Dance For Life: introduction to the essence of dance

Begin to ask yourself: am I ready to dance? And the answer we want you to learn is "YES". It is possible, because we are not looking for perfection of form, but the experience of a feeling. Dance originates as an impuls to express -  to make visible what is felt. Forms are a consequences of feelings and sensations coming from inside. To open them up you will need to step out of your own way - start moving, don't judge or expect, but let that life force express through you. We will begin immediately - you will start to experience the dance straight away, even if its couple of minutes a day. Let's see and feel what comes out as your natural expression and we will take care of the particular forms later.

We designed a particular process for you to step into this flow easily: we will focus on five fundamental human actions which occur to us every day, possibly without noticing. Those are: shaking, pumping, waving, shaping and swinging. We will start by paying attention to how we execute those actions and how they feel. In each of the following lessons we will play with possibilities that these actions offer. We will start with simple exercises which will allow you to develop greater control of your body and eventually lead to complex and expressive movement.

In this overview section we left quite a bit of our own dancing. We explore each of the actions, focus on how it feels and improvise around it. This was not meant to show off, but to share how we practice what we offer. What you see is a sort of result - how by using simple actions we can begin to dance. You do not need to aim to repeat what we do, you will certainly develop your own expression as we take you on a step by step process. But dance is a lot about sharing the joy of movement, therefore at this point it is the joy and the playfulness we invite you to take from us.

Actions for today

Lets jump in to the following lecture!

Shaking is an archaic dance move found across cultures. It is an expressive as well as therapeutic movement. By shaking you "reset" your body and life force (prana) reenters every cell of your tissue.

Shaking is a movement "there and back" within a frequency in which you feel you can relax the tissue. Relaxation is the ultimate control. You want to learn to relax every part of your body as well as body as a whole when you shake by moving up and down.

As you follow the proposed shaking actions please stop the video and take your time to explore each of the shaking actions. Observe how you you are relaxing your tissues more and more.

With practice you will notice how shaking practice becomes your movement tool helping you shift your mood, energy, or let go of unnecessary tensions.

Actions for today

1. Explore shaking options along with the video, pause whenever you need to take more time

2. Shake for 3 minutes non stop

Whenever our body structures contract and expand in a certain rythm - it is pumping. Our heart, lungs, muscles constantly pump to keep us alive and get us moving. Whenever we expand and close our arms, use our legs for walking, running or squating - it is a pumping action. We add rythm to it and it starts to become a dance.

By giving attention to the quality of pumping action you will notice how you start to breathe deeper. Your body will be provided with extra oxygen and you will be able to relax more. The more you can relax your muscles while you are in action the better control and dexterity you will have in your movement.

Actions for today

1. Explore pumping options along with the video, pause whenever you need to take more time

2. Shake for 3 minutes + pump for 3 minutes non stop

Waving is a quality of water. As humans we don't live in water, but yet most of our constitution consists of liquid. Furthermore, human architecture, although made of bones, which are seemingly hard can actually be soft in movement by simultanously engaging all the joints in a chain (or wave) of movement. By way of sequentiality we are able to smoothly transition our weight and therefore locomote as well as change our body shape with a lot of freedom. The more we discover wave the smoother we go around our daily activities and ofcourse - dance.

Actions for today

1. Explore waving options along with the video, pause whenever you need to take more time

2. Shake for 3 minutes + pump for 3 minutes + wave for 3 minutes non stop

Shapes are body positions in relative stillness. Our bodily existence constitutes of retaining certain body positions, changing shapes and locomoting. Speaking of positions: we stand, sit, squat, kneel, lay. In each of those fundamental positions our body finds endless variations and expressions. Each mood will have its own position while each position will have its own unique feeling. Just by becoming aware of all the positions our body takes (naturally) during a course of time we will greatly expand our movement vocabulary and understanding. Ultimately we will start playing with different positions. As we shift from one shape to another we may begin to sense how we begin to dance.

Actions for today

1. Explore shaping options along with the video, pause whenever you need to take more time

2. Shake for 3 minutes + pump for 3 minutes + wave for 3 minutes + shape for 3 minutes non stop

Swinging is a naturally occuring action when walking or jumping. However many of us restrict the proper action of swing and therefore carry our limbs rather than let them fall and recycle the created energy into the next action. In this lesson we want you to feel the powerful potential of swinging action and to bring it back into your lives. And of course once you feel the quality of it swinging it will become another easy entry into the joy of dance.

Actions for today

1. Explore swinging options along with the video, pause whenever you need to take more time

2. Shake for 3 minutes + pump for 3 minutes + wave for 3 minutes + shape for 3 minutes + swing for 3 minutes non stop

The 5 actions are naturally occuring, they are part of our daily motion, which means we don't really learn them but rather discover them. However, we may not be using these actions nor experiencing their qualities to the fullest potential, there for each one of us can still improve tremendously. It will take some conscious practice for the quality of movement to unfold. With increasing quality your body will start "asking" for more motion. Dance will become your motion for life.

Actions for today

Spend up to 3 minutes exploring each action separately and finally go for improvisation where you instruct yourself to constantly shift for another randomly chosen action. Spend at least 20 minutes dancing today!

Give attention to the moment of change, make sure you really swich the quality and sense how different action makes you feel. The beauty is in the mix, so make sure you learn to switch - it is a skill we want to develop if we are to create a spectacular dance.

This is an additional material to support your practice. Once you have wached the separate videos on each of the actions you might just simply play one of the "practice along" videos to practice along with us as we move and speak out the sequence.

This is an additional material to support your practice. Once you have wached the separate videos on each of the actions you might just simply play one of the "practice along" videos to practice along with us as we move and speak out the sequence.

This is an additional material to support your practice. Once you have wached the separate videos on each of the actions you might just simply play one of the "practice along" videos to practice along with us as we move and speak out the sequence.

This is an additional material to support your practice. Once you have wached the separate videos on each of the actions you might just simply play one of the "practice along" videos to practice along with us as we move and speak out the sequence.

This is an additional material to support your practice. Once you have wached the separate videos on each of the actions you might just simply play one of the "practice along" videos to practice along with us as we move and speak out the sequence.

By practicing 5 fundamental movements you may have noticed how your everyday actions start to feel more like dance and therefore you may start dancing not only on the dance floor but actualy through life. This course is a process which does not only bring life to your dance, but actually bring more dance into your life - it is dance for life.

Now speaking of performing the dance on the dance floor... Every dance style you have practiced is great and can certainly give you enjoyment. However in many occasions you will feel that the moves that you know don't really fit the context well. The music is not right, the culture is different or simply the vibe of the party is somewhat particular. In this course we want to give you tools which will make you free to improvise and adapt to any context you find yourself in.

In this lecture we dive into a little story telling for those who might be interested about the approach we took when creating this course. The truth is we did not only just come up with some fabulous innovative ideas for the course - we lived and tested them throughout the years of competing, creating and then teaching.

Actions for today

15-20 minute dance made of 5 fundamental human movements

In this lecture we briefly look at the anatomy of the spine and suggest the actions (shapes) our spine can take as a whole. Observe which ones are comfortable for you - the ones you use a lot - and  also the ones you probably never use. If you want to keep your spine healthy and your dance interesting you might want to learn to use all of the anatomically available options. Most dance styles or physical disciplines will guide your body towards particular techniques which will not be that concerned with the fullness or potential of your body's motion - this is something you need to take care of yourself. 

Investigate actions your spine can do and shapes it can take. Don't force the movement, make it gentle, leave some 20% of range of motion unused. Afterall we are looking for diversity of possibilities and motion rather that a final picture - ready shape. Look for opportunities to harmonize yourself rather than taking to extremes.

Spinal shapes are not only for dance. They are for life because they are from life. Observe how you use your spine in daily situations. What are the actions you are mainly engaged in? Here we offer you a practical tool (stick exercise) to engage in spinal motion and make it better.

You may stay with this lesson and repeat suggested actions for at least couple of days - let the information arrive to your body. We want to integrate the knowledge of the spine into 5 fundamental human movements. Don't be greedy, take it slow, we'll get there.

Actions for today

1. Explore each of the 4 actions of the spine (front flexion, extension, rotations, side flexions) one by one. Give it at least 3 minutes.

2. Play with the double actions, pay attention to primary and secondary action. Discover how 4 simple actions lead to many possibilities. Take 3 - 5 minutes.

3. Improvise shaping your spine. Now don't give yourself instructions, but let your spine lead. Take 3 minutes. Alternatively or additionaly you may play a stick game.

4. Go back to the 20 minutes of 5 fundamental movement practice as in the first chapter (each action for 3 minutes and finally 3-5 minutes of shifting between actions, improvising), but now look for possibilities to integrate the different shapes of the spine. 

Through waving we get in touch with the most important movement quality for a human being to master - the sequentiality of motion. We take you on a step by step process for you to master the wave. First you are learning the sequence of motion, the coordination, but eventually by rewiring your neural networks you slowly start to affect your body's structure. Don't worry if your body is somewhat tense and the full wave at this moment is not fully available. Work on coordination and your structure will eventually adapt. Expect that this movement will take time to master. And at the same time you don't need to be perfect before you start using it. As you practice you will feel that your body is becoming more balanced in terms of being rigid enough to maintain its structure and soft enough to allow you to move with grace.

Actions for today

1. Shape your spine creatively remembering the material from the previous lesson. 3 min.

2. Practice the wave. Top - down, Floor - up. Spend at least 5 minutes each.

3. 20 minutes of 5 fundamental movements practice. Integrate shapes and waves creatively and playfully.

Another great way to understand and vitalize our spine, and thus the totality of the body is by letting our 3 body weight centers "dance" in relation to each other. Can we sense them being in axis? Can we willfully dislocate one of them from the axis by letting others to balance? Lets take a step by step approach to allow new kinesthetic sensations and thus new movement possibilities into our bodies.

Actions for today

1. Shape your spine creatively remembering the material from the first lesson. 3 min.

2. Practice the wave. a) top - down b) floor - up. Spend at least 5 minutes on each.

3. Move each of the 3 body weight centers. Make sure you circle them in every direction.

4. 20 minutes of 5 fundamental movements practice. Integrate shapes, waves and body weight center circles creatively and playfully.

Arm swings is probably one of the most important motions for a human being since it is part of walking and  jumping coordination. It starts from the arm but involves the whole body. At its essence it is a coordination of throwing which is also at the core of any object manipulation. Think about tennis racket, baseball bat, hammer or a heavy bag you want to shift.  Even the arm itself has weight and we want to master our ability to throw our arm around without needing to stop or slow down half way. We want to use the energy of the flying arm for our next motion. Ultimately we want to master this movement on all spatial planes and all directions. The objective of this lesson is to give you more clarity about the options of swinging arms in space and an idea how this motion can benefit your dance choices.

Make sure you become clear about the difference between the swings and the swims, directions and spatial planes. See how you can swim on one or the other side of the body. Observe how swings and swims connect beautifully with the action of pumping.

This lesson will definately challenge your spatial imagination and your working memory as well as focus. Don't drop it, pause the video, figure out the material and you will be surprised how this knowledge starts to work for you.

Actions for today

Today it is just arm swings, spend 20 minutes swinging and swimming in each spatial plane, each direction on both sides of the body. Start with executing movements as exercises and then just play with an idea.

In this lesson we invite you to configurate your arm so that the tips of your fingers will complete the full circle with your palm facing up all the way. That way you will be drawing a full three dimensional figure 8 rather than a circle. In order to complete this movement with quality you will need to engage not only your arm, but the whole movemenet chain, the whole body starting from your feet. As you play with directions, spatial planes, one or two arms, the size and speed of the motion you will discover how this one movement pattern alone gives you an amazing vocabulary to create your dance.

Actions for today

1. Review the figure 8 tasks one by one. Pause the video, take time to figure out.

2. 20 minutes of 5 fundamental human movements. Integrate figure 8s in waving and shaping.

In this lesson we offer probably the most cognitively challenging task so far. By using three actions in the joints of the arms - pitch, roll and yo - we create endless posibilities to shape our arms in space. The challenge is for our body to stay on the command of the mind and vice versa - for the mind to stay focused enough to attend to the complexity of the moving body. Since this is a valuable exercise in itself (body-mind connection) what this really gives us for our quest is enlarged vocabulary: we will visit unexpected places in space, our arms will take weird shapes they had never experienced before. Once we visit those shapes our body will never forget the experience, it will have been there. This type of work is essential for our improvisation later on - the strange shapes will find you!

Actions for today

1. Play the "pitch, yo, roll" game for 10 minutes. Slow and controlled learning

2. Get inspired and play, improvise with the idea, don't make it perfect. This is your shaping practice.

3. Catch up with the rest of 4 fundamental human. movements

There is this famous proverb: "dance is a poetry of the feet". We probably cannot adress dancing fully if we don't adress the feet - articulation, positions, steps. Also, feet articulation, small steps here and there in a cyclical pattern, following certain rythm can be an easy and accessible entry to the dance floor. You start small and subtle allowing your feet to follow the beet or the melody of the music and when you feel the time is right you accelerate by involving more motion and creativity of the rest of your body.

In this lesson we will explore many of the "rolling around the foot" variations, pivoting and stepping. You will. realize that by using these 3 simple tools you start engaging in fun and creative way of moving.  With practice you will start to trust your feet more. We don't want to get mystical here, but sometimes it seems that feet sort of already know how to dance. Just let them! We hope you start to fall in love with your moving feet.

Actions for today

1. Play with feet exercises for 10 minutes

2. 5 fundamental human movements with extra attention to your feet

As you are building a habit of daily practice (5 fundamental movements) as well as accumulating a substantial ammount of embodied knowledge (movement maps) you may feel that the life force is finding more and more expression through you in the form of dance. Now it is time we take a step forward and challenge you to ride that force and express yourself creatively.

Actions for today

Move on to the following lecture right away!

So how do we come up with all this endless momovement variations and don't repeat ourselves too much? How are we so confident in movement when actually we are trying it out for the first time? The secret to embodied creativity is imagination. We come up with imaginary constraints or give ourselves a task and we try to solve it - we are looking for all the possible solutions to the task and we do it live, unprepared. In that we are not concerned with how it looks and we are not showing off, all we do is engage with the task passionately and curiously. Once the mind is "on" in that way the body will perform better than you have ever expected it to. 

The first task is to place your body parts in space within your imaginary pillor. Use fast and slow movement as well as shift between direct movements and the rounded ones.

Actions for today

1. Play with the concept of body parts in space for 5 minutes non stop.

2. Improvise with all 5 fundamental movements always shifting from one to another. Give it 10 minutes.

In this lesson we challenge you to shift your whole body in space. Locomoting is quite intuitive therefore we don't teach it, but we create a scenario in which you find it. We will creatively explore how we step and jump by putting cues on the floor - the 4 quadrants. Make sure you don't step on the lines. Well, that will change everything - it will challenge your coordination and develop your movement big time!

Put your mind into your feet and feet into your mind as you explore the tasks. Keep going beyond boredom. Allow time for creativity to kick in.

Actions for today

1. Explore the proposed actions for at least 2 minutes each:

- step in quadrants

- 2 feet 1 foot

- 2-1 with external rhythm

- walking + jumping + play with rythm

- shift your weight between quadrants as you shake, pump, wave, shape and swing

We have done the arm figure 8s exploration in the previous chapter of this course. Now we give our movement yet another taste by exploring two different qualities - water and air. By imagining what it means to move your arms in these different conditions you will automatically gear the whole kinetic chain to work in a different way. This will provide you with amazing movement experience and will equip you with the creative tools you can test the next time you hit the dance floor. Make sure you watch the video till the very end!

Actions for today

Explore every proposed option: watch - pause - move. Focus on the quality, make sure you really feel moving in water or air. 

Finally it is the music! Dance tends to follow the music. People will dance different to different music, because  sound inspires movement. And we need to respect that. Don't miss the beat, be aware about the mood or atmosphere that each music offers. However by becoming aware you also gain possibility to come to a creative and inspiring relation to music. In this lecture we invite you not to only follow the music, but find your relation to it. How can you creatively engage with what you are hearing?

We will start by exploring how the rhythm of the beet gives us the major framework for the movement.  We will follow by inquiring how different sounds or even music styles "speak" to different body parts or invite particular movement qualities. We will follow this inquiry by asking how can we break this habitual music - dance style relationship and offer something more creative.

And excuse us if at some point we get a little naughty :))

Actions for today

- Move on the beat. Explore tapping your feet, clapping your hands, pumping in your knees and eventually move different body parts to the rhythm of the music.

Notice: the rhythm is commonly expressed by arriving at the end position of the movement. Not at the moment of lifting your foot, but at the moment of landing. However it is not a rule and we may chose to interpret music - movement relationship in many other ways.

- Play different musics for yourself. First listen carefully and feel what your body wants to do to that music. Maybe  your body will find an instinctual way or even something habitual, something learned - go with it,. Once you danced for a while see if you can do something unexpected, almost out of the context. Do the movements which don't fit the music. Move and feel the "going against the music". Now start playing: to music, against, and then back to it. The beauty is in freedom gained through control - your conscious choice in how you relate to music at any given moment.

As human beings we cannot not communicate. However you chose to express yourself, even if it is hiding, you always say something to others: you influence the social field either by acting or avoiding to act. Movement is probably the most powerful, archaic means of communication since human beings understand more through seeing than hearing. By studying this course you are not only studying dance, you are exploring and expanding your options of communication.

Actions for today

- When you watch the news tonight (or part of the movie) mute the sound, just watch. Become aware of what you see and how does that make you feel. Explore if there is any wish for response building up in your body.

- Observe people in the dialogue (live). Don't get carried away by the content, observe the movement. Notice your own body how it changes along.

- When you are in the dialogue with someone become aware of the distance, direction, levels and shapes of your bodies in space.

Continue such exploration as you study this part of Dance For Life and, ofcourse, beyond.

Imitation is the most archaic way of learning as well as communicating. It is also at the basis of understanding. Just because we can repeat another persons movement or even facial expression we know how it feels and therefore what it means. We started learning this art from the day we were born, way before conceptual knowledge and language. In this lecture we suggest how our instinct to imitate can be used to communicate and ofcourse dance with another person.

We will explore imitating, leading, following, loosely interpreting partners movement.

Actions for today

- Feel free to continue your 5 fundamental human movement practice. It has now become your habit.

- Find yourself a partner and go through the exercises as suggested.

Another layer beyond connecting through movement (the what) is connecting through time (the when). As human beings we are instinctually sensitive to timing. We know if things happen in the right time or not. We feel it. Timing is also a gateway to connecting to others. Just by focusing on rhythm and time of moving and stopping we can enter into a very interesting non verbal dialogue. Notice how taking a pause together or starting a movement at the same time can feel like a powerful experience of togetherness. Observe the importance of clarity in your communication.

Actions for today

- Continue personal practice, spend at least 15 minutes covering your 5 fundamental movements every day

- Pick a partner, play a game of stopping together: a) one leads one follows b) more advanced - sense the stopping and starting together

As bodies we operate in space. We may differentiate between personal space and social space. In our everyday lives we use space rather intuitively. We sense the appropriate distance, relevant direction, we can expand our personal space or diminish it. Just by becoming aware of how we use space, how we fill those open gaps, inspires our imagination and offers new possibilities of meaningfully relating to our environments as well as other people. We invite you to follow couple of proposed scenarious to increase you spatial wareness and therefore expand your dance options.

Actions for today

- Continue personal practice, spend at least 15 minutes covering your 5 fundamental movements every day

- Pick a partner, play a game of relating to each other in social space. Give yourself time to sense how each relation feels. Then continue with "open gaps" exploration with your partner proposing different shapes in space. Start one by one and ultimately move in space together at the same time.

For us to be able to dance with another person we should be capable of making a proper physical connection. An obvious way to establish a contact is to connect through the arms. Such connection and means of communication is not limited only to dance - people will make arm contact in various situations, from saying hello, supporting to engaging in a fight. In this lesson we explore the most general principles of arms connection so that you can use and practice what you already know, but put it in the context of dance. Furthermore - you will discover how your arms, depending on your ability to relax in movement, can be an extraordinary receptor or projector of the information. This lesson is also a nice process for lead&follow practices for anyone wishing to expand their embodied leadership capacity.

Actions for today

- 5 human movement practice

- Find a partner, follow the tasks in the lesson. Play creatively with the material proposed.

In this lesson we are moving closer together with our partner. Embrace is the most basic and traditional way to connect in the dance. By connecting hands to shoulderblades we will explore how two bodies can connect and start moving more like one entity.

Actions for today

- 5 human movement practice

- Find a partner, follow the tasks in the lesson. Play creatively with the material proposed.

Let's see how we can combine all of the partnering skills in one improvisation task. The more you will play around with these possibilities the more you will find that they are natural and intuitive ways to connect to another person. You will find yourself connecting and communicating through body - dancing! - with ease and joy. You just need to do it.

This is the end of the course which marks the beginning of your dance for life!

As we were making a photoshoot Max Richters beautiful music started to play and Jekaterina started to move spontaneously. Seeing an opportunity to dance Justas joined her in the unplanned improvisation. People were drinking coffee in a distance. Everyone stopped speaking. Passers by stopped and watched. Photographer turned on a video function of the camera and moved along. This is what he saw.

In this additional video we are sharing with you the magic of the moment which happened in dance.