Dance Techniques 2010

80 Understanding the Body / Movement
from the joint (i.e., away from each other). So, envision
stretching up from the lowest moment in a first position
plié: seen from the hip joints’ POV, the pelvis moves upward,
and the femurs move downward. From knee joints’
POV, however, the lower legs move downward and the
femurs are moving upward. Hence, the direction in which
a bone is seen to be moving is always relative to the joint’s
POV. When solving a technical problem, shifting the attention
to a different POV can be very helpful; often even
a slight change of direction in the body can mean better
alignment.
difference between heavy and light legs in dancing. This is
an analytical way of thinking through movement, breaking
it down into individual components. Every movement or
impulse in the body has consequences, i.e., if you do this,
that will follow.
Since Countertechnique aims at utilizing the body’s
movement potential to its fullest—and Countertechnique
wants the dancer to be able to move in a big way—the
use of muscles is indispensable. This, however, does not
mean that dancers should use too much strength or that
Understanding that all body parts are active most of
the time, and that two things always move away from
each other, means there is a specific way of coordinating
the direction and its counter–direction to achieve and access
a dynamic balance. Anouk van Dijk calls it sequential
thinking, meaning the counter–direction is engaged
slightly prior to the obvious direction. The counter–direction
is always the less manifest direction of the two. The
logic behind sequential thinking is to achieve a connectedness
in moving. Since gravity tends to pull the entire body
down and thus limits the creation of space and mobility
inside the body, sequential thinking helps the dancer trick
gravity. Stretching up from a plié works better when the
head moves upward first, granting space for the legs to
unfold downward. Instead of thinking that the legs initiate
the stretching action out of plié, one must first indicate
an upward direction for the head. Or, in a different situation,
this can be reversed. For example: if the upper body
rolls upward (returning to upright) from a curved position
during the plié at the same time the legs are stretching
upward, then the legs should lengthen downward slightly
prior to the upper body rolling up—thus providing stability,
especially when the legs are rotated outward. Although
hardly visible to the eye, sequential thinking can make the
a high tonus is desirable. The muscle tonus in a dancer’s
body should be efficient rather than high. As opposed to
certain Release Techniques, students should not dispense
with employing muscular strength, but rather learn how to
employ it effectively.
Apart from general awareness exercises, students in Van
Dijk’s Practical Tools Workshop place much attention on
reducing unnecessary tension. Reducing unnecessary tension
is a prerequisite for directing and counter–directing
because it takes pressure off the body parts thus freeing
them to work in space. Anouk van Dijk has developed a set
of what she calls physical parameters that promote kinetic
understanding about how Countertechnique works. One
of them is called popping. Popping is a fast way to describe
the process of reducing unnecessary tension in the jaw and
hip, shoulder, and ankle joints. So, every once and again in
class, before doing a movement combination, students are
asked to pop, i.e., release tension and to take pressure off
major joints. This prepares students for dancing because it
makes the actual weight of the body parts available without
forcing the student to expend energy. Given the need
for muscular strength in Countertechnique, it is important
to remind students that muscle activity should not close off
the joints and thus block movement.