Dance without Fear 舞者無懼

ART.ZIP: What is your approach to teaching?

HY: Choreographing autobiography is my PhD research topic. I was also trained as a dance movement therapist many years ago, alongside forming a career as a dancer and creator. I feel that in order for dance students to be able to reach their potential, with the way we are living in the West, people want to express themselves to their maximum. However, I felt that I needed to find different ways to teach people how to use their bodies, and how to express themselves, really their own individual voice. I trained with quite strict techniques as well as trained as a Graham teacher – which is very specific modern dance technique. I realised that when I teach very strict techniques, I basically eliminated the possibilities of my students. They have to learn a language, which might not fit their bodies. Their bodies can do amazing things, however this technique might not enable them to know that. So I wanted to find a way that I can tag each student, or group of students, and give them information, to then let them explore by themselves, of course with a flavour of techniques. This way they can understand their body, and movement and understand their basic aim, the relationship with the floor, the space, the gravity – they explore by themselves, so I don’t need to give them all the answers. I think this benefits them very much, even for professional dancers that I train in this very specific way, because it gives them the responsibility to re-learn. For people who’ve never danced before, or people who are just starting to dance, it gives them the freedom to explore without the fear of doing something right or wrong.

flying 15 copySA: What is great about Hagit’s approach is that improvisation become accessible to everybody, either beginner dancer or professional. Because it’s up to you, you have to be more poetic in the class – it’s about experiencing what you want to achieve and how to challenge yourself. It’s being offered something, and not having something imposed on you, and somehow I think that allows everybody to maximise their potential. Schools in England are starting to realise how important this technique is, alongside Cunningham and Graham and other stylised techniques; it’s free of approach, which requires, I think, more creative and mental input from both the teacher and the students than just learning a language.

HY: You have to constantly challenge yourself, you have to constantly want to achieve something. If you want to improve, it’s your responsibility. I find it very important. Especially in the western world, it doesn’t allow you to be lazy when processing material. I also think that many people have fears of dancing. There are a lot of people who are afraid to go to dance classes because they feel they can’t dance. Or a lot of dancers who are so over-trained, they are afraid to do other techniques, it’s like they lost their own voice. I believe in challenging the dancers in a nice way, positive, I am still being very physical and challenging but in a fun way – where people can try and fail and try again. I don’t believe so much in being right or wrong. And I also don’t believe in failing.

SA: I think Hagit’s method could be related to her training in dance therapy, I think this is hugely important in understanding the psychology of a group or an individual. They are not just the bodies, they are not just one of 30 people training. Everybody is different, you need to understand how people work and behave, how to bring the best out of people. I wish more teachers would direct and train in that way, because when you are working with your body, it’s so important to understand psychology as well.

ART.ZIP: 您能介紹一下您的教學方法嗎？

HY: 自傳式編舞是我的博士研究課題。在很多年前我受訓成為一名舞蹈治療師，同時也是舞者和編舞。我認為要讓學生能夠更好地發揮他們的潛能，要聯繫他們自身的生活，在西方，人們都渴望表達自己。但我覺得我需要做的是尋找不同的方式來引導人們，讓他們運用自己的肢體作為自己獨立的聲音來表達自己。我受訓的時候是運用非常嚴謹規範的舞蹈技巧來培訓成為格雷厄姆式的教師（Granham）。可是我發現教這麼特定的舞蹈技巧從根本上抹殺了很多學生的可能性。他們很可能學了一種並不適合他們自身的舞蹈語言。我們的身體可以做很多令人驚奇的事，但是這些特定的舞蹈技巧可能並不利於幫助學生了解這一點。所以我希望能夠做到因材施教，引導他們如何運用舞蹈技巧來進行自我探索和發展。這樣他們可以逐步了解自己的身體，肢體運動及其基本目的，他們與地面、空間和地心引力之間的關係，學生們可以自主地進行探索，我並不需要給他們全部的答案。我想這樣對他們很有好處，就算是對於專業舞者我也用這樣的方式，因為他們有責任進行自我學習。對於那些從來沒有舞蹈經驗的人，或者剛開始接觸舞蹈的人，這樣的教學可以讓他們更自由地去探索舞蹈，而不用害怕哪裡做錯了。

SA: 我認為海吉特的方式是很值得推薦的，即興表演對於每個人都是可行的，不論是初學者還是專業舞者。因為這完全是靠自己把握的過程，在課堂上你需要運用詩意的思維方式來進行探索，這是一個自我體驗和自我挑戰的過程。這是被給予的過程，而不是把什麼強加在身上，我覺得這樣可以讓每個人都能盡可能地發揮自身的潛能。英格蘭的院校現在開始意識到這種技巧的重要性，它和坎寧安、格雷厄姆等風格是同等重要的；我認為這種自由的方式對於教師和學生來說都需要更多創意和精神投入，而不僅僅是作為一種語言來學習。

HY: 你需要不斷挑戰自己，需要有渴望達到某種目的的欲望。如果你想要提高，你就必須這樣做。我認為這很重要，特別是在西方世界，在提煉學習的過程中不允許懶惰。我還發現人們對於舞蹈有一種恐懼。很多人害怕去舞蹈課的原因是他們覺得自己不會跳舞。還有很多舞者他們已經被過度訓練了，他們害怕嘗試其他舞蹈技巧，就好像害怕會丟掉自己的語言一樣。我相信用一個友好的、積極的方式來對待舞者會更有效，我還是會在舞蹈技巧上挑戰他們，但是用一種更有意思的方式，他們可以進行多種嘗試，一種不行就再嘗試另一種。我認為沒有什麼對的或錯的，我不認同失敗這一說法。

SA: 我覺得海吉特的教學方法和她早期的舞蹈治療訓練有關。我認為了解個人或群體的心理是至關重要的。他們不僅僅是肉體，他們不是三十人中其中一個人的訓練。每個人都是獨特的，你需要了解人們的行為舉止，如何把他們最好的一面帶動出來。我希望更多教師能注意到這點並運用這樣的方式引導學生，因為你是和自己的身體合作的，所以了解人的心理是很重要的。


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