Release Technique Analysis

Release technique is a technique that is designed to focus on breathing, skeletal alignment, joint articulation, muscle relaxation, and the use of gravity and momentum to facilitate efficient movement. (“What is Releasing?”) The body deconstructs and all its members can move separately. What is Release Technique, written by Daniel Lepkoff was an article about how Release Technique originated due from the experiences as a student of Mary Fulkerson between the years of 1970 and 1974. During these four years, he as well studied with John Rolland and Marsha Paludan and collaborating with Nancy Topf and Pamela Matt. Specific points that were discussed in this article included: bringing unconsciousness to consciousness, how the body becomes an image,
Stated from Lepkoff “Release works attempts to bring consciousness to bear on the subtle process of how we bring ourselves into motion” is a quote that allowed me to see another side of how release technique works. An exercise that I remember working on in my Introduction to Movement Therapy class that helped with this was when Professor Bailey made us write down things about ourselves in terms of cognitively, socially, physically, and emotionally. When thinking about different things about myself, I realized that the way I walk, act, talk, and handle things daily is a reaction of the way my personality is and the kind of person I am. This exercise, however, was not done in movement, but is described how my movement is and why is it that way. When improvising in class, I sometimes tend to stand back and not come off as a “show off” because my personality sometimes shows that I can be shy at times when first meeting people. Although this does occur, I as well like to get out of my habits and feel and move in different ways. I like to experience new things. Another point that I have realized is that when dancing and moving, I have become a leader in the way I chose to move. Recently, I have received comments from dancers in the freshman class where they have
Do we think about it or do we just go with the way we feel? My answer towards this was that if I am just given a song and asked to improv, I can just dance without thinking, but if I am given a task to improv around, I think more about what is coming next and how I react. I think of our mind-body as one, but others see it different. An exercise that was recalled is when Professor Bailey, in our Intro to Movement Therapy class had one person be the watcher as the other person danced. While dancing, I only moved the way my body was feeling and how my emotions were at the time. While watching my partner dance, I realized that while watching, I automatically put my feelings when how she was moving. I related it to how I felt. In the article, Mary’s view was that to change habitual movement patterns one needed to address the functioning of the whole organism. I do, however, believe that this statement is true because the older we get, the harder it is to change our daily habits and movement patterns. Although, I believe that within the three years I have been at Coker, I have changed my movement into a “new” me. I see a difference in myself. When changing our daily habits, I firmly believe that you must set your mind to accepting that you want to change so that your body can slowly follow into a new