left right left right left

[keryx]

I can't say "left" and then "right" without thinking of that Chemical Brothers song. Which this really has nothing to do with.


I wrote a list awhile back before I started the anti-dance THP. It was a list of all the weird little things about my right vs. my left.

It's a 9-point list that charts a pretty obvious spiral (as tension is wont to appear) of tension from my feet to my head. Some of it no doubt came from past left-knee injury. But it's not like I sat on my ass from 1996 to 2000 to 2005. The situation escalated into a problem after the intensity of my dancing picked up a coupla years ago.

The Yay!ATS!Wow! crowd on Tribe were talking like noooooo, there could never be anything problematic about ATS! It's not sided at all! Both hips are equally active! And indeed they are equally active, but they're performing different tasks. Performing different tasks means you coordinate differently, and your muscles develop differently as a result. That is totally okay for an art to do - ballet's not designed for optimal efficiency and balance, either, ya know? Nor is any other form of bellydance (like moving one hip differently is the dumbest thing dancers have ever done... I doubt it). It's art. You make artistic choices that could even be physically damaging, and if you're smart you train your body to enable those choices in the least dangerous ways. I used to intentionally take the most painful possible positions to pull the performances I wanted out of myself as an actor.

I didn't counter-train against all the dancing I did, and I screwed myself up a little. It would be beneficial for more dance instructors to say this than to say "no no, dance is a truly wholesome and safe activity". I'm not talking about folk who come to a class a week just to move around - there you teach the gentlest things in the gentlest ways, and maybe if you're teaching for fitness you actually change what you teach - but people who aim to actually learn to dance. They need to know to counter-train, to release what dance builds up. They need to school their own bodies, to build the strength and endurance that prevent dance choices from becoming day-to-day injuries and patterns.

The depressing thing is that this argument was had by dance teachers (including my teachers), certified personal trainers, even physical therapists - and they were all a little bit right, but also quite a bit wrong (and also having an argument on the internets, where one's true position is often misrepresented by one's poor choice of words). Those of us who are supposed to understand things don't, not really. And I include myself in this [I certainly haven't really hammered this in for even members of the tribe - though of course, it's really only arovd who dances near enough to build screwed up tension, and she already trains.]. It's unbelievably frustrating.

I do understand better, though, and I hope to come back from Bellingham even better. I'm still slowly breaking down my issues, and my anti-dance training means I rarely experience one-sided tension patterns after dance (mind you, I still get tired and still hurt sometimes when I skimp on mobility practice).

Comments

[keryx.livejournal.com]

It's not really heresy. Troupe Hipnotica (in Seattle) is basically ATS, just on both sides. Most everyone who comes from the Gypsy Caravan changes to ATS - which isn't exactly ATS anymore, I guess - also does both sides. It changes your stage presentation a lot more than you'd expect, but it's doable.

I assume the core ATS folk don't do things that way because they have this other tradition, which is beautiful and not really dangerous. They're the protectors of the original ATS idea, and while it evolves continually, they've adopted a particular stage presentation as a core idea, so it doesn't make sense to change that.

If you go back in my training tag a bit, there's more detail about my specific anti-dance thing. It was designed around the areas where I carry excess tension or need to build more strength. Mostly it looks like yoga & simple warmuppy stuff, honestly - except the weight stuff. It's mostly about realigning my body.

[mirvana.livejournal.com]

My teachers (Zafira) are very big on alignment. In the last year or so, we've been talking more about how some moves should activate certain muscles, such that it might start way down at your ankle, and spiral up your inner thigh to the abdomen, and so forth. We do a lot of pilates as conditioning...anyway some of what you said about your training made me think of it, so I imagine we must be doing similar things.

I have run into a lot of "purist" ATS folks who wouldn't think of deviating from their format, and I'm sorry I just can't relate. The troupes who really execute ATS well look fabulous, but I can't imagine doing the same moves all the time. For me, the dance form has to evolve, which is probably why I'm firmly entrenched in the fusion camp right now.

I often fantasize about developing my own ATS repertoire, with all new and different moves, but lack the time and motivation. I would love to see someone else do it. We don't have much ATS around here, except for a relatively young amateur troupe that barely knows the FCBD format (which I helped teach them). They get points for enthusiasm.

You should come up here and teach a workshop:)

[keryx.livejournal.com]

I think most ATS-inspired troupes have developed their own moves. I had this vision of us adding all these awesome new things to our vocabulary, and then I started watching other tribes that had added things... and it's just not as good. The flavor of movements was off. You have to have a clear structure, some uniting principles behind each movement choice you make. The only improv troupes I've seen do that successfully are like the InFusion or Unmata folk - they've taken improv, and gone a completely different direction with it.

The interesting thing to me is that, while yes, ATS folk are doing the same movements, so are even cabaret dancers. In 3 years of cabaret training, I pretty much learned the same movement concepts as in ATS. They were layered and combined differently, but they were still the same extensions, circles and weight shifts. So you'd think it'd be easier to combine movement flavors and still make a compelling performance out of it.

And if you find someone who wants to host a workshop, we'll be there. :)

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Heh, you know, I wrote that whole bit about the flavor of movements being off, and yet we've added some things that aren't Carolena-flavored. And I like them. They do mix it up a bit, though, and as our ATS technique improves, the weird stuff (which is often lower and looser, fitting nicely with our tendency to interpret ATS low and loose) looks weirder.

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

Heh, one of my troupe mates just passed on the "catching raindrops" arm position for getting your posture correct.

We're a big 'ole hybrid. Basis in improv group tribal, moves from all over (mostly FCBD and Black Sheep), adding more FCBD recently because, well, it works and it looks good. Keeping an open mind and incorporating non-canon moves from our old teacher and things we like.

In my mind, non-FCBD can be ATS, but it still has to fit a tribal formula (I like the one Kajira lays out in the Tribal Bible). I also like the idea of FCBD's moves as the basis of ATS (so we could all dance together) with different groups adding their own flavor.