Dance Improvisation / Spring 2024

  Unit: 5 Rhythms Theme: Stillness I  Introduction  Yael Schwietzer is a dance therapist and creative movement teacher. She does a form of mindful movement called Pure Dance. Yael has a grant from the Barbara Mettler Foundation to do workshop/classes. She has chosen our Dance Program to share her knowledge with our students. Yael will address stillness by emphasizing the pause between movement phrases.   II Learning Objectives Understand the use of pause in facilitating body expression Explain  how the pause affects freedom of body expression Gain an awareness of how joining other students can inform the process Experience the creative process through sensing, feeling and expressing movement forms  III  Main Lesson Schwietzer's Pure Dance     I. Walking around Stop. How and what do you feel Do not judge Pay attention to your breathing Think: How do I feel today? Be aware of who is in the room with you.     II. Walk again Pau...

  REVIEW 1. The five rhythms method is a movement method opened to anyone and everyone. 2. The dance is comprised of 5 rhythms which allow dancers to identify and release obstructions in life. 3. The sequence of the rhythms creates a wave that allows the dancer to reach a point of inner stillness. The five rhythms or levels are: flow, staccato, chaos, lyrical and stillness. a) Flow is dancing at the level of unconsciousness . The unconscious mind consists of the processes in the mind that occur automatically and are not available to introspection, and include thought processes, memory, affect, and motivation.So flow is dancing automatically, with all we are or have become, with all our baggage. In Gabrielle Roth's words it is the "wild flower." (The term was coined by German philosopher Friedrich Schelling). In class, we used the Yang style 24 movement form to illustrate qualities of flow that could inform the movement vocabulary of the dancers (My sources are th...