Sequencing

This morning I took class from Kate Jewett, the rehearsal director for Shen Wei Dance Arts. The class was 2 hours of sweat-dripping, spine-sequencing, joint-bouncing, center-shifting bliss. She explained and demonstrated the concepts of Shen Wei’s movement in a way that was so clear and manageable, despite the incredible level of difficulty. 

We began with breathing techniques (by the way, I was already drenched at the end of these). In Re- (Part I), there is this shuffling backward movement the dancers do through the confetti mandala on the floor. Their feet make a very distinct, parallel pathway, and they sink backwards from their cores, effortlessly, curving along the floor. The type of breathing involved in this simple movement starts at the base of the pelvis and travels up the back of the spine. The fingertips engage before the upper arms, leading the arms in breath upwards. 30%. 40%. 50%. All the way to 80% at which point the fingertips led toward the sky, the feet were pulled onto relevé, and in exhaling down the spine, the pelvis shifted backwards and took the body on a light descent backwards. This breathing took more lung capacity than I quite had, but it was calming and expansive.

From there we moved into some walking exercises, considering a sort of magnetic relation to our neighbors, bouncing off of or being drawn to one another’s energy, using the most efficient response to their proximity and being.

We worked a good bit on the sort of bouncing that is utilized in Shen Wei’s “Rite of Spring,” a piece I saw at ADF two years ago. It involves a sense of rebound, and finding a rest in the joints that leans and connects, but does not fully sink. It was interesting to see this jolting movement within a repertory that I think of so much as being constantly fluid and sequential.

A floor exercise took a good 30 or 45 minutes and a whole lot of stamina. I will post a video excerpt of it once I upload from my camera. Leg swings emphasizing heaviness,placing the weight forward in between to not strain the back or abs, and sequencing through the back and arms. The combination worked with gravity and momentum, reaching and extending.

We did a few quicker exercises for movement in the limbs, emphasizing feet like hands and circular motions — figure eights of the hands and arms, flat inverted feet rond de jambe-ing along the floor. 

Our final exercise was one in full spine movement and initiation, beginning small, side-to-side motions dragging the spine and then arm along, extending out and out. We then moved into floor transitioning and more center-shifting. Also a combination of which I have a video. The undulation through the spine was both satisfying and therapeutic. To feel the roll through the natural curves of the spine reminded me of my body’s anatomy and how it requires me to nurture it. I was also able to use knowledge gained so far in Jesse Zaritt’s class about rotation and sequencing — it’s nice to be able to use this base of knowledge within varying class experiences.

Class grade: A+

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