"Movement Never Lies"... Graham's Father

Today in class, I never danced due to having a minor injury, so I observed.

We began the class with Graham's floorwork exercises. Watching the class made me more aware of the shapes that the body makes and what muscles are working to perform certain actions.

When watching my fellow colleagues performing the floorwork sequences, I could see the mistakes that were made. This included:

• Lack of the use of breath in over curves.
• Some people relax there necks too much and it breaks the line from the tail bone to the cranium in Release's.
• Ribs are popped out instead of keeping them in and performing an unilateral contraction of the internal obliques.
• Not contracting all of the muscles in the body in 2nd (heels need to be lifted off of the floor and legs turned out).
• Legs rolled in, in 2nd seated position.
• Some people were concentrating so much that they forgot about their feet; flex and point.
• When brushing the floor with the hands people weren't thinking about what Rebekah mentioned in the previous class, about reaching forwards and using as much extension as possible.

One of the exercises in parallel (Lumbar Fold) included using the spinal cord to the full potential. This also helped to stretch out the back and breathe into any areas that felt stiff or sore. The more flexible you are, the easier the exercise is. From viewing this, I could see that some people lacked in flexibility and struggled throughout the whole of the exercise. This made some pupils give up as it may have been sore and difficult.

Still on floor sequences, the class performed a "flexing and pointing" exercise. I paid full attention to this exercise as I get confused when performing it. I took a note of the co-ordination, dynamics, focus and strength and realised that the sequence is initiated by the core. Thinking of this, I surmised whether it improved the movements when breathing or holding the breath, as I have a tendency to do this occasionally. I then discovered that the movement comes from the breathing instead of the centre (core); spirals, curves and holds. I now realise how important it is to breathe if you want to look after your body and become the best dancer you can be. This sequence includes bilateral contractions of the body (curve) showing the contraction of the abdominals and the flexing of the trunk; increases strength.

"Activity with thought and feeling, joining mind and matter." Graham.M. pg 34. Modern Dance Bodies. This shows what my body goes through when performing the above sequence.

Following this exercise, they performed 'side holds' in second position, which included most strength from the quadriceps, abdominals, transversus, obliques and trapezius (also the rest of the body's muscles). Here we were told that we had to take the longest route possible from one side to the other, this made the movement flow smoother and worked the whole body. Hanging on to the centre will help prevent the ribs from popping out and will therefore help to keep the back open. Thinking about the journey through the spine to the head; this had to be a long line with no break in, so this involved attempting to keep the back as straight as possible to keep the energy continuous and help sit on the legs. This then instigated the feet to lift off of the floor showing that the muscles in the quadriceps were working to there maximum and weren't relaxed.

"We have had a dance of 'appearence', rather than 'being'" Graham.M. pg 20. Modern Dance Bodies. This quote applies to the exercise on a '6', in that it is all about the aesthetics of each position as this isn't needed in everyday dance. Important points on this exercise:

• kneeling off your heels.
• long back of the neck.
• flat back in position '1'.
• Initiate the movement from the core to show curves.
• Include all 24 bones in the spine.
• Lead from the hips in position '3' & '4'.
• Work through the movements and feel muscles working.