Don’t Let the Pandemic Kill Your Technique
On Radio-Canada on March 30th 2021, Catherine Lalonde, dance critic and dancer, told Pénélope McQuade that the pandemic had killed her technique. So much so, that she no longer considered herself a dancer.
I do not want to diminish the magnitude of the effects that the pandemic is having on performing artists. It is true that the technique and the practice of our art form is very important, especially if we want to keep the same ardor and physicality. As she mentioned in the interview, “We owe it to ourselves as dancers to continue to refine our instrument, which is our body.”
In response to this, I believe that we must be creative, and somatic education offers an amalgamation of tools for deep research on the body and the self, and to have a better control of what one wants to do with greater precision and understanding. So, perhaps this is an opportunity to deepen your technique with creativity.
Now is a good time to invest your time and energy in one of these practices.
Some Benefits of My Classes:
1) Autonomy in Learning
2) Calm Your Nervous System
3) Improve the Efficiency of the Movement
4) Process-Oriented Technical Development
Somatic Education
Somatic education can be a very rewarding way to improve your technique without even dancing. One of my students recently told me that before practicing Feldenkrais®, she focused on what she lacked in her technique, what didn’t work, and what her weak spots were. It kept her from using what she was good at to improve what was going well, which could inform and help other challenging parts of her practice. She stopped at problems. Her self-criticism became harmful. This kind of approach often results muscle tension that can hamper the development of the dancer and reduce the effectiveness of the movement. Somatic education invites you to transform problems into projects, to use creativity, and to be in constant search for solutions by changing your perspective.
The transferability of skills and knowledge is seen in many fields and fields of study. You would know what I mean if you’ve read books like: Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, where a biologist brings a different point of view on the evolution of different cultural groups; or you follow Boucar Diouf a bit, who combines his knowledge on biodiversity to the diversity of cultures; or the well-known Gregory Bateson, who believed in the versatility of knowledge.
So yes, this pandemic is a big challenge, but it can be an opportunity to explore ways of moving that would not have occurred to us otherwise. Whether it is to improve an artistic skill, a sport, or overall wellbeing, we are being asked to slow down. By slowing down, we can become more aware of our habits and change those that no longer serve us. What may seem like a waste of time to us could actually be a way to save time in the long run.
In dance, as in life. Sign up for my newsletter to learn about my upcoming classes (free and low cost).
Photo Credits: Oda Aase Johnsen
