Dance Techniques 2010

14
Introduction
Dance techniques and their hybrid content
As already mentioned, contemporary dance techniques and training methods
are in a state of constant change. Given the myriad of approaches to the
work, any attempt to codify them would seem doomed to fail. The experts’
teaching styles and methods are also hybrid in nature, fusions of various
approaches. It is ultimately a matter of interpretation as to whether these
experts are teaching a ‘technique’, a ‘technology’, a ‘knowledge system’, or
a ‘working method’. All these approaches, however, have one thing in common:
They link enhanced physical performance with aesthetic and / or philosophical
principles and guidelines.
Thus one of the questions posed is concerned with the ideologies, ideals,
and guiding principles a technique subscribes to. The history of stage dance
shows that different concepts and approaches have shaped the development
of different dance genres: Classical ballet is primarily characterized by a
physical–aesthetical approach to performance in which the body learns disciplined
movement coordination in order to perform specific shapes that are
presented on a predetermined temporal–spatial axis. The aim is virtuosity,
but also expressiveness. In this respect, ballet training focuses particularly
on muscle development, and the external (as well as) internal shaping of the
body in accordance with a system whose rules are, in the widest sense, based
on controlling the body and the world. 8
Historical and generalized approaches to technique are often used in the
dance world without question. Differing ideas about training methods surveyed
for this publication appear as variations, updated and individualized
versions, of dance techniques. Selected aspects and particular working methods
represent the approaches. Gill Clarke, for example, sees contemporary dance
technique as something implying constant change and conscious decisions:
“Today’s dance training consists of a combination of different methods,
some of which are concerned with a better understanding of the ways in which
the body generates movement and how this movement generation can be
8 See: Rudolf zur Lippe: Vom Leib zum
Körper. Naturbeherrschung am Menschen
in der Renaissance. Reinbek bei Hamburg:
Rowohlt, 1988.
9 Quoted from a discussion between Gisela
Müller and Gill Clarke in April 2010.
10 Quoted from a discussion between Edith
Boxberger and Anouk van Dijk on 20 April 2009.
11 The German term Ereignishaftigkeit is
used in theater studies to mean experiencing
the here–and–now. It paraphrases, and gives
equal weighting to, characteristics of discovering
and experiencing.
12 Insights into the experts’ processes and
goals can be found in the chapters Teaching:
Principles and Methodology and in the Class
Plans on DVD 1.