DAISY THOMPSON
 

 

 

My release-based technique classes incorporate the fundamentals and movement principles of Klein, Bartenieff and Improvisation, with the goal to facilitate students in developing their strength and coordination, confidence, ability to surrender to containment, collaborate with gravity and momentum, and to work efficiently with energy and flow. Underpinning the class is the building of a sense of accountability and responsibility for self and for other class peers. I encourage this through a symbiotic relationship of seeing and being seen. Through a series of partner observational tasks throughout the course, the students develop the ability to analyse movement on other bodies and to be able to articulate constructive feedback to their partners. Whilst this is primarily for the purposes of students gaining more of an understanding of their own body in relation to others, it also serves the student for their own potential teaching practices.  

 

Course Description:

This course uses Release Technique training as a movement method to develop dynamic and articulate dancers. Over the course of the term, students will be guided through set movement phrases that encompass moving in and out of the floor, Bartienieff & Klien Fundamentals, balance, weight transference, suspension, ‘off-centre’, spatial relationships, and direction of force and energy.  To support the movement phrases, relaxation and sensory techniques are used to help students grasp some of the concepts of release, and anatomical images are shared, discussed, and used as initiation for improvisation tasks to gain an internal knowledge/evoke a curiosity of the muscular and bone structures of the body.  The course will begin with simple movement phrases for the students to gain a thorough understanding of the patterns and the various qualities of movement, which over the term progresses in complexity and detail.