Dynamic Coordination

It’s a wrap! The final section of the Dart Procedures is here:

18) Creeping (quadrupedal)
Pull to the elbows, look up, tone the back, then leading with the tail, shoot back to all fours. Look at the chair in front of you and start creeping forward in cross-lateral pattern. Look in the direction you are going.

19) Clambering
One at a time, move your hands to the seat of the chair and stand on your feet. Think of it as a quadrupedal with hands on the seat.

20) Upright (standing on toes)
Slowly reverse anthropoidal one knuckle joint at a time, until standing upright. Finish with going up onto the toes to check your balance.

You can now repeat the whole sequence (sections 1-7), reversing the direction of the rolls.

Practice this sequence often and use it to notice any tight spots in the body which may need extra attention in the movement. When practiced regularly, the Dart Procedures will improve your mobility, flexibility, and postural alignment.

Almost done! Section 6 of the Dart Procedures consists of only one movement:

17) Ventigrade (fish arms)
Slide the arms down the body (as if the hands were brushes painting the floor), flipping the hands along the way palms up. Keep the forehead on the floor. Notice your vision, each eye having its own field, not stereoscopic. Slide the arms up, flipping the hands back and forth (pronate and supinate). Lengthen the fingers during the process. Proceed with this movement until hands come close to one another overhead. Then slide the arms down, pulling at the elbows to a position used in 15) (looking up like a baby).

The Dart Procedures continue with Section 5:

15) Pull to the elbows (looking up like a baby)
Reposition the arms so that palms are on the floor, forearms at 90 degree angle the upper arms. Feel the pull from the wrists to the elbows. Leading with the eyes, look up from the floor. Return to prone.

16) Spiral rolling
Look from side to side, again leading with the eyes, allowing the head and upper body to follow into the spiral. With every turn of the head allow more of the body to join into the spiral movement until eventually you roll to supine and then continue to prone again (360 degrees).

Let’s continue our exploration of the Dart Procedures with Section 4:

13) Rolling into semi-supine
Initiating the movement from the eyes, turn the head from side to side, making movements bigger until you roll into the back, keeping the arms and legs folded.

14) Rolling to prone
Continue the rotation, following the eyes, and flip over to prone, extending legs and arms.

It’s time for Section 3 of the Dart Procedures. Ready? Let’s go!

8) Creeping/quadrupedal
“Paint the floor” with your hands and move to all fours. Shoulders directly above the hands, hips over the knees. Keep directing top of the head and sitting bones away from each other.

9) Kowtow (child’s pose)
Lead with the tail to sit on the heels. Spread knees further apart. Allow gravity to take you into gentle primary curve.

10) Pentapoidal (cranial globe, elbows, knees)
Keep forearms on the ground as you roll onto top of your head into deeper primary curve. Get a sense of head-tail connection.

11) Pre-fetal
Cross one ankle over the other, allowing the feet to supinate. Fold the arms around the neck if possible.

12) Fetal crouch
Fold at the hips, settling into a little ball, with arms and legs crossed. This position resembles the fetus being folded in the womb.

Let’s continue with Section 2 of the Dart Procedures:

5) Deeper anthropoidal (knuckles on the chair)
Turn the chair around, bend deeper in the hips and knees, until the fingertips touch the seat of the chair. Move deeper, bending fingers one knuckle at a time.

6) Tarsoid (backs of hands on the chair)
Bend at the wrists, direct the elbows out and down. Sense the widening of the upper back and the arms. As you bend deeper, feel the back lengthening and widening, sitting bones directing away from the head. Depending on the height of the chair, you may be now in a flat back position (torso parallel to the floor).

7) Anthropoidal (knuckles on the floor)
Push the chair away. Continue to bend in the hips and knees until the fingertips touch the floor. Just like in 5), move one joint at a time until knuckles touch the floor.

Here are the first four movements of the Dart Procedures sequence:

1) Standing on toes
Stand with feet parallel, hips distance apart. Think through Alexander directions (“let the neck be free to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen”). Shift your weight onto the toes and float upwards. Try to avoid excessive forward shift of the weight.

2) Shallow monkey
Continue to think up while lowering onto the heels. Release the knees, send the hips back, head forward and out.

3) Hands on the back of the chair
Take hold of the back of the chair. Leave a little space between the palm of the hand and the chair. Allow the wrists to fall toward each other slightly and elbows to extend out and down. Feel a firm contact with the back of the chair (as if your fingers and palms had suction cups) but don’t grip. Gently pull to the elbows as to widen the back of the chair.

4) Anthropoidal (knuckles on the back of the chair)
The backs of the proximal portions of the fingers are now touching the chair with thumbs directed toward each other. Think of thrusting away from the knuckles, finding support from the arms.

One of the most common problems while performing grand plié is the inability to maintain a vertical poise of the torso, especially the lumbar region of the spine. As a result, one ends up leaning forward, sticking the hips back. Here are a few pointers on how to improve this habit:
1) As you send the knees forward, allow the direction of the knees to initiate the posterior pelvic tilt.
2) Imagine and direct your lower back moving slightly back, hence releasing the excessive hyperextension.
3) Keep the neck free and allow the head to balance forward and up.
Note: the same principles will apply in all turned out positions.
Practice and enjoy!
, , ,