Last week’s blog post and Podcast lesson were inspired by a lecture that Moshe Feldenkrais once gave, in which he discussed Nijinsky. We received a wonderful follow-up post from Daniel Gesmer. If you have not yet read Daniel’s comments, please go to the post titled “Jump Thoughts,” (Nov. 2007) and click the "comments link" at the end of the article.
Daniel’s post got me thinking about the use of imagination in the Feldenkrais Method®. Specifically, how Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) lessons can help to develop the ability to imagine not only the visual image of movement, but also the kinesthetic sensations associated with it. After experiencing how effective imagining was at bringing about remarkable changes in my own organization and functioning, I began to utilize imagining more and more in my teaching practice, and in life generally. This week’s Podcast lesson will introduce you to the process. Enjoy!
IntelliDANCE Podcast 5: Imagining
© Andrea Higgins 2007.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Jump Thoughts
I have been working with the ideas and movement explorations in this week’s Podcast lesson for a number of years. I would like to share the background, for it has to do with a story I once heard about Nijinsky.
When I was training to become a Feldenkrais® practitioner, the Educational Director of my program, David Zemach-Bersin, showed a video of a lecture given by Moshe Feldenkrais on Nijinsky. I was not able to obtain a transcript of the lecture, as it was under copyright, so I contacted David afterward to see if he might be able to provide further information. He was only able to provide some basic context, the essence of which, is that Moshe was introduced to a family member of Nijinsky, who let Moshe look at Nijinsky’s private journals.
In his lecture, I recall Moshe talking about how Nijinsky was able to “fly out the window.” He never clarified this point further; I assume he was referring to a moment in a specific ballet, but as I am not a Nijinsky scholar (and have never studied his journals), I am not sure what he was referring to exactly. The more important part of Moshe’s lecture had to do with how Nijinsky prepared to “fly out the window.”
Moshe said that Nijinsky would sit quietly in a chair and gently lift his feet off the ground. He would do this for some time. Then, he would get up and “fly out the window.” What interested me about this story was not the part about flying out the window. It was the part about sitting in a chair and gently lifting his feet. It was the glimpse into Nijinsky’s process.
Much of what we do in dance is an extension of what we do in daily life. It is a more exaggerated, dynamic, faster and stylized extension of daily activities. As learners and teachers we forget that underlying the most complicated or virtuosic dance combinations are some very basic movement and body organization patterns.
Think about what a jump—out the window or otherwise—really is for a moment. It is an extension of standing up. For a very young child it is often a very joyful extension of standing up. In dance we limit the expression of those basic patterns according to stylistic requirements, but by returning to the basic functional patterns from time to time, we can help to reorganize ourselves in such a way that our dance patterns improve.
In this week’s Podcast lesson we will see if we can figure out what Nijinsky seemed to intuitively understand. How, by sitting quietly in a chair and lifting our feet, we can improve our jumps. Enjoy!
IntelliDANCE Podcast 4: Jump Thoughts
© Andrea Higgins 2007
When I was training to become a Feldenkrais® practitioner, the Educational Director of my program, David Zemach-Bersin, showed a video of a lecture given by Moshe Feldenkrais on Nijinsky. I was not able to obtain a transcript of the lecture, as it was under copyright, so I contacted David afterward to see if he might be able to provide further information. He was only able to provide some basic context, the essence of which, is that Moshe was introduced to a family member of Nijinsky, who let Moshe look at Nijinsky’s private journals.
In his lecture, I recall Moshe talking about how Nijinsky was able to “fly out the window.” He never clarified this point further; I assume he was referring to a moment in a specific ballet, but as I am not a Nijinsky scholar (and have never studied his journals), I am not sure what he was referring to exactly. The more important part of Moshe’s lecture had to do with how Nijinsky prepared to “fly out the window.”
Moshe said that Nijinsky would sit quietly in a chair and gently lift his feet off the ground. He would do this for some time. Then, he would get up and “fly out the window.” What interested me about this story was not the part about flying out the window. It was the part about sitting in a chair and gently lifting his feet. It was the glimpse into Nijinsky’s process.
Much of what we do in dance is an extension of what we do in daily life. It is a more exaggerated, dynamic, faster and stylized extension of daily activities. As learners and teachers we forget that underlying the most complicated or virtuosic dance combinations are some very basic movement and body organization patterns.
Think about what a jump—out the window or otherwise—really is for a moment. It is an extension of standing up. For a very young child it is often a very joyful extension of standing up. In dance we limit the expression of those basic patterns according to stylistic requirements, but by returning to the basic functional patterns from time to time, we can help to reorganize ourselves in such a way that our dance patterns improve.
In this week’s Podcast lesson we will see if we can figure out what Nijinsky seemed to intuitively understand. How, by sitting quietly in a chair and lifting our feet, we can improve our jumps. Enjoy!
IntelliDANCE Podcast 4: Jump Thoughts
© Andrea Higgins 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
