Experiential Anatomy

Session where we had to create a short sequence and teach our peers ...

November Blog review

Time is a tricky thing in our lives. It just flies by and does not wait for those who are late…. I am talking about myself :) It is already December, so where is November gone so fast?

I think it is the best time to reflect upon my November practice as a dancer. 

As in previous review, I will reflect on Experiential Anatomy classes as I find them useful in order to understand my body. November was full of explorations as October, however, I have faced some difficulties. Exploration of movement patterns has continued whilst I was still stuck in one of the most complicated patterns for me which is mouthing pattern. The biggest surprise arises in my mind when I keep reading handouts given in class about infant’s development and I understand that all these patterns were done when I was a child. So why is it so difficult to go through them now when I am 21 years old? 

Mouthing pattern which is related to digestive system is one of the patterns which I would like to explore more. Maybe then I will become familiar with it? It is one of the most important patterns that have been used since I was a child: for searching food as well as vocal development. And now when I have used to it, it has never made me think that it is something amazing and it can be a stimulus for movement.

Studio practices have helped to go into depth of each movement pattern individually. I am looking forward to start term 2 in order to continue the research of my own body. One idea just popped into my head: every human being more or less went through similar movement patterns, however, have you ever realized how different we are? The only common thing is that we have 2 arms, 2 legs and head. Nothing else is identical. The way we walk, the way we sit, the way we execute different movements…. The world is full of surprises!

October blog review

October is over and it is the best time to reflect on it today!!! 

First of all, I would like to go into depth of Experiential Anatomy lessons  which were always fascinating me with its complexity and way of understanding my own moving body. During this class we are constantly exploring different movement patterns starting from cells and ending with ... (we will see at the end of the term :)). We have explored so far cells, sea sponge, jelly fish, starfish.

 

 Our next exploration point will be sea squat. These explorations of evolution made me understand how complicated is the world around us. Nothing just happened without reason. Each, even the smallest creature of the earth, has its own complicated system which I would not even notice if not these particular sessions where we are able to 'zoom in' each of them separately. In addition to that, even though human being obtains wide variety of movement patterns, exploration of those unknown and unfamiliar awaken forgotten movements in our bodies. The most exciting session for me was where we had move from navel, Navel Radiation Pattern. Hand out about this pattern while you are infant, helped to understand that this is the main movement pattern that we have as soon as we born. As I said before, nothing happens without reason, however, everything in this world is connected...

Skinner Releasing Technique, Release Based Contemporary, Feldenkrais Technique and Experiential Anatomy are the session where I try to involve all the knowledge I have gained from all these classes. As we all know, principles that have been applied in Skinner Releasing Technique, will be very useful for Release Based Contemporary and vice versa. Intergration - that is the key word I would use to describe the process of my personal learning and development.

Finally, challenges and success are always full of surprises and You can not predict them. In my opinion, I try to give my best in order to gain as much useful information as tutor can offer. Goals that I have set in the beginning of the year are slowly getting towards the FINISH line, however, I have to be very focused in order not to lose what I have gained so far.

Body Systems

Exploration through the direct experience of our own body systems, tissues and cells...

http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/02/human_body/ 

Reflection on moving with the idea of cells:

• feeling grounded
• quite heavy whilst at the same time quite light
• relation towards sponge 'a lot of cells create a spongy surface'
• cells create my body - MOVING BODY!

Quote from Lewis Thomas's `The Lives of a Cell' (Viking Press, 1974) – “I have been trying to think of the earth as a kind of organism, but it is a no go. I cannot think of it this way. It is too big, too complex, with too many working parts lacking visible connections. The other night, driving through a hilly, wooded part of southern New England, I wondered about this. If not like an organism, what is it like, what is it most like? Then, satisfactorily for that moment, it came to me: it is most like a single cell.” Yes, the cell is truly amazing – amazing in its complexity, yet fundamental to all forms of life including the human organism.

 http://www.biology.buffalo.edu/courses/bio531/lecture7.html

Experiential anatomy with Polly Hudson

''Containers of organs influence your movements''.
We worked in pairs:

• Let your partner to lay down still on his back.
• Put your arms on his stomach and rock him carefully from side to side.
• With your arms try to find organs: lungs, liver, heart. (Imagine that you feel them).
• Finally, help your partner to start rolling from organs.

This exercise helped me to be concentrated. When I was receiving this exercise, I felt like my body is a jelly container. After that, I had the feeling to expand myself as much as it is possible.