Reading Eric Franklin's 'Dance Imagery for
Technique and Performance' has widened my thinking about imagery, its scope and
its uses. I have started to take the
book into my classes, and am trying to encourage my students to think
differently in the approach to their work, all of which is going well. I have been doing this kind of work ever
since I discovered Valerie Grieg's 'Inside Ballet Technique' which supported
what I already thought, so all good.
However, last night I started to read Drid
Williams' 'Teaching Dancing with Ideokinetic Principles' and I felt like my
brain might pop....
I refer to Page 2 of Chapter 1, which quotes
Jean George Noverre (1760) as cited by Derek Lynham in 1950 (138): 'There may be only one right principle to be
taught, but is there only one way of demonstrating it and of imparting it to
the students one undertakes to teach, and must one not of necessity lead them
to the same end by different ways?'
For me this sums up the teaching of dance,
both within concepts that are way bigger than teaching and within how I feel
about and approach teaching. The thought
that there was this level of awareness within approaching teaching dance (and
this quote also discusses the fact that each physique is different and
therefore will appropriate technique according to physiognomy) as early as 1760
was incredible to me, especially as I witness teaching today that does not seem
to account for either statement. Within
the communities within which I teach, I have always felt that my teaching is
different – and I have been told this is the case by my students. Now I am reading book after book that confirms
that this practice is out there and I feel inspired, yet a small fish in a
large pond. Although this is reassuring
and inspiring, I have a slight anxiety which I want to put out there….
Reading about Williams’s utilisation of Lulu
Sweigard's 'principles regarding imagery in dance technique classes' (Chapter
1, page 12) and how Williams approaches teaching: ensuring that the dancer in
the class is thinking about what anatomical processes are taking place, (the ‘how
to’ that I have discussed since the start of this study process,) was inspiring
and I related well to the structure that the lesson may take, which included
taking time to explain and identify areas of the anatomy which are responsible for
certain actions such as turning out. In
my classes I often state that I would prefer quality to quantity, and often
commence a class, or take time within it to stop, to refer to text or visual
images, or use verbal descriptions to work on a step, line, position, or sequence
rather than running through a set amount of work in a set format, following one
exercise with another.
I was cautioned however by the comment further
down page 12 that ‘Not everyone responds positively to the kind of teaching I
advocate…’ I now feel that part of my research should include a survey of the
balance between who feels they benefit from my teaching methods and who does
not. I guess it is an advance on
ascertaining the benefits and uses of the imagery I use. I feel a little vulnerable, and need to remind
myself of the positive feedback I receive, but nonetheless I need to put myself
through this to ensure that I am giving the students what they need.
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