Dance Techniques 2010

Anouk van Dijk — Countertechnique
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ment combinations to integrate awareness, spatial direction,
focus, and anatomical knowledge. After a week of
the workshop, the first results were visible. Combinations
were executed with more lightness and less forcefulness.
Movements looked bigger and freer.
As has been pointed out in regards to the concept of
scanning, students are encouraged to take ownership when
training their bodies. Countertechnique’s approach to the
work aims at students eventually teaching themselves.
When dancers take responsibility for their own training,
the daily ritual can become a research area for enhancing
one’s own mental and physical abilities. Eventually assuming
the role of self–training will change the relationship
between the dancer and others.
Because Countertechnique is about applying principles
rather than imitating forms, it should be emphasized that
the training method is entirely process–oriented. A class
is not aimed at teaching choreographic skills nor does it
encourage generation of choreographic material. At the
same time, however, students learn that they can employ
the principles creatively, using them improvisationally or
in stricter choreographic strategies as well. Not focusing
on an end–result has many implications. In the Countertechnique
class at Codarts, the second–year students are
kept moving almost constantly. Tasks are given so they
can experiment with various approaches and test information
for themselves. They must draw conclusions about
what works for them. In order to help them apply what
has been learned, Anouk van Dijk will remind students
of a particular piece of useful information given in one
exercise and then refer to it in a later exercise in the same
class. Instead of repeating the exercise, the same information
is transferred to another exercise. Students learn that
the underlying principles can be applied to other exercises
and eventually to other technique classes as well.
Not being product–oriented also means changing the
nature of the information given to students. Instead of correcting
physical behavior, Anouk recommends that Countertechnique
teachers look for the causes behind harmful
habits. Referring to the Practical Tools Workshop mentioned
above, the example about the relation between the
shoulders and the ribs is telling. Think of a student who
sticks out his or her ribs: this blocks arm and shoulder
movements, requiring more energy and strength than necessary.
Instead of telling the student to hold the rib cage in,
which means the student should comply to a certain ‘correct’
image, the question for the teacher is: Why is he or
she doing this? Presumably the student sticks the ribs out
to widen the rib cage. The next step would be to offer an
alternative approach. One solution the teacher might offer
is to inform the student that widening can be achieved
more effectively by acknowledging the three–dimensional
volume of the rib cage, by allowing the back side of the
rib cage to open and widen. Allowing the shoulder blades
to slide over the rib cage and to the side will also provide
space for the ribs on the back to move and expand. This
piece of anatomical information can change the way a student
will realize the widening of the rib cage, eliminating
blocking or preventing injury.
Since teachers educated by Anouk van Dijk also use
the toolbox, they have many ways to answer students’
questions. If, for example, the widening–the–back solution
from above did not help the student, the teacher will
likely open another ‘drawer’ in the toolbox and work further
away from the problem area; this could be literally
inside the body, a more mental approach, or a complete
change of perspective to distract the student from his or
her preoccupation and worry. As Anouk van Dijk says:
“The solution often lies far away from the problem area.”
After class students often approach Anouk van Dijk with
their problems, asking her for advice to alleviate pain. Her
advice is usually a suggestion on how to change the way
they approach to certain movements.
Pedagogical Methods
A teacher structures a class in accordance with the strengths
and knowledge available in any given group, and material
is added in accordance with the group’s progress in
grasping both the physical work and the conceptual basis.
A class consists of three parts. After several years of
working on class structure, the class (as it is taught today)
begins standing center floor. (Anouk calls this a ‘standing
up class’, i.e., in contrast to many contemporary techniques
that start on the floor.) Also no barre is used. From
the beginning, dancers must find support in a dynamic
balance between directing and counter–directing while
moving freely through the room. From the first exercise,
Countertechnique works on directions in space. By starting
class standing center floor rather than lying down or
at the barre, dancers’ senses are aroused in a proactive
way, making them more aware of the space around them.
“See what is really there, really see it,” as Anouk van Dijk
says. Or, as she says at the beginning of class, “Look at the
city,” thus asking students, for a moment, to simply and
directly acknowledge what is outside the window.
The Countertechnique class has a fixed order of exercises,
which Anouk van Dijk calls the skeleton. In the
first section, all exercises are the same and are presented in
(almost always) the same order. Not all exercises are used
in every class, however, as there are too many and time
does not allow. A selection is made based upon the students’
level, and to support the build–up of a specific class.
While exercises may vary in the rest of class, the first part
each day is similar and lasts about thirty minutes. These
exercises and combinations should become routine so
students can focus on details involved in finding alignment