A while back I posted some thoughts on Alexander Technique, which I studied for a short while when I was in college. To summarize, it's a technique for getting more familiar with one's body. It has been utilized for decades to improve singing, dancing and acting technique. It's worth exploring.
I recently received this note from a student:
I've taken 2 Alexander lessons so far and it's been pretty good so far, but I have a lot of alignment issues to work through. I think I will take a break from swing dancing (at least a month, maybe 2 or 3) so I can get a solid foundation in Alexander for my core support and mobility without worrying about the social aspects. When I try to dance now I can feel that it's just a useless arm lead and that I'm not bending/relaxing in the right places, but I don't have the Alexander mojo yet, so I just reinforce the bad habits and feel awkward. Alexander used to tell people to take a year off their instrument but modern teachers never tell them to take any time off. I'll compromise between the extremes and take 1-3 months off. I will work on retraining my pulsing and watch swing videos with Alexander-style attention during this time of jedi training ;-)
One interesting thing you get from Alexander is learning that a lot of flexibility problems are just bending at the wrong place (for instance at the waist instead of the hips) and not actual muscle inflexibility. Also, releasing the neck to enable Primary Control is pretty cool too. Just by releasing my neck I can go from my normal falling backwards to pull a door open to instead just standing there and activating my chest, which feels more graceful. I think for someone as misaligned as me, this is the only way it is possible to move past the intermediate stage of any athletic activity like swing.
I asked this student whether I could post his note here. He responded yes, but
...[I]f anybody tries anything I mentioned without formal Alexander training they will almost definitely not succeed at it. When you try to release tension on your own you can only go as far as your current kinesthetic sense tells you is possible. It takes a teacher to guide you into unfamiliar but better ways of moving for your kinesthesia to start correcting itself. Before I started taking lessons I thought my neck was plenty relaxed, but then I found out that it was only relaxing enough so that I thought my head was straight. In reality, my head was pulled back and my neck muscles were tensing to keep it there because that was trained as "straight". I had to be shown by a teacher that what felt to me like my head was tilted forward was actually straight and I didn't need to use any neck muscles to keep it from falling over. I still feel now like my head is tilted forward when it's straight, even if I'm looking in the mirror right at my straight head. I would have never figured this out alone or from a book because I felt very sure before then that my head was straight and my neck was relaxed when I was really being lied to.
So, kudos to this student on their first steps down this road. It will be well worth the journey. Hope to see you when you're back!
Bonus:
Another student on Facebook quoted the Sindbad song from the Popeye cartoons. I responded with this video that I remember finding on an obscure vhs tape from Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee. That's how we used to find videos before the intertubes.
The homework I gave last week was to make a list of goals - goals for the coming month and goals for the year. If you have already started work on this, please feel free to click on the "homework" tab on the right to see what other students compiled last year.
Some postulating has been done on the notion of habits on the interwebs lately. You'll see the word habits mentioned a few times in the responses to my No Account Count postings. Click on the "8-Count" tab to read those. The theory goes that if one teaches the Lindy Hop using by numbers, then students will tend to learn the dance in discrete chunks, forming 6 and 8 count habits. Perhaps I am misinterpreting the comments. Please feel free to correct me if I have mis-characterized the argument.
With that argument in mind, I have to ask whether teaching beginning leads "left-right-triple-step, right-left-triple-step" and follows "right-left-triple-step, left-right-triple-step" as a basic is also objectionable. Certainly in the long run, no dancer needs to use those specific footwork patterns. However, if a teacher doesn't teach discrete patterns, then what should they teach?
Certainly it could be said that the old-timers varied their steps, however by the time Frankie Manning was teaching there was certainly a specific definition to the timing being used. I can't speak for what the Swedes learned from Al Minns. However, I have to question whether the teaching itself didn't create habits regardless of whether the teachers were counting or not.
Learning requires repetition; in repetition habits are formed. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it.
I studied a small bit of Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais Method when I was in college. Both have to do with the un-learning or re-learning of habits. Specifically those habits relate to alignment and breathing and over the years while the exercises grow more distant, I remember using them to reconsider the habits in my thinking as well. Yes, it takes work to grow beyond a habit but it's certainly possible and even more enlightening.
I'm actually excited for the Yoga/Feldenkrais Fusion workshop at Mission Street Yoga coming next month. Come join me in South Pasadena!
I recently saw a demonstration of Honda's Asimo robot at Disneyland and was reminded of some powerful exercises. If you haven't heard of Asimo, it is a project to create a humanoid robot, like Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons, but on two legs. Here's a commercial:
While Asimo is certainly an achievement in engineering , in terms of balance he's got nothing on the potential of the human body. Still, if you've seen Asimo's ability to balance, I'd ask you to consider challenging yourself. Balance exercise #1
Standing with both feet shoulder-width apart and arms outstretched, slowly and easily raise one leg forward, then lower without letting it touch the ground and then raise to extend the same leg backwards. Bring that leg back to standing and repeat with other leg.
Close eyes and repeat the process, which for most students is much more difficult.
Questions to ask: Why might closing my eyes make the balancing more difficult? What are the tools which can be used to make this balancing easier?
Thanks to Marcus Koch and Baerbl Kaufer for this exercise.
Balance exercise #2
Standing with legs shoulder-width apart and arms outstretched, raise right foot to meet left knee, balancing on the left foot.
Lift gaze to ceiling, or look upward.
Point fingers and bring them easily to the tip of your nose.
Questions to ask: Why would moving my hands to my face change your balance? What skills can be learned to improve my balance?
Thanks to Emily Falcon for this exercise.
Lead/Follow exercise #1
With a partner, join hands facing one another.
Let the lead choose to walk either forward or backward, letting the follow find their ease in following. The lead may choose to switch directions, forward or backward only, with the follow working to become more sensitive to the physical sensations necessary to follow.
As the follow becomes more comfortable, the lead may adjust their movement by shifting forward or backward and ending mid-step, with a foot in the air, challenging the follow to adjust to unexpected weight changes. While it is also difficult to make the follow move sideways, it is NOT a priority. Leads should work on getting a sense of how comfortable the follow is with the shifts in backwards/forwards movement.
Repeat the exercise, with the follow closing their eyes.
Repeat the exercise, but now with the lead closing their eyes.
Questions to ask: Which senses will I need to engage in order to be a better lead or follow? Why does closing my eyes make a difference in using these senses? How can I turn on my receptors?
Lead/Follow exercise #2
With a partner, dance a few measures of Lindy Hop.
Let the follow close their eyes, continuing the dance.
Switch roles, letting the lead close their eyes while the follow re-opens theirs.
Questions to ask: Did I anticipate my partner or was I successful in connecting with them? How do I engage the senses that activated when I close my eyes? What is the default state that will engage the essential lead and follow connection?
Thanks to Simon Selmon and Rusty Frank for the above two exercises.
Lead/Follow Exercise #3
Two partners bound at the wrists with a held cord or rope. Dance socially, but instead of using fingers and hands to lead, use only the cord and the lead's right arm/follow's back connection for leading.
Questions to ask: What modifications do I have to make in order to lead or follow under these circumstances? Which impulses are essential for leading and following and how can I access them?
Counterbalance/Compression exercise
Face a partner in a two-handed closed position
Choosing a partner to lead, slowly bend the knees as though sitting, noting the musculature that connects from one partner to the other. When a comfortable sit has been created, note the counterbalance used to keep both partners aloft. Viewed from the side, this would be called a V-shape.
Let the lead pull the couple together, both coming to standing.
Repeat and switch roles.
Stand as in step 1, but place both palms against each other as though each partner were performing a push-up against a wall.
Each partner should lean in toward the other, noting the work from their hands, arms and shoulders through to their cores. Viewed from the side, this would be described as an A-shape.
Work the transition from the A-shape (compression) slowly and easily through to the V-shape (counterbalance), and back again, noting the work in the corresponding musculature.
Questions to ask: What is the most efficient way to use my musculature when transitioning from A to V and back? Which of my muscles felt strain during this exercise? Where does my partner feel strain and how can I tell before asking? What can I do to ease this strain?
Thanks to Melinda Comeau for this exercise.
Breathing Exercise #1 The breathing exercise can be very dangerous to describe in text, as it it often misunderstood by students. The most important consideration when working on the breathing is to release any unnecessary tension. The image of a full breath might be one of a four-sided box, being your chest and belly, your sides and your back, open at the top and the bottom. In a full breath, each of these sides should feel relaxed and easy.
This exercise works well with a partner leading the way, but once it has become familiar it can be done solo.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, imagining a golden thread from your scalp into the sky, lengthening you to your tallest, easiest height.
Cut the thread, rolling the chin to the chest and continuing the roll down the spine to a relaxed fold at the waist as low as you can go without straining.
The standing partner places their palms pressed lightly at the nape of the folded partner's neck, right at the top of their spine, requesting a breath; "take a deep breath into here... and then out." The standing partner should note when the folded partner has released tension in that area, adjusting their touch responsively to their partner's breath.
When the musculature has opened up and released tension, the standing partner brings their hands somewhat lower and repeats the request.
Repeat step 4 until the folded partner's breath has opened up at the near the lower lumbar region of the spine. Take a few breaths in and out here and then hold in, roll up the spine to standing, remember the golden thread, and then release.
Questions to ask: It seems better to me not to suggest getting extremely self-conscious about breathing. However I would suggest doing a bit of research on the subject if you are interested. Perform a Google search on deep breathing. I can't suggest any of these links specifically, but it might be time for an adventure, though I believe that my approach to body awareness was informed by my teachers' suggestions of Feldenkrais Method and Alexander Technique, though I don't consider myself deeply educated in either. Buyer beware.
It looks like I have some research ahead!
Thanks to my college movement and voice teachers for this exercise. I wish I could remember your names.
