Movement in Stillness

Day 4
So last sesh, we talked about balances/extensions/alignment…that sort of thing. One important thing to remember with extensions is to not get caught up in this idea of “getting your leg up”, instead you want to remember to stay grounded all the more. We did some standing exercises with a partner, where our friend patted us down and pulled on our heels. Automatically you can feel how your body must adapt to this different placement in weight. We also did a few minutes of standing meditation in tree pose. In this position, remember to feel the spirals through the legs and arms and to bend the knees and keep the weight in the heels, bringing the belly-button to the spine. We skipped the pliés so that we can spend more time stretching. This was perfect considering the weather was pretty warm out. A few things to remember: keep the knee above the ankle in lunge, and always feel the limbs radiating from the belly-button, even in forward folds – trying to make space in between the joints in the pelvis area (scooping out the belly helps with this as well). After a few across-the-floor exercises, we concentrated the rest of the time reviewing the routine. Great job with helping each other out and working without me to remember the dance. This kind of work is really important to practice in dance, because it requires openness and trust that your body remembers. So good job in thinking without your heads! …So as requested, I’m trying to get a video of the routine up on the blog. However, I’m not that technically proficient with things like this, so if anyone wants to help, then let me know. That would be awesome. Ok until next time…We’re going to get to do some floorwork - woohoo my fave!