Here are some points your dancers should notice while dancing: What are the 2 main ideas of Martha Graham`s technique? Key concepts The basic principles of the graham technique include contraction and release, opposition, weight displacement and spiraling. Liberation is essentially the reversal of contraction. Inhale and your pelvis returns to a neutral position that allows your spine to stretch (or straighten) and return to its natural curves. Graham taught the students that the hip bone should move like a jewel in a clock. This makes the pelvis the point of stability and the motivator of movement. A clear articulation of the pelvis will certainly result from your study of this modern dance style. Whether the movement begins with a contraction of the trunk or a movement of the hip bone, it must be done with force. The lyrical and dramatic movements must be just as strong. The Graham technique is designed to make their dancers expressive and dramatic. Many movements of the Graham technique use ballet terms, such as numbered positions of the feet and the terms folded© and relevance©.

If you take a Graham course, you can expect many of these basic ballet terms to be used regularly. Although Graham`s technique was in many ways a rebellion against ballet, like all early modern styles, it overlapped in some ways with a classical dance vocabulary. There are both twisted and parallel movements in the graham technique. As in a ballet class, working in a Graham technique class is always in the same order: floor work, breathing, knees, standing work in the middle, bar work, traveling through the ground. Although the program has a fixed order and structure of exercises, the number of repetitions and whether everything included in a particular class depends on the individual teacher. The Graham technique is based on the contrast between contraction and liberation, a concept based on the breathing cycle that has become a “trademark” of modern dance forms. [7] [8] Its other dominant principle is the “spiralization” of the trunk around the axis of the spine. [9] The Graham technique is known for its unique dramatic and expressive qualities and distinctive ground work. [1] [10] Dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described it as “powerful, dynamic, jagged and full of suspense.” [11] Understanding the types of muscle contractions is just the beginning. The next level of dance kinesiology is to understand the different roles that muscles play in a particular contraction. Unlike muscle types, each muscle can assume different roles depending on the contractions involved. This is the kind of muscle contraction you might think of when considering using a muscle.

Don`t forget to make a bicep curl with a hand weight (not that we do it in dance, but it`s a useful illustration). According to Martha Graham`s philosophy, movement is generated by three places: the effect of contraction and liberation, the pelvis and the emotional inner self. The contraction or strong retraction and curvature of the torso and the release of this movement by returning to a right torso are symbolic of the dichotomies of life. It is the contrast between desire and duty, between fear and courage, between weakness and strength. Regardless of whether the music was written specifically for dance or not, Graham believed under Horst`s influence that music should be sublimated to dance. As Horst himself said, “The question is not how great a dance composer is, but what he does for dance. The composer-accompanist must expect to sacrifice something of his identity as a musician when writing or playing for dance” (Mazo, 1977, p. 194). The function of the music was to support the mood and emotional content of the piece, not to be the guiding incentive for its creation.

“Shoot, shoot the contraction. Do not enter. And contraction is not a position. It`s a movement in something. It`s like a pebble thrown into the water that makes undulating circles when it hits the water. The contraction moves. You can perform contraction and release in a stationary sitting or standing position, or you can use it to initiate a wider movement that leads your body into space (no, not space – space within space). I think one of the reasons I`m still able to do crazy things like somersaults upside down at the age of 46 is because I`ve been practicing contemporary dance for over 20 years. Today I would like to share a certain element of contemporary dance that is particularly valuable, and that is the principle of “contraction and liberation”. Unlike dynamic (or isotonic) muscle contractions, static (or isometric) contractions involve partial or complete muscle contraction, but do not produce visible joint movement; Therefore, static contractions force you to keep the contraction stable. There is no movement because the torque and resistance are perfectly balanced.

Each position, whether it is an arabesque in ballet or a board in contemporary dance, involves an isometric contraction of the muscles involved. The graham technique has a clear relationship with soil and gravity. Like Humphrey-Limón, Graham dancers are creatures of the Earth who respect the power of gravity. Unlike the technique discussed earlier, where the force of moving away from gravity gives energy and a search for balance, the graham technique believes that the case is the recognition of gravity. Many of the graham program exercises require the dancer to fall powerfully into the ground, and these movements can be seen repeatedly throughout the Graham repertoire. For Graham, it wasn`t just a physical act; It was psychological. “We teach falls on the left, because if you`re not left-handed, the right side of the body is the motor side; The left hand is the unknown. You fall into the left hand – into the unknown” (Mazo, 1977, p. 157).

The exploration of the space of the stage, including the ground itself, is part of the emotional content of the technique. Now that it`s clear that muscles can only pull and not push, take a close look at what types of contractions cause movement. A classic Graham contraction is a movement that emanates from the deep pelvic muscles. These muscles, along with the abdominal muscles, pull the spine into a concave arc from the tailbone to the neck, with the pelvis and shoulders stuck forward. [3] [7] The spine becomes longer, not shorter, during a contraction. [20] The force of contraction can be used to move the body in space or change its trajectory. [21] Release can be seen as a relatively passive return to a “normal” state or alternatively as an equally active external energy drive. [7] [22] Contraction is associated with exhalation and release on inhalation, although this compound can only be conceptual.

[9] The unusual term for the study of human movement is kinesiology. The kinesiology of dance is the study of human dance movements. The muscle “swells” because it becomes shorter and shorter. This “shortening” of the muscle is a concentric contraction. To begin the contraction, bend the lumbar spine, tilt the pelvis backwards and exhale. Or in less technical language. Bend your lower back so that your buttocks are underneath and exhale. .