Unit 25 - Dance improvisation

Wednesday 19^th October

In today’s dance lecture we were continuing on from last week and we were looking at Alexander technique. To start off the lecture we carried out a gentle warmup including some leg stretches and some head rolls. We did not need to carry out a big warmup as we were not required to due to Alexander technique not being very fast pace. 

We started the Alexander technique with a reminder of the 3 points on the soles of the feet and balancing the weight evenly between then. We were also reminded about the top of the spine and balancing the head. Once we had walked around the room thinking about this for a while, Anne who is the Alexander technique teacher, got us to think about our head leading our bodies. To start the movement we looked to one side which was then followed by the head moving around and then we would end up walking in a circle. This exercise helps us to picture the spiral that is created in our spine. Another way of us being able to picture the spine and how it works is by lying on the floor.Here is a picture of us of thinking about the spine by lying on the floor:

As Anne said last week, she would bring some paperback books to help with the lengthening of the spine. These books were placed under our head so that our head was in line with the rest of the spine. We had our legs bent as this would help to minimise the natural arch in our back. Anne came round to us individually to make sure that our necks were loose and that our shoulders were as wide as possible. Next we rolled onto our side and curled up as small as we could. This helps us to think about the curve in our back. We then carried out the inverse to this by moving the arms and legs away from us and creating an opposite curve. Once we had created this other curve, we curled up and made the first curve gain and then kept alternating between the 2. Once we had done this a few times, we rolled onto our stomachs, up to hands and knees and slowly stood up. Lastly, we went for a gentle walk around the room. Here is a picture of us walking around the room to finish off the lesson: