A. There are many dance training methods

Each have their distinguishing characteristics; each aim to produce magnificent dancers. The distinguishing characteristics come about as the dance method focuses on certain aspects of a dancers training—the placing of value on certain aspects of training over other aspects.

B. What Living Dance is not...

Some training methods focus on grilling and many repetitions of movement. This can exacerbate ‘over-use’ injuries.

Other training methods focus on jumps (allegro) grilling in the plie positions to build up thigh strength. Not all dancers have joints and shins which can take this!

Others articulate detail of leg, feet, arm and hand placings but only add the placing of the core, after a dancer has an established a way of working - the result being the young aspiring dancer has to ‘un-learn’ postural faults/habits and majorly re-invent their technique.

Some training methods have a stylistic imprint brought about by always using certain head movements for each position of the leg.

Others are based on speed and energy but are not particularly exact.

Some focus on ‘turn-out’ whether on not a dancers body has full facility in this area.

What is different about Living Dance?

Living Dance recognises that all the above focus’ have their place, but IS NOT THE FOCUS OF LIVING DANCE INTERNATIONAL!

Living Dance curriculum has one extremely important focus - working from the ‘centreline’ of the body outwards.

Yes, establishing the ‘core’ then working outwards to the limbs.

How can teachers learn this?

These concepts are shown to teachers at Seminars. Teachers are trained in great detail as to how to help their students sense the centreline of the body in benchmarks for each of the Junior Grades. It is extremely focussed foundational training which can be introduced to students from quite a young age. It has been proven that very young children can gain the understanding of the core as they learn to dance!

How are they taught?

They learn to work from the core first, then outwards to their limbs. They are not over burdened with too many other concepts to confuse them. Once they sense this in their body, then and only then, can they start to focus on other concepts.

Even the configurations of the exercises are designed to help this.

Why start so young?

It creates habits - they won’t have to ‘unlearn’ later on! It ‘feels’ cohesive and it looks great! By starting young, dancers reach the senior grades well equipped.

Why is it so important?

Using the dynamics of the body to propel movement is a cohesive way of dancing. It set a dancer free to spin, leap and change weight with the minimum of effort. Someone coined the phrase ‘efficient movement’.

Changes of weight become effortless. Well practically effortless!

Moving through the more complex exercises of Living Dance Senior Curriculum, using the concepts learned and ‘fine-tuned’, eventually brings the dancer to the point where ‘change of weight’ from one position to another becomes ‘practically effortless’. An example in nature is an eagle who uses air currents to ’lift and soar - so different from other birds that need constant flapping of the wings to stay up!