DCDanceBlog

this is so amazing and beautiful!! improv everywhere strikes again! (thanks to shaun for finding this.)

as i walk around today, i find i keep thinking about an article about stretching that i read yesterday in the health section of the ny times. apparently flexible people use considerably more energy to move than inflexible folks! which goes against all my notions about “efficient movement.”

according to a researcher who studied flexbility’s impact on performance:

…Distance runners do not benefit from being flexible, he found. The most efficient runners, those who exerted the least effort to maintain a pace, were the stiffest.

That study involved 100 people who were tested with 11 flexibility tests. Then they walked and ran while the researchers measured their efficiency. Those who were the most flexible expended 10 to 12 percent more energy to move at the same speed as compared with the least flexible.

i guess it does make some sense–the more flexible you are, the more of your body you’re actually moving, and therefore you’re using more energy–but it’s weird that there’s a penalty of sorts for being more fully in one’s body.

photo by grant schmick

last night i led the contact jam at the dance exchange. i generally don’t like leading, which entails providing some kind of warmup exercise. personally, i hate contact classes and exercises. i seem to be in the minority here, but i find they bore me to death. most contact classes focus solely or largely on the physical aspects of contact, but what i love about it is how it integrates mind and body. working on contact exercises that are simply physical winds up making me feel like i’m memorizing “moves,” and that’s the last thing i want to do when i’m doing contact.

so because i don’t like contact classes, i don’t have a good repertoire of exercises to lead with. last night i was going to show up empty handed, but on the way over i suddenly had a brainstorm for a warmup, one that actually excited me. i think what i liked was that it addressed both the mental aspect of contact (being focused) with the physical. it’s below.

i’m so glad i did wind up being prepared, b/c we had a tiny jam that included two new people. i’m not sure if the exercise actually did them any good, but i have a feeling it was better than nothing.

last night’s exercise

• find a partner and think about something that happened to you today–anything. doesn’t have to be interesting. then tell each other.
• next, think of something else from your day. this time, one person put a hand on the other, and through the touch, try to tell what you were thinking of. that might mean leaning in, or breathing into that hand–figure out what it means for you. the other person should use their body to listen as closely as possible.
• now, both partners, think about how you’re feeling right now. one of you put your hand on the other’s body, but this time try to listen through that hand as closely as possible. the other person should try to speak through their body and the point of contact.
• do that a couple times. then use another part of your body to touch, not the hand. again, speak and listen through the point of contact as intently as possible.
• then switch roles w/o anyone having to say “switch.” just read when your partner is ready to switch from speaking to listening.
• then make the switching continuous, so that it occurs completely while in contact.
• and then you’re dancing!