STEPspace
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FREE FORM: |
ONCE YOU HAVE YOUR PLAN OF ACTION
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Before this ↓
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find this! →
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I made this warmup as a 20min experience to find and release your creative animal at home!!
There is nothing to follow in terms of counts or speed. Each song is to be improvised following the order in the tabs, which is also the order of the music. Feel free to change the music, do things in a different order, in other words, make up your own moment of free and focused YOU time! Depending on what YOU need, you may want to create a sense of regularity in your gestures, or crank up the chaos. Don't be afraid of chaos or madness, that's where creativity hides. I didn't make the videos for you to follow along. This is something to do on your own. Freedom = responsibility. I did this particular compilation of music for 21 days in a row to witness what would happen. There were days when I really had to muster up focus and other days it was a great release. :) |
DIAPHRAGM & ABS
BREATH, OUT, FIRST.*Remain a witness.
The medusa is a beautiful comparison to our diaphragm. Notice how the gathering, contraction or breath-out leads to movement, and the expanding, arching outward or breath-in leads to stabilization.
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diaphragm / core1-DIRECTED BREATHING - You could start a good warm-up by directing your exhalations through the nose (toro/fire-breathing). This will move and strengthen the diaphragm. Do a couple minutes of this to quickly increase our energy level and stimulate circulation through the entire body. Be sure to correctly map the movement of your diaphragm! Breathing out means your diaphragm is gathering upward, breathing in means your diaphragm is expanding downwards. Let the rest of your body respond however it wants. You could be shaking, swinging, swooping... Vary the tempo and energy to suit your current state of being. Stay in observation mode and direct every thought out your nose.*
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2-CONTRACTION & EXPANSION - Once the nasal passage is clear, get more physically involved. There are 2 basic movements that your diaphragm is doing: CONTRACTION & EXPANSION. Exaggerate this with the whole body. Play with your levels in space from high-range (standing), mid-range, low-range and floor.
3-ABDOMINALS - Now slip to your back and give your abdominals a good squeeze. Try to find your centre most point between your naval and pubis and "make a fist" with this area. Or you could put your favorite rock there and focus your energy into that rock. Keep a feeling of openness and flow in the rest of your body. Relax hips, shoulders, neck..
YOU COULD DO: classic 'abs' (kiss the ceiling, twisting 'bike') / roll around / plank pose... Remember: all this movement is to be
DIRECTED BY YOUR BREATH THE ENTIRE TIME. |
BABY: FEET & HANDS
TAO SAYING: “Do nothing well”
Drop the bone - Lying on the floor, take a moment to 'un-glue' the muscles & voluntarily let the bones settle into the floor. It takes time to learn how to release. Take your time. The more you are able to let go, the further you fall into your original form. Your goal in this exercise is to memorize how it feels to notice tension, and get good at dropping it. (If you fall asleep in this exercise, maybe you need more sleep..)
Baby - Totally released on your back, now start moving your fingers and toes. JUST your fingers and toes... Slowly add your ankles and wrists...Then the knees and elbows.
This gets exciting because now you bring your feet and hands into your range of vision. Spend a long while with hands holding feet, and then let the hands and feet explore the space while you remain lying on your back. This takes a strong centre. The video is in ffwd to give you an idea of what I did for 7mins, but feel no pressure to go fast. :)
This gets exciting because now you bring your feet and hands into your range of vision. Spend a long while with hands holding feet, and then let the hands and feet explore the space while you remain lying on your back. This takes a strong centre. The video is in ffwd to give you an idea of what I did for 7mins, but feel no pressure to go fast. :)
BABY: KICK AND ROLL
Explore how you can start kicking and punching. (check the Feldenkrais videos on the last page of this folder!)
Energetically kick and punch and memorize this feeling, and how the psoas or hip flexors connect to the toes. This was a crucial stage in your development into a standing/walking/running biped!
Then roll. Get a swing going in your pelvis to roll to your front, stomach down, & kick how you can. Go back and forth from stomach to back and keep memorizing the feeling of kicking and swinging to roll.
Energetically kick and punch and memorize this feeling, and how the psoas or hip flexors connect to the toes. This was a crucial stage in your development into a standing/walking/running biped!
Then roll. Get a swing going in your pelvis to roll to your front, stomach down, & kick how you can. Go back and forth from stomach to back and keep memorizing the feeling of kicking and swinging to roll.
STAND
Now feel how when on your stomach the bent knee allows you to lift your pelvis up off the ground. Crawl a bit, and then figure out how to stand.. Find your instinctive memory of how YOU learned to stand and walk.
2 ways to get up:
You can get up either from a squat by using your arms and legs to push you up (see the apple on the table, reach for it!)
Or a more 'sophisticated' rise up by rolling through the spine, using the least energy possible in your legs, arms and head.
Also be conscious and explore different ways to get back down.
Repeat at least 10x, up and down, picking up speed, and varying between the 'squat' (baby pushing up to standing with limbs), or the lift and unrolling through the spine.
Try this at some point in your flamenco shoes and you will have no more fear of falling!
2 ways to get up:
You can get up either from a squat by using your arms and legs to push you up (see the apple on the table, reach for it!)
Or a more 'sophisticated' rise up by rolling through the spine, using the least energy possible in your legs, arms and head.
Also be conscious and explore different ways to get back down.
Repeat at least 10x, up and down, picking up speed, and varying between the 'squat' (baby pushing up to standing with limbs), or the lift and unrolling through the spine.
Try this at some point in your flamenco shoes and you will have no more fear of falling!
These Shoes Were Made For Walking.. & whatever else you want.
3 LEVELS
EXPLORE THE 3 LEVELS OF SPACE - floor/ mid-range/ upper-range.
Use the I-Don't-Know-What-To-Do! mind set which means it's as if you'd like to be directing your body but you can't. Your body moves before you've had a chance to think and censor. I find it helpful to have stimulating music playing (especially to give a time frame to the exercise), and to repeat frequently: "I don't know what to do!". This can be very liberating.
Use the I-Don't-Know-What-To-Do! mind set which means it's as if you'd like to be directing your body but you can't. Your body moves before you've had a chance to think and censor. I find it helpful to have stimulating music playing (especially to give a time frame to the exercise), and to repeat frequently: "I don't know what to do!". This can be very liberating.
*Remain most definitely a witness. Don't get involved.
Watch your body shed it's social function (enslavement) and start to play.
Keep breathing!
Watch your body shed it's social function (enslavement) and start to play.
Keep breathing!
potential energy/ CHI
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FEELING ENERGETIC OPPOSITION is to sense energy going in and out at the same time. There is a feeling of expansion and contraction in this, like wanting to yawn, except from the whole body. It's like being very tall and very short at the same time. This hyper-aware energetic state can be quite exaggerated in flamenco.
I'm calling it: Potential Energy Burst. Why create a mini explosion of nerves? To be able to move quick and light if there is need or desire. |
OTHER RESOURCES & EXTERNAL LINKS:
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FELDENKRAIS Watch these adorable videos to remember your own development!! |
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“I think, therefore I move”
Thomas Hanna Here's a good article outlining somatic approaches:
Somatic Studies and Dance The International Association for Dance Medicine and Science www.DanceEducation.org |
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