Contemporary Dance
photocredits: He Shao Hui
Some thoughts about Contemporary Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z7xb51ZIgs
Contemporary Dance is an artistic form of dance and a wonderful field of development and playing for people from different movement backgrounds.
- is to be in contact with oneself and others in movement.
- is a learning with one’s mind and body, i.e. somatic learning.
- is an opportunity to be creative.
- is a holistic body training.
In Contemporary Dance various forms of dance are melting together and are being developed further. Its roots lie primarily in Modern Dance and expressive dance.
Elements from traditional forms of dance (ballet, modern a.o.), martial arts (i.e.Tai Chi, Aikido, Capoeira, …) and somatic approaches to movement (like Trager/Mentastics, Feldenkrais, Body Mind Centering, Skinner Releasing, Ideokinesis, a.o.) all find their way into the practice of Contemporary Dance.
Contemporary Dance means to play and deal with the multitude of movement possibilities. In this way it mirrors our pluralistic society and at the same time serves as its laboratory and expression.
Opening oneself to the diversity of movement awakens and educates our body knowledge. Consequently a Contemporary Dance class focusses more on finding new movement sequences, internalizing them and tuning them to the body’s needs than on copying given ones. We challenge our habitual mental and physical movement patterns by introducing various requirements, rules, tasks and different forms of attention. This kind of movement education makes for learning with body and mind, i.e. somatic learning. In this respect it enlargens our range of perception, creativity and action in dancing and in everyday life.
Combining movements according to one’s own aesthetic values and also allowing for other organizations is part of the training in Contemporary Dance practice.
In a dance class the whole body is put to use. The holistic experience of Contemporary Dance training encompasses strength, endurance and coordination training.
What can I expect from a Contemporary Dance class at rollingpoint?
We offer courses on different topics – see the course descriptions for details.
Potential topics:
- learning to sense and make use of the body center
- using adequate body tonus at any given time
- setting and varying rhythmical accents
- simultaneously being in contact with myself and events around me
- finding a movement flow
- moving in spirals
- developing one’s bouncing power/strength
- 3-D movement sequences and dancing upside down
… and many, many more
In order to develop a certain quality or discover a new coordination, to turn more easily etc., we use varied approaches. We might touch each other to better feel, for instance, the shoulder blade, or offer images like “Walk like in a wood where the floor springs back”, specific music or rules like “Dance while keeping one and the same distance to one another”.
In any case a Contemporary Dance class at rollingpoint is a wonderful opportunity to train in a supportive atmosphere, to experience yourself and others moving, to strengthen what you are familiar with, learn something new and lift your spirits!
photocredits: He Shao Hui