Release technique

Release technique is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of different corporeal practices that emphasize efficiency of movement in dance. Emphasis is placed on breath, skeletal alignment, joint articulation, ease of muscular tension and the use of gravity and momentum to facilitate movement.

Release work appears as part of a somatic paradigm, whereby subjective, internal experience of the body is valued alongside objective, analytical outside view of it.

The development of release technique has strands in therapeutic movement techniques, such as Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Cranio-Sacral Therapy etc.; and also from dance-specific practices, drawing from Modern and Postmodern dance, as well as Eastern movement philosophy and practice such as Yoga and Martial Arts. Practitioners include Eric Hawkins, Doris Humphreys and Mary O'Donnell Fulkerson.

See also

• Skinner releasing technique
• Contact Improvisation
• Mabel Elsworth Todd
• Body-Mind Centering
• Yoga
• T'ai chi ch'uan
• Systema

References

• Olsen, Andrea (2004). Bodystories. Lebanon NH: University Press of New England. ISBN 1-58465-354-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Bainbridge-Cohen, Bonnie (1993). Sensing, Feeling and Action: The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering. Northampton MA: Contact Editions. ISBN 0-937645-03-1. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Johson, Don Hanlon (1995). Bone, Breath, Gesture: Practices of Embodiment. Berkeley CA: North Atlantic Books.