Expressive Movement [Hardcover ed.] 0306432692, 9780306432699

Citation preview

Exiimm Ikmmi V

POSTURE AND ACTION IN DAILY

.

^

LIFE,

SPORTS,

AND THE

'i^

PERFORMING ARTS

ALEXANDRA ROGER

PIERCE,

PIERCE,

Ph.C^

"

$19.95

Expressive POSTURE AND ACTION DAILY

LIFE,

SPORTS,

IN

AND

THE PERFORMING ARTS ALEXANDRA

PIERCE, Ph.D.

AND

ROGER

PIERCE, Ph.D.

"You are reading these words with your body — not Just your eyes and your brain, but your whole body. The angle of your head, the depth of your breathing, the tension level of the muscles along your spine and around your mouth are parts of a pattern that is at this moment expressing your attitude and response as you read.

— From

Chapter

1

In this evocative and instructive work, Alexandra and Roger Pierce show you how you can change your habitual pattern of posture and movement and how this process can lead to improved performance as well as physical and psychological wellbeing. Based upon twenty-five years of research and teaching by the Pierces, Expressive Movement explores the basic principles of human action: balance, weight release, core support, reverberation, and phrasing. The authors explain how

movement education transforms the whole person, using examples drawn from their own experience, numerous illustrations, and pertinent references to the literature. By following the suggestions in this book, •

you can

Find your natural center of balance and learn to move with ease and confidence through all daily activities continued on back flap

Expressive

Movement

Posture and Action in Daily Life, Sports,

and

the

Performing Arts

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2012

http://archive.org/details/expressivemovemeOOpier

Expressive TSAovemeni Posture and Action in Daily Life, Sports,

and

the

Alexandra

Performing Arts

Pierce, Ph.D.

and

Roger

Pierce, Ph.D.

BOOKS

|][| INSIGHT PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Pierce, Alexandra.

Expressive arts

/

p.

movement: posture and action

in daily life, sports,

and the performing

Alexandra and Roger Pierce. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 0-306-43269-2 1. Movement RC489.M66P54

therapy.

2.

Movement, Psychology

of.

I.

Pierce, Roger.

Title.

II.

88-13600

1989

615.8'2— dcl9

CIP

10

9876543

Drawings and

© Plenum

tracings

by Roger

Pierce.

1989 Alexandra Pierce and Roger Pierce

Press

is

a

Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation

233 Spring

Street,

New

York, N.Y. 10013

All rights reserved

No in

part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

Printed in the United States of

America

To Ida Rolf

Heinrich Schenker Franz Schubert

Preface

Because the education of movement transforms the whole person,

it

embraces the ethics and aesthetics as well as the

mechanics of

activity.

This book

is designed to meet a broad spectrum of readfrom those who are looking over the field with intellectual detachment to those who wish to guide themselves through a shift in their habitual movement patterns. We have often resorted to narrative in order to keep the experiential nature of this work apparent and to suggest the

ers,

possibility for personal application.

Thomas

The

characters, including

the teacher, are fictional; their stories have been knit-

ted from our encounters in

movement

teaching.

Alexandra Pierce and Roger Pierce Redlands, California