TECHNIQUES

Emphasis is placed on the teaching of technique based on and developing out of the anatomy of each individual:

1. ANALYSIS OF DANCE MOVEMENT:
is used in dance courses at the school of Wilfred Piollet. This method of study and awareness of the body in movement focuses on the basic principles of dance. The technique of each dancer is developed and worked on individually. Analysis of Dance Movement is taught by Jean-Christophe Pare and Sophie Billy.

2. LIMON TECHNIQUE:
is one of the three foundation stones of modern American dance together with Graham and Cunningham technique. Limon technique, as it is currently taught, developed gradually out of exploration (the analysis of dance movement). It is taught by Marie Kinsky.

3. WORK-SHOPS:
comprise various methods of improvisation which lead the artist to the creation of his own dance material and open the way for the search and discovery of new elements. The workshops are lead by Leone Cats-Baril, Atsushi Takenouchi, Sumako Koseki, Christine Bastin Company, Jean-Christophe Pare, Marie Kinsky, Anne-Marie Reynaud, Paco Decina, Beatrice Massin.

Analysis of dance movement
Jean.Christophe Paré, Sophie Billy

There are two reasons why a dancer should use kinesiology in his work (kinesis = movement, logos =science: namely the science of movement).

Primarily, kinesiology provides a better balance between the real and the imaginary; it enables the dancer to give shape to his conception of his body in movement and his desire for movement. Secondly, today’s dancer, who is neither an entirely classical nor an entirely modern dancer, must adapt and broaden the scope of his ability and knowledge. Nevertheless his responsibility remains the same: to refine his own particular style by the practice of the discipline at which he is most competent. However it is an important fact of art history that styles or ideological trends fade in time and it becomes necessary to provide the dancer with the practical means to study these dances afresh, whose days of glory belong to a by-gone age.

The kinesiological approach provides the individual with the appropriate means to grasp the essence of work with the body, thereby defining the value of the forms into which it is being moulded.

Under such conditions a synthesis takes place, which finds absolute meaning in its being the only answer to the host of dance styles to which today’s dancers are exposed.

The concept of the dance class which I propose, follows along the same lines as the experiments carried out at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris (the French equivalent to HAMU here in Prague) under the supervision of Wilfred Piollet (teacher and dancer) and Odille Rouquet (kinesiologist).

This training method leads in two directions: the desire to combine what we still call today ‘classical roots’ with the technical elements arising out of 20th century dance and, thanks to kinesiology, the concept of a class structure which is not merely a series of exercises, but demonstrates the starting points from which the image of a dancing body is built.

(Article)
Jean-Christophe Pare

Limon technique
Marie Kinsky

The Limon dance technique developed by Doris Humphrey and Jose Limon was founded primarily on falling and suspension (suggested by the movement of the waves of the sea), which enables the dancer to work not over his centre of gravity, in spirals and in space.

The basis of this technique lies in the possibility of movement.

Consequently it is necessary to prepare the whole body and that, according to the system of analysing dance movement.

The lesson begins on the floor with the eyes closed. This state allows the dancer to concentrate on each movement, which subconsciously permeates throughout the whole body. The lesson continues standing up, following several basic movement principles. The final part of class comprises the Limon dance technique itself with its emphasis on dance and space.

See regular classes.


Christine Bastin company

Further information about the company can be found at their internet address: Christine Bastin.

Katarina Bader

(Dancer and teacher of the company)

Serge Ambert

“The dance of Christine Bastin is the way to being”

Her work invites all that is human. Should she look for beauty, it is the “beauty of rupture, the beauty of pain”. She wants to “destroy the mystery and immerse herself in the huge destruction of human relationships in a testimony where we are everything and where the whole palette of human emotions may erupt”.

Movement is her passion. She likes to write dance librettos for herself and for her dancers, librettos in which everyone can lose himself without fear and be born again in the present, it is “the embodied transparency of those who allow it to permeate them”.

Inventive and meticulous, in every performance Christine Bastin searches for a precise physical substance, the right movement, a tangible representation of an inhabited body, quivering skin, an open soul.
She wants to achieve forms such as a “full vessel gives shape to water”. The dance of Christine Bastin constantly invents transitions between art and life. It is a rough and quivering adventure, linking the inside with the outside, experienced deeply by every performer.

Martin C. – Christine Bastin

Workshop: Time to improvise - daring to expose one’s innermost self
- getting in touch with another, with others
- expanding our presence in the world and vibrating against everything which offers itself to our emotions: space, light, words, images, places
- creating a duet

“That which you don’t understand is the most beautiful” (Paul Claudel)

Butoh
Léone Cats-Baril

Butoh brings each one of us to a dance of our own, which transcends the frontiers of familiar or established movement. The numerous worlds which lie within us surface and are brought to life in our dancing bodies.



Butoh brings each one of us to a dance of our own, which transcends the frontiers of familiar or established movement. The numerous worlds which lie within us surface and are brought to life in our dancing bodies.

The proposed programme of the workshop is based on a series of experiments (working blindfolded, at different speeds, using imagery, working on moment and duration, the sensation of space) and on guided improvisations (individual, in pairs, in groups), all of which lead to a finer perception of our own body and the body of others, a deepening of our concentration, a recognition of the body’s habits, our mental attitude and a revealing of new powers of expression.

Previous dance experience is not a prerequisite for participation in this workshop, but it involves intensive work, deep concentration and an open mind towards yourself and your colleagues.

More about the history of butoh technique.

Photographs from the workshop at the Duncan Centre.

Sumako Koseki

Today: Dance and its twin

Perhaps what characterises the butoh of Sumako Koseki is the human being in a state of ‘openess’, stepping beyond his pure self, where “the internal and the external call to one another, where mortal man transcends time”. (G. Novellino)

Sumako Koseki is increasingly attracted by the magical presence of the body emptied of itself. This is not an exotic image, but the body of a de-humanised dancer, who demonstrates humanity, an anonymous body which speaks to many beings.

This is a pivotal image in the magic of theatre:
“…the question … is knowing whether in this world, which is dying, which is killing itself without even being aware of it, a core of people can be found who are able to establish this idea of the pricelesssness of theatre, which returns to us a natural and MAGICAL equivalent to a dogma in which we no longer believe.” (Antonin Artaud – ‘Divadlo a jeho dvojnik’).

Sumako Koseki has created and realised a technique which corresponds to this sentiment: illusive steps and the use of a hand which reflect live people, the expression of a determined, disappearing face, free of psychological experience.

Sumako Koseki