Dance Techniques 2010

Lance Gries — Release and Alignment Oriented Techniques
281
like gymnasiums or even—like many of Trisha Brown’s
pieces in the 1970s—in parks or public places where they
attracted passersby as audience. From the 1980s onward,
in pieces like Set and Reset, Trisha Brown began staging
her works and returning them to the theater space, and
her dancers, influenced by Release Techniques, influenced
her work. The effects can today be found in the aesthetics
of numerous dance artists, among them Anne Teresa De
Keersmaeker and Thomas Hauert.
The relevance of release and alignment work, independent
of performance practices, is in training perception,
proprioception, and injury prevention. In this sense,
alignment and release work can be used as a basis for
other techniques.
The special quality / attribute conveyed here is an alertness
of the body that results from dancers making decisions
in the here–and–now. In doing so, they deal with
weight by directly challenging gravity, putting themselves
on the line. A movement sequence is successful when it
uses as little muscle strength as possible to coordinate individual
body parts. This actually makes the clear transfer of
energy from one point in the body to the next visible. The
body becomes transparent. This movement quality does
not depend upon the physique of the person being trained
because the communicated ideal is purely anatomical–
physiological. Any and every body can realize these concepts;
the challenge is to execute movement to the utmost.
This process takes place in relation to the individual’s
current state. Presence does not result from muscular exaggeration
or exertion; it is more dependent upon making
clear decisions in the moment, meaning, of course, that
in every decision made, possibilities not chosen remain
present as potential. Presence results from interaction with
the situation and other performers.
“It’s not about being hard on myself, but
instead allowing myself to be both
this and that. To sense what’s heading
my way. To feel what it’s doing to me.
And then to externalize it.”
Siri Clinckspoor, student