IADMS New York 2002   [back to the Category]

Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance   [read the french version]

Author :   Eric Franklin, BS, BFA

Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance

Eric Franklin, BS, BFA
Institute for Movement Imagery Education
Wetzikon, Switzerland


This movement session introduces imagery and self-touch exercises aimed at improving technique and performance in the dance class setting. Teachers are often confronted with large classes and time constraints. Initially it is important gain the students attention and motivate the student by demonstrating how his dance technique improves if he applies imagery correctly. The best images are often the ones discovered by the student himself. One of the skills the imagery oriented dance teacher is to elicit the dancers personal imagery.

Some of the exercises presented at this session will focus on creating effortless alignment and increased flexibility. As stretching may not be unproblematic for the dancer, it is important to introduce alternative approaches to flexibility training. Flexibility and alignment are interrelated. Incorrect alignment causes muscular imbalances which is detrimental to flexibility.

Also, conditioning with poor alignment can lead to loss of flexibility by building strength into undesirable movement patterns. Imagery can be used to increase the efficiency by which your nervous system directs the movement and help achieve maximum flexibility during a conditioning routine.


How imagery is combined with touch can greatly increase the efficiency of each of the individual modalities. Imagery with touch will be introduced to release shoulder tension, deepen the breath, create a sense of grounding and improve balance. The session will demonstrate different types of imagery-touch combinations and discuss their benefit in the classroom teaching environment. Practical imagery-touch exercises will help the students improve their extension à la seconde, arabesque and turnout, while reducing strain and detrimental movement patterns.