Functional Awareness®: Anatomy in Action Summer Study for Dance Educators

Functional Awareness® Summer Study 2021

When: August 2 – 6, 2021 

Participants at the 2019 Summer Intensive

Sample Schedule:

(New York time)

9:30am – 10:30am Optional warm up class

10:30am – 12:00pm Functional Awareness® practice & application

12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch break

1:00pm – 2:30pm Functional Awareness® practice & application

2:30 – 3:30pm Optional movement class

 

5-day curriculum


Day 1:  Skeletal Considerations in Dance Training: Anatomical Imagery & Mindset   

      • Learn/review skeletal and muscular features of the head and spine
      • Honoring individual difference in spinal construct
      • Practice prompts that promote agency and improve spinal alignment & expressivity
      • Explore strategies to discover potential for both stability & resilience
      • Recognize the role of habit & mindset in movement training

Day 2: Breath, Core and The Muscular Domes of Support

      • Learn/review anatomical principles of the breathing mechanism
      • Examine elements of core support & practice explorations to improve function
      • Practice applications to enhance expressivity of movement through breath
      • Develop practices to support personal agency and self-care & enhance breath support
      • Examine strategies to improve phrasing & weight shift

Day 3:  Stability and Flexibility the pelvis, hip, and legs

      • Examine individual differences in hip structure and explorations to improve function
      • Investigate basic structure & function of the pelvis and hip joint
      • Explore strategies to improve hip and standing leg stability
      • Employ applications to improve expressivity of hip action (i.e. développé, turnout)
      • Practice FA® somatics for self-care to enhance hip joint resilience and whole health

Day 4: Ankle, Foot and Knee

      • Identify the skeletal and muscular features of ankle, foot, and knee
      • Examine the importance of gait in dance training & injury prevention
      • Explore application of gait research into locomotor steps in dance training
      • Investigate the screw home mechanism to improve stabilization of standing leg balance
      • Integrate strategies for injury prevention and self-care of the ankle/foot/knee during dance training

Day 5: Factors of Expressivity and Stability of the Arm Structure

      • Learn/review key skeletal and muscular components of the arm structure
      • Examine the relationship of the axial to the appendicular skeleton
      • Identify effective cueing strategies to enhance expression of the arms in action
      • Practice functional movement cues for arms in load bearing & non-load bearing actions
      • Integrate expressivity of torso & arms with active leg action of arabesque

 

Overall Learning goals:

    • Honor individual differences to discover movement potential
    • Improve fluency in concepts of functional anatomy
    • Investigate and embody Functional Awareness® approaches to support dynamic alignment and efficiency in action
    • Integrate Functional Awareness® somatics to foster personal agency and self-care strategies into dance training
    • Practice verbal, tactile, and visual cues to enhance movement skills

Cost: $250

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE EMAIL: INFO@FUNCTIONALAWARENESS.ORG