The
Kinetic Awareness®
Center is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to research,
education, and development in the kinetic arts and sciences.
Kinetic
Awareness®
(KA) is a guided experiential study of your unique and individual body
&
mind in relation to the fundamentals of human movement.
KA®
is a means for you to discover a non-invasive way that will make
your body strong, healthy, and flexible through the growing
exploration and understanding of the many coordinating systems
of your unique bodymind on all levels.
The Kinetic
Awareness®
Center / Kinetic Arts & Sciences was
founded in 1987 as a US-registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation
to further professional collaboration by its members and coordinate the
training of
certified teachers.
Board of
Directors:
Elaine Summers President,
Chuck Rosenberg Vice-President,
Robin Powell Ph.D Secretary
Garth
Alperstein, M.D, Frances Becker, Michelle Berne, Pearl Bowser, Meg
Chang, Ed.D,
Anne Marie Cherney, Nina D'Abracci, Leah Gitter, Davidson
Gigliotti, Pedro Lujan, Jill Green Ph.D
Kinetic Awareness®
The Ball Work®
is taught by Certified
Teachers
worldwide.
See also the NEWS-section
further down this page.
> The study of Kinetic
Awareness® can be counted for life-experience credits at SUNY
Empire State and the Gallatin
School at New York University
Please contact Dr. Robin Powell at +1-212-727-3059
a
message from the coming director of the Kinetic Awareness® Center Dr.
Jill Green MCKA
Dear Students, Teachers, Lovers and Supporters of Kinetic Awareness:
We
send this message to inform you that we are in the process of making
some changes to the Kinetic Awareness Center administration and
curriculum. The center will be moved to North Carolina and will be
under the direction of Dr. Jill Green, Master Kinetic Awareness
Teacher. We have been meeting collectively to structure the new center
and develop the curriculum and teacher training program. Elaine has
been central to this process and guides us in our planning.
We
hope to establish contact with all members of the KA community and work
on revitalizing KA membership. Please let us know if we have your
correct e-mail address or contact information. With membership to the
Kinetic Awareness Center, you will receive 2 newsletters per year,
access to the Kinetic Awareness databease, access to KA events
occurring throughout the country and world, and an opportunity to help
support the KA activities and workshops being conducted by teachers and
researchers in all aspects of the application of KA.
Please tell
us what you have been doing for the last five years, and send articles,
photos, and announcements for the newsletter to us by August 1st.
As
part of the new training program, KA certification candidates are
required to pay membership dues of $50.00 a year to the Kinetic
Awareness Center. Dues for certified teachers are also
$50.00/year. We
ask for $25.00 a year from all KA supporters.
Please send any
material for the newsletter to Jill at the address below. Checks for
membership dues can be made out to the Kinetic Awareness Center. If you
have an e-mail address please send us a message kineticawareness@gmail.com
Jill Green
The Kinetic Awareness Center
P.O. Box 435
Browns Summit, NC 27214
U.S.A.
This
project has been realised with grants from the Fleur Groenendijk
Foundation
and the Municipality of the
City of Rotterdam, Cultural
Outreach Programme,
in
collaboration with the Elaine
Summers Dance
& Film Archives.
March 2010 New work
by originator Elaine Summers:
plus: a meeting
towards the new certificationTeacher
Training Program - updates will follow soon!
classes
& workshops in Europe
January & February 2010
Barbara
Mueller (MCKA) and Christina Kleisiouni Kinetic
Awareness® and Contact Improvisation
Sunday, January 24th, 9.30-15.30, Athens Greece
Ellen
Saltonstall (MCKA) workshop
Kinetic Awareness® and Anusara Yoga in France & the Netherlands
• Thursday, February 18th, Paris
for more info contact Simon Pyrke
simonpyrke [a] noos.fr
• Sunday, February 21st, Centrum Djoj, Rotterdam (NL)
for more
information in the Netherlands click here
Realized as part of the Kinetic Awareness®
International Exchange Program
photo:
Thomas Körtvélyessy
New book
co-written by Senior Master Teacher Ellen Saltonstall
(MCKA)
now available!
An all-encompassing book about Yoga for Arthritis. Comprehensive, clear
and direct knowledge - Yoga
excercises that relieve pain and
develop flexibility for specific problems of arthritis.
You can buy it
here.
"I highly recommend it. Bravo! "
Elaine Summers
Ellen Saltonstall
also wrote the classic primer on Kinetic Awareness®
which is currently out of print.
To place a paid reservation or donate for the re-print please contact the Kinetic
Awareness® Center or call +1-212-925-0142
originator Elaine Summers
"Invitation to Secret Dancers"
Stuyvesant Cove Park / Solar House 1
New York City, 2005
originator of the ball work
Elaine
Summers , MA, MIT-CAVS
is back to teaching private sessions
EXPLORE
THE LOVE OF A LIFETIME ... YOUR
INFINITE WAYS TO MOVE WITHOUT PAIN AND THE
WONDERFUL CREATIVE DANCER WITHIN YOU
To make an
appointment with Elaine call +1-212-925-0142
(left to right) Master
teachers Frances Becker and Alexandra Ogsbury
photography: Paula Court
Kinetic
Awareness®
in Europe:
Greece: Kinetic Awareness®
Study Athens started by Barbara Mueller, MCKA,
teaching workshops and classes, alsoin
Vienna,
Austria. For more information and bio, click here
Ukraine:
Master-Class in Odessa by Thomas
Körtvélyessy, CKA
on invitation of cultural NGO KusiCreaVision
click
here to read the article about the first KA® class
ever taught in Ukraine.... (in Ukrainian)
Kinetic
Awareness®
and performance
The 5th phase - selections 2009 / 2008
March
28th, 2009
Elaine Summers
Dance & Film Co.
show the intermedia presentation
"Making Rainbows"
the results of over 40 years of
Kinetic Awareness®,blending
film and dance into a new medium of its own kind
March 28th, starting 7pm Anthology Film Archives, New York
for more information click
here
November
3rd, 2008
Intermedia public event
by Elaine Summers.
Dancers: Kiori Kawai, Jessica Higgins, Joanna R
Steinberg, Joshua Selman and Mark Lanham
Thanks to Bari's Cafe on the north west corner of Broadway and Spring
street, as well as Artist Organized Art
Elaine was extremely happy with the result and
hopes to develop the piece into a new piece called "Galumphing".
Rotterdam (NL)
July 16th/17th
Thomas Körtvélyessy /
Reàl Dance Company
dedicated to Elaine
Summers and the memory of "Energy Changes" with its historic
performance at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, 1973
with
thanks to Amy Gale / Dansateliers,
Rotterdam
for studio- & office support
This project has been made possible by an encouragement-grant of the
Municipality of Rotterdam, Department of Arts and Culture, as part of
"Action Plan Cultural (Out)Reach"
commissioned by Lincoln Center for
Lincoln
Center Out-of-Doors 2007
performers:
Pauline Oliveros & musicians, Alison Knowles, Carman Moore
& musicians, SHUA
Group, Kiori Kawai, Taketo Shimada, Dale Andree, Anne Hurley,
Harriet Bograd, Jessica
Higgins, Meg Chang &
many, many, many more
joined through 6
multiple video-projections by
the dancers
recorded on the original video of Flowing Rocks / Still Waters
(1986)
for a complete listing
of all performers & production staff
+ the forthcoming
video-trailer click
here to visit the project-page,
on www.elainesummersdance.com
CLICK
HERE
TO READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT ELAINE SUMMERS INCLUDING "HIDDEN FOREST"BY
THOMAS KORTVELYESSY
RELAXATION
| DANCE | THE BALL WORK® Learn
to use and understand your BodyMind connection
Come
join Elaine to learn the Ball Work®:
537
Broadway 2nd Floor (Ring
bell #2 Harvey Gallery, between Prince and Spring Strs.)
Elaine Summers' Dance
Company at the Place Theatre, London 1972
Invitation to Secret
Dancers @ Stuyvesant Cove Park 2005 - photo by Kenneth Klein
Enjoy
the love that lasts a lifetime.
Dance in the water, on the stage, in the park, under the sun, the moon,
or in the sky
Kinetic
Awareness®
includes: The Ball Work®,
experiential anatomy,
alignment and other tools of discovering and understanding the wisdom
of your body.
Understand
your very own dance technique and enjoy the endless
possibilities
of your body to dance.
Private
Sessions in Kinetic Awareness®
with originator Elaine Summers
by appointment.
Come do the Ball Work®
and dance with Elaine!
For
more info Call Elaine at +1-212-925-0142
or email elaine@skytime.org
Understanding
your kinetic being,
mentoring in choreography and your own kinetic imagination.
Private sessions can help you to understand
and discover your own ways to work with
long standing difficulties and injuries.
"The
other night I spent a long time working on my legs with the balls,
Keith Jarret improvising on piano, cool summer breeze in luminescent
dusk.
Sometimes I just have to consult my legs to know who I am. I
am so grateful for your work and the sensibility it evokes!"
-Viki
Rosen, Vermont
Elaine
Summers 537 Broadway #2 New York, NY 10012
For all inquiries call Elaine at +1-212-925-0142
Credit
given toward Kinetic Awareness®
Certification:
-
NYU Gallatin Div. & Empire State College SUNY by Dr. Robin
Powell +1-212-
- North Carolina Univ. Greensboro, NC by Dr. Jill Green
INVITATION TO SECRET DANCERS: 5th phase of
Kinetic Awareness
KINETIC AWARENESS is a way to discover and understand the dancer that
you are and enjoy the chance to dance. Join us by the riverside.
Here are some pictures from the performance. All the wonderful photos
below by Jeff Fox
CEC Stuyvesant Cove presents INVITATION
TO SECRET DANCERS, a dance/film performance by Judson Dance
Theatre's Elaine Summers. The performances will be held at the Solar
1, an environmental arts and education center located in
Lower Manhattan's Stuyvesant Cove Park. Original sound compositions by
Carman Moore and Skyfriends will accompany.
WHERE: SOLAR 1: 23rd St & the
East River
WHEN: Saturday June 18th (rain date
June 19th) - 3pm, 5pm & 7pm
Saturday June 25th (rain date June 26th) - 5pm, 7pm & 9pm
WHO: Marion Ramirez (25th), Harriet
Bograd, Daniel Sklar, Nancy Barber, Tina Erfer, Pearl Bowser, Meg Chang,
Elissa White, Josh Bissett, Laura Quattrocchi, Rob Cook (Australia),
Rebecca Loukes (London), Jung Woong Kim, Kiori Kawai (solo: Goddess of
the Sea), Richard Jochum, Leeny Sack
MUSIC:
SKY ENSEMBLE
Composer: Carman Moore
Performers: Marianna Rosett, Premik Russell Tubbs
Invitation to Secret Dancers is an
improvisational dance choreographed by Elaine Summers which has been
performed in many places and countries by many people, including the
Karlsplatz, Vienna, Australia, London, Rome, Woodstock, NYC and all
over the U.S.A.
Thomas
Körtvélyessy in the Netherlands:
In
2004 Thomas Körtvélyessy / Reàl
Dance Company performed his version of Invitation to Secret Dancers
in Arnhem and Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as part of the ongoing
project con·sens·us
performers: Eva Tremel, Thomas Körtvélyessy
guest choreographer and dancer: Meredith Nadler
musician: Pierre Verbeek
curator Rotterdam: Daniela Swarowsky
curator Arnhem: Corien van der Poll
artist-manifestation 'Plein Publiek' Kronenburg shopping center, Arnhem
- September 2004
artist-in-residency at ZiM Rotterdam, Netherlands - October 2004
Kinetic
Awareness®
is a system of body discovery and therapy that calls attention to the
simplest components of movement and explores emotional attitudes toward
the body. Because one of its special features is the use of graduated
rubber balls to enhance body awareness and release excess muscular
tension, Kinetic Awareness®
is often affectionately referred to as "the ball work".
The
complete course of study takes several years and has five parts:
By
the end of the
first phase, the student has become aware of each part of
the body and is able to articulate it. It should be possible to move
each part of the body slowly and with little tension.
In
the
second phase, one becomes aware of total body systems such
as breathing, circulation, tension, etc. The student should be able to
articulate slowly and with little tension more than one part of the
body simultaneously.
At
the end of the
third phase, the student should be able to change speeds
and move extremely slowly through all his/her speeds to the very most
rapid.
The
fourth phase incorporates the first three phases and adds
to them the ability to change tension levels at will, from minimum to
maximum tension.
The
fifth
phase combines the previous four and adds the
ability to relate to another person and be aware of them in a
performance.
The
Kinetic
Awareness®
Center's present project is, through study and research,
to discover and describe the parameters (possibilities and limitations)
of the human movement system's ability to maintain health, to implement
injury prevention, and to discover the kinds of injuries which can
recuperate through movement and by understanding the limitations and
the effectiveness of the body's
own kinesthetic ability to heal injuries.
Kinetic Awareness®
as a system of discovery of the body/mind's integration and
understanding of the language of the body is now over 35 years in
practice. We have been keeping both experiential and empirical records
of the abilities, effectiveness and limitations of the body's movement
systems in healing, protecting and maintaining health.
We
wish to sustain exchange between other systems of work, study, and
research. There are many systems that view through different facets
effective ways of understanding the human body's kinesthetic power.
Who
originated Kinetic Awareness®?
Kinetic Awareness®
was developed by dancer/choreographer Elaine Summers in the 1960's. Her
dance career was interrupted at an early age when she began to show
symptoms of osteoarthritis, a potentially crippling disease of the
joints. As a result, she became interested in learning how to move
without pain so that she could continue dancing. During this period,
she studied with Carola Speads, whose system of Physical Re-education
evolved from the work of bodywork innovator, Elsa Gindler.
Summers
developed a system of body and mind coordination based on listening to
and understanding the language of the body. Through experimentation,
she evolved the technique of using various sizes of rubber balls to
assist in making positive changes in the body. Kinetic Awareness® as
a technique for dance is the basis of her choreography. She has been
honored by many grants and her work has been presented internationally.
After performing and teaching in New York for many years, Summers
established the Kinetic Awareness®
Center in 1987 to continue her work.
"The work
is an everyday living and working tool. You learn to internalize an
awareness, an understanding of everything about the inside of your
body." —Tony
Nunziata, Actor
Who
Benefits from Kinetic Awareness®?
...dancers,
actors, musicians and artists who wish to increase their
technical and expressive range.
...educators,
psychotherapists and health professionals who are integrating
the kinetic language of the body with the language of the emotions.
...kinetic
techniques of developing a feeling of well-being through
understanding how to regain energy , lessen and/or eliminate chronic
pain.
...people
who want to heal existing injuries and avoid future ones.
…a
gentle way to develop coordination, physical self-confidence due to
history of abuse, eating disorders, or addictions
"Spending
most of my life as a brain in a jar, I was shocked to discover I had a
living, feeling body, glorious and painful. I am no longer willing to
ignore it." —Sara
Friedman, Writer
Congratulations
to Trisha Brown for her elegant new book:
"Dance and Art in Dialogue 1961-2001"
Amazon link,
Barnes and Noble link
U.S. DANCE AND VISUAL ARTS; COMPOSING STRUCTURE
BY Marianne Goldberg essay pages 29 to 44
Brown released the
dancer's "set," a particular tensile way of holding the body in the
forties and fifties, which she had learned through studies at Mills and
at the Merce Cunningham Studio after she arrived in New York in 1961.
Through Alexander and also intensive, long-term study of another
emerging form, Kinetic Awareness, founded by the Judson choreographer
and filmmaker Elaine Summers, Brown began to initiate movement from
very different kinesthetic knowledge. These newly surfacing somatic
ideas offered alternatives to how to hone her body for dancing. She
shed the stylized use of her muscles and the tensile alertness through
the spine and skin. Focusing instead on subtleties of elegant, relaxed
alignment of her spine and limbs, she moved with ease and a spatial
clarity that stemmed from innovative inner imagery. Brown looks at home
physically in these moves, and a different virtuosity and creativity
emerged, grounded in anatomically clear and efficient action. New
sensations, perceptions, and energy developed within her body and
between body, space, time, and geometry. These changes became a
technical breakthrough for dance in America. They separated many in the
sixties and seventies generation from others who stayed with Cunningham
or Graham techniques. Brown's in-depth new studies did become major
catalysts for creating her own movement. When she formed her company in
the early seventies, she chose performers who also reconceived the
human structure and the meaning of physical skill.
Published
by the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover,
Mass., 2002. Page 30
Photo Credit: Paula Court
Pictured: KA® Teachers and dancers, Carol King, Meg
Dellenbaugh, Frances Becker, and Patricia Lenore.
About Elaine Summers: originator of Kinetic Awareness (the
ball work)
MA. NYU, MIT (Center for Advanced Visual Studies) Fellow, Fulbright
Scholar…
"There
are many applications and levels of Summers' Kinetic Awareness work.
Most individuals, including those who eventually incorporate Kinetic
Awareness into their own work, initially come to study because they
have an injury or other problem with their bodies. Training and
maintaining the body is the central concern of dancers and the reason
why many major dancers in New York have ended up on Summers' floor. KA
does not substitute one system of movement for another, but by learning
how the body works-physically, physiologically and
psychologically---students can reclaim their bodies as their own.
…Trisha Brown believes all dancers should study with Summers
because of the sensitivity to the body Summers' training imparts and
Summers' ability to analyze error in dance movement.
-By
Ann-Sargent Wooster
The Drama Review DANCE/MOVEMENT ISSUE VOL. 24 #4
"Summers
uses anatomy and kinesiology to help students connect their subjective
experiences with objective understanding of physical structure and
function…. KINETIC. AWARENESS should find a place in every
body therapist's library and in the classrooms of movement
educators…".
-Prof.
Martha Myers, book review of "Kinetic Awareness: Discovering Your
Body/Mind"
by Ellen Saltonstall, in KINESIOLOGY AND MEDICINE FOR DANCE
Spring-Fall, 1991
or
read more on 
