Dancers often execute high levels of movement skills, and many use unnecessary effort and tension that lead to injuries causing early retirement. This could be due to the result of poor underlying postural coordination, pressures of performance or faulty learning strategies.
Dancers will develop greater awareness and change faulty postural and movement patterns, move more freely and rest constructively. Dancers have reported that the Alexander Technique have enhanced artistic performance, including qualities such as:
• Flow
• Presence and depth in movement
• Sequencing
• Dynamics
• Capacity to improvise
• Confidence
• Injury prevention (Betti-Fiol, 2006)
Dancers learn how to direct movement and modulate effort without visual imagery. They attune to sensations such as muscular tightening and pulling. The important thing to note when learning this practice is to notice sensations of muscular tensions and pressure (directional pulls) in the body that interfere with inherent support mechanisms.
These steps in the process are known as “Means-Whereby”. When the muscular reactions are sensed and identified, how does one alter them? One does not need to impose additional muscular effort to correct the problem. For example, a dance will tuck his or her tailbone if he or she has a sway back.
Alexander discovered a process called “Inhibition”. This is a process where dancers learn to recognize reactive patterns and poor movement habits, to pause and consciously choose to either “fix” them nor allow them to happen. The dancer enters a state of non-interfering and can pay more attention to the movement without interfering with the inherent laws of coordination. (Betti-Fiol, 2006). The last step is “Direction” that involves the dancer to clarify their thoughts to ensure full spatial usage without unnecessary effort.
As the dancer learns to let go of habitual patterns that once felt “normal”, it is common to feel lost, not knowing or perceiving whether he or she is working hard enough. There might be times of frustrations as the student undergoes a process of undoing and relearning, however, the advantages are enormous overtime.
The Alexander technique empowers the dancer to choose, rather than to rely on habitual patterns of use that may be harmful or inappropriate. Learning the principles gives dancers tools that help facilitate a coordinated use of self, leading to a sense of pose and better capacity for efficiency and ease of motion.
The Alexander technique is a method that teaches people to move with a greater degree of ease and coordination. A practical technique learned under the guidance of a skilled teacher involves becoming aware of habitual patterns of movement and learning procedures for freeing oneself from these habits. One can invoke his or her innate capacity for psychomotor coordination by learning to use the skills of conscious inhibition, directed thought, and reliable sensory perception.
References:
Batson, G (2009) Somatic Studies and Dance. International Association for Dance Medicine and Science. Available at: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.iadms.org/resource/resmgr/resource_papers/somatic_studies.pdf [Accessed 12 January 2015].
Betti-Fiol, R (2006) Alexander Technique and Dance Technique Applications in the studio. Journal of Dance Education 6 (3) 78-85. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=12&sid=ca1648a1-32bc-4985-8ed64c340e5c0b05%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ibh&AN=22680769 [Accessed 15 January 2015].