IADMS London 2003   [back to the Category]

Pelvic Floor Support for Dance Technique   [read the french version]

Author :   Eric Franklin, Uster, Switzerland

Pelvic Floor Support for Dance Technique

Eric Franklin
Institute for Movement Imagery Education, Uster, Switzerland

The aim of this movement session is to increase the dancers and dance educators experiential knowledge of how the pelvic joints and pelvic floor coordinate to create more efficient and safe dance technique. Common dance activities such as plie, leg extension, battement or petit allegro greatly benefit from clear information on this subject. Specific imagery and self-touch exercises will be presented that create increased safety for the lower back, knee and feet. The movement session will also show how to introduce these concepts to the young dancer and how to increase motivation for becoming aware of the anatomical basis of safe dance technique. Practical experience of the subtle but important coordination of the iliosacral joint in dance movement will be provided.

The participants will learn how to coordinate the action of the transversus abdominis, lower back and pelvic floor musculature for safe and well aligned plies. The exercises are designed to improve stability, flexibility and alignment within a short period of time so that they are appreciated by the dancer as relevant to his immediate technical improvement.

Dance educators will be shown how to use imagery and language that explains even complex subject matter at all levels of experience.