One of the categories of movement used in dance analysis is that of effort[1] which among other concepts includes physical quality of movement such as flow or the force we use when dancing. When people first engage in conscious dance it is usually easier to engage with rhythmic and repetitive movements with conscious direction and speed. The range of these movements are limited and contained within the novice dancer’s comfort zone. The thorax tends to be monolithic and movements are focused on arms and legs. This limited range of movement is exacerbated in dances that do not have obvious direction and goal. In addition, slower movements are experienced as more challenging and either result in very little movement range or stillness. Slowing down the movement however has tremendous value both physically and mentally leading to healing, renewal and healthy development[2].
Slow movements create heightened awareness and sensitivity. This increases connection and awareness of the senses, especially the kinetic[3] sense and proprioception[4] which aid in connecting with the body in space and time. Slow movement increase mindfulness which anchors the body in the present moment[5]. An acute kinetic sense means that other senses such as aural or visual cues are less necessary in negotiating the environment. This is often referred to as a ‘sixth sense’ as somatic sensitivity creates its own special awareness.
When awareness is focused in this way, it is possible to connect to the subtle energies that continuously flow through the body. These are based on the body’s instinctive drives and are always present. Slowing down creates subtle awareness of these. The combination of sensitivity of the senses and connection to these energies arouse different experiences based on instinctual drives such as wonder, eroticism, tenderness or even hunger.
Slow movement require more conscious control and mastery of the body. This facilitates the development of balance and flexibility. Proprioception and kinetic awareness during slow movement permit the mind to assess, explore and move into appropriate action. There is a studied awareness of movement through space which brings greater awareness of the impact of movement and action on the body[6]. When we move slower it gives the mind time to evaluate and adjust the body in real time and with purpose. This also lets the body explore alternatives that allow the dance to move gently through patterns of stuck-ness and resistance facilitating ease and flow. There is a slow melding of the body and mind creating an opportunity to embody the changing nature of life through flow – releasing habitual patterns of behaviour.
Slowing down the body also relieves stress and anxiety. While repetitive movements of large muscle groups such as used in rhythmic movement can also relieve stress, slow movement activate the parasympathetic nervous system which counters the fight or flight reflex of the body when under stress or anxiety. Slow movements counter mental stress by combating negative patterns of thinking that are based in past experience or future anticipation. By bringing the person into the present the signals and triggers for anxiety are diminished allowing the body in a parasympathetic state to create equilibrium.
As we move through space allowing the body and mind to find its way without direction we can release all sense of judgement from our actions. During the dance, it is difficult to judge, to condemn or to separate from life itself. The dance becomes joyous and liberating.
Dance amplifies the effects of slow movement as it involves mental, emotional and physical participation. Gentle slow music has been shown to alleviate mental stress and induce harmonic and transcendent states[7]. Slow dances also raise awareness that we are free to move out body without goal, direction and judgement – just letting everything unfold. Dance is about moving in the present for no other purpose than to be our self.
Lastly the value of dancing slowly is that the effects discussed above allow the novice conscious dancer to explore, expand and enlarge their movement repertoire. This creates the healing[8], learning[9] and value we all seek in the dance.
[1] Jeffrey Scott
Longstaff, “Cognitive Structures of Kinesthetic Space Reevaluating Rudolf Laban’s
Choreutics in the Context of Spatial Cognition and Motor Control Volume 1”
(Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, London, City University London, 1996).
[2] Stanley Keleman, “Slow
Attending: The Art of Forming Intimacy,” United States Association for Body
Psychotherapy 10, no. 2 (2011): 5–11,
https://www.ibpj.org/issues/usabpj-articles/(1)_Keleman__S._Slow_Attending._USABPJ_10.2__2011.pdf.
[3] Brenda Farnell and
Harold L. Miller Jr, “The Kinesthetic System,” in The SAGE Encycolopedia of
Theory in Psychology (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2015),
http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-theory-in-psychology/i4010.xml;
Lynette A. Jones, “Kinesthetic Sensing,” Human and Mind Haptics, 2000,
http://bdml.stanford.edu/twiki/pub/Haptics/PapersInProgress/jones00.pdf.
[4] Ellen Fridland, “The
Case for Proprioception,” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 10,
no. 4 (December 2011): 521–40, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-011-9217-z;
Lynette A Jones, “Motor Illusions: What Do They Reveal About Proprioception?,”
n.d., 15.
[5] Lindsay Maxwell
and Elsie Duff, “Mindfulness: An Effective Prescription for Depression,” The
Journal for Nurse Practitioners 12, no. 6 (2016): 403–9,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2016.02.009.
[6] Natalie Garrett
Brown, “Strategies of Interruption: Slowing Down and Becoming Sensate in
Site-Responsive Dance,” in Moving Sites: Investigating Site-Specific Dance
Performance, ed. Victoria Hunter (London: Routledge, 2015).
[7] Judith Becker, “Music
and Trance,” Leonardo Music Journal 4 (1994): 41–51,
http://jlarrystockton.com/Moravian/trance.pdf; Ruth Herbert, “Reconsidering
Music and Trance: Cross-Cultural Differences and Cross-Disciplinary
Perspectives,” Ethnomusicology Forum 20, no. 2 (August 1, 2011): 201–27,
https://doi.org/10.1080/17411912.2011.592402.
[8] Luisa F. Barrero
González, “Dance as Therapy: Embodiment, Kinesthetic Empathy and the Case of
Contact Improvisation,” Adaptive Behavior 27, no. 1 (2018): 91–100,
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1059712318794203.
[9] Tajana Opacic and
Catherine Stevens, “Unspoken Knowledge: Implicit Learning of Structured Human
Dance Movement,” Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and
Cognition 35, no. 6 (October 25, 2016): 1570–77,
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017244.
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