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Klein Technique is a living and growing body of work developed
initially by Susan Klein in 1972. Her mentors, and greatest influences
were Steffi Nossen, Martha Graham, May O’Donnell, Gertrude
Shure, Don Farnworth, Colette Barry, Barbara Mahler, Dr. Barbara
Vedder, D.C., Irmgard Bartenieff, Dr. Fritz Smith, M.D., Dr. J.
R. Worsley, D. Ac. and many others taught her invaluable lessons;
something to push against to spark change.
Klein Technique was developed within the context of Susan’s
personal search to heal serious and devastating injury which occurred
in 1971. She began dancing at the age of five. At the age of 19,
about to join a major modern dance company found herself to be considered
useless, unimportant, replaceable. The injury abruptly ended her
professional career as a dancer. Her quest to recover expanded into
a passion to develop a new dance technique and that in turn developed
into wanting to change the TRAINING of dancers to to way of TEACHING
dance - for them to learn their own way, and respect themselves,
and be respected by others.
Barbara Mahler began studying with Susan Klein and Colette Barry
in 1977, and began teaching in 1979., when the school’s name
changed to the Susan Klein School of Dance. Beginning her dance
career at the age of 20, she was Initially inspired by the pioneer
anatomist/kinesiologist Dorothy Vislocky, Ph.D., to search for new
ways of working to stave off the constant frustration, and injuries
incurred by attempting (desperately) to achieve the “modern
dance” status quo body. , Looking to find,her own way of learning,
and her own way into “body:, led her to the Colette Barry and
Susan Klein School of Dance, where she began studying passionately
in 1977, and teaching in 1979. Using the principles of the technique,
Barbara since has added exercises, expanding the work, and the methodology
of teaching,,delving into the depths in order to help others as
she had helped herself learn to dance. She is responsible for the
continuity of both the school and the technique, and teaching the
majority of the classes, is the “motor” (Diane Madden,
soloist for the Trisha Brown Dance Company) of the school. Barbara
is a brilliant teacher, gifted in her ability to see, understand
and create. She also aided the development of the teaching methodology:
teaching to the individual, and aiding them in finding their own
unique way of learning. She has helped Klein Technique live and
grow with her tremendous contributions over the last 20 years. At
50 she is still dancing with passion, grace and the ease of a connected
body expressing itself in movement and space. Barbara’s dancing
is both athletically challenging and poetic at the same time. In
2001,the school’s name was changed to the Susan Klein and Barbara
Mahler School of Dance and Movement Studies in acknowledgment of
her contributions.
Klein Technique is a body of work; of knowledge, but it is also
a way for dancers to be treated, respected and to be seen as individuals.
The main thrust of the work is for dancers to find their own essence,
their own identity and integrity and take that into movement. In
order to do that we work at the level of the bone, not the traditional
level of the muscles. Klein Technique is not a release technique
in that our goal is not to release, but to move. In order to move
most efficiently it is necessary to release or let go of the muscles
that hold us back from moving and fix the body into a set and locked
configuration. We aim at releasing the muscles so we can get down
to the deepest tissue, the bone, where we can learn to move from
the true essence of our individual nature. When the bones are aligned
we become connected, we become powerful and strong. The body becomes
efficient and alive, and injuries often heal.
We align the bones by using the muscles most responsible for the
transfer of forces through the body - the psoas, the hamstrings,
the external rotators, and the pelvic floor. We do not work to “exercise”
these muscle but rather to “wake them up”; to use them
for support for and realignment of the bones. We work, and teach,
for the body to be elastic, responsive, open to choices, and expressive.
Movement, and the treatment of each individual student’s body,
mind and spirit with kindness, respect and generosity is our ultimate
goal. And finally and most importantly, the body does not exist
alone but in connection to the ground, the space, and to others.
All certified teachers need to have this deep understanding and
embodiment of the principles and pedagogy so they too can add to
the depth fo the work.
Susan Klein and Barbara Mahler 2001
Susan
Klein Website http://www.kleintechnique.com
Ammendment:
Klein Technique
is much more than a series of exercises, a form of study. It is
a set of principles which have the potential to engage the participant
in a process of learning..........of being able to learn technical
or pedestrian movement, dancing, acting, living...being engaged
in one's self on the deepest level of knowing...of feeling the ground,
and being grounded in all the physical and metaphorical ways. It
ultimately can lead to being able to stand on your own two feet.
In the past years our work has gained popularity, but this, as every
coin does, has two sides. Moving out from the essence, the beginnings,
the reasons for the development and principles behind it, Klein
Technique is beginning to move into the realm of FORM, into a system
of exercises and moves that lack the physical reasons and energetic
realities behind them. I encourage all that travel through both
Susan's and my life to understand that this work began from a passion,
a desire to respect, encourage, and TEACH, rather than TRAIN. Susan
Klein's journey began when she was 19, almost 30 years ago, on the
cusp of moving into a strong modern dance company. Training was
tough, and without any understanding of her own body - itÍs strengths
and weaknesses, and she injured herself numerous times in the same
place in her body, in a short period of time. The advice then was
to forget dancing, get married, and have babies. Her big inspiration
came from a surgeon that thought, and vocalized, that dancers were
stupid because they were so self abusive and often injured. His
thought was that they should figure out what they were doing wrong.
That was the beginning and Susan pursued many venues and paths in
order to figure out her problem. She was able, over time, to formulate
her ideas both physically and theoretically so as to help others.
My studies began with Susan over twenty-five years ago due to my
own frustrations learning to dance, and led me to more creative
ways of working, and learning to use my body, gaining technique,
and facility. I became involved in a process of self-discovery,
of learning and self-knowing. I could pick-up movement by actually
understanding how it went through my own body. As I continued to
learn I suffered fewer injuries - I could avoid them by being aware
and smart. By actually learning who I was as a mover I could learn
to dance, my biggest and still ever-present passion. I began teaching
at the studio, The Susan Klein School of Dance in 1979, (later to
become the Susan Klein and Barbara Mahler School of Dance and Movement
Studies). I have since moved on to teaching on my own, having embodied
this work, knowing its beginnings and its most vital intention/
work- honoring the student, and maintaining the integrity of both
the body and the person.
-Barbara Mahler 2006
* * * * *
Articles
About Klein Technique:
Somatics 101
Dance Magazine
July, 2006
Article by Nancy Wozny
Why do some dancers fully inhabit their bodies, creating a seamless
whole between the dancer and the dance? Can we attribute this to
a kind of somatic intelligence? Dancers have heard the term somatics
tossed around for three decades, but few know the exact origins
of the practice. And yet, dancers have been a driving force in the
field. The somatic movement was already well under way when the
philosopher Thomas Hanna coined the term in 1976. Somatics derives
from the Greek word for the living body, soma, and is the study
of the body experienced from within. The roots of somatics can be
traced back to the late 19th-century European Gymnastik movement,
which used breath, movement, and touch to direct awareness. Francois
Delsarte, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, and Bess Mensendieck encouraged
a kind of inside-out expression that questioned the traditional
nature of movement training. They seemed to be saying, "The body
is the person," thus joining mind and body in a celebration of the
human form.
American somatic thinkers also made significant contributions. Mabel
Elsworth Todd's classic text, The Thinking Body, introduced dancers
to the role of the mind in dance training in 1937. Her student,
Lulu Sweigard (who later taught at Juilliard), developed "ideokinesis,"
a process of activating the imagination to affect movement. Somatic
pioneers Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (Body-Mind Centering), Emily Conrad
(Continuum), Joan Skinner (Skinner Releasing), Elaine Summers (Kinetic
Awareness), Susan Klein (Klein Technique), and Judith Aston
(Aston-Patterning), all hail from the dance world.
What
makes a movement experience somatic? Glenna Batson, who teaches
Alexander Technique in the Hollins University/MFA program at American
Dance Festival, highlights five components of a somatic discipline:
using sensory feedback, slowing down and paying attention, learning
through internal experience rather than imitation, applying a rhythm
of doing and resting, and exploring movement rather than simply
completing exercises. Martha Myers, Dean Emerita of ADF, was a key
figure in integrating somatics into dance. Her seminal collection
of articles in Dance Magazine, "Dance and the Body Therapies" (March,
April, May, July 1980), introduced the work of Alexander, Feldenkrais,
Irmgard Bartenieff, and Irene Dowd to readers. "Each comes at the
work differently," says Myers. "But somatics always involves awakening
the sensate self." Many somatics teachers combine various approaches.
Martha Eddy, director of MovingOnCenter in California, combines
Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff work, and Body-Mind Centering
to create SOMAction Movement Therapy. Dance historian Sondra Horton
Fraleigh created a hybrid form after studying Feldenkrais, Craniosacral
Therapy, Myofascial Release, yoga, and Zen meditation. Klein
acknowledges influences from Bartenieff, Bainbridge Cohen, and
Barbara Mahler. Somatics gained momentum in the dance world
as a means to prevent injury. We become more prone to injury when
we're on autopilot. Whether it's the gentle touch of an Alexander
teacher's hand at the back of your neck or going through the mental
inventory of sensations in a Feldenkrais scan, it's about paying
attention to what's already going on in our bodies. Somatics classes
are offered at many dance training centers, including Juilliard,
ADF, and the Bates Summer Dance Festival. Ray Schwartz, of University
of Texas at Austin, uses Feldenkrais to jump-start improvisation
sessions. "This is a very democratic way of working," says Schwartz.
"The dancers develop movement phrases from their own sensations
rather than through imitating the choreographer." Somatics has influenced
many choreographers, from Anna Halprin and Trisha Brown to Jennifer
Monson, DD Dorvillier, and Daniel Burkholder. Each has created a
unique style with attention to a more sensory-based compass. Whether
we want to heal from an injury, shake up the creative process, or
dance like we are fully at home in our own skin, somatics will continue
to inform the dance terrain, and dancers will be instrumental in
moving somatics into the future.
Nancy
Wozny is a Feldenkrais teacher and writer in Houston.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Dance Magazine, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group
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