Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts

Monday, January 14, 2008

Major Dance Related Sites on the Web

Here are some excellent links and information for dancers, teacher, choreographers, and companies about what is out there in terms of dance and how this valuable information can be accessed via the web.

Major Dance Sites

Artslynx International Dance Resources

Ballet and Dance Web Ring

Criticaldance.com (for ballet, modern and all forms of performance dance)

CyberDance

Dance Links

Dancer Universe

Library of Congress Internet Resources for Music, Theater, and Dance

Sapphire Swan Dance Directory

Voice of Dance

If you know of any other great dance related resources on the web, please leave a comment and I will add it to the list.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Alexander Technique Part I

The principles of Alexander Technique that I will talk about in this post are principles that I have some personal experience with. I feel it is important to have direct personal experience of an idea in order to truly understand the idea and bring it into form. The principles I touch on are all experiences I have connected to through both Alexander Technique and self-awareness.

In Christy Harris’s article The Influence of the Alexander Technique on Modern Dance Aesthetics, she addresses an Alexander Technique principle of not end-gaining. She talks about how it is “a deeply ingrained habit for dancers to end-gain or misuse the body in order to achieve the appearance of movement”; I feel that is very true. She suggests a heightened sensory awareness and the discipline to stay present with the directions enables the dancer to maintain integrity in the process of movement, rather than end-gaining for the result.

Christy Harris also talks about the idea of faulty sense of awareness. This was very interesting to me; she says faulty sense of awareness is the recognition that our habits feel right to us. That our perception about the world is clouded by our own habitually conditioned patterning. She says it is important that we take responsibility for our habits, recognizing that they control us, and that they govern our choices and how we respond to the environment. This is very spiritual advice and is the basis; I feel, for a happy, healthy life. The idea of taking responsibility for ones behavior and use both physically and in our environments is where the truth lies.

Phyllis Richmond addresses, in her article The Alexander Technique and the Dancer –Preventative care during Activity, kinetic chain dysfunction. She says every thing comes back to technique, to the dancer working in a way that encourages injury. I definitely know what that is about, and she goes on to say more. That if the way of working interferes with normal joint stability and mobility, then the bones and muscles cannot perform their functions of posture and movement in the way the body is designed to function. The brain will compensate by automatically recruiting other muscle groups that take care of these functions and we develop compensatory kinetic chain dysfunction, which may prove to be the primary cause of injury.

Phyllis Richmond also addresses the idea of poor use, which she says is the underlying principle behind faulty technique. I feel like poor use is very influenced and caused by kinetic chain dysfunction. She says that a dancer with poor use is not only performing choreography but also is also expending additional, unnecessary energy and misapplied muscular bracing that interferes with the performance of the choreography. I spent years looking for ways to untrain my body’s habitual use while dancing. I was in pain so often, during performance and even while I slept. I was rolfed over and over and that helped some but I truly needed to change my use. My use did become better from the self-awareness and the rolfing, but I feel it improving in an accelerated way through practicing the Alexander principles and I am thankful for that. It still is an evolving process and I know that but at least I have some concrete teachings to work from and apply.

The Actor and The Neutral State by Joan Diamond interested me very much when the neutral state was addressed. She says the neutral state is the basis from which everything else should arise and express itself. She relates it to a driver who must go into neutral before changing gears, an actor needs to cultivate the neutral state in the body before entering the character one is going to play. Joan Diamond also talks about the idea of healer in the performing arts rather than critic. She says she encourages actors to observe each other in performance from the neutral state in the workshop setting. “Sitting in the neutral state, aware of one’s own structure and energy, staying well in one’s back, the actor comes into a big hearted, wide seeing perspective that the actor can observe his colleagues’ structure: where energy is blocked, where it could be released, where the sticking point lies. Observing one’s fellow colleague from this perspective enables the actor to bring constructive observations that help, rather than destroy.”

What a revolutionary idea this is to me. It seems like the perfect working model to create an atmosphere that I know people are wanting more and more in classrooms and workshops, but that is actually hard to create because people are so conditioned to be offensive and defensive. The idea of coming into this neutral state and then relating to the world, whether it be observing one’s classmate’s use or watching a performance, seems like a very enlightened and effective approach that I am experiencing in my own life.

This post continues.....

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Medical and Psychological Bibliography of Studies and Statistical Research on Self-Esteem in Dancers

The bulk of my research deals with dance and self-esteem related issues with a particular emphasis on medical and psychological studies and statistical research that focuses on self-esteem in dancers. My research highlights how these studies are being translated into use in dance companies, dance schools, and in the larger dance community in general. I have been pleased to note that the dance community, on a worldwide scale, is taking into account the various available studies and implementing programs and change where needed.

Dancing On Aero”. ASU Research E-Magazine. Publication Date: Spring 1999. 10 October 2004

This is the web site of “A magazine of scholarship and creative activity at Arizona State University”. It features an article on an ASU professor who revolutionizing the field of dance by training dancers more in line with how athletes are trained. He is interested in the serious health problems that plague dancer: nutrition deficiencies, menstrual and hormonal abnormalities, low self-esteem and the artistic aesthetic that results in low body weight. He includes in his teaching: nutrition, exercise science, physiology and a strong, healthy athletic aesthetic.

Taylor, Jim and Ceci Taylor. Psychology of Dance. Champaign: Human Kinetics, 1995.

This book has an extensive section on the cyclic connection of low self-esteem and poor performance in dancers. They claim that self-confidence is significantly related to anxiety and an excessively anxiety ridden environments inhibits performance.

Earl, William L. A Dancer Takes Flight: Psychological Concerns in the Development of the American Male Dancer. London: University Press of America, 1988.

This book attempts to study and understand the motivation and achievement of those who invest their lives in the execution of a physical repertory to be performed before a paying public. It asks if neurotic coping styles are a companion to exceptional prowess in the world of dance. The book is essentially asking if or what particular aspects of a male dancer’s symbolic processes constitute the instrument of both creativity and psychological illness.

Dyck, Noel and Eduardo P. Artchetti. Sport Dance and Embodied Identities. New York: Berg Oxford International Publishers, 2003.

This book argues that the beneficial outcomes attributed to children’s participation in sport and dance is extensive and extraordinary. In addition to offering physical exercise dance is identified by many teachers and parents as being especially well suited to equip children with self-esteem and confidence; nurturing a sense of responsibility and sociality in children.

Hanna, Judith Lynne. Dance and Stress. New York: AMS Press, 1988.

This book supports the idea that dance is an excellent stress reducer, stress that can lead to anxiety and low self-esteem. The book argues that the persistence of dance since the early times of humanity attests its efficacy in helping to resist, reduce and escape stress.

Adame, D. D., et al. “Physical Fitness, Body Image, and Locus of Control in College Women Dancers and Nondancers.” Perceptual Motor Skills 72.1 (1991): 91-5.

The article analyzed the measured physical fitness body image and locus of control in college freshman dancers and non-dancers. Through a variety of related tests and questionnaires it showed the dancers and non-dancers were the same in their relation to their appearance and the dancers had higher levels of physical fitness and health. This article was important to my research because it showed no difference in dancer and non-dancer self-esteem in relation to appearance.

Bettle, N., et al. “Body Image and Self-Esteem in Adolescent Ballet Dancers.” Perceptual Motor Skills 93.1 (2001): 297-309.

This study showed statistically that female adolescent dancers have a less favorable body image and self-esteem than adolescent male dancers. The article suggested interventions focused particularly on enhancing self-esteem could be useful in the prevention of psychopathology in adolescent ballet dancers. This article showed female dancers struggling over issues of self-esteem more than male dancers.

Clabaugh, A., and B. Morling. “Stereotype Accuracy of Ballet and Modern Dancers.” Journal of Social Psychology 144.1 (2004): 31-48.

This article addressed group stereotypes concerning ballet and modern dancers, where the stereotypes generally point to ballet dancers having lower body esteem. The groups actually scored the same in tests. This study shows that although ballerinas are often thought of as being hypercritical and perfectionist in relation to body image and technique, modern dancers suffer equally and must be addressed equally.

McCarren, Felicia. Dance Pathologies: Performance, Poetics, Medicine. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.

The author of this book chooses not to connect dance performance to beauty, grace, discipline, geometry, and the body’s transcendence of everyday bodiliness. Instead she chooses to point towards the complex and long-standing connections between illness, madness and performance, taking examples mostly from literature and history.

Golomer, E., et al. “Visual Contribution to Self-Induced Body Sway Frequencies and Visual Perception of Male Professional Dancers.” Neuroscience Letters 267.3 (1999): 189-92.

This article showed that professional male dancers were significantly more stable and less dependent on vision for postural control and perception than untrained male subjects. This essentially shows that male dancers were more stable in terms of balance because of extensive dance training. The study supports the idea that prowess in physical ability cultivates a positive self-image.

Healthier Dancer Program.” Dance UK. Last Modified 6 September 2001. 10 October 2004

This web sight offers literature and workshops on cultivating confidence boosting for dancers. It also talks about how to educate dancers on how to eat while touring and performing. There are events and talks on dance training and adolescent development presented by qualified psychologists and psychoanalysts. The site offers well-attended workshops on managing and overcoming performance anxiety and stress management. Self-esteem and motivation issues are addressed through talks and workshops along with eating disorders and dance and the female body presented by leading medical researchers.

Neumarker, K., et al. “Age- and Gender-Related Psychological Characteristics of Adolescent Ballet Dancers.” Psychopathology 33.3 (2000): 137-42.

The article shows that female adolescent dancers have lower body image and higher eating disorder tendencies than non-dancing adolescent females. Male adolescent dancers and non-dancing adolescent males were generally equal in those areas and higher than the females. This shows female dancers tend to have more issues regarding self- esteem than male dancers.

Radell, S. A., D. D. Adame, and S. P. Cole. “Effect of Teaching with Mirrors on Body Image and Locus of Control in Women College Ballet Dancers.” Perceptual Motor Skills 95.3 Pt 2 (2002): 1239-47.

This article addressed the effect of mirrors used in dance training. It showed that the use of mirrors in dance training definitely contributes to the low body image of the majority of the dancers in the study. It shows that when one is constantly watching ones self with a critical eye it causes over perfectionism and low self-esteem.

Edited by Ruch, Theodore C. Ph.D. and Harry D. Patton Ph.D. Physiology and Biophysics: Nineteenth Edition. Philadelphia and London: W.B. Saunders Company, 1960.

This is an indexical reference that supports the importance of movement in relation to health and longevity. I could not find an indexical reference that related directly to my research area of interest. This reference is supportive to the idea of physical activity as important to bodily health and when one feels healthy physically one is less prone to depression and low-self esteem; and dance is a physical activity.

Working together for healthy dancers at The Australian Ballet School.” Critical Dance. Last Modified 23 July 2003. 23 October 2004

This web sight has articles, information, workshops and special events that highlight how to cultivate health both physically and psychologically in dancers. For example an article on The Australian Ballet School students’ attitudes to injury are examined in general psychology class. They aim to de-stigmatize injuries and give dancers a feeling of personal control and self-responsibility/self-confidence.

Eating Disorders in Dance.” EDancing. 23 October 2004

This is a web site that posts articles and discussions on dancer health and lifestyle. The site educates the reader on the topics of eating disorders in dance and possibly how to eliminate the onset of these disorders. The site states that dancing, particularly ballet teaches people to be highly self-critical and encouraged by their teachers to focus on their imperfections in order to improve technique. These are some of the factors that may contribute to the development of eating disorders as they feed the negative side of the young dancers personality.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Reflections on Alvin Ailey Dances

Revelations by Alvin Ailey

I recently watched Alvin Ailey's Revelations on film and again I was struck by the power of this work. Alvin Ailey studied in Los Angeles with Lester Horton, whose strong, dramatic style and views about multiracial casting influenced his dance choreography and artistic direction. He moved to New York in 1954, where he studied dance with Martha Graham and Charles Weidman and acting with Stella Adler. In 1958 he formed his own company, the American Dance Theater, which, multiracial since 1963, has been internationally acclaimed and has brought recognition to many African-American and Asian dancers. Typically, Ailey's work combines jazz, modern, and African dance elements.

Alvin Ailey Dance Theater (also known as the Alvin Ailey Dance Company) is one of America's most renowned dance companies. Taking popular music, gospel and jazz and mixing the classical vocabulary of ballet with contemporary styles, the Company radiates an energy that cannot be ignored. International ambassadors of African-American culture, the Company has performed for over an estimated 19 million people in 68 countries on six different continents. From its first performance in 1958, it has changed the way people view dance and the African-American aesthetic. Alvin Ailey's most famous work, Revelations, is a glorious celebration of the gospel and spiritual music Ailey grew up with in Texas during the 1940's. Created in 1960, this classic piece of modern dance theatre still inspires audiences whenever it is performed.

If "Revelations" is no longer revelatory, it nevertheless retains its dramatic power and kinesthetic kick. Choreographed by Ailey in 1960 as a tribute to his Baptist boyhood, its devotional fervor and half a dozen now-iconic images still present a compelling picture of people connecting to a higher power. The dancers, as if responding to the enjoining title of the final section -- "Move, Members, Move" -- ride this gospel soundtrack to heaven.