Observation 3: Dance and the Body

Wednesday, Jan 28th
Today, I had a great opportunity to listen as my professor, Elana, spoke to her modern 2 class (10:30am-12pm) about dance and the body. It was different today, because the students usually dance, but instead they spoke about the body. I noticed that it was a very comfortable setting among the students and they were able to speak their mind and state what they know and what they want to know about their own bodies. This discussion was about creating and finding the correct alignment of the body and also, learning how not to create unnecessary tension in the body. It was very interesting to me because I was able to learn that dancers tend to put too much strain on their body when it is not necessary. This means that in the long run, they are hurting their bodies. It is important for dance professionals to know about the body and how it works with all the bones and muscles. I thought this was really great for me to learn and apply to my own life now. Elana talked about the unnecessary tension dancers may put on their body really restricts all the true, full range of motion they can have. She did some hands on exercises for the students in order for them to experience it in their own bodies. I thought it was great of the professor to give hands on training for the dancers; I feel that is really important, because some things cannot be learned just by words alone. I hope that I may have another opportunity to learn more about this aspect of dance through my research.

~AMY~ ttys