Dans en Alexandertechniek

Lees meer hierover in het artikel 'Good dancers make it look easy'

Op de Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, afdeling Moderne Theaterdans geleid door Angela Linssen, kregen de studenten gedurende 3 jaar les in de Alexandertechniek. Groepslessen werden afgewisseld met individuele lessen. Ze schreven verschillende verslagen over hun ervaringen met deze methode. Hieronder volgt een verslag van een derdejaars student.

In 2019 werd de nieuwe afdeling 'Expanded Contemporary Dance' opgericht, geleid door Bojana Bauer. De afdelingen Moderne Theater Dans en Urban Contemporary werden afgebouwd. Alexander Techniek is opgenomen in het curriculum van de ECD. De eerste, tweede en derdejaars studenten krijgen er wekelijks lessen gedurende het hele jaar.

Testimony of a third year student of the Modern Dance Department at the 'Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten'

'Honestly in the first year I did not understand anything. I did not get why we were expending so much time on that technique. After that year, suddenly my brain switched and I started to understand the principles. In my dance development and awareness I think it has been crucial to understand what movement is to me. How can my body move efficient with the minimal or right effort and the maximal result. I can apply the principles of the technique in any class, from ballet to contact improvisation, from modern to partnering. In my daily life it has been crucial as well because also there I could finally break with my old habits; like breathing by pulling my chest up instead of expanding it in all directions, stiffening my neck instead of letting it free, and my shoulders up and inward instead of outwards and resting on the back. My pelvis tilted down instead of having smiling hips! I tended to block the knees instead of allowing them to be free and ready to move at anytime, and the same to the ankles, allowing my weight to spread in the whole feet, allowing my skull to balance on top of the atlas. By giving the right direction to each part I wanted to work on I got to be aware of what I was doing wrong. Now I think up and all the joints away from each other so I get free joints full of air and ready to move. It is still work in process and I think it will be forever in my life. I have been working a lot with images that could bring me the right feeling I was looking for. I analyzed the anatomy of the human body: how the bones are structured and how the muscles are attached to this structure, which directions do they have and which function do they have in this smart machine.
I do not mean the work is done now so I can relax and enjoy my new lengthened and widened body, but I took a huge step by realizing my habits. Now I have got the right information, and I keep linking it with information from other sources. My awareness has grown. I feel I am on the right track. I think it is an essential technique in a dance training program. It took me a long while to understand what it is all about, and lots of frustration, but it is worth to keep on developing that way.'

Aimar Pérez Galí