If life is change, then I have never been more alive.  In the past three months my husband and I have collectively moved 6 times.  A long story short, we moved to Kalamazoo, MI for his job and I was in Milwaukee for 7 weeks this summer starting my Dance MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  We finally moved into a permanent residence and are for the most part unpacked, just in time for school to start back up.  I have been on a hiatus from my blog because of all of the chaos and I wasn’t sure how to start back up again, but I figured there’s no time like the present.

One of the courses I am taking is an independent study class I am using to continue to explore the Alexander Technique in application to my dancing.  This summer I took both an introduction to AT as well as taking Ballet class from certified AT teacher Luc Varnier, so I had a good start to my study.  I am now taking private AT classes from Patricia Gallup, which I started today.  It was nice to have something familiar, working with sitting and getting out of the chair and then working on the table.  She gave  me some great ways to work on my basic sitting posture, not slouching over, or going into primary (to use the AT terms).

I told her a little about the Laban/Bartenieff work and how that is the language I use as a dancer and teacher.  I will exploring this relationship over the next year and from our conversation, right now if I had to translate the AT work to LB work, it seems AT is focused on the Head-Tail relationship.  Not that the other movement patterns don’t come into play, but Head-Tail is essentially the relationship of the head, neck, and spine, which is what the AT work is centered in.  I’ve found that in teaching Modern Technique, which is based in Evans Technique (which utilizes Laban Movement Analysis and Laban/Bartenieff Fundamentals), I always go to the relationship of the head and tail the most.  So I think this work is going to strengthen my understanding of my own body, and how to help students understand their own.

I also finally drank the kook-aid and bought a Mac (which I will definitely need for my sound design class).   I went to the Apple Store after my AT class.  So as I walked through the mall and into the store, waiting for my “genius” to help me find the right computer for my needs, I thought of sending my back back (which rhymes with Mac, how lovely).