Читать книгу Moving Toward Life - Anna Halprin - Страница 15

MOVEMENT RITUAL I

Try this experiment: Make a list of your senses, and put them in the order that you first think of them. Avoid looking at my list until you have made your own. Did your list go something like this:

1st Sight

2nd Sound

3rd Smell

4th Touch

5th Taste

THE KINESTHETIC SENSE

There is a good chance that you did not mention the kinesthetic sense at all. Most people do not. What is the kinesthetic sense? The kinesthetic sense has end-organs and nerve endings in our muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones and joints that make it possible for us to have any awareness of our movements. Nerve endings in the inner ear allow us to know our body placement in space and our body directions. All of these are part of the proprioceptive nervous system. I can conceivably imagine living without any one of the senses listed above, but can you imagine living without any awareness of your movement? You’d bump into everything, stumble and fall down all the time. You wouldn’t even be able to eat because you couldn’t get food into your mouth. If you can imagine what it would be like to live without a kinesthetic sense, imagine how exciting and ALIVE you would be if your kinesthetic sense were to be heightened and cultivated way beyond its present consciousness. Just as a painter cultivates a keen sense of vision, a musician a keen sense of sound, a cook a fine sense of smell and taste, so the dancer, the athlete, the acrobat, and the actor need to develop a sharp kinesthetic sense. Since movement is the basis of life itself, and since we move all the time, then why shouldn’t all of us develop this heightened awareness so that all of us may live a more ALIVE life and become dancers.

Let’s do another experiment to give you a chance to experience what is meant by the kinesthetic sense.

. Blindfold (or close) your eyes so that you may rely on your movement sense, then …

. Move around the room for 5 or 10 minutes.

. Afterwards, write down quickly your sensations and feelings.

. Read aloud what you wrote.

. Share what you discovered with someone else.

. With your eyes blind-folded or closed, try another set of movements like pushing, pulling, crawling, walking backwards, etc.

When you begin to isolate and pay attention to yourself moving you have begun the process of developing your kinesthetic or movement awareness sensibilities. You can do this as you walk down a street, carry a load, or shake hands. Your daily pedestrian life is a potential dance.

SPACE, TIME AND FORCE

However, there is a way to make the process of awareness more complete and thorough and that is through understanding and paying attention to elements and ideas of movement. For example, all movement exists through or in SPACE, takes TIME, and is performed with a degree of FORCE.

Let’s take a gesture with a different awareness each time. First move your arm forward in SPACE and focus your awareness on the spatial aspects of the movement. Do the same as you go back with your arm. Imagine you had lights attached to your shoulder, elbow and hand and you could see the visual pattern of the movement in space. Do it again and change TIMING … perhaps you could move your arm forward very slowly and fast coming back. Do this several times until you notice how the movement begins to take on a rhythmic pattern. Do you “feel” how the movement is changing? Now again, and this time try moving your arm forward making a fist and using intense resistance, and come back slowly letting the resistance go and your arms drop. Do you see how the dynamics have changed? You could continue to explore changing the ways that you use SPACE, TIME and FORCE in this movement and come up with a variety of qualities. As you learn to focus more keenly on the “feeling” of these qualities another set of responses will be generated. These responses of feeling plug into very personal feeling states that are directly associated with your life experiences. For example, reaching forward and drawing back fast with your arms may have all kinds of associations and feelings attached to the movement. Try it again and pay attention to those associations and feelings. When I do it, I imagine I’m reaching to give and suddenly pull back in fear. When you do the same movement you may feel something quite personal and different. Although the movement is OBJECTIVE we each have a SUBJECTIVE response. We can explore any movement and this same process, inherent in all movement, will occur. It is a NATURAL process and is the basis through which we can communicate and create with movement. This process is the basis through which we can empathize, communicate and share feelings with others.

To summarize this process:

1. The kinesthetic sense is your special sense for being aware of your movements and empathizing with others.

2. Your movements take place in SPACE, are measured by TIME and performed with a degree of FORCE. These elements determine the QUALITY of your movement.

3. When you pay attention to the QUALITY of your movements, FEELING STATES are aroused.

4. These FEELING STATES are what constitute your ability to experience yourself in movement.

The movement may be OBJECTIVE in that many people can do the same movement and SUBJECTIVE in that each person will respond according to personal associations and feelings.

I consider this a NATURAL process, having a biological base and being inherent in all human beings.

GRAVITY. INERTIA AND MOMENTUM

Another important source for developing a keener use of the kinesthetic sense is the consciousness of movement in relation to GRAVITY, INERTIA and MOMENTUM. These three elements operate on our bodies from the outside, whether we are in rest or motion. The human body is subject to the pull of gravity as is any other object on earth. When you move you are moving in two polarities—one is going with gravity, the other is going against gravity; there are all shades of yielding or resisting that lie in between. For example, let’s go back to your arm. Lift your arms shoulder height and hold them there until they get tired. Then let go and gravity will cause them to drop.

INERTIA is the desire to continue moving in the same direction. Try running full speed ahead and then suddenly turning to go the other way. This is difficult but also very exciting. Changing direction in movement is overcoming inertia. Have you noticed that when you are lying down at rest, it is often difficult to get up? You need to apply a great deal of will and often have to force yourself up—not just because you are tired but because you are overcoming and resisting inertia and gravity.

MOMENTUM is also constantly operating on the body. You can experience momentum by doing a swing with your arms. The higher your arms drop from space, the more momentum you will build up; the shorter the drop the less momentum you will experience. What I have found fundamental in using gravity, inertia and momentum is a keen sense of awareness of these forces. In this way you can use the energy from an inter-dependency of these elements to give your movement ease, pleasure and excitement.

For me, it is like giving my controlling mind over to these forces and letting the movement take on more energy. Running is much easier if you lean forward and go with gravity, inertia and momentum than if you are upright or leaning backwards and resisting. Try this out for yourself and see if it is true for you. Perhaps swinging on a swing is such a pleasant experience because of the harmony of the body giving over to gravity, inertia and momentum. Children feel this and love to swing. A rocking chair gives this same kind of comfort. In such movements gravity, inertia and momentum are moving you. I often say to myself, “Let the movement take over and move you.”

And so we have another set of universal laws that govern our movement which I call NATURAL. It is according to the nature within us all, the nature of how our bodies operate, that we respond to these forces.

Rhythm

The basis of a rhythmic movement lies in the alternation between contraction and release of muscle groups over bones. As you contract one set of muscles, you release another set in order for the bone to move. For example, get that arm out again for some more experimentation. Put your arm straight out in front of you. Now bend at the elbow joint. What happened is that your flexor muscles contracted, bending (flexing) your arm. At the same time your extensor muscles released, allowing the bend to occur. Now this time, resist the bending of the arm by contracting your extensor muscles too. If the opposing muscles match the degree of contraction the arm will not move but stay in place. This principle applies to every joint in the body.

Each joint has a different set of ranges: elbow and knee is hinge-action, the shoulder and hip is circular, the head is pivoting, the spine is rotating, etc. It is important in our consciousness of movement to be aware of the opposing forces and of how we manipulate the degree of resistance, or the release, as well as the particular joint range. The use of this principle is what determines your ability to move efficiently and according to the intention of the movement you wish to perform. An uninformed use of this principle causes strain. The implications of this fundamental principle are very great. Just one implication is that contraction and release in alternating intervals give a sense of RHYTHM. Think of rhythm as inherent in the balance and consciousness of activity and rest. Think of rhythm as the way in which you consciously organize these opposing forces within your movement, which is itself a basic and perhaps determining ingredient of rhythm. Once again go back to your arms. You need to experience and try these ideas out for yourself and through your own experience accept or reject what I’m saying as valid or not. Work with muscular contraction and release in your arms. Explore different relationships between contracting and releasing and see what happens.

This time use the trapezius muscles (the large muscles over your shoulder blades) and the pectoral muscles in front (the muscles over the front of your chest) as well as the muscles in your arms. Release the pectoral muscles and contract your trapezius muscles and notice how your arms are drawn back. If the chest muscles are tight and not capable of releasing, the movement is at an impasse. Now move your arms, paying attention to the intervals of contraction and release. Do you feel the inner core of the movement? Find a movement that you can repeat several times using the same dynamic or the same use of tension and release. Do you feel the rhythmic phrase established by the time intervals between contraction and release?

Rhythm and RELAXATION are interconnected yet different. Whereas rhythm is the dynamics of timing between intervals of contraction, release and various types of opposing forces, relaxation is the equilibrium and balance between rest and activity. Rhythm is sensing your harmony, ease, and free flow of energy. Relaxation does not mean going limp or collapsing. Relaxation is using the appropriate sets of muscles to perform a movement without bringing in other sets of muscles not needed. Relaxation means moving efficiently. It means resting while you are moving. The most essential gift of life that we all have is energy. The conservation and creative use of this energy is controlled by the rhythm in the way we move our bodies.

The inability to relax is often so enmeshed in emotional blocks that we are unaware of making relaxation the most difficult skill to achieve. Bad habits unconsciously reflected in our movements and body also prevent us from experiencing relaxation.

As we discover how to move naturally, operating out of universal principles that govern all bodies, we will gradually replace old tired habits with rhythmic and relaxed movement. As we discover how to reach every part of our body we will break up these emotional blocks that drain us of so much energy; instead we will experience rhythm and relaxation, and the enormous pleasure, harmony, and satisfaction in ourselves through sensitive movement awareness.

I believe natural movement has many values for you: you can be yourself and discover your own style rather than being like someone else or taking on an imposed style. You can learn about yourself. Natural movement leads to the potential of self-realization. You can heal yourself. You can increase your range of movement and your range of feelings and experiences and thus grow and develop on a personal level. Natural movement is a reflection of the life force.

In the larger work Movement Ritual I, from which this article has been excerpted, I have presented a series of movements which I call Movement Ritual I. In this brief essay I can’t give you the entire set of movements, with the accompanying drawings.¹ Up to now I have given you my general approach to movement. I now want simply to stress the importance of doing a set of natural movements every day. I will describe some aspects of Movement Ritual I and then will give you the transitional movements which can lead either into the full ritual or into the daily tasks of your day.

Commonalities in Bodies

Movement Ritual begins with an awareness of breathing—a most natural way to begin since breathing is important both to the physical efficiency of our movements and to our psychic behavior. This point cannot be stressed too much.

At present, the diaphragm is the least understood part of the human body. It is tied up with every living function, from the psychic to the structural, and affects the most remote points of the body. Like the equator, it is the line of two great halves of being: the conscious and the unconscious, the voluntary and the involuntary, the skeletal and visceral. Improper use can divide these two halves, whereas an awareness can connect and make your movements whole.

One of the essential aspects of breathing that applies to movement is your mind observing the breath cycle.

The rhythmic cycle of breathing is in three intervals:

1. As you inhale, draw a fullness of air into the lungs deeply and effortlessly; allow the rib case to expand, be soft and resilient.

2. As you exhale, the air departs from the lungs until they are empty and the rib case sinks.

3. Between the inhalation and exhalation there is stillness. Linger in this stillness, wait, and the air will return of its own accord.

The breath will always lead; it is involuntary. There is no one proper way to organize breathing in relationship to movement. Each movement, according to its intention, will relate to breathing differently. Throughout Movement Ritual you will become aware of how to use your breath to make your movements more efficient and effortless.

As the breath is the flow of all the movements in Movement Ritual, the spinal column is the organizer. Imagine your body in this manner: the axial skeleton is the spine with the head, ribs, and sternum (the pelvis, arms, and legs all being outgrowths).

Along the spine are all the essential systems of the body including the nervous system, the digestive apparatus, the circulatory, respiratory, urinary and reproductive systems. It is for this reason that the movements of the spine become central for your attention and care. To understand how your spine operates, you need to understand that the spine has four curves.

In order to lighten and support your body you need to lengthen the spine. To increase your range of movement, to release tension, and to maintain healthy tone in the body, you need to become flexible and strong in the muscles surrounding your spine. You need to cultivate an accurate balance of the parts in your skeletal framework. Movement Ritual I is structured to emphasize this. Every movement is organized around spinal action. Drawing towards or away from the spine is inherent in every movement.

The lumbar or lower back region has the greatest built-in flexibility and capacity for strength, and consequently demands our greatest attention. Your ability to support the entire spine and shoulders, arms and head from your lower back makes this area sensitive to strain. Dr. Rene Calliet has written a book on the lower back-pain syndrome and in it claims that 80% of the members of the human race at sometime in their lives are affected by low back pain or injury.

Your spinal column is also central for the integrity and consciousness of your pelvic region. Through the use of your pelvis, hips and thighs, the balancing of parts, mobilization of weight bearing, shifting directions, and lifting takes place. The pelvic area has long been considered by the Chinese to be the body center, a holy and spiritual center, and visualized as the color red, symbolizing energy.

Differences in Bodies

Although our similarities are obvious, our differences are many and need to be taken into account, in terms of self-expectations and for deriving the most personal benefits. There are general differences that have to do with racial and cultural customs as well as age, occupation and sex. These differences have hardly been tapped as a source of study. Anthropological and sociological information would make valuable resource material for artists and educators. Racial and cultural differences I have noticed within the multi-racial community at the Dancers’ Workshop are that people of Asian ancestry tend to have flat-looking backs and a strong earth grounding. The Black members of our community tend to have short strap muscles and a sharp curve in the lower back, with enormous fluidity in the spinal column and pelvic region. (I carefully use the word “tend” to indicate a tendency rather than a stereotype.) Architects who lean over drafting boards have a tendency towards hunched shoulders, and people who are under continuous pressure tend to have forward heads and tension in the neck. I have danced with children for twenty years and was amazed to observe that youngsters tend to be just as tight and have similar postural problems as oldsters, and the people fifty years and over very often are as capable in movement as those twenty years and under. (T’ai Chi masters reach their ultimate perfection between eighty and ninety years of age.) Although men tend to be tight in the hip joints, with practice they can loosen up. Women are sometimes open around the hips but just as often are as closed as the men. Shorter people and children have an ease with gravity that taller people with long limbs may have to develop. Wiry types tend to be fast and darting in movements. We have all noticed that obese people can be light as a feather.

Differences are fascinating and can be appreciated and valued as positive ways of enriching movement with unique experiences and styles. Preconceptions of how one is supposed to move based on a preconceived belief system rather than true understanding, leads to conformity, uniformity and blind acceptance of arbitrary aesthetics. This type of prejudice is repressive to creative growth.

We can learn from each other’s differences. We can broaden our range of movement, strengthen our weaknesses, and create a wide variety of new ways to move that open up exciting possiblities. I recommend you understand your body and move in accordance with your own self-image, and then you can learn from other styles, such as ballet, T’ai Chi, Flamenco, belly-dancing, modern dance, etc.

I have often had the experience of starting out to teach a group of participants a particular skill by using a preselected movement. Then I observe different people with different body types and ethnic and cultural patternings. I observe the many structural variations that are equally valid to achieve the same skill. This diversity is always exciting to me and I treasure each person’s input as a truly creative and enriching experience.

In doing any movement you need to study your own body by paying attention to the physical sensations evoked by your movement. Use yourself as your own model. If you notice that you have a sway back (lordosis), emphasize the movements that are based on flexion and avoid the back bends or the hyperextension. Hyper-extension will only reinforce lordosis; flexion will stretch those tight short muscles that reinforce an arch in the lower back.

If you have a sunken chest, then emphasize the movements that contract the upper back and expand your chest. A forward head needs to lengthen and the muscles in the back of the neck need to stretch. Notice if one shoulder is higher than the other, or one hip down or up. As you move, try to make the necessary accommodations. Since each person is unique it is impossible to predict what you will need to do to adapt a series of movements to your particular body type and personal posture preferences. Study yourself in the mirror; have a friend take side view and frontal photographs of you. Try to get in tune with your body image as it is now and how you would like to alter it.

SOME PREPARATIONS FOR MOVEMENT RITUAL

It is helpful to set aside a specific time every day to do movement just as you set time aside for eating and sleeping and bathing. You are taking care of your body in the same sense.

The first thing in the morning and before you retire in the evening is a good schedule, although each of you needs to determine your own natural rhythm.

Arrange a place, a physical environment that is aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, private, and conducive to your concentration. The air should be fresh. It is especially invigorating to move outdoors. The feel of the sun or a cool breeze can add sensual pleasure. The light will affect your eyes and mood. The size of space will influence your sense of body scale. Your physical environment does have an effect on you, whether you are conscious of it or not. Create environments to move in that have a positive effect.

The use of sound plays a part in the environment you work in. Sometimes you might want to use quiet music or simply be aware of sounds in your environment that are already there. There are always the sounds of your breathing, and your body as it moves. Sensitize yourself to the sensory stimuli in your environment. Select ways to use stimuli to create a scene for performing your movements deeply and with pleasure.

What you wear also affects how you feel in your movements. Avoid wearing tights and leotards because you think that is the uniform to move in. Try moving without any body covering or with baggy sweatpants and shirt, or a loose-fitting wraparound. Try different body coverings until you find what works best for you.

Transition Ritual

A transitional ritual can be used to begin Movement Ritual I or can be used as a way of discovering what you need from the day ahead of you. Allow the energy you feel from this transition ritual to carry over to your daily tasks ahead.

It is a process of shifting your attention away from external stimuli toward internal body awareness. You can use your mind to perceive kinesthetic sensations within your body, rather than being influenced by any moral or aesthetic preconceptions as to how you ought to look or feel. This ritual is a process for quieting the mind, letting go of muscles, and neutralizing your feeling states. It is a process of self-caring, or bringing yourself to a receptive attitude, and of opening and heightening your own self-awareness. This process allows you to concentrate without effort and awakens your energy.

This is accomplished by closing your eyes, relaxing all over, giving in to gravity, softening your body resistance, releasing inner preoccupations and voiding the mind.

You also need to get in touch with your breath rhythms and appreciate how your breath operates of its own accord following your own natural rhythms.

Begin this movement by sitting with your body comfortably balanced, knees raised, your elbows resting on your knees, your head dropped into your hands, your feet firmly touching the ground and leaning forward at your hips, allowing your back to be open and rounded.

Palming. While you are in this position, cover your eyeballs with the hollow of your palms, using the rim of your palm like the rim of a cup that contains the heat of your hands and brings your palm’s energy into your eyes while keeping light out. Relax your eyes, let go of your face muscles, attend to your breath. Whenever you relax, let go. Breathe out, drop your jaw and let your lips part and hang loosely. Now drop your shoulders and breathe into your back, expanding and widening your back. Breathe out and sink into your pelvis, allowing yourself to feel your weight moving into the ground.

Massage your face. Bring your awareness to your face and your scalp. Use your hands as though they are fine sculptor’s tools. Press your fingertips into your scalp and rotate, rubbing your scalp and loosening the skin. Use your fingernails and lightly scratch until your head tingles. Use your fingertips to vigorously stroke your forehead. Use the heels of your hands to press into your cheeks. Explore with your hands, moving them into all the parts of your head and face until you have wiped away all expression and your face becomes relaxed, neutral and ready to receive.

Lie down. Keeping your eyes closed, slowly lower your body to the floor, touching one vertebrae after the other, sequentially. To do this movement slowly and smoothly, you can use your arms to counterbalance your movement. When you sense your lower back on the ground, contract your lower abdominal muscles and slowly unroll your spine with control, letting your legs, arms, and head touch the ground simultaneously. Sink. Sense the full weight of your body letting go. Breathe out—let go—relax.

Breathing. Open your palms; place them above your breast, just below your shoulders, and breathe deeply into your hands, with the movement of your breath rising into your hands as you inhale. Rather than being cupped, your palms are now touching and resting on your body. As you exhale, breathe out and let your chest fall. Soften your rib case. Make room for your lungs to expand as you breathe in and to empty as you breathe out. Sense your movement passing through your body and into the ground. Keep breathing, drawing air through your nostrils and exhaling through soft relaxed lips.

If you are aware of your lower back arching off the ground after you’ve extended your legs in front of you, then it would be better to bend your knees and draw your legs back so that your entire back can rest on the floor.

Now, pass your hands over your rib case to the sides and continue breathing. Sigh as you breathe out. Slide your hands over your abdomen, bringing them to rest on your lower belly just above your pubic bone. Let your diaphragm softly press your viscera into your lower belly so your belly swells and fills your hands. Breathe out and let your movement pass through your lower back and rest on the ground. Let your sigh become a low relaxed sound of your voice. Now let your arms slide off your body and drop to the side.

Be still and quiet and spend as much time as you need to concentrate on how your body feels. With your inner eye, scan all the parts of your body and be aware of any holding on. Breathe into any areas that feel tight, and let go.

Here are suggested ways you can use the transition ritual of palming. You might consider doing these movements with a friend reading them to you and checking you out.

Does your body feel light or heavy?

Are your eyelids quiet? Heavy? Or are your eyes quivering?

Has your breath slowed down? Is your jaw loose or locked?

Do you have any impulses to stretch, twist, change positions?

Follow your impulses.

Do you want to cry, yawn, go to sleep, curl up?

Do it.

Do you want to shout, adjust your clothing, change your location?

Do it.

After you have done the transitional ritual, remain in this altered level of consciousness and begin a private fantasy. Imagine yourself in a place that you truly enjoy. Imagine that you are looking into a blue sky. Now begin to imagine the ground you are lying on. Imagine each part of your body in contact with the ground. What does the ground evoke in you? How does it smell? What is its texture? Its temperature? Can you melt into the ground, be absorbed by the ground? Can the ground hold you? Can you yield to the ground?

Now come back to yourself. Start with your feet and slowly go through each part of your body until you have covered every part and have felt your whole body in this space. Now breathe from your chest into your belly and when you breathe out, exhale from your whole body and into the ground. Breathe in, and this time imagine your breath turned into flowing movement that goes past and beyond the limits of your physical body and streams through your body and out. Connect the space above and around and below. Breathe through your body into these open spaces and let that energy move back into you and into the pelvic area.

Another possible fantasy is to imagine that the breath movement is like the movement of water—flowing, gathering momentum. Think of your breath as the ocean, gently swelling, and feel your breath rising slowly, gathering volume, then slipping back like a wave. Feel the tides of your breath rhythmically creating the flow of that movement. Let your breath swell slowly and gradually, then passively recede, moving effortlessly in a continuously self-generating motion. Let your mind observe this movement restfully.

Suggestions for Movement Ritual

Movement Ritual is meant to be performed slowly, smoothly and with ease. Always breathe into your movements. Closing your eyes helps you internalize and concentrate on what you are sensing when you move. You will notice that you have a limit to your range of action. Find your limit and then go to the edge. This skill will help you increase your flexibility. Avoid forcing the edge by pushing, pulling or bouncing into your stretches. Breathe out and let go each time you want to stretch further. Avoid pain, seek pleasure.

Use your voice. When you breathe out let sighs and hiss sounds out. Color your breath with vocal sounds. Listen to your sounds and notice how the sounds reflect the movement. Notice where the source of the sound is coming from: the chest, throat, belly, head. There will be times when you will want to be quiet, when you want to withdraw within yourself. Be able to choose to go either way rather than limit yourself by cutting your voice off. Keep an awareness of your movement occupying space, consuming time and being performed with a degree of force. Continuity and phrasing involve the way you connect one movement to the other. I call this the flow of movement. Get in touch with the muscles in parts of your body that need to contract as opposed to the parts that are released. Learn to isolate different parts of your body.

These are a few ways to perform movements on a daily basis, and as you become more familiar with your own movements, you will discover the way that works for you.

Undesired tension and resistance in the muscles take a long time to release. Do not expect any visible results right away in terms of limbering up. However, do expect immediate results in how you feel and respond after a movement session. You may have released a great deal of pent-up tensions and feelings, with the result that you feel tired or sleepy. Sometimes just the opposite may occur and you feel “high” and full of energy. You may feel flooded with emotional states, or unresolved situations may come to mind. You may become sexually or sensuously stimulated. Or perhaps you will feel very calm and centered. Linger with your feelings as long as you need to. Reflect on whatever sensations you are in touch with in your body. Reflect on how this feels. Be present. Let this reflection be your closure.

STRUCTURE NOT PATTERN

It is vital to your own creativity to realize that what I have suggested are organized and structured movements rather than formalized or personalized patterns. There is no single formula for movement. The intention or objectives of the organized and structural approach are rooted in the understanding that there are universal laws that do govern all movement. Let this notion be paramount in your attitude when you learn and perform these movements. You could take the same principles and in response to your experience arrive at a totally different series that would be equally sound and valid—perhaps more so—for you.

The four Movement Ritual series (of which Movement Ritual I is the first) derived from my own personal response to needs in my life for ways in which my body could “feel good.” What I seemed to need most urgently was to replenish my energy, restore my sensibilities, relax my mind and rest my body while in motion. I have been developing and practicing these movements for many years. I continually alter, refine and change them as my life, my needs, and my body change. Movement Ritual I has served me well in a variety of ways: as a form of meditation, as a way to build a strong and flexible body, as a catalyst to get in touch with myself emotionally as well as physically, as a time set aside to “let go,” as a means to measure development within my body range, as a way to claim my body as ME, as a form of self-healing of impaired and injured body areas, as a gift to myself of time and space to do something for myself. I hope and desire the same and more for you.

NOTE

This article is the introduction to the book Movement Ritual I, published by San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop in 1975 and illustrated by Charlene Koonce. As a movement form, Movement Ritual I is an attempt to organize and structure a basic range of ordinary movement within the human body, with the hope that this structure will provide a useful and valid approach for body consciousness. Movement Ritual I is the first part of a four-part series and is performed primarily lying down. Movement Ritual II is performed standing up using falls, lifts, swings, rebound, and balance. Movement Ritual III is performed moving through space using walks, runs, crawls, leaps and various ways of shifting weight. Movement Ritual IV combines the variety of possibilities in I, II and III. We have found that there arc as many combinations of movement elements as there are people to discover and invent them.

1. The entire set of movements and drawings can be found in Movement Ritual I, illustrated by Charlene Koonce. See Bibliography.