Anna Dietrich-Bost – Final Project Description
As the audio in my video is in German, here is a little description of my project, its different stages and some cues I gave to the group.
The task was to imagine a colour/paint, to absorb the paint with the hands from the pole to then spread it onto the floor.
1. Imagination of the colour:
· Close your eyes. Take some deep breaths. Feel your feet standing on the floor firmly.
· Think of a colour: this can be your favourite colour for example. Whatever feels more pleasant to you. A warm, relaxing colour or a cool refreshing one?
2. Soaking up the paint:
· The pole is covered with a thick layer of paint in your colour. It is gooey and drips down.
· Your hands have a super-absorbent surface, like a sponge or paint roller
· Now take up the paint from the pole. You can use some gentle spins to get it all off if you want to.
3. Get down to the floor:
· There is a canvas around the pole
· Get on the floor slowly and feel the blank surface beneath your body
· You feel the urge to paint the canvas with your hands
· Start to spread the paint very slowly and feel it being absorbed by the canvas
· Can you spread the paint in a really thick, generous layer?
· What about a really thin layer?
· Is there a spot on the canvas that is still blank? Can you travel there and let it be easy and pleasant?
4. First progression:
· What would it be like to distribute the paint in a certain pattern?
· How does round, circular shapes feel? Does your way of moving or the intensity change?
· What about a square, angular pattern? Is there a difference in your movement compared to the round one?
5. Second progression:
· Now invite another part of your body to paint
· Smear the paint onto this part and continue to spread it on the floor
· Sense if there is any difference to painting with your hands
· Can you also paint different shapes and patterns with this body part? Which do you choose?
6. Slowing down and coming to an end:
· Slow down your movement and find a gentle way to lie on your back
· Breathe and feel yourself lying on the work of art you just created and brought to the floor.
Anna Dietrich-Bost – Written Overview of the Process
1. I love to incorporate freestyles in my pole classes. But I often observed that even my advanced students with a broad repertoire moved in very strict patterns (Spin A + Transition B + Spin C) and very rarely used the floor. And when they got down to the floor, they could not wait to get up again while I was rolling, swooshing and doing all the good stuff (thanks to FFTT even more than before), spending almost entire songs on the floor.
I wanted to think of a way to encourage my students to get more familiar with the floor, to experience it as a very nourishing dimension in the room and to get in touch with a more creative, carefree type of movement.
So I chose a scenario which I think is very accessible (painting, also heavily influenced by FFTT-participant Lauren Hill) and let them start with something familiar (getting the paint of the pole, begin with pole moves they are accustomed with, using the pole as a vehicle to get down instead of letting them get to the floor completely on their own). One of the things I got out of the small group sessions, where I did something similar, was to pick up the people where they are when you want them to get creative. Especially when it is a group of people which is a bit hesitant or does not consider themselves as very creative because it might be difficult for them to imagine forming something immaterial, non-tangible. That often, letting the ‘object of imagination’ be more accessible, also by letting it develop on the outside.
So I wanted the imaginary part to be not too freaky and my guiding phrases to be clear, leaving enough space for own exploration. That’s why I tried to incorporate several question-based cues. These questions not also helped in guiding the movement but also the awareness of the participants.
To keep the motivation high, I decided to add two stages of progression after the participants acquainted themselves with painting the floor.
With the first progression, the group is supposed to become more aware of different movement qualities and how this changes the overall experience.
The second one provides the possibility to let another part of the body (or several ones) come into action and to sense the difference when another part is leading the movement.
2. The process of creating itself was sometimes very challenging. I questioned myself and my abilities a lot to the point of wanting to quit.
Luckily, I picked myself up because I wanted to see so badly how pole and this imagination task would work out together.
And it really was worth it because the conversation with my group after they moved for almost 15 minutes was so insightful and valuable.
They said it was really helpful for them to let the colour/paint form externally, on the pole and that they experienced this familiar object in a way totally new to them. They also became aware of how their movement changes when switching form round to more square patterns with the round movement being experienced as gentle and soft while the square quality was observed as energetic and hard. Some even said that they applied more pressure to the floor when following an angular pattern.
3. As described under point 1., I hope to inspire any viewer or participant to become aware of the floor and to embrace all the possibilities this dimension has to offer.
When freestyling, I often felt sorry for my students because they were missing out on so much fun that is going on down there.
In the past, I tried to incorporate the floor by saying “let your freestyle start and end on the floor” or “please add this or that position on the floor somewhere in your freestyle” but that always felt forced and like I would drag them to where I wanted them to be. Besides the fact that some students just did not do it or started laying on their backs but rushed to get up to the save pole haven.
With this exercise, I hope to provide easy access to the floor and, once there, a tool which helps people to feel comfortable and to enjoy themselves.
Some of the participants told me that they struggled to stay focused from time to time or some movements or positions they assumed did not feel pleasant. But as soon as they got another cue, they could re-engage in what they were doing and felt better. So, I think that with this close guidance also people relatively new or even sceptic to the floor can be motivated to commit to this experience.
4. The one thing I would do differently is to shift the people’s focus more on breathing. I think it could be nourishing for the participant to go even slower while they are moving and to check their breath. To sense if they can breathe more deeply and how that would influence their movement. Probably it would facilitate things.
One participant reported that she wasn’t aware of how much tension she was building up while moving until I asked if they could let their movement be easy and pleasant.
I think with more focus on breath and slowing things down the experience could be even more pleasurable.
5. Trust the process. In the beginning I did not feel capable of doing this at all. I am happy I got this little spark of an idea with which I then started to work but I questioned my project more than once. But by just taking one step after the other and with valuable support I now achieved a result with which I am super happy.
And that is a great learning for me personally, for my training but also for teaching people. In the future, I want to remind myself and my students more often that it has not to be perfect from the start. Even in the end it does not have to be perfect. There are wonderful things to discover on the way and the outcome may look different than you have planned it.
Anna Dietrich-Bost – Summary of the Project
Come see the human paint roller!
An approach to encourage free movement on the floor in pole dance classes with an imagination exercise.