Hierarchy of Advancement Workshop Seven

Introduction
Current arm work is dominated by the 'styling' approach, whose emphasis is solely aesthetic, and is divested of its underlying tenets of physical functionality. This workshop takes a historical and cultural route to arm positions and movement, as a counterpoint to the styling industry. We also consider how the principles of arm-flow differs in performers with above-average limb-length, and how these are reflected in the strategies they employ.

Section I - Arms

Concept: flamenco's gates
Adapted for Afro-Cuban dance. Spatial way-points for the passage of wrist and elbow joints. Gates explored (wrist): hip, centre, heart, crown and high. The importance of developing cortical mapping, spatial mapping, and proprioception.

Introduction to flamenco's castañuelas
Adapted for Afro-Cuban dance. Deploying castanets as a means of providing auditory feedback for the (unsighted) positions of upper limbs in space and time.

Exercise: A basic hand rhythm to Nuevo Flamenco
Solo. A basic rhythm interpreted on castañuelas, wrists at the heart gate.

Exercise: A basic hand rhythm to Nuevo Flamenco
Solo. A basic rhythm interpreted on castañuelas, wrists at the central gates.

Exercise: A basic hand rhythm to Nuevo Flamenco
Solo. A basic rhythm interpreted on castañuelas, investigating all remaining gates.

Concept: flamenco's zapateo
The practice of zapateo [foot-tapping] as a means of providing auditory feedback for the (unsighted) positions of the lower limbs in space and time.

Exercise: A basic hand and foot rhythm to Nuevo Flamenco
Solo. Basic rhythms on castañuelas (hands) and zapateo (feet). All wrist gates.

Concept: gate linking
The flow, control and angles of the arm-joints as they travel through the various gates perform the functional and aesthetic characteristics of the dance.

Exercise: Offerings on saucers
The parameters of the start positions are: right hand or left hand or both; clockwise or anticlockwise; above or below the shoulder. The objective is to keep the saucers as level as possible throughout the movement, keeping the travelling smooth, even, passing through all the relevant gates, and maintaining an upright torso as far as possible.

Section II - Torso

Concept: finishing the compass points
Compound action of previous torso exercises to achieve linear and circular movements

Practice: body isolation exercise, seated, upper body, north-east to south-west

Practice: body isolation exercise, seated, upper body, north-west to south-east

Practice: body isolation exercise, seated, upper body, compound linear paths
Linked X forms e.g. north-west, north-east, south-west, south-east, north-west. Repeat.

Practice: body isolation exercise, seated, upper body, circular
As per: http://www.salsa-merengue.co.uk/VidTutor/bodyskills/chest_movement_circular.html

Concept: rhythmic changes in movement
The 'push-pull-push' or 'chachachá' movement variation, especially in the linear paths.

Practice: body isolation exercise, seated, upper body, all linear paths, chachachá variations
Substitution of chachachá rhythmic movement variation in all linear path exercises.

Additional Materials
Gravity by Jesse Cook