The Basic as Savasana
Last night I taught a class for the first year anniversary of Cirque de Vol studios staff holiday party. It was a group of all teachers in various circus arts (hooping, aerial silks, trapeze, etc.) so they were taking to the lessons and within a few minutes, happily spinning, twirling, and flinging each other around the floor. Things got rowdy and raucous and I wanted a way to introduce a texture of calmer energy into the mix. So, given that the crowd would all be familiar with various movement forms, including yoga, I decided to tell them to think of the basic like Savasana.
Thinking about it this morning, I felt like it was a pretty good analogy. For the beginner, the basic is a place to rest and reconnect before going out and doing the next crazy, new set of moves. And as a growing dancer, the swingout, like savasana, becomes a place to deepen practice and feel out both the holes in your dancing and the beauties in it. And as the swingout becomes ingrained, it is something you can always come back to and a place where there is almost an infinite space in which one grow and evolve for as long as you continue to dance/practice.
Jason Sager 