Photo by Yogendra Singh on Unsplash
October 5, 2022
Dance and The Feldenkrais Method®
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From the Editors
Feldenkrais® and dance create a beautiful synergy where each individual's unique potential can manifest, creating a space where effort is not always needed and lightness in motion can be achieved in new and creative ways. Many associate dance training with harsh discipline and hours of effort, yet it is in better understanding ourselves, our abilities and limitations that true mastery can be achieved.
In this issue, we have dancers and Feldenkrais Practitioners share their life experiences and experiences of dance and how their exposure to Feldenkrais affected their approach to dance. In his interview, Paul Pui Wo Lee speaks of his evolution as an artist. Emily Stein writes about incorporating principles of Feldenkrais Method into her ballet training. Finally, Margot Schaal delves into how to make learning to dance on ice fun and exciting.
Happy dancing,
Jane, Joe and Yulia
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Becoming an Artist of Your Own Life:An Interview with Paul Pui Wo Lee, GCFPCM
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This month Joe Webster interviews Paul Pui Wo Lee about his experiences with classical and contempory dance training and how to discover your inner artist with the Feldenkrais Method®.
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About Paul:
Paul was born in Hong Kong. He’s a certified Feldenkrais® practitioner, JKA practitioner and therapist, and currently the rehearsal director for the dance company, Of Curious Nature, in Bremen, Germany. He graduated from Canada’s National Ballet School, trained at the Rotterdam Dance Academy, and then danced with IT Dansa in Barcelona and the Gothenburg Opera Ballet. Freelancing with Andersson Dance, he toured internationally and performed at The Barbican and The Kennedy Center. He has taught Feldenkrais at dance companies and schools in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, and now teaches online through Movement and Creativity Library, The Exhale for musicians, as well as his own private groups. His Website is: www.paulsfeldenkraisprojects.com
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Not Opposites: Ballet Training and the Feldenkrais Method®
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Photo by Liel An on Unsplash
By Emily Stein, GCFPCM
I often joke with my students in Feldenkrais ATM® class: “This is the opposite of ballet class! In my ballet class, you have to do everything I say. In ATM class you don’t have to do anything I say, if you don’t want to!” This joke plays into the common stereotype of the rigor of ballet training. Push harder, jump higher, turn more, who cares if it hurts. Do it again, because the teacher said so! And of course, the Feldenkrais Method emphasizes comfort, ease and doing less. What could possibly be more opposite!?
During my first year of Feldenkrais® training, I discovered that it was not a good idea for me to take ballet class at all during training segments. It was too confusing. I recognized that taking class reinforced familiar patterns that the Method was helping me to soften. Those patterns were so ingrained, so bossy, that I couldn’t access new, subtly different options right beside them. If I wanted to grow, to expand the ways I could move and be in the world, I had to let the familiar habits recede, essentially by not practicing them. (...)
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About Emily:
Emily Stein, GCFPCM MFA, is a veteran of Chicago’s dance scene, dancing, choreographing, and teaching. She teaches ballet technique, anatomy, and Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® at the Dance Center of Columbia College, and is on faculty in the Joffrey Academy’s Adult/Open Division. Emily also teaches public Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® classes, and maintains a private practice working with individual clients, both dancers and “civilians.” For many years, she danced and choreographed with Zephyr Dance, performing and presenting work locally and nationally.
Her website is www.emilysteinfeldenkrais.com. Her dance website is: https://emilysteindance.com/
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Photo by Kelli McClintock on Unsplash
By Margot Shaal, GCFPCM
A couple decades into teaching the Feldenkrais Method® I decided to venture into Figure Skating classes to expand my movement vocabulary on the ice. I wanted to learn some moves beyond my rudimentary childhood skating experience, which was on a rough pond or flooded playground where teenagers dominated the scene.
Some people sped past me during open skating time, others hung tightly to the border wall of the park rink. There were speedy youngsters learning hockey, making such fast directional switches that new-comers would retract in fear (and be more likely to fall). Graceful, experienced skaters made dance-like moves. Many people of all sizes were on the ice for the first time – cautious, tentative, brave, exploring, and very uncertain about how to stay upright.
Whatever your experience skating is a fun outdoor activity in the winter. Even if you haven’t danced much on earth or in a studio, you still get to glide while on the ice. You also get to watch the advanced skaters spin. Their smooth movement created by ice melting under their skate blades is delectable. (...)
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About Margot:
Margot Shaal graduated from the Marin II Feldenkrais® Professional Training Program in 2003 and is a Certified Assistant Trainer of the Feldenkrais Method®. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and is a Reiki Master and Qigong teacher. Margot now offers classes and private sessions online. She teaches Feldenkrais and Qigong together to bring forth the deeper levels of the Feldenkrais Method that engage each person’s inner teacher and capacity to heal. Her extensive movement background includes martial arts, dance, playing violin, horse-back riding and sports for pleasure. Her website is http://www.margotschaal.com
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