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In term 3 we were first introduced to the flying low technique, the main concepts we covered were aspects of gathering and sending. The concept of gathering and energy and sending can help build and decimate momentum when moving in and out of the floor. I have found the progression of floor or to flying low to be useful as I can apply gathering and sending order to create even more momentum in my moment. Our floorwork classes in second term, often focussed on a release base approach to accessing the floor. Fr example, we would relax the muscle in our body in order to sink into the floor, however in flying low the gathering movement is used to gradually bring yourself to the floor, in order to send (extend the energy outwards) when reaching the floor.

In addition, many aspects to the warmup in flying low, I have found applicable to my GAGA classes. At the beginning of a flying low class, we have explored passing through. Passing through looks like bodies constantly passing through and weaving in and out of each other in the space, shifting weight from one foot to another. In order for this to be done there must be an openness and awareness to the space and what is around you in order to safely move around each other. For me this has been a similar experience to GAGA, as I have a tendency to become internally focussed when I am dancing. A large focus my GAGA teacher has given to me is to lift my focus to the space an to be aware of what is going on around me. In flying low if you become internalised you will crash into others, this has been an effective way of forcing m awareness to open up and to become more spatial aware.

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Throughout the year I have been introduced to hiphop related dance forms, which is a completely new style for me to grasp. growing up I learnt ballet, meaning the physical form of the body, (for example, turnout, elevation and extension) were built into my muscle memory and I found it very difficult to unlearn this in my body. One thing I have struggled with is feeling confident and not feeling like I look 'silly'. Within our popping classes we have been exploring improvising within syphers for our warmup. I find these warmup extremely difficult as I haven't felt like I can improvise in front of people in an unfamiliar style without it causing anxiety attacks.
For me this has strong links to my GAGA classes, looking at improvising with a somatic approach over a performative approach. I have been trying to apply the feeling I have in GAGA where I am moving without thinking what others think of me and purely how the movement feels from within the body.
After talking to my popping teacher regarding my issues with anxiety, she recommended just focussing on the performing the basic moves we have learnt in class and then slowly adding small changes to make to movement personal to me. This has especially helped me take the pressure off performing in a sypher, by just performing basic frames and positions and performing on or two pops in each position. after that I was slowly able to add groove base movement between each frame. In reflection I have found breaking down movement and focussing on smaller exploration tasks, then developing them has helped me take the pressure and anxiety away.

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Apon my training, I discovered that my body was hypermobile and that I had a large range of motion in many of my joints. One of the main aspects I have been focussing on, is the mobility in my shoulders. In many aspects my large range of motion in my shoulder blades, has allowed for a wider exploration in my movements, for example in GAGA I am able to explore concepts to a higher extremity in my shoulders. However, I have also learnt that the stability must be built.

This first became apparent in my floorwork class, where certain movements were causing pain. For example, one move we performed, included lying on the floor, on our sides, placing our arms in front and raising/ jumping, the hips in between the gap in the arms. When performing this move, I could feel my shoulder blades sliding against the floor, causing a strain. I have also noticed a lack of shoulder stability in any floorwork moves that include going on the hands, such as handstands.

In order build my shoulders stability, I spoke to my teacher in dance fitness. We looked at developing series of shoulder stability targeted exercises that I aim to complete at least three times a week.

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(I am the dancer in a pink long top)

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In term three we have been introduced to the dance practice GAGA, a form of guided improvisation, founded by Bachteva Dance Company. Structurally the class builds and decreases with intensity without stopping, the class takes a somatic approach to improvisation, focussing the sensations movement can bring to the body. A big adjustment for me in the learning process of GAGA was to keep full focus on the sensations of the body for the entirety of the lesson. The teaching methods used in GAGA look at layering information as the class progresses, over shifting the moment focus immediately. At first this was a difficult challenge as I was feeling overwhelmed with applying every piece of information given to me. However, I felt as though my mindset shift in class one week where the teacher spoke on how she is only here to offer explorations and ideas to inspire movement. Looking at the class from this perspective helped me keep focus as new information was being added, without getting overwhelmed, as I was not taking the instructions as literally.

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Within our classes there has been a focus on improving our turnout. This was first introduced at the beginning of the year in our floor barre classes, where we would perform rotation exercises in the hip while lying on the floor. In addition, we practiced turn out exercise, stability exercises, such and opening and closing clam in our Pilates class. This was the progressed when we began our Cunningham classes, for example in the warmup exercises such as our foot extension exercise, we would first perform the exercises in parallel and then in turn out. This allowed me at the beginning of the class to access the rotation muscles in my hip joints and for me to activate the muscles used for parallel and turn out, without moving across the space. This would then progress later in the class when we would perform exercises that travelled across the space, such as transitioning, leg extensions in parallel and turn out.

When we entered third term, we began ballet classes three times a week. The first few weeks felt tough physically on my body, especially my glutes, as I had not been training my turn out activation to the same intensity (spending a whole class in turn out, compared to a more equal split with using parallel, in Cunningham). When we first started the ballet class, the was a heavy focus on finding our turn out, for example at the beginning of class we would standing in parallel and rotate our legs into first position. Below are diagrams taken after class and notes on when I have used turn out in ballet.

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Over the past two weeks we have been learning repertoire from Richard Alston’s work 'Blow Over'. In the movement content we are learning it has many connections to the Cunningham technique we have been learning and ballet. The first few days of the project we have been doing technique class to help us prepare for the day and we have been learning a movement phrase which is heavily focussed on jump aspects. Within the first day I pulled a muscle in my foot due to the lack of jump prep I had done before the project. In our dance fitness class, we looked at elements of safe jump preparation. Looking at jumping on one foot keeping correct alignment in the knees. I feel as though in reflection I should have been training the jump preparation that we were taught in dance fitness, regularly outside of class, in order to prevent injury. As we were not training ballet before starting the project the preparation of training technical jumps on a regular basis was not there and I should have recognised this and taken my training into my own hand to prepare for this. Within Cunningham however we had been training turnout skills which were used throughout the entirety of the repertoire
Due to my injury
throughout the two weeks I had to modify my movement in order to prevent any
further damage. In doing this I stopped doing any jumps and used the soft tissue
massage skills I developed to look after my feet. Over the two weeks I managed
to feel as though I was in a place where I could jump on my foot safely in the
final performance. However, this has been a great learning curve that I should be filling in the gaps in my training. I should have recognised that I was not training jumps regularly and I should have prepared for the repertoire we were learning.

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We have recently been attending teaching practices classes and safe practice classes, looking at ways to create a supportive and safe environment for a dance class. One aspect that I have been focussed on recently is the importance of warmups for safe dance practises. In our teaching and safe practice classes we have been looking at how to gear a warm-up correctly for a class. As teacher you have the responsibility of the safety of the students in you're hands and must prepare the students correctly for the class to come. In our dance fitness classes, we have been looking at the warmup model RAMP, which stands for Raise, Activate, Mobilise and Potentiate. In our teaching classes we each created warm-up phrases to teach to the class, geared towards what the class would be. For example if I was to prepare a class for a release base class within the mobilising section of the warmup I would get the students to perform roll downs from the top of the spine to the bottom. this would mobilise the spine and safely prepare a release class as it often uses full range of mobility in the back.

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Within our Pilates (and yoga practices) we have looked at positions and movements that involve twisting, such as the prayer twist. We have looked and creating twists in different parts of the body, including the torso. When twisting the torso in positions such as the seated yoga twist, we have looked at creating a twist without compromising the back. To do this, i think of a force of energy extending though my spine upwards, allowing space for the twist. Without this focus is not there I find my spine curves over my body.

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Within most techniques of dance, I struggle to most with sticking to specific counts and timing. For example in Kates first Cunningham class we were asked to perform pulses on the off counts. For me i struggled with this as I wasn't sure where to perform the pulses as I didn't even know where the counts were, I found myself looking up to see where the counts were. This also relates to my other practices, such as floorwork were we perform a phrase which has ten counts instead of the more typical eight counts. I notice that I was counting the counts in my head or even thinking about them at all.

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Within dance fitness, we have been looking at the concept of improving power and the ability to move efficiently and quickly. This is often achieved by performing certain exercising at different speeds. For example we perform a set routine of exercises which are repeated with different counts. One exercise we perform is a press up, the phrase of time which improves power, is when we take four counts to press down and one count to press up. This explosive power, improves the ability to move quickly

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Within floorwork power is integral in being able to move in and out the floor seamlessly and quickly. I have discovered that I have most power when it comes from the muscles in the lower half of my body. However I discovered that when i was required to use power coming from my arms, I would fatigue easily and it would not have the same drive to the movements.

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In addition to this it links to the dance practice of locking. Within locking it requires the ability to move your arms quickly on beat to the music, for example by pacing, pointing and locking into arm positions. When learning the movements and phrases, I felt as though I could perform the movements when going at a slower pace however when were were told to increase the speed, I find myself not being able to keep up, as it feels difficult for my arms to reach each position in time.

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Often I find that I struggle to multi task in performing with artistry and performance, as well as keeping to timing. For me i relate this to my pending ADHD diagnosis, which can mean that I cannot focus on all things at once otherwise often my brain feels overwhelmed and only focus on one thing.

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Overall I've been been focussing on using the body conditioning exercises from dance fitness to improve the power in my arms.

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The teaching approach, applied in GAGA is something that I would feel inspired to recreate in my own teaching practices. The concept of dancing for a whole hour without stopping, is extremely beneficial to building your students stamina in class. The classes were well structured, as the level of intensity would build and lessen throughout the class, to maintain energy throughout the class. In addition, the way each piece of information is layered throughout the improvision, allows for concepts and ideas in improvision, to be built on rather than immediately shifting focus.

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Twists are an integral part to the Cunningham technique, to maintain correct alignment in a torso twist in Cunningham the rest of the body must not be compromised, for example by maintaining the facing of the hips while moving the upper body. In addition in twits that require balance, such at a standing relive with a twist in the torso, requires the same thought process of creating extension in the spine. In doing this I feel like my centre of balance runs like a straight line down my body, keeping me centred in a twisted position

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Strategies I'm looking to put in place to improve this, include focussing my energy on one thing at a time. Due to the way my brain works, I have discovered its difficult for me to think both about timing and counts as well as artistry. One way I'm looking to change this, is when first learning a phrase of movement, I want to look at making sure I have the exact counts and timing, with that being my main focus. Once that has built into my muscle memory and the timing becomes second nature, then I can focus on my performance qualities.