I’ve been wanting to write about this for a long time.
Dance is more than what we call ‘dancing’ - it is a form of movement: when the movement shifts from functionalism and ‘tool’ oriented, to style and flow oriented. It is that moment when the bird takes flight.
There are so many different types of dance. Poetry is dance; worship, romance and the sacred - all are dance.
But here I want to deal with physical body dance.
Again there are so many different forms of dance for the body. I am not going to attempt to explain any of those. Take for example the difference between playing a song on a musical instrument, compared to just playing the instrument. You can learn to play an instrument - and then you can learn to play a song on the instrument. But there is a difference.
Take voice - you can sing a song, or speak a conversation; or you can explore your voice alone. This is the distinction I want to make with what I am about to say with dance.
I am interested in the body, not a specific type of dance. I am interested in creating effects physically.
Many music teachers will teach music and instrument by teaching a ‘tune’ or a song or a composed piece. But that is not the only way to learn. You can focus on the instrument itself, and explore it completely outside anything pre-composed. Find the sounds and the movement your instrument enjoys - tap it, bang it, hold it in the air, swing it round, make sounds in all sorts of strange ways: to find what is this ‘thing’ you are holding, called an ‘instrument’.
That is the approach I want to take with dance and the body. To begin, you have to put aside all you have learnt about dancing. You can retrieve that later. For this exploration you simply begin with the body itself, and all the strange ways it can twist, move and flop.
Western dance is characterised by a distinct flat-footedness. Not all types, but so many that it is very noticeable. The upper torso and arms are used, but very little is done with the feet. The effect is a ‘heaviness’ quite distinct to the dance of more ‘primitive’ cultures.
The body has certain ‘areas’ of movement, which I will take each at a time.
The feet can move up-and-down, the knees can bend in an up-and-down movement, the legs can move from straight standing position to a wide arc horizontally (or higher) around the pelvis, the pelvis moves front-back, side-to-side and around, the torso bends dramatically from the waist in many directions, plus there is one specific ‘movement of power’ it is capable of, the arms are the most expressive and can go almost anywhere, the head can pivot on the neck, and the hands have the fullest character of fine actions.
You don’t have to be any kind of a dancer to practice what I am about to describe. However, to fully explore this, some physical capacity is necessary. Yet that can apply to any ‘area’ - even if only your hands can move, you can find in them alone the beauty of dance.
I am going to follow through a succession of exercises, to explore the body’s dance. I will begin at the start, but there is no end. Once these exercises have reached a certain threshold, it is normal to move into one of the more recognised forms of dance. These practices comprise a physical basis, which can enable other dance modes to build on.
I can’t go into the full detail of each practice - each part can be taken alone and broken down into many sub-parts, and explored more fully. I will describe my preferred postures, but each person will have to adapt their own approach and variations depending on their own body uniqueness.
Just keep in mind the three main precepts of ‘dance’: flexibility, strength, balance (centring).
1. We always begin with the centre. Complete non-movement. All power of action flows commensurate with the depth of inaction. These are two sides of the one coin, and continuously reflect each other, and draw from each other.
Thus we begin with meditation. Sit cross legged: you may find it best to have something under your sitting bones to lift your buttocks higher than your legs a little. Still your mind and body.
2. Sit on your ‘hams’ - tuck your legs under and sit on your heels. This can be done with the knees together (Japanese style) or apart (Iraqi style) - I prefer apart myself. Again compose yourself - still the mind and body.
3. Move the legs out. This is where the legs can easily stretch out in many different variations, but keep in mind, that later when standing in dance, the legs can again reach these positions as you leap from the ground. So for example, one good position is the hurdle-jumping posture: bend the right leg and bring the foot back along your right side - the knee out at a slight angle. Straighten the left leg directly out front. Twist the upper body to face behind on both sides. Then switch around the legs to balance it out. That is just one example, and you should explore your own. (This is a huge area, and I would like to devote a whole piece to it, but it really comes under a different heading to dance.)
The blood begins to flow through the body, the legs warm and flex. When you feel ready:
4. The squat. In Asia people have the ability to squat with their knees up in front of them and their bottom almost touching the ground, with feet flat. This is a wonderful position if you can achieve it. Otherwise put the knees forward, with the ankles bent and heels off the ground only as much as necessary.
5. Move from side to side - weight to one leg then the other. As you sway, eventually you can stretch one leg straight out to the side. Then swap and stretch out the other. Eventually you may be able to reach a full position with, eg the right leg fully extended, the left squat, the left hand down on the ground to the left side and the then bring the right hand all the way across and stretch it up to the furthermost left, above head level - stretching the full length of the right side of the body from right toes to right fingers in a huge arc. Swap to the other side.
That is the preliminaries - the centring, the warming and the stretching of mainly the lower body. Now begins the rhythm.
6. The pulse. Rise to standing. This is the area most ignored by all dancers. It is the dance jewel of the Africans. Look at Africans at a market or a political rally, where they almost invariably have music playing. You will notice they are all gently rocking on their feet. The feet are ‘active’ and bouncing subtly up-and-down. This is a technique they do instinctively, but the rest of us have to learn it.
Stand relaxed, upright, with knees very slightly bent - just out of the locked position. Then bounce up and down on the balls of your feet - the work is done by the feet and ankles. This is such an unaccustomed movement for non-Africans, that it is best to practice it on its own for long periods, till it becomes second nature. It also has a specific musical rhythm associated with it, which African music always has embedded in it, and other cultural music rarely has - a subtle elastic pulse, or quick ‘shuffle’.
7. Extend the pulse to the knees. The knees can also participate in this bouncing pulse. Here it is best to observe the stance of Martial Arts - the legs in a slight bent position, ready for action. To practice this, it can be useful when doing the washing-up after dinner, with those sinks which are a little too low which people built back in the 1950’s. Open the cupboard doors beneath the sink, and bend at the knees, while washing the plates. But always maintain flexibility and subtle movement - never rigid, or you may damage your knees.
8. Extended leg movements. I personally like here to do the Martial Arts kick variations, as that also frees up the hip and pelvis joints - to the front, the side, the back and the ‘round-house’ kick. No need to make a big fuss - just gentle versions will do. This is another area to explore yourself.
9. The prance. This is the last of the leg phase. Begin by consecutively flicking each foot up the inside of the other leg. Reach down with the hands and grab the knee as you pull it up into your chest. Reach further down and grasp the air beneath each foot and quickly pull it up into your chest. Lift the knees higher and higher, till you begin to ‘take off’, and prance like a large bird doing its courtship dance.
Point the arms and fingers straight down each side, at the ground, and lift those knees! Move forward and back, prance around like an emu. It is a highly energetic movement, but also highly exhilarating. The idea is to lift off the ground, and float above with the legs making lightening strikes down to sustain the aerial altitude. In this movement, we transfer the weight and heaviness of our normal ‘grounded’ posture of gravity, to a light and air-born centre.
Next area is the pelvis... for later.
