Dance Techniques 2010

Lance Gries — Release and Alignment Oriented Techniques
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to the fact that establishing one’s own research questions
and recognizing relationships first becomes accessible after
lengthier practical experience.
“The profound experience and arrival
in one’s own body architecture made an
easy–going, ready access and flow of
movement possible for me.”
Berit Jentzsch, student
The training can either serve a particular physical goal, like
the acquisition of physical skills to enable the interpretation
of a range of dance vocabularies, or it can make a student
open and unbiased for personal research. Those who
invited Gries to Frankfurt had overlapping objectives. For
example, the dance and dance–pedagogy professors wanted
their students to acquire physical skills, and specifically,
the anatomical orientation that Gries taught for a long
time at P.A.R.T.S.: instead of ‘release’, they wanted more
alignment—i.e., a clear orientation of the bones and the
flow of movement in the space. These were to be practiced
with the aid of movement phrases from Trisha Brown’s
Set and Reset. The research team’s theoretical faction
wanted Gries to teach the historic development of postmodern
dance and the role that Release Technique played
therein. The third component was Gries’s own interest:
merely re-dancing a repertoire no longer interests him, instead
he is more interested in what Release Technique can
bring about for the individual’s support system and creativity,
namely the productive use of energetic principles.
A variety of goals thus required a variety of approaches
that Gries wove together. Fortunately this weaving fits into
his teaching concept, which can be understood as loosely
bound modules that he defines as open and unbiased; he is
more interested in processes than in rehearsal.
Pedagogical Methods
Gries does not use a linear lesson structure. He accesses his
universe of individual, intertwined training modules from
a variety of perspectives. Despite this, several characteristics
repeat and can be observed in the exercise sequences.
Often modules are arranged such that students are
directed through various spatial levels, from the floor
to standing. The training day starts with body–work in
specific skeletal alignments. A Constructive Rest Position 25
allows body weight, especially the spine, to be released
into the floor. Hands–on research with a partner, standing,
or individual movement exploration provide students with
alignments that can be applied later. Roll–over, weight displacement,
and pliés are linked together in a fluid warm up.
This is when the body establishes support from the ground
up, from the ankle along the knee into the hip, because
skeletal alignment remains in focus. Torso and head are
oriented multidirectionally, with a free–swinging shoulder
girdle, along with the arms as separate appendages.
Later in the day, Gries changes over to improvisation
or to work with specific movement material. This material
is not only rehearsed, but also used to practice anatomic–
functional and energetic concepts. The Bus Stop 26 exercise
described above is brought to bear here too, for example,
the hand is the last body part that still has contact with
the wall. When the hand finally releases, the shoulder girdle
and arms can swing free from the chest and above the
soles of the feet. The ability to allow the shoulders to float
detached from the torso is, in turn, essential for the differentiated
demands of the dancing material, such as in
performing the Set and Reset phrase precisely.
Endurance is neither a training tool nor goal; it is more
about feeling out currently available energy and its best
possible use. In partner and group exercises, participants
explore their motivations to move, what they are imagining
in the process, and how they perceive themselves and
their surroundings. For instance, one exercise is about
sensing the space’s architectural details, following inspiration’s
inner path in the process, and not to question oneself
when doing. “Just do what is there to do” is the instruction—and
to continue on to the next inspiration without
attaching any ideas.
A class can vary. There is no repetition with Gries, except
when rehearsing a choreography; an exercise is always
slightly changed from the previous day.
His work emphasizes interval work: the day usually
begins with quiet phases that foster releasing and sensing,
which from time to time go over into more dynamic
phases. The change between phases of greater activity and
quieter phases is essential. Release training methods especially
take advantage of thought’s influence on movement.
Thus in a slow process, dancers internalize their newly organized
muscle–balances in order to later be able to reliably
draw upon them for faster, more space–encompassing,
and more demanding movements. Thus rest in body–work
is crucial for extended perceptional phases.
24 See: Understanding the Body / Movement;
Movement Characteristics and Physicality.
25 The Constructive Rest Position is as
follows: the body is resting on its back on
the floor, and the knees are bent and leaning
against one another.
26 See also the description of this exercise
in: Understanding the Body / Movement;
Movement Characteristics and Physicality.