Dance Techniques 2010

74 Concept and Ideology
Gerald Siegmund, Anouk van Dijk
Concept and Ideology
Understanding the Body
Countertechnique has a holistic understanding of the body.
Mind and matter, thinking and moving are intricately related
and influence each other, as in Alexander Technique.
Building on William Forsythe and Amanda Miller’s work
on spatial orientation, Countertechnique also systematizes
how one thinks and directs energy in space. It looks carefully
into the use of a dancer’s energy, and the implications
for daily training, rehearsal, and performance.
The Countertechnique ‘body’ can be described as a
three–dimensional body that takes all spatial levels and
planes into consideration. In Countertechnique the notion
of space is therefore an extremely dynamic concept.
Countertechnique views the body as essentially a multidirectional
and traveling body that can move in several
directions at the same time. It thinks of the body as a volume;
this volume consists of space and occupies space,
which it produces and transforms at the same time. Since
there is no predetermined ideal image of the body, the way
the body looks is unimportant. The engagement in a process
of thinking multidirectionally, along with rethinking
assumptions about appropriate movement
execution, will eventually affect the dancer’s
use of shape.
Body weight is not considered to have
an objective value, rather to be the result
of varying individual energy relations in
time and space. A dancer’s body may objectively
weigh sixty kilos, but if the dancer
distributes this weight in space by counter–directing
when doing partnering work,
it will look, feel, and therefore be much
lighter. If this principle is taken seriously,
it can be concluded that our ability to direct
energy transforms not only our body’s
physical shape and spatial orientation, but
also its weight. The body is not primarily
understood as consisting of fixed particles
or of matter with a specific density, rather
as one that is brought into being by the
constant transformation of energy that, in
turn, transforms the body’s physical shape
and spatial orientation. The Countertechnique body finds
stability in vectorial trajectories of energy that counterbalance.
In class, the body finds support within itself by
standing center floor and not, as in ballet, by using a barre.
The body is centered and de-centered at once, finding stability
only if it is expanding in space and sending energy
into two directions simultaneously.
As a result, the most important concept is that of a
body without a center. Rather than thinking from a physical
core, Countertechnique views the body as a bundle of
energy lines that are constantly reconfiguring. These lines
operate above, under, and across an absent core to find
stability only in a momentary orientation and relation to
each other, which means constantly acknowledging the
weight of different body parts, countering that weight
with other body parts, and thus creating a weight flow in
which balance is ever–changing. This continual (re)alignment
of body parts takes place even in minute movements,
meaning the body is constantly in negotiation with itself
and its environment.
Practical anatomical knowledge is crucial for an understanding
of Countertechnique. Understanding how the
joints work will greatly influence the effectiveness of the
dancer’s movement. By directing the constituent parts of
the joints away from each other, the body’s volume is increased,
allowing for a different movement articulation.
Because movement is articulated in the joints, opening the
joints up allows for possibilities of re-joining, or reconnecting,
the body in relation to itself and the space surrounding
it. Countertechique makes it much easier to both
isolate body parts and move them in sequence, which results
in an increased range of motion as well as in more
refined coordination. This opens up the potential for more
creative ways of moving.
Although there are no gender–related exercises in
Countertechnique training, women may find certain
aspects—like widening the pelvis or lengthening the hamstrings—easier
to do than men. This is due to different
bone and muscular structure. This difference, however,