After yesterday’s rehearsal, day 6, I noticed a marked improvement in the dancer’s technique. Meaning, alignment, initiation of movement, cup of the hand, shape of the arms, allowing gravity’s force to drop down through them into the Earth (floor). All of these awakenings lead me to believe that they are on their way.
They are beginning to feel the wear and tear of repetition and yesterday we had a pow-wow about massaging out tight spots on the feet, calves and front of hips. It is crucial that even on days off, they continue stretching and visualizing the dance. CRUCIAL DANCERS ! Today is our last day together and I am looking forward to seeing their progress from yesterday. I hope that conscious focuses will be part of it (hint, hint).
More later…
P.S. - in case I forget to tell you … the East Baton Rouge Library on Goodwood should have some copies of a Graham DVD set called the Criteron Collection. I highly recommend checking this out . There are films of Graham and her company demonstrating the techinque . Check it out !
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To all the dancers going through the Panorama process in Baton Rouge, I just wanted to drop a line of encouragement. Learning the choreography of Martha Graham is kind of a shock at first because honestly the depth of the movement is hard to understand until you start actually doing it. You experience exhaustion, aches, pain, and yes, shin splints!
The few pieces of advice that I can gladly offer to you is to take care of your bodies. Get enough rest. Ice on sore spots when you get home. Hot baths with epsom salt is a great idea! You can put Arnica on your aches at night, and Tiger Balm is something you’re probably already familiar with. It is my rock before rehearsals.
As for the dance, the contraction is tricky… like a puzzle. All the pieces of it are there, but it takes time and observation to fit them all together. I learned that no matter what you do, you must engage your whole body into your movement; all the energy must flow from the top of your head, the back of your neck, the core of your body, the pelvis, the bottom, all the way to your toes. And after all of that, your mind must be alert and anticipating.
Lastly, I had not intended to write a novel, but I want to mention a theme that really helped me in the Panorama process. This work was choreographed as a statement against the acceptance of powerlessness and complacency. Whatever your personal cause is, you march to the beat of that drum and shout “We Demand IT”, protest “We Demand It!”, think “WE DEMAND JUSTICE” before that music comes on. Janet told us that even though Panorama was made so many years before our time, if we could just think of one cause that we felt strongly about now and relate that to the dance before we take the first step, it would not only connect us personally to the piece, but also communicate to the audience the original essence of the dance. I know that was a mouthful but, Merde! You can do it!!