Dance Techniques 2010

Lance Gries — Release and Alignment Oriented Techniques
293
Gabriele Wittmann
Conclusion
The workshop with Lance Gries provided, on the one hand, an overview
of the wide range of influences Release and Alignment Oriented Technique
draws from various dance ‘research scenes’. Gries has taken part in its development
for several decades; he danced in his Frankfurt workshop, physically
reproducing exceptional movement qualities from various eras and,
through authentic improvisations, made them available to students. On the
other hand, his unique approach showed participants how anatomically and
functionally aligned inner–sensing work on the floor, in standing, moving,
with or without hands–on by a partner, can lead to a greater consciousness
of physical and mental awareness. Participants experienced this not only in
the context of physical and mental alignment in space, which for some became
definitively clearer, but also in other areas. For instance, the work also
noticeably improved the propensity for decision–making during improvisations,
something that the participants experienced firsthand. Gries’s methodical
modular teaching methods additionally made clear how diverse aspects
of the dancing world are strongly connected: warm up, training, improvisation,
rehearsal, performance—all of these are part of a ‘research attitude’
for Gries that encompasses the whole personality. The combination of all of
these things enabled participants to grow and explore varied and personal
research directions.
What does the future hold? Gries hopes that the term Release Technique
will remain open and not be subsumed by special definitions. The quality
of exchange and evolution are essential for the community of dancers influenced
by Release Technique—including the exchange across the Atlantic.
What was once a new technique in many dance communities as early as the
1980s, has long since been integrated and is an essential element in contemporary
training in institutions as well as in the independent scene. Conversely,
some of the forerunners of this research are no longer interested in a purely
movement–oriented aesthetic—some even fundamentally question the idea
of dance for a Western stage.