This post will consist of my personal learning throughout my Friday sessions concerning anatomy and in particular BMC work.
so my first Friday session of the new term was based all around my aspirations for movement studies 3. My aspirations are:
1. to feel the connection with my skull and my tailbone. this has come from my previous viva from second year. I focussed a lot on this and I want to be able to continue having this connection in my third year. Plus I am interested to know my further findings that I will with this. for example, does my torso then become longer as a result of this connection?
2. to be able to move with my bones rather than rely on muscles. this came about when I was given feedback previously. As I use my muscles a lot in other activities I have a tendency to rely on them when dancing. I am focussing on letting go and finding this connection with my bones to help me move and support rather than my muscles.
This 3 wonderings will be my main focus in my movement studies 3 work and I hope to find possible answers, however I am aware this is a continual process and I welcome more questions that will crop up in my movement process.
Moving more onto BMC we began to think about the connections between the mind and body. To me this is almost like a big jigsaw puzzle. it is ongoing and it will constantly offer a number of solutions and I need to find the ones that help my learning process about my body.
To me I think about evoking movement, memory, thinking and doing and imagination when I think about the relationship about my mind and body.
this leads nicely onto what is somatic practices?
this diagram specifically is important to me as I know these 3 subjects affect each other and this is how I see somatic practices.
All 3 areas, creativity, personal growth and physical intelligence go hand in hand. no matter what I do each affects the other.
For this I must understand myself in a holistic way. All activities inform each other.
So in life somatic practices will help me as I am education the whole person rather than giving them skills...
... so the aspiration is I can be an independent learner and a reflective practitioner in the world.
During my first movement process a lot of embarrassing memories were evoked in my mind I am now questioning why this is. in no way did I feel uncomfortable in remembering but I now I realise that memory is a powerful thing.
My next session was based around EXPERIMENTIAL LEARNING IS LEARNING THROUGH DOING.
In this session we looked closely at SENSES AND PERCEPTIONS.
we mapped our senses. so we have our special senses that involve our head area and proprioception kinaesthetic awareness.
I learnt, WE HAVE RECEPTORS IN OUR BODY IN MUSCLES AND JOINT CAPSULES THAT SPEAK TO NERVOUS SYSTEM WHICH SPEAKS TO THE BRAIN SO IT KNOWS WHERE WE ARE IN SPACE.
This is something that when I am moving I am aware of this now as I understand where exactly I am in space.
I am now aware that senses lead to perception and perception opens up the senses. it is a loop and it constantly goes on.
Something which I noticed when walking around my hometown down the street was that I realised as humans we all have the same system but not everyone shares the same properties for example western cultured people may have different views to eastern cultured people.
Delving more into the senses we began to move with them. I chosen seeing and vision as my sense. to me this was what was vivid and clear for me at the time. I found that as I focussed on them so much I felt that the room itself was moving around me, rather than me moving around the room. it was almost as if I had no control with what I was seeing. I enjoyed the disorientation of this as I felt I was just a presence not a being in the space.
Therefore I understand that BMC involves this connection between THE INNER SELF- THE OUTER WORLD. this links in with the early stages of a humans life. Being in the womb the first sense that is developed is touch, something which BMC focusses on. then suddenly we have been so used to this inner self containment in utero we are then thrust into the outer world where gravity takes place.
Our next session lead us onto BMC SYSTEMS and MOVEMENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS
BMC SYSTEMS,
- Nervous
- Skeletal
- Senses and perception
- Fluid
- Organs
- Ligament
- Muscular
In BMC the systems are much more integrated than maybe in the Western medical world and BMC and Western medical systems have a slight difference between each other for example the Fluid is not recognised as a system in Western medical but is in BMC.
MOVEMENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS
these do connect to systems but are more movement focussed. for example crawling as a child is how we begin to move around. they can also be retained if a stage has been missed out I.e walking with the arms in opposition.
CELLS
To begin with we started off as a single Cell---- Turn into animals--- Human Beings
Moving with cells was a great experience. Though I didn't understand or let go to begin with I then got into it and my findings are represented here in some free writing.
As a result of this I felt majorly connected to my nervous system. I became extremely aware of this system, something which I don't usually pay attention to.
As part of our homework tasks I was asked to find an image of a cell which I felt a connection with. here is mine. From this I realised just how much is in a single cell. so much goes on and we are all made up of lots of these.
As part of our homework tasks I was asked to find an image of a cell which I felt a connection with. here is mine. From this I realised just how much is in a single cell. so much goes on and we are all made up of lots of these.
Another part of our homework tasks were to move with our cells again like we did in class. this time as I knew a little bit more about Cells and how it feels I felt more comfortable. I found that my body was a wave of cells moving of their own accord. The Cells move me and I am taken on this ride. I also felt that my sense were heightened and I was more aware of the space around me.
In terms of using Cells to enable dance phrases I have learnt that we have a sense of the whole body in activity. Plus with the help of surfaces and Cells we have movement around with a clear sense of yielding to the ground whilst other parts of our body can move freely and easily.
BMC:
In terms of this evolution of the being we come from:
WATER---- LAND
WHICH ECHOES
FLUID--- IN THE WOMB---- GRAVITY
Rather than theses stages evolving separately there is an element of stages overlapping.
So we then move onto:
SINGLE CELL ORGANISM--- SPONGES (SEA BED FLOOR)--- STARFISH
Here I had never dreamed that sea sponges would be part of the evolution of life.
The sponge like action echoes much like a Jellyfish. this pulsation of in and out is what I then moved with. unlike moving with cells I did see this in a much clearer light. some words that would describe my movement would be supple, tingly and boneless.
As part of another homework task we were asked to read " What is Somatics?" by Thomas Hanna.
I enjoyed this reading though challenging at times. Some things that stood out for me was:
" The spinal column is composed of descending motor nerves and ascending sensory nerves" so there are pathways going up and down the spine which is what allows us to move around. the information is going both ways.
This is something which I found really interesting as without this process we are humans would not be able to move or communicate.
STARFISH
Our next session focussed on the STARFISH, the next evolution.
here is my journal entry about STARFISH and how this connects with BMC.
With this information about the Naval Radiation Patterns we moved like this. Our partners mapped out the 6 point starfish in order for us to connect with our own bodies. My finding were that I felt very long and wiggly. I had a great sense of expanding and condensing in my movement whilst still being aware of my centre which is the core of a starfish.
This expanding and condensing action is helping my across my other studio practices. Such as the techniques phrases where we do the exact action. In order for me to feel how it should feel I can call upon why exactly I am doing this. I can think that I am a starfish and use the NRPS to connect instantly.
I look forward to the coming sessions where I can take all of this information into my moving process and journey.
In terms of using Cells to enable dance phrases I have learnt that we have a sense of the whole body in activity. Plus with the help of surfaces and Cells we have movement around with a clear sense of yielding to the ground whilst other parts of our body can move freely and easily.
BMC:
In terms of this evolution of the being we come from:
WATER---- LAND
WHICH ECHOES
FLUID--- IN THE WOMB---- GRAVITY
Rather than theses stages evolving separately there is an element of stages overlapping.
So we then move onto:
SINGLE CELL ORGANISM--- SPONGES (SEA BED FLOOR)--- STARFISH
Here I had never dreamed that sea sponges would be part of the evolution of life.
The sponge like action echoes much like a Jellyfish. this pulsation of in and out is what I then moved with. unlike moving with cells I did see this in a much clearer light. some words that would describe my movement would be supple, tingly and boneless.
As part of another homework task we were asked to read " What is Somatics?" by Thomas Hanna.
I enjoyed this reading though challenging at times. Some things that stood out for me was:
" The spinal column is composed of descending motor nerves and ascending sensory nerves" so there are pathways going up and down the spine which is what allows us to move around. the information is going both ways.
This is something which I found really interesting as without this process we are humans would not be able to move or communicate.
STARFISH
Our next session focussed on the STARFISH, the next evolution.
here is my journal entry about STARFISH and how this connects with BMC.
With this information about the Naval Radiation Patterns we moved like this. Our partners mapped out the 6 point starfish in order for us to connect with our own bodies. My finding were that I felt very long and wiggly. I had a great sense of expanding and condensing in my movement whilst still being aware of my centre which is the core of a starfish.
This expanding and condensing action is helping my across my other studio practices. Such as the techniques phrases where we do the exact action. In order for me to feel how it should feel I can call upon why exactly I am doing this. I can think that I am a starfish and use the NRPS to connect instantly.
I look forward to the coming sessions where I can take all of this information into my moving process and journey.
