This piece was a senior independent study project I took on for my BA in dance. I was interested in translating the movement of Kundalini Yoga into modern dance. I had studied Gyrotonic and Gyrokenisis with master teacher Juergen Bamberger in New York. Gyrotonic was influenced by Kundalini, and I wanted to create dances that were more physically beneficial than injurious over time. The reaching and stretching movements come out of the stretching movements from Kundalini and Gyrokenisis, and instead of a stomach contraction, as in Martha Graham technique, the spinal movement is intended as a gentle roll through the spine.
The story is of an initiation ritual of a child during which she has an ecstatic experience that she brings back to the community.
This piece was produced on 1/2 inch tape the year before we were able to digitize and edit video in a computer on any broad scale.
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[…] camera movement into the dance itself. I had explored this in terms of choreographic movement in my undergraduate senior project, and we thought this could be applied effectively through improvisation of both the dancer and […]
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