| "Release your head Paul" calls Helen Clarke Lapin. "Yeah, Im trying..." I think to myself, my head rolling over my shoulder then falling, my body cascading after it. Well, almost. The motion is a bit jerky, my neck is still a little stiff - Im nervous. Hell! Of course Im nervous. Some of the dancers I most admire are watching, and I'm only here because someone dropped out. What are they thinking? "He's no good - look at that stiff neck...I thought this was a master class...." Ok, so they can see I'm no master. So what, this is fun, who cares if my neck is stiff. Besides, here I am in Burringbar - a small town north of Byron Bay - learning contact from one of Australia's pre-emminent teachers in a small studio that smells deliciously of cut wood and varnish: I'm in contact heaven! And as if the dancing were not enough, this place, and the organisers, cater to delight and comfort us and all our senses. Meals are a special treat, made carefully by our expert chef Jan, satisfying our desperate hunger and tantalising the taste buds. For cooling off there's the swimming pool, for relaxing of any kind is the large comfortable house, and of course, tucked into the garden by the house is the bath tub - oh those starry nights! Adjacent to the house and studio is a large pond covered in green lillies, full of turtles, a few platapi, and some frogs. Surrounding it all and stretching into the distance are the languid green hills of this arcadian pocket of northern NSW... "Good Paul!" calls Helen. My jerky topple has become something smooth and controlled. Less of a fall and more like a pour of weight, starting with an extention through my head then rolling into my neck and moving down my vertabrae. |
Hey, there's head release! It's so smooth. With a loose neck the weight transfer becomes effortless. Head release, a key to good contact. Thankyou Helen, what a discovery! A little while later I come to regard this as the esscence of my Buringbar experience: moments in which I'm led to discoveries or to re-discover fundamentals of movement - and so contact. They are lessons that reinvigorate the form. The horizons I had mistakenly drawn tightly around myself, reassume their appropriate fathomless distance. New paths open up, I can again extend beyond tired and worn out habits. Contact has become exciting again. Inspiration came in heady doses at Burringbar, thanks to its calm and beauty, and also thanks to a group of dancers who despite being distinguished movers, disregarded any pretentions and committed themselves to learning dance in a lighthearted and very friendly atmosphere. And of course much was due to the high calibre of our tutor, Helen Clarke Lapin, who took the class with composed finesse. In her unassuming style she danced through exercises offering us delightful moments and images of fine movement. After dinner on the second day, pleasantly exhausted, every muscle aching, I left Burringbar. My time was up. I've sat on a couch for two days and it's felt more like five minutes. These two days however felt just short of a week. A very potent experience. Thanks to Helen, and everyone else involved in what was immensely fun and a truly valuble learning event. My contact will never be the same again... |
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e m a i l - <Proximity> |
Helen Clarke Lapin and Martin Hughes at Burringbar
Photo by Paul Roberts