Franklin Method- workshop

9 August 2014

Today I took part in a ‘Franklin Workshop,’ where we learnt the basic principles of Franklin’s methods of the execution of movement in relation to our physiological mind-body connection.

His methods are all about imagery and understanding the biochemical process of our body when moving. The instructor (Morten Dithmer) made it clear that being aware of your body helps so much in performing movement the right way, which is in turn necessary for us dancers to live a good successful dance career.

When you execute a movement right that is what is key for improvement. But what was also mentioned, and is vital, is that the body responds to and recognizes change, and in order to improve you need to be aware of that change. Observing how your body reacts to any form of change will help tremendously, and more you can recognize even the slightest shift in the right direction, the faster the improvement. Often though, in class or rehearsal, there are other distractions that keep us from fully focusing on the present, either thinking of the past, or the future. Sometimes it might be on stage when nerves set in too much, or because of stage freight.

But, it is proven that if we are able to focus on the present more, and are more aware of our body in that space and time, it will contribute to us being able to dance better over all!

*More focused and on what your body is going to do, more aware of what your body feels and your emotions etc.

Another interesting fact he pointed out is that “emotion is the ingredient for improvement.’ Emotion hugely affects how a dancer is going to perform the next movement. If he/she is scared of a certain step, chances are they aren’t going to approach it in the right way, therefore won’t execute the movement properly and/or not practice it as much. Thus decreasing their chances of performing the movement to their full potential.

Having a positive attitude/ emotion towards certain movements and having the right state of mind, there is a clearer path in the biochemical process from your nervous system to your body.

One example was a test we did: we had to think of lifting our arms whilst thinking of smiling, and light happy words. When comparing doing the same action but thinking of heaviness, our arms felt heavier and harder to lift.

It shows how our mood towards something can affect the quality of the movement, and how you actually move! This got me so excited as it relates very much to the topic of my inquiry looking at the relationship between emotional health in ballet dancers and how it affects their drive to succeed.

Different stages/ingredients for improvement:

Self-talk- right emotion and understanding towards that movement

Put it into action- take what you understand and think about, and apply it to your body

Reflect/compare- compare from before to be able to recognize the change, thus improvement.

This workshop made me very interested in how being aware of how the body works from a more scientific perspective. It could aid dancers so much in understanding what is right or wrong when approaching their dance technique.

He mentioned that he had quite a few different opinions on a correction in class, or for something he had to work on, which would confuse him, That is something that dancers I find tend to struggle with- confusion on how to actually execute a step/ achieve difficult choreography or movements etc. It is an example of an obstacle I believe.

Reflecting back to my school training days, I was very fortunate to go to so many different teachers and absorb all this information, different viewpoints and styles. But sometimes I would get a bit confused on how to say improve my pirouettes because different teachers would have a slightly different way of approaching the technique of performing a turn- one pushing off a bent leg, one straight, one to focus on a higher passé, another a lower, one to not move arms before the turn and the other to use my arms a lot in the preparation. Relating to the knowledge from today, the thoughts in my head got muddled up, confusing the biochemical processes in the brain to then not effectively send all the right messages to the body on how to fix the problem.

If there was a simpler, easier understanding of the biomechanics in the relation between our mind, body and movement, it can really help a dancer development their technique… the right way! It could essentially escalate a dancer’s ability to rise up to all the challenges they have to face in this tough career path, which will in turn improve the dancer’s mood and what I am guessing emotional health.

Franklin, E.© 2008-2014 Institut für Franklin-Methode, Retrieved from: http://franklinmethod.com