On this Tuesday, we explored the skeletal system through movement. We began with the toes and moved sequentially through the body. One spot we focused on particularly was the bony connection where the arms attach to the body at the sterno-clavicular joint. Once we had explored the whole skeleton, we danced freely exploring the sensations of dancing our bones.The second dance of the day was connected to the three layers of bone: the periosteum, the bone itself and the marrow. Taking each layer at a time we explored the different layers by moving our bodies and our imaginations into these areas of the skeletal system.
How did it feel to dance from the bones? Where there some bones that were harder to move? What was it like to dance from the periosteum, the layer of tissue that covers the bone where ligaments and tendons attach? What was it like to dance from the marrow where red and white blood cells are created? Did you experience a difference between these three layers of bone?
22 comments:
The dance of the bones was enchanting.
The author states,
“To live fully, we go beyond our accustomed way of living in our bodies and begin to explore the full range of possibilities available to us as human animals. The basic neurological actions provide a framework of pathways through which energy circulates within the body. Studying the major body systems provides a sense of the vehicles along which this energy circulates.”
The above quote resonated with me because through the visualizations and dances I felt appreciative of my bones, and recognized how little I actually think of them and essentially “forget,” their presence in my daily functionality. I began to sense the skeleton placed in the center of room from an enlightened vantage point. I saw the unique skeletal structure, the different pieces by themselves and how they fit together as a whole, the framework, my framework, our framework. This perception evolved into ritual as we were invited to dance from our bones, our marrow and our periosteum. I was especially taken with the description of the periosteum and how as a layer, it serves as support for our bones. I imagined golden fibers woven together holding my bones in place, though unrestrictive, encouraging mobility, guarding their fragility. My dance became strong, certain, percussive, fiery. The dance of my marrow was different; it was soft, circular and sweet.
Through this exploration, I saw into myself through a different lens, all the way down to my bones and I experienced gratitude and awareness.
Finally, the author speaks to the opportunity involved in knowing one’s body systems (the bones being a major system of the body,)
“By discovering the community within ourselves and learning to negotiate and dialogue within it, we further our ability to create dialogue and form community outside ourselves.”
-Lindsey G.
I was amazed at how different each of the bone-dances were. When I danced from the marrow of my bones I felt more contracted in my movements. This was a dance from deep within. When I danced from my bones themselves, I enjoyed the tiny movements they create. How wondrous that this big mass of body can have such fine, coordinated movement in the tips of the fingers. When I danced from the periosteum I felt light and airy movement. Later that afternoon I was walking across campus and feeling the weight of my backpack on my shoulder blades. Surprisingly, with all that weight they still float unhindered. I am gaining so much appreciation for my body from this class. It has been a real gift. - Suzanne Wilson
I like moving from my bones because the movement is so much more efficient. When you are thinking about your bones you are able to concentrate on sending it from one position to the other in the most direct way, which just feels good. And its not that I am looking to conserve all my energy, because if that was the case I wouldn't be dancing, but it is just nice to move with a focus.
Directing movement from different parts of our bodies was really interesting because I remember the obvious ones, like from your hands, knees and shoulders, but it is always fun to add in moving from your elbows, toes, head, hips and spine.
-Joanne
While working from the different areas of our skeletal system, I found the easiest area for me was from the hips, and the hardest areas were from the knees and elbows. I was surprised that the knees were more difficult for me than other areas, but maybe that is because my knee joints are often painful. I enjoyed dancing freely thinking of enjoying the sensation of dancing from my bones. I think I like dancing from the hips so much, because it is such a provocative area and there is such a freedom from letting go of my natural inclination to be careful and proper in my every day life. Trying to dance from the different layers of the bones was challenging for me. I had never thought of my bones that deeply before in regards to my movements. For me, the idea of dancing from the marrow was the most natural. I associate the marrow with life and the soul. This let me dance from emotions and led to more creativity.
I also tried some of the movement exercises described in the reading sent to our emails. In the bone ones, I tried jiggling my bones and then letting them come to rest. What I noticed was when I quit moving, it felt like my bones were reconnecting, and I felt more aware of their heaviness in their stillness. After a few seconds, this awareness began to lessen. The other exercise of swinging the bones of my skeleton starting with the arms made me very aware of my bones’ connections. Again, this awareness made them seem weightier. It made me really think of their functions of providing stability, support, and framework. These bone exercises did not get my creative thoughts going as much as the ones from class.
This tuesday was really fun. Exploring the skeletal muscle and trying to move every skeleton and joint in our body was awesome. It felt so good to move around and do whatever movements we wanted to try to move our bones. I felt that when I was supposed to dance from bone marrow I was more limited in movements and didn't move a lot, while dancing from periosteum gave me more freedom to move my body and bones from side to side. I didn't find any movement difficult to do and I was able to dance from my bones! The music really matched what we were all doing and at some parts I was just dancing to the music and moving with the beats! It was really fun having to start my day dancing like that! :)
~Afsoon Fazeli
Applying what you learn in class to real life is a beneficial key to success in this class.
I take hip-hop classes outside of class, but on Monday night (2/16) I decided to take a jazz class before my normal hip-hop class. I have taken jazz before but it’s been a couple of months since I have taken my last class. During the warm up my teacher kept saying to the class to “relax your neck” and “relax your face.” Immediately I thought of the Alexander technique and what we have been studying. Even during such a calming time like stretching, it’s easy to forget about your neck. When I notice my neck not being lengthen I catch myself, but it’s hard to break old habits.
During the free style portion of the bone dance exercise I really felt loose. I tried to apply all that I have learned about my body thus far. I listened to what felt good to my body while moving freely to the music. It was fun to be expressive.
-Jasmine Boado
I liked this class a lot. For two main rasons. 1 the way dancing from my bones felt and 2 the fact that we got to dance and move a lot!!
In several of my dance classes here at U of W the teachers have tried to stress moving the bones to positions incontrast to the usual thought of engage the muscle a lot inorder to move. It was always hard for me to grasp this idea after dancing from my muscles my whole life. I think it helped that we found our bones and then moved with them.
Dance from my bones really helped me articulate everything. I really believe that watching us dance on a stage would be really interesting in contast to authentic movemnet being boaring and too suble to be seen on a stage. I felt that with all the articulation I was able to move my body in ways I never had thought of. I think I really found all the limits of my bodies range of motion.
In contract when we moved from our marrow I felt that movement was much more flowy, cyclical and fluid. It was more round soft movment.
I really didn’t like to think about moving from my periosteum. It kinda grossed me out. I found my self thinking more of moving from my joints.
-Sandi Viall
I feel different when I dance from bones. However, I was not quite sure whether I really dance from my bones or I dance from my muscles. It’s quite difficult for me to distinguish the different. I think I need more practice for this exercise to get the real outcome that you want me to experience. However, I think this class is quite interesting too that you introduce a new kind of dance for us to experience. I am pretty sure that dancing with bone could be difficult to someone like me at the first try, but after awhile, I will get used to it. I saw some of my classmates were really enjoyed the dancing, so I think she got what dancing with bones is. As I’m not sure about my dance, I couldn’t really feel the different between the layers of tissue that cover my bone where ligaments and tendon attach. I think I wasn’t accomplish to goal of this class well.
Pitchaya N.
My limbs felt much heavier when I was thinking of moving from my marrow. My movements were a bit more restricted because it took me longer to move them due to their weight. When we started moving with our periosteum, I felt a bit lighter and my movements progressively got larger, stronger, and quicker. Perhaps movement farther away from the center of my limbs (from the marrow to my muscles) was easier for me because it felt more familiar as I usually think of moving with my muscles as opposed to my bones. I've seen a skeleton before and discussed it in relation to dance, but I had never actually though of dancing from my bones - my bones were always more of a structure and I used my muscles to move them to where-ever I wanted them placed. So this class was very interesting for me - another new experience!
-Lauren Cook
It was very fulfilling to just let my body move on Tuesday. The first dance was very easy to do since we were simply dancing from our bones. It especially helped that we started by simply moving the bones in certain areas of our body, such as the hands or feet. The movement being segregated to certain areas allowed me to expand my body movement even more when we got a chance to dance with our entire bodies. As I was dancing I was picturing myself purely as a skeleton, and thinking about the way that the joints within my body allowed the bones to move smoothly. Dancing through our periosteum and marrow were much more difficult for me to do. This was probably because I pictured them being placed more deeply within my body and for some reason that restricted my movement while I was dancing. Yet it was still interesting to dance with different layers of my body, instead of just dancing as one whole. It was also comforting to watch others dance as well and see how they moved when using certain layers and parts of their bodies.
-Emily Stromme
I definitely experienced a difference between the three different types of dancing we explored today.
For me, dancing from the bones was really sporatic. I guess it was more like dancing from the joints for me. My movement was quick and free. I felt like I was flailing my body around and I jumped around a lot.
However when I started moving from the periosteum my movement changed. I took more care with my movement because I didn't want to hurt that protective layer on the outside of my bones and I wanted to take care of my ligaments. I also felt a more tactile connection to the air around my body, just by imagining and feeling the difference between dancing with my bones and dancing with my periosteum.
When I was dancing with my marrow, my level of care increased even more. My movement became much slower and much more fluid. Imagining to move from that place where red and white blood cells are created really added to my level of care with my body. I was much more connected to the ground, I didn't jump at all.
I thought it was interesting to imagine and visualize what the differences are between those three different levels of our skeletal structure.
~Desirae Lexa
Today's class was quite interesting for me! I had never thought about doing things such as dancing "from" your bones or dancing from your marrow.
When we first started, I was a bit shy. I was afraid to let myself go and allow my body to move as it wanted. The whole concept of dancing from my bones seemed bizarre to me. However, once I got going and allowed myself to stop worrying about everyone around me, I was able to move freely. When I was dancing from my bones my movements felt very heavy and quick. They werent fluid, but more sharp.
When dancing from my periosteum, my movements felt very tight at first. It seemed like my muscles and bones were being constricted by my periosteum, so it felt harder to move. My movements loosened up as time went on, but not much.
My movements from my marrow were very free. My body moved freely and quickly. It flowed as though it had no restrictions. I felt much looser when moving from my marrow than when my movements came from my bones or my periosteum.
When we moved from all three systems, my body moved freely. I didn't care who was watching, I just let myself move. It was really fun!
~Melissa Eckstrom
Traci Mazzoncini
This class was an extremely fun class because of all the movement that we
got to do. It really applied the idea of thought within our movements I
think because just like when we were doing the visualizing in the
evolution classes we got to focus on an idea. The difference between
imagining what it would feel like versus really embracing the thought in
our own body was what made all the difference.
I don't know why but when we were moving from the marrow of the bones was
when I felt the most connection throughout my movements. I don't know why
it was so easy to envision my marrow and move the way that I thought it
would. Translating that idea to my body felt easy. It was nice to make a
connection with something already within me and translate it through
movements.
When we moved through the outer part of the bones, that covers the bone I
felt my movement become slightly sharper. It was interesting when we
integrated all three typed of movement through the bones during the end
of class because I really was able to feel the transition of the
different ideas translating into movement. It was crazy how simple
thought could change the movement I was making in the space. When I was
thinking of moving with the marrow of my bones I was more fluid. I moved
more parts of my body and slipped up and down from the floor. The outer
part of the body was felt more within my elbows and knees than any other
jointed area of my body which I found interesting.
Overall I really enjoyed the amount of experimentation that we were able
to have during this class.
"I have bad posture. This is a fact. Recently I have been really trying
to consciously role my shoulders back and stand up tall. As a result, I
have noticed pain in what seems to be underneath my shoulder blades and
on the tops of my shoulders.
The most interesting part of this class was exploring where my arms
connect to my body (it was the hardest place to move). I know that
everyone has different posture, but I don't want to be hunched over. I
can't tell if I am naturally a little hunched or if my body is just used
to being this way.
The bone dance in general was interesting. At first I felt jagged and
sharp, almost restricted by my own skeleton. But after awhile I was able
to explore the diversity in motion that my body has. Dancing from my
marrow was much different, an intimate date with my body it seemed. It
felt more free-flowing and special. There aren't many words."
-L.O'Neill
Well I enjoyed this class a lot. Improv has always been hard for me and I don't know if it was the thought of dancing from the bones or if it just came easier for me that day. It put a smile on my face though. Dancing from the bones gave me a chance to focus on particular areas of the body and to experiment with how they move. I could really picture the way my bones were moving inside me. Dancing from the periosteum and bone marrow was more difficult for me because I couldn't really create an image of that in my head. I found myself thinking too much about what it would look like if I were dancing from my periosteum or my marrow. I was really glad that during the first half of the class movement seemed to flow more easily out of me than normal. I had a good experience.
*Kali
When we began the class I was really excited to see how dancing from the bones would unfold. I was extremely fascinated that we took the bone dance to such macroscopic levels. For instance, when we were told to dance from the periosteum, I was pondering the entire time how my periosteum looked like? and if I were to feel it, how would it feel? These thoughts helped me to better imagine dancing from the periosteum and the movements produced were very rigid and I almost acted like my arms had weblike features which attached them to my sides.
When we were told to dance from the marrow, I imagined the inner tissue found in the hollow interior of my bones. I've actually worked in many bone marrow drives as a volunteer and have seen what bone marrow looks like so it was invigorating to dance from my marrow as I pictured it moving around inside my bones.
Moving from the bones was a lot of fun as well and I kind of pictured myself as one of those skeleton characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas(one of my favorite movies growing up!)I had very intermittent, jumpy movements. Altogether, I really enjoyed dancing from the bones!
-Hanalore Alupay
I came to class on Tuesday in a bad mood and it definitely affected my entire experience with the class. I was tired and grumpy and did not feel like going to class at all, especially not moving. So when told to move I was very resistant. I still tried to imagine my movements coming from my bones, periosteum or my marrow, but my movements were not very elaborate or active.
Despite my poor attitude, I did find the exercise quite interesting, and parts quite difficult. Moving from my bones was fairly easy to imagine and do. However, I did feel like these movements were unique. I paid more attention to the limits of my movements due to my bones inflexibility and length. I became more aware of my bones.
On the other hand, I felt much more fluidity when moving from my marrow. I felt like my motions just flowed from one to the next, and I felt more flexible overall. Trying to move from my periosteum was just difficult to even imagine, mostly because I don’t know what my periosteum looks like.
So despite not wanting to move at all, I did find this class very intriguing and fun. ~ Miranda Schmidt
Talk about dancing from the inside out. My movements, for some reason, felt a bit limited when dancing from the bones; more stiff. I was focusing more on the mechanics of the movements than usual, actually thinking about where the movement itself originated. I did feel a difference between the layers. It seemed that the closer to the surface we got, the easier it was to move more freely. I felt more expansion and fluidity when dancing from the periosteum than when dancing from the marrow, where I felt limited and stiff. It’s strange how simply imagining different layers can change one’s movement quality.
~Marcee Wickline
Dancing from the periosteum made me think more of my fingers, toes, spinal bones and ribs because these seemed to have more surface area for their size than other bones and therefore more periosteum. I felt myself moving these areas and bones in a sprightly way like I was twitching and my ligaments were being pulled at their connectors. Dancing from the marrow was much harder and took more concentration and effort. I felt the deepness and how the most marrow would be at the centers of my bones. This weight and centeredness moved my legs and arms and other long bones slowly and with much resistance. I thought that the knowledge of the bones had an interesting effect on my movements and thoughts during these dances.
While dancing around the class, combining these dances, I kept thinking or mixing movements of endpoints, movement of joints, and the three layers of bones. It was interesting to see how I tried to avoid classical or cliche dancing that I had seen from choreography, but my movements ended up being so similar to those parts of dances Id seen choreographed in the passed. Either our minds are unable to be freed into randomized movement, or the choreography of the past is so similar to what feels comfortable to our bodies.
-Jessica Jensen
Dancing through the bones was definitely a new experience. I have never really thought about moving through my bones, periosteum, or my bone marrow. Even though it was a new experience, I connected to it very quickly and I enjoyed it a lot. I could definitely distinguish my body movements from each other when I thought about moving through different layers. I moved a lot more smoothly and freely through my bone marrow than the bone or the periosteum. I liked the fact that we let our bodies move through each of the layers however they wanted. It reminded me of the authentic movement excercises, but I had even more fun with this activity. I moved, I danced, and on top of it all, I enjoyed getting in touch with my body.
Sahar Z.
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Dancing a bone dance, surrounded by other people, was an experience I revisited later this day. While in movement, I felt like a puppet, rigid in many places but so limber in others. I tried to just shake myself around, and sometimes even thought I felt a connection from my top few vertebrate to somewhere higher, some imagined puppet master in the ceiling. Moving my fingers and focusing on how much structure is devoted to so little space is insipiring to me. I'm thinking about how precise and graceful our movements would be if we were made entirely of skeletal structures like those in the fingers, but that many bones would be hard to control.
I didn't entirely understand dancing from different places in my bones, I imagined and created different experiences for myself and really enjoyed trying to figure out from where other students were dancing.
-Eugenia Prezhdo
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