Here or There

Warm it up. Rev it up. Slip it into high gear.

We often talk about the human body as though it were a machine. It's not the most flattering image for a complex organism, but, if it works, why not? Any metaphor that gets the job done is a good metaphor, as long as we don't start taking it for reality.

When we move, there are parts of our body that lead and others that follow along. Of course, it's not as cut-and-dried -- not as mechanical -- as it sounds. After all, in complex organisms, everything participates and adapts on some level, all the time. But, let's stick with the image, anyway. It'll get us somewhere, despite its shortcomings.

In dance, we refer to those parts that instigate movement as 'motors.' Changing motors is one of our ways to reorganize the body and access different qualities. Switching motors can be very subtle and, from the outside, not always easy to read. But, anybody who likes to watch people walk by has, certainly, picked up on it a bit.

Most people walk leaning forward and leading with the knees. But, we've all seen people who seem to stroll everywhere: leaning back slightly, feet pulling the body forward. And, there's the John Wayne swagger: hips advancing a reluctant body, eternally headed towards a shootout or brawl. A number of young males show how tough they are by combining systems: one side leading with the hip and the other, with the knee. It's a rolling strut that, at least, has the advantage of musicality.

But, let's leave the legs, for now, and get back to our arms.


Segment Exercise #1 (continued)

1) Revisit the segment exercises from Sunday.

2) Do the sequence again, but, this time, standing up. This time, however, there's only one puppeteer and he's floating above you (where he should've been, all along). Again, he slowly pulls on the string, setting into motion a chain of events. But, now, when your arm reaches the top, the puppeteer cuts the string and your arm flops back to your side.

While experimenting with the sequence, try and keep your stomach loose and your knees unlocked. Breathe as easily as possible. Ask yourself these questions: Is the segment with the string (the motor) really instigating the movement? Are the non-motor segments hanging from the motor segment with a real sense of weight? Given that there are different possibilities for organizing the movment, does the arm alway rise to the same height? Does it always fall in the same way? Where do you feel repercussions from lifting your arm? How far down do the repercussions go?