An Inner Practice Enhances Outer Expression

May, 2021

How can the self-directed approach of Continuum support a dancer’s well-being and creative expression?

In recent decades, somatic practices have entered dance training programs. Continuum provides dancers with a pathway towards increased self-awareness. With increased self-awareness, a dancer is less prone to injury. If a dancer is fatigued, injured, or unwell, the restorative breathing, sounding, and movement practices from Continuum can help with recovery. In Continuum, the tracking of sensation helps a dancer discover approaches to movement that feel supportive, efficient, and free. Trusting one’s inner impulses develops self–agency - a much needed skill in a profession that requires a secure sense of self for success.

The Continuum process emphasizes a non-linear, fluid movement vocabulary including spirals, waves, curves and serpentine forms. This way of moving can unwind and alleviate the repetitive aspects of dance training and the impact of overexertion in performance.

Continuum vocalized sounds alter dense, restricted, and injured tissue by amplifying the vibration of internal fluids, thus improving circulation and encouraging healing.
Continuum breathing practices increase the capacity for breath, the versatility of breath, and the adaptability of the dancer’s respiratory system to respond to the needs of the moment, thereby improving energy efficiency.

While Continuum explorations are guided sequences, there is a lot of room for individual movement expression. Moving slowly from internally felt sensation enhances the dancer’s interior sense. Each Continuum mover is following the internal impulses of their own nervous system, of their own sensations, as well as the appropriate pace to fully experience themselves. This leads dancers to develop confidence from an intimate inner knowledge of themselves, beyond what they see in the dance studio mirror. The dancer becomes more transparent as a performer, able to convey a wide range - from subtle nuances to full outward expression.

When Continuum movers begin to know where they are going the directive is to slow down or pause, to sense more deeply the “movement within the movement” or even to change the direction of the movement. The goal is to remove ingrained, habitual patterns thereby freeing up new and innovative responses.

A Continuum mover is awakened to the creativity inherent in their own biology. Directly experiencing the growth motifs of cellular life and embryological development in one’s own moving body offers new paradigms for the creative process of making dances.

As inner awareness grows, there is also a noticeable rise in awareness of others – of interconnection. Dancers grow in their capacity to intuitively understand the goals of the choreographer and to work collaboratively with other dancers. Dancers hone their ability to transmit the meaning and intent of the movement to the audience.

The internal experience of Continuum supports the creative flourishing of the dancer by encouraging self-awareness, self-agency, and somatic intelligence.