Walking Is Child's Play

I became a much better dancer when I stopped trying to dance and just started doing stuff.

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Bend knees. Feel what that's like. Place palm of left hand on the floor. Feel the floor. Swivel and place buttocks on floor. Feel the floor.

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Thinking about dance and what we expect from it -- fluidity, strength, expression... -- clutters the mind and keeps us from being effective. It cuts us off from the sensations we need to set up truly interesting situations. Situations in which things happen almost by themselves. That is when quality comes in.

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Walking Exercise #1

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1) Revisit the exercises from last week.

2) Stand up, barefoot, with feet close together but not touching, knees unlocked. You'll probably feel that your legs are closer together than normal. You might feel that you've given up a secure, wide stance for something a bit wobbly. That's good! 'Wobbly' means that you're ready to take off in many directions.

3) Visualize a vertical line running up and down the middle of your body, through your head and torso. It continues upwards, from the top of your head, and downwards, from in between your sit bones. Remember that your legs are not necessarily implicated in this imaginary line.

Reach down and feel the point of your sit bones with your hands. Lift one heel so that only the balls of the foot and toes touch the ground. Do the other side. Notice that the movement doesn't significantly change the direction in which your sit bones point. (While exploring this, keep looking towards the horizon. Moving your legs shouldn't alter the direction in which the top of your head points, either.)

4) Imagine a string attached to each knee that goes out over the feet, pretty much between the second and third toes. There's a gentle, gentle tension on that string. With knees directed out over the middle of your feet and a modest stance, your body weight can fall evenly on all parts of the foot. You're neither pressing outwards nor caving inwards. All is sollicited and active.

Imagine that you're standing in soft clay and that, as you sink slowly down, clay is pressed out, in every direction. Don't make an effort to push downwards; your weight does the pressing, on its own. Keep in mind the line going through your head and torso and the two strings directing your knees. Add to that the perception of the volume of your feet that comes from the clay oozing out. Feel how your weight falls differently when you have a sense of volume.

5) Lean forward slightly and imagine someone pulling on one of those strings, just enough to set you walking. Each step is initiated by one string or the other. Don't try to do it at a slow pace; let the momentum of your body in motion carry you forward. Give yourself enough space to cut loose. Be like a baby taking his first steps, both in and out of control.

How long before you revert back to your usual way of organizing yourself? Ask yourself why you reverted back to it and if it was really necessary. Test it, again and again. See if you can feel places -- in your hips or back -- that roll more than usual. Can you develop a taste for the wobbliness of it all?

Be a fanatic. Experiment, all day long. Start on sidewalks and, when you're relatively in control, move on into supermarkets and restaurants.

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But, don't feel silly, gangly or punk. What might seem to be a lack of composure, from the inside, will appear as 'animal' sleekness, from the outside.