Dancing with Danza Libre
Today my classmates and I from the Masters in Dance (I am a MAPP candidate in Dance Pedagogy and Technique) from Middlesex University in London, participated in a rich discussion about the embodiment of dance, the language of dance and our search for understanding and exploration of dance literature. It was a wonderful discussion, collaborating with classmates and professors is very stimulating, one only wishes we had more time to share and that we could do so more often, and for a longer time. It feels that when time is up, our conversation is just getting deeper.
The concept of embodiment of dance and dance knowledge is a complex and deeply personal experience. How my knowledge is manifested through years of work and study is fascinating. Embodiment of dance for me was a deeply painful process. The world of classical ballet has become more inclusive through the years, but only if you retain White European physical characteristics. As a Latina in the American dance world, I knew I was welcome but only if I looked European. By the time I had fully developed my Latin roots were evident, my thighs became thick, my hips spread out and my waist seemed to shrink in comparison. I was pressured to loose weight despite being thin. I was made to feel embarrassed, and I felt embarrassed, and then felt angered by being embarrassed because my body is my biological and ethnic inheritance. I came from a line of strong and healthy women, women that looked like me. I quickly understood that I would not fit into the corps de ballet and had to become better, stronger and a unique artist to survive passing into professionalism. I spent many more hours than my classmates working on this body, Hours refining lines in front of the mirror and stylising my movement so it would look beautiful in my body with my dimensions. I found a strong, powerful and feminine voice. I learned to move my wide hips to my advantage creating rich and complex lines. In my rebellion to survive a process that should have destroyed me as a dancer, I found my dancer’s voice.
How did I learn? I took all the classes that my body and schedule would permit. From those classes and pre-professional training I gathered knowledge and experience. However, true learning occurred alone, when the dance studios had grown dark and most students had gone home. I would learn to feel the movements and the corrections I had gathered so as to create natural movements within my physical frame. It was in the silence and deep concentration of working alone with the movement, my body, the knowledge gathered and aesthetic intuition that I visualized, executed and learned to dance.
As I am older now and from the lens of academics, I can analyze that I was achieving learning through a combination of critical thinking and deep reflection. Learning by analyzing and doing.
Yet despite my physical uniqueness, the place where I arrive to regarding my embodiment of dance is the same as all dancers, we seek to dance beyond our technique to create art that is aesthetic and communicative of the artist’s voice. Creating connections between our learning is a challenging process aided by literature. Interesting though that through literature we find echo but not an exact expression of what we seek.
Thank you to all my classmates for the literature recommendations made. I did write down the names of books and authors, I hope my recommendations prove to be useful to you as well.
TO add to this, do you think that perhaps Classical Dance actually reflects the society and culture of the artists location? for example Chinese ballet companies reflect Chinese idea on beauty, Korean companies do the same in Korea, England the same for England, U.S.A. is the same, as well as France, Russia, Canada, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Did you as a dance student get exposed to different ballet companies, and their looks? and were you at that young age able to identify that each company has its own look? and where the looks potential come from?
ReplyDeleteI am just thinking 'out loud' :)
Hi! Possibly...also looks change and evolve as do social standards for beauty in general. Years ago one would have never dreamed of seeing Misty Copeland dancing for a company such as American Ballet Theatre. Yet today we see her become a star before our eyes.
DeleteHi Marianella,
ReplyDeleteI feel similarities in my dance training as I would get to the dance studio first in the morning to practice yesterday's lessons and again at the end of the day when all students went home. My 'extra training' prepared my body for the life as a professional dancer by sheer hard work. I started training at 18 so I had a lot of catching up to do. I went to the library to seek out books on classical ballet, so that I could learn all the positions and french names in order to understand exactly what I was supposed to be doing compared to the other students who knew what they were doing as they had gone through ballet examinations. Looking back I was finding my way own way of learning and now when I teach I always think about the student(s) in front of me and how I can get them to learn using different methods; this happens all the time now. Do you think that your own training made you a different teacher when you teach?
Michael thank you for your comments, what a beautiful personal story you have shared. I truly believe that dance students can surprise us and result in dance personalities that may contribute greatly to the dance world. You did begin very late, your feat is to admire.
DeleteMy teaching has been greatly marked by my unique dance process. I do spend large amounts of hours on the floor with my students focusing on physical conditioning prior to working on barre and centre work. I place a very big emphasis on performance experience. Lastly, and most importantly, I do dedicate a lot of personal time with each one of my dancers. I give them a lot of space to ask questions and make mistakes. Even though are classes are imparted as a group, the actual learning is completely individual and unique.