#11 Ecstasy and Form

For the last three weeks I have continued to work with approaches from the Ido Portal and Animal Flow method (see #10 Animal Flow), but have increasingly incorporated approaches from contemporary dance training. I am interested in how I can pair these muscular, controlled, focused workout movements with release technique, gravity and fluid movement quality.

In dance, you often find either a very form-oriented approach. In ballet, tango, or even classical Indian dance, I had still learned that you could take a picture at any moment and it should look good. In contrast to this are approaches that strive for a kind of trance, for example at rave parties, in trance dance or to some extent in the Gaga Method by the Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin.

So the antidote to control and form is something fluid, ecstatic. What if these two approaches are not in opposition, but rather the two are united? That's the sweet spot that I love so much in dance and that we look for in Chris Lechner's dance trainings.