Choreography and Dace © 2001 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V. 2001, Vol. 6, Part 1, pp. 39-48 Published by license under Photocopying permitted by license only the Harwood Academic Publishers imprint, part of Gordon and Breach Publishing, a member of the Taylor & Francis Group. A New Look at Effort in Dance Mary Bond is article considers the quality of effortlessness in dance performance by examin- ing sensorimotor and psychological aspects of the phenomenon of effort. The sense of effort is viewed as sensorimotor response of the muscles to time, space and gravity and to psychological states. A simplified explanation of the sensorimotor organization of movement prepares the reader for some movement experiments which have practical application to dance performance. Introduction to the field of psychomotoric development as researched by the Bodynamic Institute sparks dis- cussion of how the development of will in childhood relates to neuromuscular pat- terning. Healthy use of will is correlated to healthy use of the muscles and to effortless coordination. KEY WORDS effort, sensorimotor, tonus, muscle tone, reflex, alpha motor system, gamma motor system, reptilian brain, proprioception, psychomo- toric patterns, developmental stages, hypotoned, hypertoned, Bodynamics “... when dance starts to become exciting ... the body is so attuned to movement that the movement takes hold of the body and says, ‘I will be done by you’.” Antony Tudor! A dancer who moves us utterly, taking our breath away and making us weep in gratitude for the human spirit, does so by allowing the dance to come through the body with such effortless coordination that the movement arises as if for the first time. Such a performance appears spontaneous, wholly in present time, without trace of past preparation or sign of future fatigue. Such dancing seems to spring from within the dancer’s being, akin to the natural grace and power of animals in the wilderness. Dancing of this nature “just happens,” without having to be done. Is this not the state to which all dancers aspire? The novice trains for years to attain it, and its loss is the source of the aging 3940 Mary Bond John Pennington and Bonnie Oda Homsey photographed by Rose Bichenbaum. From the collection of American Repertory Dance Company dancer’s frustration and grief. In his book, The Body is a Clear Place, Erick Hawkins makes mention of the Chinese symbol for the concept “dancing.” The ideogram means “without effort or opposition.”? The Sense of Effort Sensorimotor Organization Our sense of effort is a muscular phenomenon. Effort is the mind’s interpretation of the sensory and motor responses of ourA New Look at Effort in Dance 41 muscles to space, time, gravity and to our psychological states. Our perception of space derives from past experiences which record the degree of muscular contraction required to move a body part or the whole body through a determined amount of space. Similarly, we experience speed, pacing and rhythm as sensorimotor events—as amounts of muscular effort. The body’s interaction with gravity also tells us about effort: how much muscular tension is necessary to overcome the inertia of our own mass. Our relationship with gravity gives us the sense of our body’s weight. Before discussing the psychological aspect of effort, it is helpful to review some details about the sensorimotor organization of our muscles. Simplistically, sensory nerves (afferent) communic- ate sensations from inside or outside the body, while motor nerves (efferent) stimulate muscles for response. In reality, there is no clear functional distinction between the two types of nerves; sensation evokes movement and movement produces sensation. Our muscle cells require a constant degree of nerve stimulation in order to maintain vitality. This basic activity, called “tonus,” is responsible for stabilizing our joints and maintaining our structure. “Resting tonus” (present even when we sit completely still or are asleep) is maintained by the nerve pathways embedded in our muscles. “Reflexes” are automatic patterns of sensorimotor response. While human beings are born with a number of reflexes, most of our reflex patterns must be learned. Most animals can move about within hours of birth, but humans require years to perfect the basic tasks of upright posture, walking and running. We learn to move by means of two distinct but interlinked motor systems. The “alpha system” originates in the motor cortex of the brain and connects with cells in the skeletal muscles. Because the cerebral cortex is the most recently evolved part of our brains, the alpha control system is largely accessible to our conscious aware- ness. We use the alpha system to make voluntary gestures and actions. The “gamma system” originates in the brain stem, the oldest part of our brains, sometimes called the “reptilian brain.” This system controls the sensorimotor events involved in the moment-to- moment negotiation of body position and tone. It monitors sensa-42 Mary Bond tions of length and weight in our muscles without bringing those sensations to consciousness. In this way, the gamma system makes constant minute and instantaneous adjustments to our changing environment without overwhelming the conscious mind. Much gamma negotiation takes place between the muscles and spinal chord without ever going through the brain stem. The gamma system is the mechanism of seamless coordination, of movement quality and sequencing. Human motor learning takes place as voluntary experimentation by the alpha system which is constantly monitored by the gamma system. In childhood, we call this “play.” Because the alpha and gamma systems are so closely linked within both the muscles and the brain, repetition gradually encodes movement as unconscious reflex within the gamma system. The experimental movement gradually becomes an acquired reflex. Human beings respond to situations by expressing themselves in gesture and action, or by inhibiting their motor expression. These expressed or inhibited movements also become encoded in the sensorimotor system as reflexes. Because we experience feelings, perceptions, attitudes, traumas and blessings at the same time that we are learning to sit, run, and dance, all these subjective experiences become part of our fabric of reflexes and color the way we move. Our movement patterns are as distinguishing as our fingerprints—we easily identify a friend, even when her back is turned, by recognizing the way she walks. Psychological Effort The psychological effort of a movement is a combination of the physical forces—time, space, and gravity—and the basic resting tonus of the muscles as monitored by the gamma system. Both temporary emotional reactions and chronic mental attitudes affect the normal resting tonus of the body. The muscular tension produced by mental events mimics sensations of actual added weight, thereby increasing the sense of effort necessary to move. By distorting the amount of effort generated by the muscles, mental attitudes also distort perceptions of space, time, and gravity. If the heightened tonus persists, those altered perceptions begin to feel normal.A New Look at Effort i Dance 43 When you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, gravity becomes your enemy—it seems to require tremendous energy just to walk, let alone execute a complicated dance combination. In such a mental state, the dancer cannot accurately judge the amount of time necessary for a double pirouette, or the distance she must cover with a glissade. Because her perceptions are distorted, the dancer recruits muscles that may actually prevent the success of the move- ments she is attempting. If the dancer’s sense of being burdened is a chronic state of mind, then every class or rehearsal reinforces the unnecessary muscular recruitment. The increased sense of effort becomes an acquired reflex; one with diminishing returns. Increased tension on muscles and connective tissue, increased joint compression, excessive fuel consumption and waste production, and impaired circulation to the tensed areas of the body contribute to faulty coordination and poor performance as well as to discomfort and eventual dysfunction. This scenario illustrates how pivotal one’s mental and emo- tional states are to the development of effortless coordination in dance. The delicate neural mechanisms of the alpha/gamma partnership must be free to negotiate muscle lengths and loads so that appropriate amount of effort is distributed to appropriate body parts for each moment of an action. This cannot occur unless basic muscle tonus is free of any past or present mental and emotional fixations that would prevent it from being adaptively responsive. All too often the results of our motor learning are less than optimal, but we cannot alter our behavior patterns by simply telling ourselves or by being told by others how to move better. An idea about movement from the cortical brain cannot affect a reflex ingrained in the reptilian brain. We can only change our patterns in the same way that we initially learned them, through experimenta- tion and repetition. New sensations and feelings can repattern the muscles and create a changed internal sense of effort. We can do this by using the gamma system which is linked to the part of the brain responsible for subtle, unconscious details of sensorimotor response. We enlist the gamma motor system by paying attention to the sensation and spatial orientation of the body instead of monitoring the form of its performance.* The reader can experience this repatterning difference by trying the following two experiments.44 Mary Bond Experiment 1: 1. First, walk around the room at an ordinary pace and with good posture, holding your head high. Now, take a moment to relax and stretch. Let your body forget the feeling of that first walk. 2. Walk again, but this time use your peripheral vision to notice shapes and colors moving past you. Be aware of the space on either side of you and behind you, as well as in your line of direction. Then relax again. 3. Compare the two walks. Was there a difference in your coordi- nation? Your overall movement quality? Your posture? In choos- ing to attend to your spatial orientation, you employed the cortical part of your brain to enlist a response from the reptilian part. Experiment 2: 1. Start by raising your arm to point at something in front of you. Point with accuracy. Notice the form of your arm as you make the gesture. 2. Repeat the gesture, but this time raise your arm to point as if moving your fingertips through cool, clear water. Enjoy the feeling on your skin as your hand moves toward its destination. Notice the difference in your coordination. You have just used “ideokinesis,” a process of using mental image to change your movement quality. Studies show that skin sensation, particularly in the hands and feet, provides important proprioceptive information through deep linkage within the lower brain centers and spine.’ Attention to tactile sensation, even when, as in Experiment 2, it is imaginary, is a way to enlist the gamma system in the organization of movement. Psychomotor Development and the Activation of Will Bodynamics, a body-oriented developmental psychotherapy, sheds light on how mental and emotional states influence resting tonus,A New Look at Effort in Dance 45 movement patterns and motor learning. Founded by Lisbeth Marcher, Bodynamic theory is the work of a group of Danish therapists who have studied and worked together for over twenty years. The theory derives its power from the correlation of individual muscles with specific stages of childhood development, and with specific psychological functions.$ Marcher believes that the basic drive in human beings is toward mutual connection with others. She proposes seven developmental stages from the womb to adolescence, each with characteristic psychological and social needs and rights. The stages include the rights: to existence; to have needs met; to be autonomous; to assert one’s will; to have feelings of love and sexuality; to form one’s opinions; to come forth with one’s unique talents while participating in community. NOGARO A While we arrive in this world with all our muscles, we only learn to use them in stages. Bodynamic theory suggests that specific muscles of the body become active during each of the above stages. When a child’s needs and rights are met and supported by caregivers and by the environment, the musculature becomes active in a healthy way, developing responsive tonus, adaptive motor patterns, and balanced structure. If a child experiences a break in her connection with others early in any developmental stage, the muscles involved will be underactive, hypotoned, as the child gives up her impulses to have her needs met and rights acknowledged. If the child is thwarted after an initial period of support and acceptance, the muscles will be hypertoned, as her impulses rigidify into demands. The muscular patterns of the developmental stages form overlap- ping layers in the body, distorting structure and motor function. Thus, our psychomotoric patterns underlie basic tonus, and influence range of motion, timing and sequencing of muscle recruit- ment in any action. These patterns persist into adulthood, shaping our sense of who we are and influencing our perception of the world around us.46 Mary Bond The Bodynamic approach to therapy involves building healthy response in the muscles which correlate to a client’s presenting psychological issues. By being precise and age-appropriate with respect to the musculature, the therapy reorganizes the neuromus- cular system to support changes in cognitive, social and emotional repertoires. Particularly relevant to our discussion of effort in dance performance is the developmental stage of “will” which the child experiences between the ages of two and four. During this period the child begins to sense personal power and to assert herself though doing things. For example, she takes on roles, pretends, and learns to plan. She develops a sense of past and future. Physically, she learns to balance on one leg, to swing the arms when walking and to change directions. Shoulders, spine, and buttocks become supple and energetic. The healthy child develops a sense of pride in being able to do things on her own, but knows when to ask for help. She also distinguishes between her actions and her sense of self; she does not define herself by what she is doing. If the child is initially unsupported in this stage, she has difficulty in saying “no,” and tends to feel guilty about her desire to choose her own way of doing things. She becomes overly altruistic, taking on the burdens of others. Physically the trunk is tense with the tail tucked between the legs and the solar plexus collapsed. If support for the child is withdrawn towards the end of the “will” stage, the child holds back her own way of doing things, fearing that her anger and energy will drive others away. She takes on others’ burdens but with feelings of resentment and criticism rather than self-sacrifice. Her trunk, buttocks and shoulders show less collapse than when support is withheld early in the stage, but the body contains much bound energy. Healthy development of will involves a fluctuation between the early and late positions in the stage until adaptive balance is attained. Most adults continue to fluctuate between periods of self- sacrifice and being judgmental. Dysfunction involves being stuck in either attitude. Muscles involved in this stage include flexor hallucis longus, tibialis anterior, vastus intermedius, proximal attachment of semi- tendinosis, quadratus femoris, gluteus minimus, upper fibers of latissimus dorsi, abdominal fibers of pectoralis major, diaphragm,A New Look at Effort in Dance 47 medial triceps, brachialis, posterior deltoid, upper rhomboids, subclavius, clavicular portion of sternocleidomastoid, levator scapula, posterior scalene, masseter and depressor labii. The psychological functions of these muscles include grounding, under- standing, moving forward, centering, filling up with energy, support, energetic and social boundaries, orientation and keeping one’s head. The reader is invited to try another experiment. Mildly active a few of the muscles listed above, and then walk around the room. Take enough time to sense this walk. The result will put you into a particular mood. You will feel like a three year old, taking strong, square, chunky steps. Once a child enters the next stage, of love/sexuality, between the ages of four and six, movements acquire more fluid coordination. A dancer with unresolved emotional issues in any developmental stage may compensate for developmental motor patterning through her well-trained kinesthetic sense. But on a “bad day” the dancer may feel burdened or self-recriminating, may stifle an impulse to stop rehearing when exhausted, or be angrily, fiercely determined. These emotions recruit the “will muscles” in patterns of effort. Turns are overshot, and jumps lose buoyancy. Strain may occur in the jaw, upper shoulders, mid-back, sacrum, or shins. If such patterns persist as the dancer trains and rehearses, the alpha tem’s experimenta- tion with the function of will gradually encodes these attitudes as reflex activity in the spine and lower brain centers. Stress increases the resting tonus of these muscles, and effortful determination becomes automatic response, ingrained in the dancer’s outlook, and inevitably, in his or her performance. It is as if there were a “pedestrian” inside every dancer. The pedestrian’s attitudinal and emotional body patterns have the potential to diminish the dancer’s expressive freedom, as well as to cause injury. If there is a war between the pedestrian and the dancer, both lose. The dancer cannot be truly free unless the pedestrian is free. The Discipline of Healthy Effort Knowing that healthy use of muscles correlates to healthy engage- ment of will, it is beneficial for the dancer to monitor the mental attitudes he or she brings into studio or rehearsal space. Foster48 Mary Bond healthy pride and energy. Be wary of feeling resentful, of judging self or others, of clenching your jaw to get through. Refuse to believe that your identity depends on your performance. Misuse of will leads to over-training, to mindless, painful and destructive body use. A healthy sense of will can be used as a resource for the discipline necessary to engage the gamma system of coordination. This discipline involves staying sentient with each mundane exercise; each rond de jambe becomes the first time the toes have ever inscribed a circle on the floor. Such practice builds the habit of fully experiencing every gesture. When every motion is fully sensed in present time, the dancer seems not to be perform- ing, but to be inhabited by movement. In the words of Erick Hawkins: “Sensuousness is living in the now, in immediacy; therefore, there is no alienation. Here the body is a clear place. Sheer living is immediately experienced through one’s own physical being in the very tasting of the total feast of the world around.”° Notes 1. Typescript from a tape recording, 1952-53, Antony Tudor file at the Dance Division of The Juilliard School, cited in Hill, Martha, “Antony Tudor: The Juilliard Years,” Choreography and Dance, 1989, Vol. 1, p. 45 2. Hawkins, Erick. The Body is a Clear Place. Dance Horizons Books, Pennington, N.J., 1992, p. 64. 3. The idea that the gamma motor system is responsible for the most efficient use of muscles comes from the work of French movement theorist, Hubert Godard. Refer to Newton, Aline C. “Basic Concepts in the Theory of Hubert Godard.” Rolf Lines, 1995, Vol. XXIII No. 2 pp. 32-43, and to Frank, Kevin. “Tonic Function: A Gravity Response Model,” Rolf Lines, 1995, Vol. XXIII, No. 1 pp. 12-19. Reprints available through the Rolf Institute, 205 Canyon Boulevard, Boulder, CO 80302. Ferrington, D., and Rowe, Mark. “Cutaneous Mechanoreceptors and the Central Processing of their Signals: Implications for Proprioceptive Coding.” Proprioception, Posture and Emotion, D. Garlick, ed., The University of New South ‘Wales, 1982. . For information about Bodynamics, contact The BODYnamic Institute, Struenseegade 13A, Copenhagen N., Denmark, or in the United States: P.O. Box 6008, Albany, California 94706. 6. Hawkins, ibid., p. 71 -