Dance Techniques 2010

Alan Danielson — Humphrey/Limón Tradition
45
Maren Witte
Understanding
the Body / Movement
Prerequisites
No particular dance education is a prerequisite for training
in the Humphrey / Limón tradition. It makes no difference
if students have learned ballet as youngsters or practice it
in their leisure time, do capoeira or yoga, or go to contact
jams. According to Danielson, Humphrey / Limón class
materials can be oriented toward any type of dance or
movement. By varying the energy and timing (i.e., rhythm
and tempo), the material can be adapted to ballet students,
for example, or to a group of release dancers.
Danielson stresses that all motor skills should be finely
honed. The goal of Limón training is to make the body
as capable of articulation as possible, thus class work not
only focuses on basic motor skills but also on the ability to
isolate and separate different shapes and energies. And no
physical skill should be given more relevance than another.
“It is not just about speed, for example, but also how to
move as slowly as possible; not just about power, but also
allowing the body to let go and be passive and allow gravity
to take over.” The technique aims to provide general
physical knowledge that enables dancers to discover their
own strengths and weaknesses in a relaxed and realistic
way, and to help them to focus on what they are lacking—on
weakness or uncertainties. Important in a training
method like this, one that requires students to take responsibility
for their own bodies, is that each dancer accepts his
or her own strengths and weaknesses. As soon as dancers
start to compensate, they are ignoring their physical realities
and thus cannot recognize nor improve weaknesses.
“Falling is also very important for Alan—
simply because you then move out of your
comfort zone.” Anna Fingerhuth, student
Other physical activities are recommended and considered
complementary to training in the Humphrey / Limón
tradition—because a) humans can learn something about
their bodies and environments from every movement they
make, and b) because performing the most diverse range
of activities as possible strengthens bodies and thus reduces
the risk of injury. The Humphrey / Limón Technique
9 See: DVD 1, Phase 1, “Opening.”
is well known for being very user–friendly for students,
which means, for example, that teachers will insist on a
turn–out that corresponds with a dancer’s individual anatomy.
Danielson adds that the motto in the Limón method,
as in art generally, is: “Push your limits!” Students can
learn to take risks by practicing falls or testing extreme
situations. There are risks of injury, of course, but these
risks are minimal because no one is forced to do anything,
and no one should force him- or herself to do anything.
The goal is to produce emancipated dancers who handle
themselves sensibly, who know how to play and take risks.
Movement Characteristics
and Physicality
A Humphrey / Limón class attempts to move every part of
the body in as many variations as possible, and to explore
and exploit the potential of every moveable joint. Every
part of the body should remain or become flexible—a
dancer must ensure that no excess tension emerges in any
body part and that existing tension is addressed. This may
be why many students who have trained with Danielson
emphasize how healthy this training method is, and that it
has a purifying, centering effect.
Any body part should be able to initiate a movement.
The goal is to isolate each joint and thus help dancers gain
awareness of its potential. There is much leg–work in the
Humphrey / Limón Technique, as well as work with the
pelvis as the center and initiator of movement. But it is
also about finding movement initiation not only in a particular
region of the body, but in external, physical factors,
such as gravity. The body is always in a dual relationship
with gravity: If it engages with gravity and gives in to it, a
movement is triggered by a passive, release initiation, i.e.,
the movement is initiated by releasing. The dancer would
collapse and sink to the floor were it not for the oppositional
force that holds the body upright and resists gravity’s
pull. An example of a movement sequence based on
this dual principle of giving in and opposition is found in
sequential or successive movement wherein a movement is
initiated in the head and then ‘travels’ down the vertebrae,
one at a time, toward the pelvis. 9 This happens step–by–
step as follows: When the head gives in and drops, the uppermost
cervical vertebrae become the highest point and
thereby have the task of keeping the remaining vertebrae
vertical against gravity. If the dancer also lets the cervical