Dance Techniques 2010

Alan Danielson — Humphrey/Limón Tradition
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for Limón dancers, one that places the body at a particular
point on an arc at any given moment while dancing.
This image has movement being performed along an arc.
If referring to an energy arc, it moves from lack–of–energy
to full–of–energy and then back to lack–of–energy.
Or, referring to the arc of balance, the body moves from
centered to off–balance, then back to centered. 12 The arc
image is also key to Doris Humphrey’s principle of fall
and recovery—an interplay between tension and balance,
between relaxation and loss of balance. The human body
will always find itself at some place on this dynamic arc,
and is kept balanced by the arc’s opposing poles.
Regarding space in the Humphrey / Limón Technique,
Danielson says that the dancers’ sense of space should be
as big and wide as possible, adding that dancers send energy
into space through their movements, i.e., they send
movement beyond the body’s extremities and, in doing so,
actively use the entire space. His combinations include frequent
changes of direction for the sole purpose of helping
students avoid choosing habitual directions, to help them
remember changes of direction in movement combinations,
and to enable students to feel more secure and able
to move with awareness in any direction. One effective
exercise that Danielson uses for teaching spatial awareness
is having two students face each other while dancing
a movement combination.
Alongside directions through space, Danielson’s teaching
also focuses on levels in space. He attempts to use as
many levels as possible in each class, although there are
situations, such as the guest training sessions at the Palucca
Schule, wherein some levels are not used as often as at the
Limón School in New York. The Dresden group did little
floorwork, for example, and jumps at the end happened
rarely and very briefly. 13 Jumping technique and flowing,
The principles of body weight and gravity are ever–
present in Danielson’s teaching and he references them
repeatedly. for example in connection with movement
initiation, strength, and balance (as described above). In
regards to the quantity of energy, an economical expenditure
should be maintained—which means using as much
energy as is needed yet as little as possible, i.e., precisely
the right amount. This can be a lot of energy, depending
on the movement, but, according to Danielson, in comparison
to other styles and techniques, Humphrey / Limón
Technique aims for a nuanced expenditure of energy. This
means that a dancer always appears to be expending maximum
energy but is, in fact, using well–measured energy
and strength.
Another theme in connection with gravity is a conscious
and well–measured shifting of weight. With
Danielson, weight shifts often begin with the pelvis, meaning
that conscious and well–controlled falling initiates a
weight shift. Falling, in this case, means that gravity and
resistance to gravity are used in equal measure in order to
achieve an articulated shift of weight.
powerful movements are key elements found throughout
Danielson’s teaching, but, that said, he will concentrate on
Humphrey / Limón elements that have not been duly practiced
with a particular group of students, and which might
need special attention. Jumping is something the Palucca
Schule students could already do well. By contrast, Danielson’s
New York classes end with about ten minutes of
jumping. Floorwork is done more often during the New
York classes and integrated into every part of class. When
speaking about floorwork, Danielson adds that the body
is never looking for rest and relaxation on the floor, rather
the floor is seen as a station through which the body passes
on a movement arc, on its way back to standing.