We continued working through the Bartenieff Fundamentals today. We have reached a new stage in the fundaments: upper and lower connectivity. However today we were focusing just on the lower connectivity. The class began analysing the anatomy of the hip bone, pelvic girdle and pelvis on ‘Dave’ (the studios skeleton model). It was interesting to study the anatomy of the bones as I think I take them for granted as dancer.
The pelvis provides attachment for muscles that balance and support the spine and move the legs, hips, and spine. The weight of the torso and upper limbs is transmitted through the pelvis and because of this weight bearing function; the pelvic girdle is not so mobile. The neck of the femur (thighbone) fits comfortably in the cup shaped socket that forms the hip joint. And that joint is what Peggy Hackney states is 'underused'. The fundamentals really concentrate on using the hip join whilst moving instead of using the phsoas and the hip flexors. This was a challenge throughout class as I have been training to use my phsoas to lift my legs for quite some time now. Also my hip flexors are quite strong so they naturally take over lifting and moving my legs.
Class was harder than usual today. I believe this is because there are several layers of fundamentals to think about at once and aspects within these fundamentals:
- Breath
- Core distal connectivity
- Head- tail connectivity
- Upper and lower connectivity
The sensations of initiating the lower movement from the hip joint were interesting and also quite painful. My hip area after class was feeling quite tender. I felt as if I was so busy concentrating on the aspect of moving my legs from my hip joint that I forgot about other parts of the body. The floor exercise is starting to feel pleasant to move through as I can apply all aspects of the fundamentals. However when the movement material becomes faster and more complex such as the movement phrases in the centre I find it more difficult to do this. I need to focus on this next week and take my time to enhance and use the fundamentals properly as it can create some lovely movement qualities. In addition I need to be aware of were my arms are e.g. when my arms are in moving through second position that I do not let them go too far behind as this results in my chest slightly sticking out and my posture being out of line.
Hackney. P (1998) “Making Connections: Total Body Integration Through Bartenieff Fundamentals”
Wynn, K and Lawrence, M (2001) “The Anatomy Coloring Book”
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