Hierarchy of Advancement Workshop Twelve

Section I - Movement Dynamics

Concept: The dynamics of movement
A movement can be broken down into three simple phases: commencement, continuation, and completion. The dynamics of movement are governed by the intensity, the transitions and most importantly the relative duration of each phase. For example, emphasis on movement completion results in a rapid, contrasty, staccato action, whereas emphasis on commencement and continuation results in a smoother action.

Exercise: Lower body action, emphasis on completion
Solo. Smooth control of motion is paramount, irrespective of speed.

1. Commencement (rapid): descent of the heel, extension of the knee
2. Continuation (rapid): transfer of weight, deflection of hip
3. Completion (slow): final settling of the hip, preparation for next commencement

Understanding and appreciating the kinesthesia of high-contrast motion.
Learning point: quickly pushing nails into the floor then standing on the nail head.

Exercise: Lower body action, emphasis on completion, to music
Solo, to music. What kinds of musical styles is this kind of highly dynamic motion best suited to?

Exercise: Lower body action, emphasis on commencement and continuation
Solo. Smooth control of motion throughout.

1. Commencement (slow): descent of the heel, extension of the knee
2. Continuation (slow): transfer of weight, deflection of hip
   
3. Completion (short): final settling of the hip, preparation for next commencement

Understanding/appreciating the kinesthesia of low-contrast motion. Notice how the phases push the timing to later on the beat.
Learning point: easing the nails powerfully into the floor with a brief tap on the nail head just before the next commencement.

Exercise: Lower body action, emphasis on commencement and continuation, to music
Solo, to music. What kinds of musical styles is this kind of smooth motion best suited to?

Exercise: Lower body action, changing dynamism, to music
Solo, to music. Practice changing dynamics of movement within a song. Some songs are arranged in a manner which suggest that the dynamics of movement should be altered.

Exercise: Lower body action, changing dynamism, to music
Partnered. As per the above practice. What does it feel like when your dance partner changes his or her movement dynamics?

Exercise: Lower body action, exploring phase ratios
Solo. Plan and execute the lower body movement with different ratios of the three phases. What are the results? What does it feel like? When would it be used?

Concept: A universal approach to movement dynamics
Although movement dynamism was explored using the lower body action as a case study, the same principles can be applied to other movements in dance, for example, rotational body speed, foot speed, and arm speed. The process universally applicable to movement. It requires:

1. the disassembly of a motion into its sequence of component parts;
2. the segregation the sequential components into the three phases;
3. a decision regarding the relative duration of each phase; and
4. execution and evaluation.

Section II - Movement Targeting

Concept: Conscious planning of motion
Movement is understood to be planned subconsciously in the premotor cortex. However, there is nothing to hinder a person from planning motion consciously; expert dancers often do so and naturalise the mapping of the start-points, trajectories, speeds, routes and the end-points of movements. This results in clean, deliberate, well-timed motions - making transparent the dancer's execution of expression.

Exercise: Visualising the end-point, arms
Solo. Visualise the spatial position of a gate, imagine the feeling of the wrist being at that gate, imagine hearing the sound of the beat when the wrist arrives at the gate. Execute the motion to tempo.

Briefing: Check-points for legs
Ball-spots are target-areas on the floor into which the medial-front quadrant of the foot is placed. Heel-spots are the target-areas where the heel would land to 'crush the grape' or on the 'head of the nail'. Ankle-gates are the lower-body's analogue of the upper body's wrist gates.

Exercise: Visualising the end-point, legs
Solo. Visualise the spatial position of a ball-spot, imagine the feeling of pressure on the sole of the foot being at that spot, imagine hearing the sound of the beat when the foot arrives at the spot. Execute the motion to tempo.


Section III - Skills in Context

Concept: Increasing power in salsa
A partnership couple can be viewed as a closed energy system. The kinetic energy content of the system can be increased through:

• additional body isolation movements, usually interpreting rhythms over that of the dance rhythm;
• a change to the dance rhythm to include additional steps; and
• the inclusion of accents to increase dynamics (however beyond a certain point the accents decrease dynamics)

Exercise: Power variation to salsa rhythm
Solo, then partnered. Inclusion of a ball-heel across the null beat of the standard a tiempo dance rhythm, synchronised with the double-open tones of the tumbao moderno. This contributes up to a 67% increase in lower body energy.

Practice: Power variation in context
Partnered, to music. Swapping between the standard dance rhythm and power variation, feeling the difference in energy.

Exercise: Deploying accents in the salsa dance rhythm
Partnered, to music. Emphasising pulse beats, back-beats, ponché only and whole beats of clave.

Section IV - Case study of rueda elements

A simple analysis of arm positions, partnership angles, distancing, body alignments and overlooked angles in rueda (starting with the diagonals to the line of dance).

Loo Yeo