Eva Macias - Final Project

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Tv9Rhih0cLvmbingPPvot?si=2d01071f66c84e09

Written Overview of Your Process:

1.  Describe your process. How did you choose your project? Why did you choose this method?

I chose this project because I have long wanted to find ways to bring my knowledge and experience as a Powwow dancer, in combination with other dance and movement practices I am drawn to. Although this project is specifically focused on weightedness and heartbeat connections, my hope is to incorporate storytelling and Indigenous knowledge aspects and imagery as I continue to develop this for workshops and classes. This method of including FFTT approaches encouraged me to investigate some of what is at the core of movement that I know and want to share.

2.  What felt good ( or provided a healthy challenge) in creating this project?

It felt good to take extended time to facilitate a sensory focused experience but there were many personal challenges around language, description, and consistency. For me with language challenges, this shows up in many ways, first being that I recognized repetition and points where I trailed off in descriptions or where I could have offered more clarity in descriptions. I also recognized points where I was inconsistent with descriptors, or could have been more inviting- I was nervous! I have been out of practice of leading or facilitating a class space for a couple of years. I do feel with more practice will come more familiarity and confidence building to branch into new language, imagery, and adding my Indigenous knowledge more overtly.

Further challenges in language include the languages or vocabulary of merging Powwow concepts with FFTT, I say this recognizing that each are rooted in different pedagogies with sometimes different emphases. Although languages or vocabulary of each can overlap, Powwow, as Choctaw ethnomusicologist Tara Browner describes, is more of a “What you see is what you get” experience, and I extend this to the dance teaching/learning experience. In Powwow practice and culture, our dances are very lead and follow, observe the teacher/facilitator, and do. Furthermore, our dances are inseparable from the drumbeat music which is a driving force and movement/dance theory predominantly held by those who practice it. The overlap I do see is that both Powwow and FFTT offer spaces for bodies to receive and move in ways that work best for those bodies, and that there is space for modification or self expression in whatever way that may be. In other words, I see open endedness and opportunities for many ways of being in both. Basing some of this project from FFTT (sometimes direct cues from Marlo’s scripts- which I found very helpful), FFTT provided some language and tools: open ended facilitation, in depth inquiry in movement exploration, and new ways to structure a class. I tried to take advantage of the opportunity to invite movers to locate their weight and heartbeat in the process, which is something I often find in teaching Powwow dance is a challenge to those new to the concepts.

3.  What do you think your project offers the viewer/participat? (Tools for accessing a Flow state, more awareness of the floor, etc. )

I hope this project offers the viewer/participant awareness of connection to the ground in their movement, more awareness of self in the moment, or just a moment to feel and find ease and/or challenge.

4.  If there is ONE thing that you would do differently, what is it?

Add imagery/cues based in Powwow vocabulary, symbolism, and my own Indigenous (Amskapi Pikuni) ways of knowing. This is something I tend to hold back on unless I am aware of those participating in the experience- it's something I share in live classes.

5.  What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching? That I can build a facilitated experience with the experience I have as a new way of approaching and sharing powwow movement/dance concepts. My hope is that when facilitating a workshop or class experience, we will start with exercises similar to what I held in this project as a way of dropping into those concepts, and then go into high energy/cardio powwow dancing with powwow music.

1-3 Sentence Summary of your project.

Sensing Foundational Concepts of Powwow Dancing

Sourced from my experience as a Native American Fancy Shawl Powwow dancer in combination with practices from this Floor Flow Teacher Training, this project meets at the intersection of mindful movement practices and foundational concepts of a basic Powwow step which includes: locating a sense of weightedness, locating one's heartbeat, and moving in “freestyle” (a term used in Powwow spaces- much like structured improvisation)

Kathy Lucas - Final Project

2B

Describe your process:

Vision: To invite the aspect of space to the process of grief and grieving by drawing awareness to the physical space we occupy. To use the floor as a means to anchor and explore movement possibilities. To build a loop with words that correspond to what the student needs to give herself space to grieve.

•   We started off with standing connection to the floor. I wanted for her to explore how her feet make connection to the floor as she was having a hard time settling into the space. It seemed as if she needed to ground through her feet so we focused on contact points from the feet first.

•   Next we worked with moving breath through. 4X This is a method that has helped me to feel both my center as well as draw awareness to how much space I allow myself when I’m feeling unsettled.

•   On her 4th breath I asked her to make her way to the floor where we established different contact points lying down and then guiding her towards being aware of “How the floor holds and supports her”. I asked her to take the time to scan the body and to see if she could get a sense of where the grief is felt. “Where is the rigidity?” “What are the sensations?”

•   We then worked on moving side to side while shifting contact points.

•   I asked her to come up to a seat and explained the looping activity. I gave her cards that had words describing actions, feelings and positional references and asked her to build a sentence that described what she needed to feel in this space of grief for today. Her words were: Expand - Push -Circle - Swoosh

•   She then mapped out the space that she needed to move in with yoga blocks and I asked her to move through the sentence 3 times.

•   To build an awareness around the differences that space has on our process of healing, I asked her to tighten up the circle. *Note: If this was uncomfortable for her I wouldn’t have done it! I respect the individual needs of the client.

•   She repeated the exercise in a small space and she said that it helped her to realize that space in fact was in issue in her need to process. I’m glad that she was willing to explore both options.

•   We ended lying on the floor connecting with the stillness and breath.

How did you choose your project?

What a journey this has been! A little back story for context. So when I saw that FFTT was being offered, it was literally the only style of training that was lighting me up and guiding me towards healing the grief that I had been experiencing just 2 1/2 months in from loosing my father. I was so lost and felt deeply disconnected from my body which was quite scary for me as I really call dance and movement my language and home. Every method of training that I was, at one time able to pull from was not working and sometimes made me feel much worse during such a delicate time. As the training went on, I began to feel more connected and focused.

I’m a movement coach and dance teacher who works predominantly with women ages

50-70’s. Often, my clients speak of and seek healing from accepting identity landmarks as they age. Many of these identity shifts come with loss. Loss of vitality. Loss of connection to their sensuality, sexuality. Loss of friends, family, etc.. With all of that loss comes a need to “return”.

But returning or reinventing ourselves (in our culture) is usually aimed towards extreme journeys and expectations that sometimes lead to even more sensation of loss!

In my own experiences, I’ve noticed that I can censor and restrict my space for grief and loss. As a culture, I just don’t think we give ourselves the necessary space (physical, emotional, mental) to work through the waves of grief. I firmly believe that if we identify the physical space needed, we can begin to unravel some of the pain, trappings and stories that hold us down.

The hope is that we can become aware, identify and give permission to ourselves to move into our needs of healing rather than subscribe to the pressure and expectations of superficial transformation. So this exploration through some of the FFTT foundations seemed like a good way to explore the possibilities.

Why did you choose this method?

I chose this method because as said earlier, it spoke to me during my times of grief. Playing on the floor and feeling close to the earth grounds me and takes me to a very specific place of “returning”.

What felt good or provided a healthy challenge in creating this project?

It felt good to align this work with my personal experiences and those of my clients. It’s a tall order to ask folks who are experiencing loss or grief to tap into space, emotions and awareness and to seek refuge through movement. So much courage! I had to scale way back on planning a lesson based on how delicate this can be for folks. I had grand plans initially, but discovered that those were “MY plans” and that keeping it simple (focus, awareness, breath, exploration) was plenty for the experiences of my clients. Having the time to journey through this training on my own helped me to identify that the potential for healing could be there for others.

What do you think your project offers the viewer/participant?

I think it offers a pathway into witnessing, awareness, energy shifts throughout the system, reflections, support, clarity of individual needs by slowing down and utilizing the basic tools of FF. (Contact points, breath work, moving slowly, using the floor as a support to explore)

If there is one thing you would do differently what is it?

Cueing! I have a sense of paralysis when it comes to cueing when not moving myself. Maybe this comes from being so intrigued by the way other people move that I can’t break out of my curiosity! Lol

It was sooo very clear to me as I worked with my student that I needed to provide better cues and pace them properly. Great lesson for me and absolutely something I would like to deep dive into more.

What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching?

So much. I’ve learned that less is more. Slowing down takes time. Sometimes providing a source of guidance comes from embodying personal experiences. Proper cueing and pacing provide a landscape to journey vs a street to walk through. It’s also been confirmed that shooting floor footage is a true nemesis of mine!

2C.

Project Summary:

This project is an entrance and peek into how much physical and emotional space we allow ourselves to identify loss, grief and change. By being aware of breath, contact points and the physical connection to our emotions, I feel we innately build a sense of space in our being. As we identify the changes and shifts there is more possibility to bring ourselves back into healing, flow and vitality.

Katarina Gasparovic - Loop

FFTT LOOP written overview

My “final loop” discovery and filming process turned out to be another lesson on how to let go of expectations and simply enjoy moving. It is something I have relearned over and over.

It took me a while to settle on a loop, I knew I wanted a simple loop with positions which I enjoy and use in my movement practice but also wanted to include something that I started to explore more because of our floor flow training. So, I opted for tabletop, straddle sit and a hip bridge.

The goal was to transition through these positions in a way that allows my body to feel good and to let my body lead the movement. Another goal was to do some exploring of pathways and to slowly progress the loop. All this while keeping in mind a few of the things we learned during the training like paying attention to contact points, letting the floor hold me and letting it be easier.

I filmed it a bunch of times during a period of a few weeks, and I wasn’t feeling it. I was in my head, worrying about silly things like if I’m flowy enough, did I manage to progress the loop, am I demonstrating anything I learned during the FFTT…I was even asking myself if my demonstration of the loop is too dancey (whatever that means), which makes me laugh now.

I was rewatching all my loop attempt videos and decided to give it another go, so I filmed one more time. This was the one I decided to upload and share because it is the one during which I felt relaxed, the movement was very enjoyable, and the song kept me going and flowing. I didn’t think too much, I just did it and it felt good.

Being familiar with the loop and loving how the song moved me helped me achieve the flow state. And of course, letting go of expectations, trusting my body and enjoying the sensations rather than thinking about how it will look.

If there was something I would do differently, it would be focusing more on my breath because I tend to neglect this important part of movement. I would also try to go easy on myself.

For me valuable lessons from this process are learning to calm my mind, focusing more on feeling the movement and reminding myself to just keep going when something unsettles me. I am also inspired to play with the same loop more! I tend to lose focus quickly, so this process of exploring the same loop over and over reminded me that it can be interesting and insightful to give yourself time to go over the same things. There will always be something new to discover when you slow down and pay attention.

Liza Constantino - Final Project

This project (approx. 20 mins) envisions an introductory floor flow class that is restorative, meditative, and accessible to bodies who desire or require a gentle pace of movement. A basic skill introduced here is awareness of one’s connection to the floor. There is also some repetition of sitting, kneeling, squatting/standing, rocking and sliding. This practice is suitable for those with slightly smaller floor space to flow with.

FFTT Final Project Reflections:

1.     Describe your process. How did you choose your project? Why did you choose this method?

-        As I went through the Floor Flow Teacher Training, I really began to envision what I wanted to do with the knowledge Marlo has shared. I wanted to develop a class that is restorative, meditative and accessible to people who did not really identify as dancers.

-        First was establishing this goal. Next, I asked a friend who I knew well to be the recipient of this experience.

-        As I was planning the class, I felt guided by my goal as well as the music. I began to develop the loop as a response to the music. The “fixed” elements of the loop (seated position, kneeling, squatting/standing) came to mind first. The more “exploratory” parts of the loop—the “suggestions”—came after.

2.     What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge) in this loop video experience?

-        My friend, who is featured in this video, responded really positively to the overall experience. She felt assured—according to her, when I said, “repetition is okay.” She was also able to overcome her initial nervousness about moving this way.

3.     What do you think your project offers the viewer/ participant?

-        I envision this to be an introductory class for someone looking for restorative floor-based movement. At some point, I ask the participant to be aware of their connection to the floor. Exploration is more of a suggestion that I thought we might build on later on.

4.     If there is one thing that you would do differently, what is it?

-        I’d have picked a position other than kneeling. At the time I prepared this, it was what naturally came to me. But I realize it might not be the easiest thing to do for people with bad knees. I might have also experimented with slightly more upbeat music for added fun!

5.     What did you learn from this experience that you would apply to your own training or teaching?

-         I learned how to give better cues and how to balance structure with improvisation/exploratory movement.

Dari Pfeiffer - Final Project

I regularly train individuals for aerial arts and wish to help them become more comfortable with floor based movement before they connect to their apparatus. This connection offers a greater range of mobility whether there is also a goal of performance, or if the training is for pleasure and exploration with no intent to present or perform. I offered a segment of movement to three individuals or pairs before deciding to present this session, as it provided with it many of the real time considerations that I have encountered. Oftentimes, people will come to the studio having had to adjust their plan. They may be running a bit late, or have to face adverse weather and traffic, and arrive slightly anxious. Crystal is a mama that had scheduled a trapeze session for herself, and then found that the only way that she could attend was with her three small children. Understanding the importance of her being able to take time for herself, I offered her a mini flow session in which we would warm up, speak to mobility, and allow her space to be near her kids, but be able to focus on herself. It did help that I have met all of them before, and they are not only comfortable with me, but that she is familiar with our interaction, and so could let me share some of the overwatch responsibility with her, freeing up her attention. I would love to hold sessions that last for an hour or so, because I think that the mini session feels short, but beyond the time frame given for the final project, this is also the format that I am most typically working in. I would rather offer this method of delivery while warming up for aerial training for the benefit of my students, than wait until all feels ideal, and have a non-aerial floor based session booked with them. A full Floor Flow session is my goal, and as I have offered portions of flow movement and discussed the modality with clients, as well as my business partner, I have found that there are many interested parties waiting to sign up!

I was pleased that I was able to set the intention with my mover for the pathway that we would be taking, while giving her the freedom to experience her own moments. I was able to help her maintain her focus on herself throughout the session. This was something that I watched for especially as the children got a bit louder from time to time. I used my vocal tone and inflection to redirect her to her own movement, as well as specific directional movement cues. We had spent a few moments talking about the pathway that we would be exploring as we moved fingers, hands, arms. We had acknowledged that I was placing her with her back to the children, so that I could keep them in sight, and would let her know if she was truly needed. We both laughed because behind me is a set of mirrors, so she could always take a peek, but it was the feeling of safety and reassurance that really helped set the space.

We didn't have to start standing, but it was a useful tactic to be able to move from the hurried energy that Crystal came in with, and lend to each moment after as it presented itself while the external energy dissipated. One of the aspects of these types of sessions that I find to be poignant and unique to the Floor Flow style of movement, is the body's ability to sink into the floor, to press, to lean, and give weight as part of engaging the surface they are on, without actually feeling 'heavier' during or at the completion of the session.

I have been observing to see if there develops a sluggishness or a weighted feeling, and have been excited to see that even while I am striving to enhance my approach in my learning process, the whole experience feels very light and airy, roomy. Crystal says that her 'back feels open' at the end of the floor portion. That feedback validated the path that we are on Floor Flow practice, and I was glad to hear that from her. As a segue from the floor to the air, I suggested that she connect to her trapeze while staying in touch with the ground. This allowed her to continue to build on what we had established in the first 15 minutes or so, encouraging weight sharing between her contact points both grounded and aerial. I did walk away to help a kiddo, but also to give her time to play with the moment. In watching the video, I see her finding the ooey gooey as I call it, and maybe some of you do as well, and exploring that. I am really happy for her moments and this experience.

Our space shares a wall with a pet groomer business, and while we usually have adult learners in our studio, and infrequently small children, the puppies waiting to be picked up, and the occasional kitty being bathed is a song of its own. I would really love to be able to set the mood with soft lighting, very little ambient noise, and a playlist that builds from soothing to fun vibes. I have not been able to create the ambience that I envision, and will continue to work with what I have on any given day, staying on the lookout for opportunities for my ideal session. I do ask for and receive feedback from participants, and they usually tell me that they don't even notice anything other than their own bodies and movement. I’ll take that as a win.

There are a few aspects of my teaching style that I pay attention to in particular because of FFTT. I am becoming more direct and concise about delivering the verbal guidance from the beginning of the session, and maintaining that throughout, while not getting too wordy. I do find that some people need more call and response vocalization, and they wait for it before moving, while others do well with longer pauses in between verbal cues. I look to these situations, to see how well I can guide people with respect to what resonates with them, while finding more precision in my delivery. I am able to dial in to individuals and cater to their styles of receiving information because I am primarily offering lessons only. I would like to keep refining my delivery, getting people into the flow so that they can hit the Flow quickly. I am interested in hosting groups of movers and comparing the experiences. I think that it can be 'work' but that it doesn't have to be. It certainly doesn't have to be lengthy, which is what operating within the 22 minute parameter helped illustrate for me.

Emma Nicholson - Loop

1)

Easy to remember ingredients of my loop are: hip bridge, smearing, spiralling to side, sweeping leg, active shoulder.

2)

I thought this would be easy but it was so hard to condense into a 5 minute video! I chose a sequence of moves that I felt were easy to access and to remember and with lots of potential for noticing details and expansion/progression. I find it quite easy to get into a Flow state at my studio; there are no interruptions, it’s spacious and I feel so comfortable there. However, this is a problem when you’re trying to make a short video - I was getting so immersed that I had no idea of time and was lost in the zone of looping! I had to work hard to trim down my thoughts and commentary to produce this video (which is still 24 seconds over - apologies!).

3)

The healthy challenge, as described above, was trying to stick within the time frame. When I watched back my numerous longer videos there was a lot of unnecessary demoing and repeating, it felt good to be forced to analyse what I was actually saying and whether it was actually helpful / necessary or not.

4)

One thing I would do differently if I were to do this again would be to promote the connection of the feet to the floor as a main feature. Keeping feet in contact with the floor really helped with the fluidity and flow of the journey yet I didn’t mention that point.

5)

Following this experience I am going to keep working on condensing my verbal facilitating. Sometimes it’s certainly useful to be more vocal but it’s equally important to be able to condense information into useful nuggets when required, and I’ve learnt that this is an area for me to develop.

Emma Nicholson - Final Project

I took a break from teaching pole dancers and spent some time sharing the gift of Floor Floor with my mum. Take a look to see how it went!

Emma Nicholson Final Project: moving with my mum

1)

My mum is 75 years old and has Alzheimer’s, which is a form of dementia. One of her most noticeable symptoms is high anxiety which leads to an uncertainty in her movement, a loss of fluidity when performing everyday tasks and a general loss of confidence and connection with her body.

Previously, during the FFTT, I practised one of my small group activities with my mum and I was amazed at the effect. Following a bit of a wobbly start, I saw her movement transform literally before my eyes, within a few minutes she was moving with stability, control and most of all awareness and connection.

I have chosen to share a session with my mum as my final project because I feel it shows how empowering and impactful the concepts of Floor Flow can be when we tune in to the needs of our movers. My mum needs simplicity, reassurance and an enjoyable experience that enables her to connect positively to her body.

Complex instructions (thinking about more than one thing) can be quite overwhelming for her and this is something I have to be constantly aware of, but especially in a Floor Flow session when I feel she is particularly vulnerable in the way that she has put her trust completely in me; if I’m not sensitive to her needs it could result in quite a traumatic experience.

I feel it’s important to add here that she is in the early-mid stages of the disease and was able to consent to the session and to me sharing our video with my fellow trainees.

2)

What felt good about this session and preparing for it was the challenge of creating something simple but meaningful, I was also challenged by the thought that maybe it wouldn’t be enough. But then I realised that this really is the essence of Floor Flow, the richness isn't in what you can see, it’s in what you feel and placing value only on how things look is really missing the point.

I succeeded in facilitating a session during which my mum slowed down, kept moving, connected to her breath, body and the floor. Her feedback on the session was that she enjoyed how calm she felt, as her daughter I can tell you that in recent years it’s become rare to see her as calm and peaceful as she is during these Floor Flow sessions.

3)

As a participant, the session offered my mum the tools to quieten her mind, connection to her body, improved proprioception, increased movement control, awareness of the floor and her relationship with it.

4)

On reflection, one thing I would do differently or develop next time is to offer more challenge. Watching the video back I can see that she was really engaged and receptive, she would probably have responded well to a little more challenge which could have promoted a little more independence for her during the session. I was prepared to scale things down but I don’t think I was prepared to scale it up, a testament to how effective the sessions are for her!

5)

I’ve learnt to not take moving for granted. Seemingly simple moves that we do without thinking are actually complex processes requiring initiation, detailed messaging from the brain, sensitivity to feedback from body about the task and the environment. We can go though our lives not thinking about moving and just letting it happen, but we can also slow down and savour the gift that is the human body, the miracle of being able to move, to make things happen and interact with our surroundings. As our bodies change with age, illness, injury etc we can continue to nurture the bond between mind and body, finding joy and peace in seemingly simple activities. The power is in the simplicity and this appreciation is something I look forward to sharing in the future.

Momo Miyaguchi - Loop

Part 1B : Written Overview

1. Loop ingredients :

·       Seated V (one leg bent)

·       Supine X

·       Quadrepedal leg change

·       « Wild thing » stretch

·       Seated spiral

2. The process

My loop process stems from what I taught in my final project session with the addition of a « wild thing » stretch and a seated spiral. The elements were chosen

1.     for my students to feel safe and able to move through positions they are familair with already

2.     for me to feel safe and capable of leading people through a simple sequence

Music choice was an important ingredient and helped me to get « into the mood » quickly especially when having to squeeze filming into an already busy schedule without an ideal warm-up time nor a lot of energy after a run-in with a cheeky virus at the end of March.

3. What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge) in this loop video experience ?

·       Looping is very new to me. My movement experience is varied . I’ve either had expériences of very free improvisational situations as part of creative processes or more structured dance or yoga situations where I would learn a choreography or a sequence to integrate/interpret/execute/perform/teach it. When it came to joining movements together that could follow on and repeat, eventually evolving to allow new variations and new skills to be included, this was and is a challenge for me !

·       Having a big space to move in was a priviledge. I’m usually noodling around in a small attic space.

4. If there is ONE thing that you would do differently, what is it ?

To ask for an outside eye from other FF practitioners during my loop creation process. This would have been helpful as my loop feels unfinished to me and needs more time to develop.

5. Please refer to the same question in my Final Project answers.

Momo Miyaguchi - Final Project

Part 2 : Final Project FFTT 2022

2C. Summary of my project.

This is a short floor flow introduction in French for 3 of my yoga students. I have provided some subtitles to allow for non-French speakers to be able to follow the session.

2B.  Written Overviw of your Process :

1. Describe your process. How did you choose your project ? Why did you choose this method ?

I chose to lead a few of my friends and yoga students through a guided sequence because I wanted the experience of applying what we have done during the FFTT to my context (I live in the countryside in Central Brittany, France. I wanted to share the experience of what floor flow could feel like with the participants so that they could better understand for themselves.

2. What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge) in creating this project ?

I live in France and I generally teach in French. Although I have lived here for 20 years, I am not a native French speaker. I wanted the experience of transferring Floor Flow practices that have been learnt in English into French.

I teach yoga and voice and have been wanting to teach differently for a long time by giving people gateways to their creativity as well as their inner voices and landscapes.

3. What do you think your project offers the viewer/participant ?

Slow movement that feels good

A too rare occasion to move freely

Connecting with one’s own flow processus

I had very good feedback from my participants. They had never experienced this type of movement class and were very enthusiastic afterwards.

One person said that it should be an opening daily practice in professional dance schools.

Another, a school teacher, later told me that she had later taught the loop to her pre-school students and that the kids wholeheartedly took to the ideas (being a starfish, curling up in a ball on their side like a seed, etc.). She now is eager to have more movement ideas to pass onto them.

4. If there is ONE thing that you would do differently, what is it ?

Let my participants explore for longer – I was worried about them being bored and of keeping the session short so I didn’t let the exploration time go on for too long.

5. What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching ?

A teacher training it just the beginning of another journey that takes us towards new and unknown horizons.

Simple movement propositions afford us greater autonomy.

Simplicity allows for clarity and helps one access their creativity more easily.

Cueing and word choice are paramount in the way they affect people’s movement. I think it is an art form in itself and well worth investing time and thought in.

The importance of varying the tone of one’s voice throughout a session to keep peoples’ attention engaged.

Vacuum before a FF class !

Moving on the floor gives us feelings of freedom, relaxation, weightlessness…

Jinghan Liu - Final Project

Final Project Written Overview

2B. Final Project Written Overview

Describe your process. How did you choose your project? Why did you choose this method?

I chose three Floor Flow style warmup exercises (one song each) specifically for a class I was teaching on a skill - double leg waves (aka “vagina monsters”) both on the floor and on the pole. The video is only the warmup exercises. To do this skill, students will need to warm up their hips/pelvis areas, obliques (to allow the side-to-side motion) and legs.

For the first exercise, the focus is on rocking and circling the pelvis, using the floor as support, but also to provide feedback so students can become more aware of the anterior / posterior tilt of the pelvis (without having to learn the terminology). Since it was the first warmup exercise, I also wanted them to feel grounded and connected to their bodies and breaths, so the music was slow and the cueing was more around sensations.

For the second exercise - the oblique warmup, I made a small loop that incorporated the X/Star shape to side crunch to seated straddle stretch. The focus is to have students feel their obliques contracting when they side crunch, and feel their obliques stretching in the seated straddle stretch.

To warm up their legs, I expanded the exercise into a “limbs warmup”. As this is the last warmup exercise, I also wanted to get their heart rates up and really loosen up. So I told them to do whatever they feel like doing as long as 1. They are waking up their limbs 2. They keep changing their body shapes / positions. They are also told to face away from the mirror, encouraged to move across the floor, and look drunk.

What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge) in creating this project?

Breaking down the skill I want to teach later in class and designing specific warmup exercises to prepare them for the skill. Also think about what state of mind I would like to put them in, and how to link all of that with music and cueing. It felt like a fun design project.

What do you think your project offers the viewer/participant? (Tools for accessing a Flow state, more awareness of the floor, etc.)

I hope it offers a few examples of how to encourage students to focus on sensation rather than looks (e.g. ask them to face away from the mirror), encourage them to play and interact with the floor and each other, encourage them to move across the room and take up more space.

If there is one thing that you would do differently, what is it?

My voice. I was surprised (and a bit embarrassed) to hear in the video how high my voice was when I got excited. I am now aware that it could make it uncomfortable for listeners / students.

What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching?

To incorporate the floor as a support mechanism or apparatus more in warmup.

2C. 1-3 Sentence summary of your project

What did you do? Why should anyone watch it?

I designed and led three Floor Flow style warmup exercises (~10 min total) for a class I taught on double leg waves (aka “vagina monsters”).

Jinghan Liu - Loop

Loop Written Overview 

What are the easy-to-remember ingredients of your loop?

1.     Prone OR elevated prone – quadrupedal position or elevated quadrupedal position or downward facing dog

2.     Threading one leg to the opposite side and sit down into a twisted V sit

3.     Untwist upper body into a square V sit

4.     Twisted V sit on the other side (mirror of 2)

5.     Back to #1

Describe your process. How did you choose the parts? How was your experience leading up to filming this? What did you need to do to get in the right state of body/mind/spirit to Flow?

I chose these parts because I realized that I don't tend to incorporate the element of “twisting” in my movement so I want to challenge myself to do it more. I also chose positions that would give me freedom to progress if needed – e.g. options to lift my pelvis up, lift my leg up, etc. Finally, I chose these positions to avoid “left vs. right” cuing in my own head – want to focus more on circular motion.

Thinking was actually quite exhausting and I had to literally sit down on the floor, start moving, and things kind of came together.  I also did this several times and while every time the experience was different, it became easier to Flow after a couple of rounds.

What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge) in this loop video experience?

            Being connected to the floor and feeling my breaths

            Adding circles and waves into the shapes

Closing my eyes from time to time and forget about the looks and focus on the sensations.

If there is ONE thing that you would do differently, what is it?

I would make myself move even more slowly.

What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching?

I also used this as a pattern breaking exercise – focusing on reversing the loop - especially imagine someone else saying “reverse” at unexpected times. I’d definitely love to play with this concept more in both my own training and teaching.

Milagros Molero - Final Project

2A

First, thank you for taking your time with this project. Im using a translator, im sorry if something isn’t clear, your questions are always welcome.

I made an experiment for this project.

I designed a pole class plan by applying floor flow and gave the class to two students.

In the accompanying video you can see different moments of the classes.

The two students have an intermediate to advanced pole level, but none had experience in any type of free and continuous movement.

The class consisted of:

- A totally free movement warm-up, prioritizing presence with the body, points of contact and breathing.

- Teaching the basic loop: lunge, rotation, 3 seconds of movement/balance, lunge.

- Make different repetitions with small changes to promote the continuous, unbridled movement and creativity of the student.

It was they first time taking such a class, and it was my first time giving one.

Select the same song for all the repetitions so that they can connect to the rhythm, and try to give a few options and ask a lot.

In the moments of rest I asked them about how they felt, what they remembered, what they noticed when they moved, if they realized in what moments they were slowing down and to tell me what happened to them when they did it. Also, if they had a record that movements they repeated more than others and invited them to try to slow down the next time to do something different.

In both cases, the biggest brake on movement was that they stopped to think if they were doing things right, the second factor is that they stopped to think about what to do next, whether they followed the loop, or not.

Offering them a different space and guiding them to it, was a challenge!

I feel like I have a lot to improve, it's like learning a new language.

The three of us liked the experience and their relationship with their body and movement changed.

2B

1- I had many ideas for this project, I ended up choosing this experiment because it is the most convenient, in time, space and resources, while still being challenging and interesting for me.

For the same reasons, I chose its form of presentation.

2- Almost everything was uncomfortable, during these classes it was not

about teaching something concrete, a step-by-step technique, but about guiding the other person to their usual limits to give them the opportunity to go further. I am used to doing this from a teaching context, in this mode it was required of me, a greater presence, and an interaction of greater intimacy with what was happening at the time, and a different way of communicating, at all levels, from a space outside the categories that something is right or wrong.

3- Provide tools and a simple framework, where students could explore themselves and their movement, and if they want to apply it while alone.

The general lines were:

A short loop with movements that are easy to modify without losing the structure.

Slogans to stay present in the body (feel your joints and contact of your feet)

Breathe, slow down but don't slow down.

4- I would choose to work differently, being two people with enough pole time, I thought they would sit comfortably to move without thinking so much, giving them room to flow.

But it wasn't like that, and it took them a long time to stop thinking about whether what they were doing was right or wrong, next time I would try to concentrate more on body mobility, and a shorter loop.

5- This experience reminded me that it is better to start simple and limited. No expectations or assumptions about the student.

2C

First time pole flow! I made a class and try it with 2 students to see the difference.

Milagros Molero - Loop

1)     stand - sit V - lay down - sit V - stand.

2) i didn’t knew what parts i was going to use until i was there filming. I only had in my mind: keep it simple and do your best. Since i came from weeks of diferent medical treatments that doesn’t allow me to freely move, I choose to let the expectations out.

I was lucky and had that space, not big but also not tiny, and bigger than what i use to have available, so while moving i felt relax enough to not think about how it will look, it felt flowy, soft, relaxing. The moment where it was dificult not to think was when i tried to make it harder.

Just starting, contacting with my body, ifound a space and a sense of peace and trust, that allows me to get in flow, and start having fun, that it was new to me, that makes me think that i never really flow before, and open more curiosity to keep going.

3) the floor, my body sliding on it, felt so good, and the challenge of being present in the moment, to not fly away with my mind, which usually take me to judge me. Instead the movement and keep some moments to balance in one point and make turns, was fun and keeps me out of it.

4) breath more, expand more, look more of what my body say, in some moments i just follow what i thought i had to do. Also read better, i only did 2 min because i thought that was the max time.

5) trust me, trust bodies, more. I found my self doundting a lot when movement start to be a challenge, specially in the background and got distracted.

This time i got a strong sense of how the space and the type of floor affects the movement and the ease of been present.

Victoria Velasco - Final Project

Describe the process. How did I choose the project? Why did I choose this method?

Since my background in teaching is usually teaching on apparatus like pole or aerial silks, I knew that I wanted to incorporate one of that with my FFTT Final Project. For the longest time, I had also wanted to teach a Pole Flow loop with a skill, but I was stuck on how to do it.


I am also currently handling our chair dance class called HOT SEAT. This class is a very straightforward choreography class - we learn some tricks on a chair, learn a dance, and end the class with the dance and tricks.

I wanted to teach my new choreography set a little differently. I thought of incorporating FFTT techniques to the chair, and treating the chair as our floor or apparatus - helping students become more aware of moving with this in the coming weeks. This current choreography set is also part of our pole school’s online student showcase. We will be practicing this over time, and performing it, but continuing to do so online (students won’t see or meet one another besides in online class, so I needed a way to ensure that we were all on the same page about the movement, and that we still embraced the concept of the dance as one). So I thought with this exercise, (and I plan to open every class with this exercise), would be a good way to apply what I learned in FFTT to my current teaching, as well as help my students become more aware of their movement on our current apparatus - the chair.

What felt good and provided a healthy challenge in creating this project? 

One of the most challenging aspects of the whole FFTT experience for me, was not to “peacock” or demonstrate doing the dance steps myself, while prioritizing the aesthetic of the movement, rather than my own breath and awareness. At the same time, I want to encourage that awareness of movement in my students (and not only the aesthetic quality of what we do), with this exercise. For that reason, I tried to stay off the chair as much as I could, until I felt the students may have needed a bit more visual guidance. I also tried to give more verbs as cues for movement and actions rather than body part placement. This is still a very conscious change in mindset for me, but I try to be more aware of it in all my classes, not only this one!

This type of warm up is also not our conventional way to start a class. Trying to get my students on the same mental page as I was (when they were probably expecting something more technical), was also a bit of a challenge to think about. I am grateful for the trust they gave me to take part in the warm up in this and in this exercise! They gave their content in this recording and that it would be uploaded for viewing in our class.

What do you think your final project offers to the viewer or participant?

For the students, I think it offered a different way to think of our movement or choreography, rather than body part placement at a certain count (which, I admit, is still a way I catch myself thinking about dances). I hope that it helped them absorb the concept behind our dance a bit more, and will help everyone embrace the choreography in that way. In this way, I also hope that they are able to find their own way of portraying the choreography, that is not only technical but sincere - that they feel the beats and movement in the song, and want to show it to the audience.

If there is one thing you would do differently, what would it be?

I think I would also like to try to create a loop with the chair. I think I had the beginnings of a loop in the first part, but didn’t get to really nail the steps down. For the next session, this is definitely something I’d like to explore for the students. I would also like to teach a loop on a chair, that would end in a skill.

What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training/teaching?

For most of the FFTT applications, we’ve been doing it in one-off classes or small group sessions with different people in each class. For this experience, I was able to think about progressively teaching the same group of people the different FFTT awareness techniques, and how this can be developed over time, and not only in one class. I plan to have warm ups like this in our next sessions, as well as to incorporate the loop in our awareness on chair as apparatus.

We don’t always get to handle a class that develops one choreography set over time. Most of the time, we handle a one-time class, and in the next week, we have a different set of students. With this group, however, we will be able to develop this over time, and I hope that not only the choreography itself improves, but also their awareness, their presence, their confidence in performing it, and their enjoyment of the class.

____

WHAT DID YOU DO? WHY SHOULD ANYONE WATCH IT?

Exploring Floor Flow awareness techniques and prompts to teach a chair choreography class. Our HOT SEAT (Chair Dance) classes are about an hour of fun choreography on a chair! To incorporate my FFTT learnings with my current lessons, I did a few minutes of movement awareness with the students before teaching the dance steps. We were also getting oriented with dancing with a chair, so I used some floor awareness prompts (but with the chair), to have our students become more mindful of the chair as our movement partner.

Victoria Velasco - Loop

Easy to remember ingredients of the loop.

For this exercise, my loop consisted of three steps - HAND, FOOT, TURN. I first tried to keep it as slow and simple as possible. One hand movement, then one foot movement, then a body turn to change position. The actions existed on their own - the hand and foot movement did not necessarily move into each other, but they were independent of each other. I slowly tried to integrate the movement - what I did with my hand (or rather, full arm), led into the foot movement, which led into the body turn. I would sometimes feel that the turn would preempt the next hand movement, and would almost stop myself from the continuous movement, to break down the loop a bit more. 

I also tried to first move one body part at a time, until I would progress to two hands at a time, then two feet at a time. Another change marker was changing my body orientation - when I was in the standing positions, I felt the movements were bigger, more turns every time I would change positions, and so on. I tried to end the loop softly, still standing, but also going back to one hand and one foot movement at a time, but this time, staying in the standing position. 

Describe the process. How did I choose the parts? 

I wanted an easy to remember loop that had various elements that could be changed, but also stayed in its structure. I stuck to HAND, FOOT, TURN, so that could fulfill those requirements. 

This is the 2nd time for me to try the loop. I also changed the music to something more meditative for my own emotions during the loop. During the first time, I actually felt I stuck to the structure well, but felt a bit like I didn’t know how to end it. It was quite abrupt. With this second try, I was able to explore a bit more intentionally with the changes thrown in, and to end with a bit of meditation and slow movement. 

What felt good? 

It really felt good to explore!! One of the reasons I took this course was really to find movement that was more like myself, and not just a copy of my previous teachers’ or even of my Instagram idols (they’re amazing, but I do want to find more sincerity in what I engage in and teach - not only learn things because of what is “cool” or trending in the pole world). And for a few minutes in the loop (and in other loops in this FFTT), I really did feel like this movement was my own, and not derivative. That’s also what I love about sticking to simple loops and trying not to over think the steps - I can really explore and move like myself. <3 It also felt good when I would think of one element to change (when I moved on to two hands, two feet, etc.), because I would also think of these changes as the loop went on. The movement led to more movement. The exploration started itself and I really felt like I was in some moments of Flow in these few minutes. 

If there is one thing I would do differently? 

I think I would try to do this for a longer period of time. When I ended the sequence, I felt I could still do a bit more, and maybe a loop with a lot of possibilities like this, would need a longer period of time for me to flesh it out as well. 

I am definitely still going to try to do this loop, but with other songs with different pacing. I would also like to explore other ways to change the loop (for example, if I didn’t use one hand the whole time, and only stuck to one side of my body for the actions). 

What did you learn from this experience that you could apply to your own training or teaching? 

On a technical level, I think this would be a great loop to try to teach shoulderstands, or pirhouettes on the pole. I also want to keep exploring this loop as a prompt to create choreography (whether on the floor, or on the pole).

Camille de Haas - Final Project

 FINAL PROJECT

Sensory games

Overview :

       1.   A sensitive and awarness warm up. Making contact with the floor and observing how you can relax in standing position, how  your breath is, your posture...

Games :

I choose to use an object ( little ball) to fix with  eyes and dance around it, without looking away from it, in order to organize the body around it. Object can't move but your body can change levels, go away or close from the object.

After a fiew moments, I add some touching, softly as you can, you can touch the object with your hands and feet.

If the object is a ball it s even more fun because it can roll over the floor so part of the game is that you can touch the object but without moving it.

Last game was with 3 or more objects around the floor to reach far as you can. took it and place it again anywhere in your space. So you reach an object, and move in other direction always with the ideas of pendiculate in any position you are.

You could do this games in a seated, quadrupidal, deep squat, standing position... and move from each position.

where to place the eyes, is a question/concept I like to play with in order to not only looking the floor, I like to focus on external cues/ or senses to be aware of my environnement and be able to play with.

Touching, for exemple, with pole dancing we awlays keep a strong grip to the polewe need to create force to get upside down etc but soft touch can also be possible and can relax the body in some ways.

      2.    I like the process of creating games around concepts and shared with others; seeing people dancing, improvising, and see how they experiment thoses games

      3.     With those games, I bring to participants some sensitive experimentations. They can observe there relationship with the object, how they can play with there own sense through this ball (or object)

how they can move or fix this object, I like this concept of not moving something, because it bring many possibilities to explore and move the body even if something is fix, like the eyes in the first game. In the second game they can practice / play with there agility of not moving the ball even if they touch it. It requires control in all the body ( even more when we touch it with the feet)

last games was about reaching objects and replaces it in your own spaces far away from you. So now you can propely take the object and  stretch yourself in weird positions, and create  ways to go through. In this game you can practice supporting yourself in this weird  and stretchy positions.

4.     One thing I could differently is to talk more about one point in the last game ; create ways/ pattern, shapes when you reaching an object, and when you replace it on the floor. Cause It can be a possibility to travel with your body around the space.

5.     What I can add in my teaching and own practice is more games around the senses and a cool warm up to relax the nervous system, be consious of the points of contact, on the breath  and how we can control it if we need to. I would love to introduce some games like this and get people enjoy to be curious of there sense and how powerful and creative it can be.

2-C : Summary

Experiment some games  with  you senses ; eyes, and touch.

what are you looking when you dancing ?
How the eyes and what are you looking  could change your relationship with your body ?

How soflty can you touch your appartus/props/environnement ?

How reaching in dancing can be a ruse to pendiculate

Line Winther Hansen

Written summary of loop

1. What are the easy to remember ingredients of your loop?

Pinwheel, belly turn, opposite pinwheel, swipe swap. Leg swing to squat, lazy cartwheel, back to squat. Return to pinwheel to repeat (it flows continuously in the same direction)

2. Describe your process. How did you choose the parts? How was your experience leading up to filming? What did you need to do to get in the right state?

I wanted to create an easy to remember loop that would flow continuously and fit the space I had. I also wanted some variety in the “elevation” levels to challenge myself (the whole spectrum from lying down to standing on my feet).

I needed help to move a heavy table out of the way in order to film this, there were several times I was excited to film but didn’t have the available space. Then when I finally had the table out of the way it didn’t feel like conditions were that great anymore, now I had visitors and the neighbors were doing construction and hammering loudly. In the end I decided there will always be something, conditions are rarely ideal in real life. So instead of waiting for a more optimal time/state I just decided to go ahead and film the way it was. I suppose what I needed to do to get in the right state to flow was to decide there is no right state, there is only NOW :)

3. What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge)?

I really enjoyed the circularity of the motions. It feels a bit like being inside a spiral with no start or end point, so I almost feel pulled into the next motion (especially when I sped up so I was working with the momentum). I really enjoy swirly movement patterns :)

Filming myself (and watching it) felt weird, it’s hard for me not to be judgemental about the way it looks.

4. ONE thing I’d do differently

My instinct wanted me to film more times to make it look more beautiful/professional. Instead I stuck with the current version because I enjoyed myself in the process and it’s more real than a polished version. I still feel conflicted about it though, so I may have wanted to make it look more aesthetically pleasing.

5. What did you learn?

I learned to work with what I have, and stop waiting for a more ideal time/place/mood to get down on the floor. This goes for practice too, if I only have a few minutes that day that’s still better than nothing. Imperfectly done is better than perfectly incomplete.

Gilda - Final Project

Process overview

1.     Describe your process. How did you choose your project? Why did you choose this method?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is something I train quite a lot, 3-4 times per week. In this martial art practice you spend most of the time on the ground, aiming to submit your opponent. Therefore, Floor Flow is perfect to incorporate into BJJ. It might help fighters to become more aware of using the floor, e.g. in order to escape from dangerous positions or also to find a dominant position for themselves. Positions such as half squats, hip bridges, side bridges, turtle (which is very similar to childs pose), quadrupedal positions, or shoulder rolls, which we used a lot for creating the loops, are also very common postures - even signature postures - in BJJ. Therefore, combining different BJJ-specific solo drills into a little loop was something I was curious about.

In my gym, as well as in a lot of other gyms I have been too, oddly there is hardly any connection between a move you do to warm-up the body and a fighting situation. For example, you would maybe do a few random primal movements, such as a gorilla hop, but people, and especially beginners, are not aware of the why. Most of the time, though, there is a very isolated old-school warm-up, such as a little bit of running or jumping-jacks or push-up variations. People in my gym joke about the super repetitive and tedious warm-up and just want to get it done and over with. And after the combat part you just pack up your things and go, without any stretching or anything else. I noticed that a lot of people get injured, I injured myself several times, and my recent injury is from BJJ too. BJJ-specific Floor Flow at the beginning or end of a class could help fighters to also lessen the potential for injuries and become more mobile and supple overall.

2.     What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge) in creating this project?

It felt good to think about a way to bring some of the multiple benefits of floor flow I grew to enjoy into something I love to do anyway. The challenge was the audience: in my gym are literally only guys and they mostly use drills as a mere warm up before starting the fun part - the grappling or rolling. Due to a lot of Covid cases before the Easter holiday, which effected my little group of potential volunteers as well as myself, followed by a closure of the gym because of the Easter holidays, I ended up with a very difficult solo "client": my husband Philipp, also a BJJ practitioner, who is always very excited to try new ways of movement - NOT! Besides BJJ he does strength training and would never go to a yoga or dance class, mostly because he would feel too self-concious. Philipp was very reluctant to participate in my final project, to say the least... But luckily he finally agreed to be my guinea pig after all. And... I think he did it quite well. But he was so serious all the time...I decided to only keep him for 15 minutes.

3.     What do you think your project offers to the viewer/ participant? (Tools for accessing a Flow State, more awareness of the floor, etc.)

Definitely more awareness of the floor and the ability to move legs or arms, lower body and upper body, seperately. In BJJ it is very common that your opponent is trapping or pinning either your lower or upper body - it is nearly impossible to do both at the same time. So, If your upper trunk is pinned, you can still use hips or legs and the other way around.

In addition, you can become more aware of how to use the floor to travel away from your opponent or moving closer toward him.

The floor flow elements will eventually increase overall mobility and lessen the potential for injuries. By moving slower they can breath deeper and more conciously.

If you would do something differently, what is it?

So many things - to name a few: I would mention the breath more, build the loop even slower, and talk less. Since Philipp is very new to flow, I felt like I had to explain a lot. We rehearsed the transition from supine to prone 2-3 times before we actually started the video, I couldn't do it in one go, and not because I had to instruct him in English, but because it was hard to find the appropriate words for someone who has no clue of what you want him to do. That showed me again how important it is to be very precise in your wording as an instructor. Furthermore I think it would be good to draw more connections to a BJJ situation, at least at the beginning.

5.     What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching?

Be precise in your language, give room for explanation, but also room for silence and for exploration. In a real class situation I would also put on some music (which I did before, but it disturbed the recording) and give way more opportunities for the participant to repeat the loop at his own pace.

2 C Summary

Floor Flow and BJJ go well together.

You become more aware of the floor and how to use it to your advantage, for example by pressing into the floor and away from the floor. Either in order to escape from your opponent or move yourself closer to him.

BJJ-specific Floor Flow will very likely improve your overall mobility, may help to lower the risk for injuries, and will maybe even teach you how to draw connections to use the different solo drills wiser while you are rolling with a partner.

Jill Hardy - Final Project

Jill Hardy - 2B Final Project Overview

 1.     Describe your process. How did you choose your project? Why did you choose this method?

I chose to film a dance research session, which lasted about 30 minutes. I chose this because I often do freewheeling dance sessions that I glean useful insights from, but I wanted to try it out in a more intentional manner by giving myself some FFTT-inspired direction for parts of the session. Namely, to work with a flow trigger and to experiment with a concept, seeing how many different ways I could make it work.

 The format was:

-  Free moving, slow, sloshy warm-up

-  Flow trigger: keeping the gaze on the hands

-  Experiments with limb threading

- A final free integration dance to see how the elements I practiced showed up when I wasn’t trying to include them.

2.     What felt good (or provided a healthy challenge) in creating this project? The intentionality of the format felt awesome, and having “tasks” kept me fully absorbed/entertained for longer than usual.

 A few interesting movement challenges arose, too: one was keeping my gaze on my hands even as I rolled over (I don’t usually do that); and another was getting myself unstuck from one of the weirder thread variations.

3.     What do you think your project offers the viewer/participant?

1. A potential structure for their own self-guided session.

2.  A powerful tool for accessing a flow state: narrow focus. In this case it was specifically watching my hands as I danced, which is an option anyone can take up and use. But more generally, I’ve found that any time I focus my attention in this way, or direct students to do it, I stop thinking almost immediately and students tell me they “felt the flow”!

3.  An example of exploring a movement concept. In this case, limb threading. Viewers can see how I take the idea and put it through many iterations to see what works.

4.  Permission to experiment and goof around. Particularly in the threading section, there was a stretch of time I didn’t really know what to do and just kept wiggling, and I also had an “unsuccessful” unthreading from one of the positions.

4.     If there’s one thing you’d do differently, what is it?

Maybe build a loop that includes both hand gazing and limb threading to end the session. If I were teaching it, that’s what I would do to help students integrate what they learned.

5.     What did you learn that you will apply to your own experience teaching or training?

I remembered the power of focusing my gaze on something (hands in this case). I’d like to bring that in as a suggestion to my classes to help people sink into flow more easily.

I also discovered a new (to me) pathway out of a shoulder roll. It came up because I have a shoulder injury and was reluctant to roll down on the hurt side, so I didn’t, et voila!

– out popped a new teachable skill.

 2C: Summary

Prepare to be entertained by silly, yet relevant illustrations and thought bubbles as you watch Jill move through a self-guided movement session. Observe as she rolls through a “lazy ground creature” warm-up, spends dedicated time with a flow trigger (hand gazing), conducts experiments with limb threading that don’t always go as planned, and then unwinds with a final “integration” dance where many elements from the session pop up all on their own.

Jill Hardy - Loop

Jill Hardy - Loop Written Overview (1B)

1.     Ingredients:

a.     Straddle sit

b.     Lie on stomach

c.     Sit up

 2.     Description:

a.     I chose these ingredients because they are simple positions that are accessible to anyone, but there is also a lot of potential to add in different skills and variations within them.

b.     Leading up to filming this… I’m sick and working with an energy deficit, so I knew I wanted something gentle and easy.

i.         I taught a version of this loop in a class recently to help students integrate some leg swing variations we worked on, including the one that appears at the end of the loop. In my class I went right to the final version of the loop (the students were more advanced and could definitely handle it). To come up with this progression, I teased out the most basic ingredients of that loop – straddle sit, lying on the stomach, then sitting up – and started with those, letting the transitions be whatever came naturally.

ii.         To get into the right state to flow, I took some breaths at the beginning, stretched a bit to activate my proprioception, and grounded down into my contact with the floor. That dropped me right in.

 3.     What felt good: moving like molasses felt SO good. Like I mentioned, I was pretty exhausted filming this and I loved being able to meet myself in that tired place and roll with it. After doing that, I naturally wanted to start moving a bit faster, so it felt good to pick up the pace, then add in the challenge of incorporating specific skills (like the seated leg swing transition to lying on the floor and the cat pounce to sitting).

 4.     One thing I’d do differently: think in more detail about the directionality of this loop. The seated V is a symmetrical position, as is the seated position I end up in after the cat pounce, which leaves room for confusion about which way to go next. It’s easy for me to know which way feels good to go, but as a teacher I would like to provide more clarity about that.

 5.     What I learned:

a.     See above!

b.     When I design loops for my class, they tend to incorporate whatever skill we have been working on straight away. Doing this exercise reminded me that I can get even simpler and more accessible by starting out with the most basic elements and then layering in skills over that. This will be especially useful for classes when I have beginner students so everyone has an option to loop at a level that feels awesome to them.