1-3 Sentence summary
The last few years dance/movement classes have moved outside of traditional dance studios with hardwood floors. I took a deep dive (literally) into how the texture of different floors influenced my experience and the quality of my movements.
Written summary of project
1. My process. How did I choose? Why did I choose this method?
I was struggling to figure out how to integrate FF with my other interests. My old muggle job was in research and Environmental Chemistry, so I didn’t initially see much overlap there. But after thinking about it for a while I decided I wanted to apply a more methodological approach to studying floor textures. I thought it might be fun, and maybe I would even learn something to share with you - I got excited about that! I settled on a loop sequence I was familiar with, and did it in different environments paying attention to how I felt and how I wanted to adjust my movements based on the new relationship to the floor. I also let myself move freely in whatever way I felt called to, to try to tease out what movement style feels most inviting in each environment. I did hardwood floors, plush carpet, a concrete tennis court, water, and grass.
2. What felt good (or, healthy challenge)
I felt really good to challenge myself to think outside of the box. The water test turned out to be my absolutely favorite. Being upside down, as well as near weightless, made it incredibly challenging to remember my loop pattern. Without gravity/momentum/support from the floor it was hard to grasp directions (up/down/left/right). Moving a limb would also move the water around me, so it was challenging to keep myself stationary resting on “the floor”. But, all these challenges made my brain work super hard to understand where my body was in space. It was extremely fascinating because I wasn’t ancored, so every movement happened in relation to myself.
Challenge: The technical aspect was unfamiliar to me and an extra hurdle. I needed to figure out how to edit together a video, comment, as well as capture footage from the right angle to see clearly (I gave that up in the end, and settled for authenticity, haha)
3. What does your project offer the viewer
I hope it makes the viewer stop and think deeper about their relationship with the floor. Due to Covid a lot of movement classes relocated outdoors (often in parks or parking lots). Also, Zoom classes are still popular where participants may be located in a variety of environments with different floor textures. Even though it may be obvious that floor matters, I hope the project sparks some new ideas and reinforces the point that texture and environment is enormously important when teaching classes (especially when the participants are not all in a dance studio).
I also hope the project inspires the viewers to think outside the box. The water test may have been my favorite experience and I had a ton of AHA moments, even though I originally tried it just on a whim.
4. One thing I would do differently?
There are probably a million things I could have done differently. I could have tried more surfaces (the beach springs to mind), and I could definitely have done a “better” loop. For consistency I used the same loop as my loop submission, but it has a lot of rotation and did not feel as natural on grippy surfaces (then again, that was part of the point of the experience). All in all I learned something and feel good about that. It would have been super fun to do this project in way more detail and create a more professional looking video summary, but since I don’t have unlimited time I think it still managed to get the main points across.
5. What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching?
I knew that different floor surfaces would influence my movement, but I had not realized just how much of a difference it would make. When paying attention and tuning in I realized the “vibe” of the space also directs my movement to a surprising degree. I am going to pay much more attention to how the floor/atmosphere makes me FEEL, because that gets translated into my movements.
I also think variety is good and interesting, I want to make a conscious effort to explore more different surfaces moving forward.
Finally, when trying to execute the same loop in different environments, I noticed it was VERY easy to do the same pattern in a new way. That can be used to our advantage to break out of familiar patterns and foster creativity. If I ever feel stuck working on a phrase, I will do the same thing in a different space and see what new treasures appear :)
