2/23/2026 - Week 7 / Meeting 12: Guest Teacher Yael Schweitzer / Creative Dance Art or Therapy

 

 

Guest Teacher Yael Schweitzer

1. Intro
    
2. Sensing: Connecting with your body, with your breath, with the space.
    
3. Moving:
    
   A)Walking around the room and make a stop to face another person.
    
   B) Warm Up (In Mettler's language it is Tunning Up and Tunning In).
    
   • Individuation
    
   Stretching, different body parts, try to see what is true for your at this movement, feel free to use the floor. Try to open eyes as looking to your body parts and then try with eyes closed. Some people are twisting and bending, so let us add that to your exploration. Try to see what kind of movement are coming out for you, if you are trying something you have not tried before.  
    
   Try rolls with your hands, your neck, your body in general, with eyes closed and eyes open. It is OK to just enjoy this movement. Sense different body parts as you roll. Now will go into undulating. Give more movement to it to transition into swinging. Try to swing all body parts. Let us try now kicking, pulling and pushing. Try all body parts. Now, let us move into bouncing, you can add low jumps. You can try all body parts. From this we go into flopping and dropping. Let us add shaking and add sound to it. Let us add resting, which is part of movement. Stillness is part of movement. 
    
   C. Feedback. Yael, this is a very  unique warm , it connects us with the possibilities of moving differently. 
    
4. Individual Exploration:
    
   We will now allow movement that has a different direction. We invite the body to move using individual exploration. There are small pauses in between, like it happens with music. We will explore these pauses and movement impulses by waiting for the movement to happen. It is listening to the body to sense what the body wants to do. Try, as much as you can to allow the movement to be organic and authentic. The pause we make was called by Mettler creative or mindful pause. 
    
   Let us start standing up, when you are ready, allow one movement. One thing that can help us with this is closing our eyes. It helps us to connect with ourselves. Invite your whole body to participate. Allow you body to engage with movement you have not done in a long time. Stay with it; we are going to extend the pause a little more. Bring it to a pause and hold the last position. That helps to sense your body and your movement. Now we will use our breath as an indicator of our pause and our movement. So, you inhale when you pause and and exhale when you move.Now we will use the Tibetan bells to move. E start with a pause and then you move, when the bell rings you pause, then move when the bell rings again. Feedback 
    
5. Interactive Improvisation: 
    
   We look with the whole body, not just the eyes. We will speak with each other with the body. We will work in pairs. In dance movement therapy is an issue. We did not touch. You will do one movement improvisation at a time. Decide who makes the first move.
    
   Demonstration: A makes one move, B relates to it. Even if you are not looking at each other, you can sense your partner's move. There is not right or wrong. Start by facing each other. When you are ready you can start.
    
   6) Closing:
    
   Popcorn: Back to the Circle. Each student (randomly) says one word that summarizes their experience with the class.