Working in Movement

Reading the newspaper this morning got me thinking of one of my Feldenkrais activities. Part of being a Feldenkrais practitioner is teaching ATM classes. That's Awareness Through Movement, not the machine that provides banking services. ATM is Feldenkrais for groups. In it, a practitioner guides students through a series of verbal instructions that directs awareness of small, easy movements. (If you want to check it out, the Flowing Body website offers a short sample here and an extensive listing elsewhere on the site.)

At the beginning of the lesson, people seem to be moving in all sorts of ways in response to the directions, and mostly out of step with each other. Then, as the lesson progresses and students get deeper into their bodily awareness, the movements change. They usually become much more fluid and light. At some point, the classes' movements seem to merge into sync with each other. From the teacher's perspective, it's beautiful to watch. I often think at this point, "this is like watching the June Taylor dancers," and I often say it aloud.

June Taylor was the dance choreographer on the Jackie Gleason television programs in the 1950s and 60s. The choreography was always tight, and the signature shot was from directly overhead so it looked almost like those wonderful Busby Berkeley movies from the 1930s. Of course, the Feldenkrais class doesn't really turn students into professional dancers, but the metaphor is a good one.

The news item that triggered these thoughts was June Taylor obituary. Taylor's gone now, and the dance numbers have been gone for a long time. But the metaphor of "moving like the June Taylor dancers" is still a good one.