Background information on Creative Embodiment

This is a detailled discription and explanation, written as a part of the development of Creative Embodiment.

“To me as a teacher, it is very important to know what the strengths of my didactic choices are within my dance idiom. In this class, exercises and assignments merge seamlessly and the dancers work from“ freedom ”to freedom in form”, so that movement research and choreography serve each other and each dancer uses the material or principles at their or her own pace and ability. As a contemporary dance teacher, it is essential for me to create a moment for movement research and/or improvisation in the dance class, without detracting from the wholeness of the class. I use a holistic dance approach, where the emphasis is on the physical experience in a, to me, personalized learning process. This is a process-oriented approach, in which the expressive-creative development of the participants is of importance. Learning through doing.

Through improvisation and/or movement phrases I have made, I awaken body and spatial awareness. The participants learn to let go of what they already know and to be open up to something new. The focus is on the physiological, emotional and energetic body, the stimulation of your sensory and kinaesthetic awareness. Everyone has a different body and therefore moves differently. It is important to me to make participants aware of their movement possibilities, so that they learn to push their personal boundaries. Through dance we also learn to trust our body and appreciate it as it is. You work with what you have and you learn to love it."

The frequent appeal to the sensory and kinaesthetic awareness ensures that movement research and choreography merge seamlessly. This is about raising awareness of the internal sensations that the exercises bring about, regardless of what it looks like from the outside. In this way, the dancers are physically and mentally prepared for the class components and the complex movement material. At the same time they learn to recognize and change personal movement patterns and thus open up a greater range of movement for themselves. In this way the dancers gets the feeling that they are in charge of and responsible for the fulfilment of the class material.

The movement research or improvisation prepares the dancers for the choreography or combination. At the same time, the choreography or combination is a moment when the movement research can be continued, applied and/or expanded. These class components are therefore not separate form each other. Approaching the choreography or combination as a continuation of the movement research ensures, due to the emphasis on the sensory and kinaesthetic experience, that the wholeness of the class is not impaired and that the dancers learn to implement movement research and/or improvisation in their dance practice.

The moment you approach the choreography as a route of the body through the space given by the teacher, which is performed slightly differently by each dancer, the choreography (as well as the movement research or improvisation) promotes the personal growth of the dancer. It ensures that the dancers learn to discover how this works in their bodies within the technique, principles or tools you have provided. The dancers experience sensations and tensions in the body and feel how they relate to them. The dance material thus remains interesting for every participant. Everyone pushes their own boundaries. You do not only perform individual steps and do not just copy what the teacher does, but you are working on it independently. The body is addressed as a whole and the process of embodiment is emphasised. Dancers learn to shape their personal expressive creativity in a detailed way. In this way, the more self-aware dancers discover what their strengths are and how the want to develop as a dancer or dance lover. What the participants take from the class will be different for everyone.

The aspects mentioned above ensure that the classes appeal to dancers and/or dance enthusiasts with different dance backgrounds. The intended goal is to have a diverse group within the class, whilst providing an athosphere in which participants can inspire each other. Working with sensory and kinaesthetic awareness, within your choreographic and didactic principles, promotes a style-transcending approach, which appeals to a diverse participant population. This ties in with both the workfield of today, in which I will work with different target groups as a teacher, and the metropolitan society in which people enjoy dance for various reasons.

"I do not radiate one single truth and make sure that participants can grasp from the class what is relevant for their dance development. What is most valuable to me is that the holistic dance approach makes the dance class very accessible to the participants, whilst deepening and nurtering the participants personal development.