-Dance for Carola, 1962-
"Elaine Summers has two identities: a respected choreographer coming out of the Judson Dance Theater and a highly influential teacher of Kinetic Awareness, a system permitting an extraordinary range of movement that has been studied by many people in the performing arts"
(Ann-Sargent Wooster
The Drama Review DANCE/MOVEMENT ISSUE VOL 24 #4)
Elaine Summers describes in her article "Bio-kinetic Tension:Loving tension, because with out tension there is no movement; without movement there is no life," how she cares for 'her' tension and how dancers should care for theirs:
Loving My Tension: Or How To Care For Your Tension
I love my tension so I give it lots of Vitamin B, especially B 12 and Folic Acid. I listen for proprioceptive signals to balance calcium and protein for the energy to flow through my muscles and be able to confidently release and give me the most movement for the least tension. I ought to treat my adrenaline system better but I do love that one cup of coffee.
I give it lots of chances to be intense, fast, stretch, contract, expand, articulate, extend, release, relax, collapse and respond. It is always greedy for movement so my tension loves to dance, swim, wiggle & squiggle. We need to move every muscle, every joint often without pain, as a way to stay healthy.
As a choreographer I want dancers to understand and experience the full scale of all the elements of their tension. Dancers need safety through alignment and flexibility and an understanding of their own bodies. They need to explore and experience the totality and the edges of their own dance. I love a dancers' vocabulary to include the intelligent development of high extensions, long extensions, responsiveness in improvisation, endurance, daring, leaps, falls and to have experiential confidence in the pre-thought swiftness of their reflexes.
©Elaine Summers
For more about Elaine Summers' Kinetic Awareness Center, and upcoming courses there, follow the link: kineticawarenesscenter.org.
For more about Elaine Summers, follow the link elainesummersdance.com
For videos by Elaine Summers, visit the youtube channel here.
