Allowing Oppositional Forces of Gravity and Beyond To Support You — Allyna Steinberg

• We also explored a “lie down”, which I sometimes call the 5-minute un(fix), which can be used to release tension a night of dancing.

Here is the activity to try on your own:

1. Put on a salsa tune and dance for a few minutes

2. Pause the music and notice the energy in your body and bring your attention to the support from the floor; remind yourself:

   • I am supported by the earth, its gravitational field keeps me grounded and, if I allow it, its counterforce keeps me buoyant.

   • I do not have to hold myself up.

   • Every inch and every cell of my body is held in oppositional forces: my toes and heels, ankles, legs, pelvis, stomach, lungs and rib cage, shoulders, arms, wrists and fingertips, spine and head, and everywhere in between.

   • The forces of gravity travel down and up along my body, arms, and spine.

3. Next, look at something to your left or right or behind you, and walk towards it and back while noticing the dynamic support from gravity before each step.

   1. If you feel it was harder to walk and notice the support of gravity, try the 5-minute un(fix) before going on to the next step.

4. Put on your salsa tune again, and start dancing noticing the support of gravity; repeat to yourself some of the reminders above.

What do you notice in your dancing? If this is juicy, please leave a comment and tell us about it! There is a chance you noticed that you lost your awareness of the dynamic support of gravity from the floor, when you dance. If this happened, don’t despair. In fact: First, REJOICE because noticing this is likely new and means you’ve already made a change. Second, try repeating steps 1-3 playing with different walking speeds with the music off and then on before starting your salsa basic. This will help you practice using your attention differently and allowing the support from gravity as you change your movement with different speeds, with music, and finally with dance steps.

Next, if you would like to explore how this relates to your lead or follow, try this:

If you lose your awareness of the floor as you move your hand(s) to the wall or as your hand(s) come to contact with the wall:

• Pause right before your hand comes into movement or contact to pay attention and invite the dynamic support of gravity up and down your body and spine, and

• Start moving your hand from your fingertips (not the pads of your fingers but the very ends of your fingers above your fingernails (or just inside your fingernails if you have long nails). This gets your awareness all the way to the edges of your body which allows your body to work as a whole as it’s designed.

Once you master placing one hand on the wall with your sense of support from the floor, explore maintaining your awareness of the dynamic support of gravity while making contact with two hands at the wall, then opening and closing a door, opening and closing a drawer, picking up different objects and turning them or turning yourself while in contact with them. Then, find a partner interested in exploring this and try the following palm-to-palm before getting into full dance formation and trying patterns:

1. Invite each other to notice the support of gravity before your hands come to touch; repeat the reminders in the first exercise (I am supported by the earth….).

2. Once palm-to-palm, explore different amounts of pressure between your palms (what happens if you provide a lighter touch? a deeper touch?) and how that relates to your awareness of the support of gravity. Also, dialogue with each other about what feels like the right amount of pressure or connection.

3. Once you have a connection that also allows you to sense the support of the floor, switch off playing the role of leader and follower in a simple movement, like moving each other forward and back. Keep coming back to your awareness of the support of gravity, and introduce more complex movements as you become more skilled at having the support from the ground in your awareness during partnered movement.

I hope you enjoy this exploration! These are ideas you can come back to again and again — on and off the dance floor.

Awareness of the oppositional forces in your own body (and the ability to maintain this awareness while in activity) will create more fluid connections with your dance partners making it easier to lead and follow turn patterns.

Please comment or contact me about how it goes testing out these ideas or with questions. If you see me out on the dance floor, please let me know if you’d like to explore these ideas — I’d love to explore these concepts with you!

Photo credits: Jason Rice; Gravity and counterforce image: http://diysolarpanelsv.com/gravity-force-clipart.html#gal_post_16361_gravity-force-clipart-48.png