Whilst researching for my dissertation, I found a quote within a book about creative arts therapy which I find really inspirational about the movements we create as dance artists...


'The movements that we make in our dancing sessions are all part of the dance of our lives. The movements that we express in accompaniment to music are movements from our being alive; they express our living presence. They are movements to be treasured. They are expressions of who we are and they effect the people we dance with. They ripple outwards. They connect us to eachother. dancing weaves us together.' 

It's very imortant when you do a movement that your attention (which is what is stimulating you) and your intent (which is what you want to do in relation to that stimulation) align up with the movement that you're doing. It's a key.




Bainbridge- Cohen, Bonnie (1993) Sensing, feeling and action. Northampton.

Overview of the developmental patterns we have learnt during term 1

These patterns have been explored as part of our movement studies module during term 1. I can now apply these to every movement class as they all related to my movement processes.


Cellular breathing: Expansion and contraction of each cell of the body in internal respiration. Integrates and aligns the physical body. Present throughout life form conception, as it underlies breathing and all life processes. We used hands on activities, with focus on the breathing and moving with the idea of condensing and expanding.

Navel radiation: Integrates of the body into the centre through the navel. Starfish pattern. Present in utero. We explored this by focusing on the starfish pattern on the floor and moving with the idea of 6 limbs which all move in unison, joining at the centre. I feel I connect to this pattern particularly well as I like the starfish imagery and can find support from the floor while I do so.

Mouthing: the head rocks on the lower jaw; nursing action of the infant. Sea squirt. Dominant During early infancy. We used a rolling action while a partner activated the mouthing awareness by stroking the side of the face from the mouth, which led the rolling. I thought I would want to go the other way from the hand and reject the action but I actually wanted to roll towards it in response to the action.

Pre-spinal: Integrated movement between head and torso to the tail; initiated in the 'soft spine' of the spinal cord and the organs. underlies spinal patterns. We moved with the soft spine image yielding and softening into the floor, which I was surprised to discover I use a lot during my improvisational moving, but never properly realised it was directly related to this pattern.

Spinal push from head, and spinal push from tail: Integration of the spine from head to tail, initiated in the musculoskeletal structure. I also frequently use this focus when moving in classes as we often focus on the way movement can initiate from the head or tail to enable leading from one movement to the next.

Spinal reach from head, and spinal reach from tail: Movement of the spine through space, led by the head or tail; enables change in levels. Initiation first from mouth; other senses develop in the first few months. Again, like the spinal push, I also often use the reaching pattern as ways to initiate movement.


Hartley, L (1989) Wisdom of the body moving. USA: North Atlantic Books.

''The whole body is connected, all parts are in relationship. Change in one part changes the whole. When we acknowledge relationship between parts of the body, it makes possible both differentiation of the parts and integration of the whole.''


Hackney, peggy (2002) Making connections: Routledge: london

Improvisation tasks 3rd December

Radiating from the centre:

• Fluid
• limbs
• integration
• radiation

Spinal axis:

• Lines
• spine

Dropping gravity

• Air
• Weight
• Tipping
• Balancing

Notes to remember/ recognise by Katye Coe f Improvisation classes

• Interior landscapes within space

• Ways of imagining space in the leg joints- create a sense of being lighter and more fluid and flexible

• Integration from centre to periphery- holding onto our internal space while reaching out or expanding

• Physical activity isn't just an idea or 'like' something else, dancing is really happening in our bodies

• making ourselves available, and knowing how to do so on all levels when working

• Gravity- what is it and what does it mean for us? How can I allow gravity to fall through every part of me all of the time?

Dance and the moving image

One of our modules this term has been Dance and the moving image, which required creating a short film and showing it to a live audience. We made a film which was filmed and shown in the same cafe. We wanted to create  something that was very pedestrian and fit in with the cafe environment. We played the piece on laptops, phones, ipods, and a screen we had placed withinn a book, which we placed on tables around the cafe and the audience could sit and watch for as long or little as possible while in the cafe environment. We had the film in silent so the live sound scape within the cafe would compliment the piece, making it as natural as possible. The film involved highlighting and exploring pedestrian actions and behaviours within a cafe, and then developing some of these further to include moments of movement.