Release technique

Release technique is a dance technique that focuses on breathing, skeletal alignment, joint articulation, muscle relaxation, and the use of gravity and momentum to facilitate efficient movement. Release techniques can be found in modern and postmodern dance, and have been highly influenced by therapeutic movement techniques such as Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique, and in yoga and martial arts.

History

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries dancers began to question the rigidity and formality of classical ballet. Isadora Duncan in particular articulated the need for dance which she described as being connected to the earth, sensuality and the natural body. In pursuit of this goal, pioneers such as Margeret D'Oubler, Martha Graham, Rudolf von Laban and Doris Humphrey began to invent new dance techniques that involved radically different movement.

Elements of release technique began to emerge as these pioneers, and protégés such as Merce Cunningham, Jose Limon, Irmgard Bartenieff, Erick Hawkins and Anna Halprin, contributed further ideas and inventions. For example, D'Oubler envisioned dance based on scientific analysis of human anatomy and movement; Humphrey's technique focused on allowing gravity and momentum to affect the body; Hawkins advanced the idea that physiologically efficient movement is inherently beautiful. Some elements were the result of exploring other movement disciplines. For example, Hawkins invited teachers from the tradition of Ideokinesis to teach his dance company, and others were influenced by F.M. Alexander's concepts.

The phrase "release technique" emerged in the 1970s. Modern dancer Joan Skinner created "Skinner Releasing Technique", which employed elements of Alexander Technique, and Mary Fulkerson created "Anatomical Release Techique" based on the work of Skinner and others. Steve Paxton developed a related work known as "Material for the Spine" which incorporates many release principles. Elements of release technique can also be found in Tai Chi, Yoga, and contemporary somatic practices such as the Feldenkrais method.

Contemporary technique

It is rare nowaday to find pure "Release Technique" teachers and classes, or formalised release technique, being taught in a consistent way. The trend is towards highly hybridised classes based on a mix a wider canon of contemporary dance and somatic practices, based, on the individual experience, interests and expertise of the teacher. The principles of release technique have become popularised within contemporary dance and it usually taught as an integrated element, rather than a stand-alone class. However, some teacher do never-the-less offer release technique classes as a distinct method of teaching, performing, dancing and as an aesthetic philosophy.

See also

• Skinner releasing technique
• Doris Humphrey

References

• Olsen, Andrea; Caryn McHose (2004). Bodystories. Lebanon NH: University Press of New England. ISBN 1-58465-354-X.
• Bainbridge-Cohen, Bonnie (1993). Sensing, Feeling and Action: The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering. Northampton MA: Contact Editions.
• Johson, Don Hanlon (1995). Bone, Breath, Gesture: Practices of Embodiment. Berkeley CA: North Atlantic Books.
• Diehl, Ingo (2011). Dance Techniques 2010 - Tanzplan Germany, English edition. Germany: Henschel Verlag.
• Lepkoff, Daniel (1999). "What is Release Technique?" (PDF). Movement Performance Research Journal (19).

External links

• An article about release technique at contemporary-dance.org