Detta articulates an artistic and pedagogic practice which explores improvisation informed by the Feldenkrais Method. As an artist, this practice has allowed her to experience a lost body; as an educator, it allows space for others to experience theirs.
Awareness in Motion is an evolving somatic practice which uses words to find the body; body to find a language; language to find a voice. A practice that consciously engages with the notion…’where are we now’…A dance practice and study for the 21st century that aims to disrupt, dislodge and dismantle in order to unearth, discover and renew.
Connecting with our bony architecture, the Feldenkrais method delves beneath the skin to access new movement pathways; enriching bodied sensation to encourage letting go of the external image of self and instead experiencing the lesser known, felt self. From this unfolding and provocative world of Feldenkrais to the open and suggested world of improvisation, the dancer can explore these new found sensations, ask new questions and forge continued pathways towards self-discovery.
With reference to the writing of Guy Claxton who uses Winnie the Pooh to illustrate an example of his idea of slow knowing and new learning; both of which ‘….take time, and therefore require patience: a relaxed, unhurried, unanxious approach to problems’ (Claxton 1997:49)
‘There is a kind of knowing which is essentially indirect, sideways, allusive and symbolic; which hints and evokes touches and moves, in ways that resist explication. And it is accessed not through earnest manipulation of abstraction but through leisurely contemplation of the particular.’ (1997:173)
This paper shares discoveries made and the importance of not knowing and knowing slowly, both of which have shaken up and refuelled an artistic practice and in turn have encouraged the dance student, to listen, notice and respond, igniting resilience and creativity. Awareness in Motion invites the possibility of choice which can unveil and set free the unspoken voice and nurture a journey into the realm of the unknown.