance festivals and in dance classes, Sylvie
  Fortin discovered that the three dance
  instructors all strive to break away from the
  constraints of traditional dance pedagogy through
  the conscientious use of somatics in their
  classes.
• Mary Williford uses L.M.A. (professional dancer)
  
• Glenna draws sparingly from Feldenkrais,
  Alexander, and Ideo-kinesis. (degree in physical
  therapy)
• Martha uses concepts from L.M.A. and Body-Mind
  Centering. (degree in exercise physiology)

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Mary

• Im teaching the students to move from the
  inside out. Most of these students are
  interested in style. They are not interested in
  learning how to get the style. Im sort of
  teaching the students what its like to get
  somebody elses work from the inside out (57-58).

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Martha

• The class is designed to experientially teach
  principles of anatomy, kinesiology, human
  development, and movement fundamentals in
  relation to emotional/artistic expression. The
  aim is to coordinate inner body focus with the
  outward projection needed in performance.
  Emphasis is on befriending unfamiliar, unknown,
  or taboo parts of the body and psyche, learning
  to include them in the creative process (54).

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Glenna

• Our culture has virtually a poverty of movement.
  We separate mind and body. The politics and the
  society is such that it does not help you. It
  just removes you more and more from your own
  sensation. . . Of course to me, the most optimal
  way of learning is to have a very accurate sense
  of the inner body while its moving. Visually
  you see the outside and visually you see the
  inside and the two match (57).

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Glenna

• My goal is to make a technique class so Ive got
  to put in a certain degree of repetition but
  repetition of a certain type that keeps the sense
  very lively. It may be the same movement strung
  together to show that there is repetition of a
  theme or concept, or repetition of a sense of
  awareness but not of a movement necessarily
  (56).

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Review Question

• How is the use of somatic practices in the
  classroom empowering to both the teacher and the
  student?

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Answer

• With somatic practice, there isnt a rigid
  structure. Because of this, teachers are able to
  form their own regimes and are more flexible and
  open to ideas from students. Students are
  empowered, in turn, by being able to give input,
  where normally they wouldnt. Furthermore, there
  is a shift from alienation to authenticity. By
  giving the authority to the individual rather
  than to the experts, empowerment is achieved
  through personal control over ones body.

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Discussion Question

• Why is it important for teachers who engage in
  somatic pedagogy to distance themselves from
  their apprenticeship of observaton?

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Answer

• Time spent as a student provides prospective
  teachers with images of teaching that prove
  difficult to overcome because they tend to become
  ingrained. (52) It is necessary to let go of
  traditional teaching/learning methods in order to
  fully embrace somatic pedagogy.

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Review Question

• What is institutional disempowerment, and how
  does it impede the individual?

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ANSWER

• Institutional disempowerment occurs when
  pressures from the students and from the
  institution force teachers to compromise and
  sometimes suppress their personal style of
  teaching. They have to comply with the
  institution in order to keep their jobs.

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Discussion question

• Does somatics play a role outside of the
  classroom and if so, how?

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Answer

• The increasing complexity of our society
  requires us and the students who will shape the
  future to function in tasks that demand
  imaginative thinking and the ability to suggest
  alternatives and formulate hypotheses. Education
  in general. . . should focus on developing the
  ability to see the connection between actions and
  their consequences, between means and ends, to
  take cognitive risks, and to extend thinking
  beyond the known in order to deal effectively
  with what might be rather than with what is (61).

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And now for your very own...

• Somatic Activity!