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Balance, Ballet, class, contemporary dance, Dance, energetic pathways, equality, following your desire, following your heart, learning, life, modern dance, path, pathways, present, present moment, standing leg, Teaching, Technique
Move into the direction of the action is a familiar saying for me that is often applied in technique classes for the appropriate effort and placement of many technical principles. It is important to have technique to activate the desires of our dreams to dance, as well as important to activate the desires of our life.
What this means in technique is similar to what it means in our lives. When one begins to activate the muscular engagement for low to high leg articulations, one must fully activate the anchoring leg, standing leg if you will, in order to cultivate the necessary balance of engagement in the activity. There must be a little more descending energy applied pressing through the body to press the leg into place rather than by lifting.
The act of pressing allows the leg to float to its proper position through the support of external rotation and proper developmental pathways which support an actively balanced body ironically moving forward in the activity rather than moving back. The retreating of the body is a reaction to improper muscular balance and pulls one off their alignment and away from their desired outcome and task.
The irony here is that we must be present in the action of technique. It is crucial in the articulation and process that we are present in every moment of our reaching to activate the right musculature achieving the appropriate response. We must be in the act of doing by moving into the direction of the action.
Moreover, of course, what is true in technique is true in our lives, for technique is a direct reflection of our actions in other areas of our daily activities. We must be present so that we choose wisely, what is right for our lives and us. We must constantly negotiate the right pathways making sure we are moving in the flow of our own direction rather than the direction of others. We must move into the direction of the action of our hearts.
Architecture of the Heart 