Finding your spine: Augusta Moore blends Feldenkrais[R] and ballet.

Augusta Moore is director of ballet for the ODC School in San Francisco, CA. As a young dancer, she studied with Maria Tallchief and became a member of her Chicago City Ballet, where she was partnered by Jacques D'Amboise. Moore's later teachers were Lupe Serrano, Benjamin Harkarvy, Alonzo King, and Yehuda Maor. She began her teaching career after retiring from the San Francisco Ballet in 1987. She is also a certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method[R], and has taught, directed, and choreographed for a number of organizations, including Ballet Frankfurt. Editor Karen Hildebrand spoke to her about her approach to teaching ballet and how she uses Feldenkrais concepts when working with dancers.

KH: You have quite an accomplished background in ballet. When did Feldenkrais come into the picture?

One of the teachers that doesn't get mentioned in my bio is Annette Atwood. She was a physical therapist in Minneapolis who taught ballet. I studied anatomy and kinesiology with her when I was 18. She helped me develop my eye toward alignment. I had very bad sciatica at the time. After retiring from SFB, I started teaching "Augusta's weird class"--I didn't know what to call what I was doing. I was taking Feldenkrais classes but I had a lot of other influences. I trained for my certification in 1992-1996 with Paul Ruben and Julie Casson. They were students of [founder] Moshe Feldenkrais.

KH: What is it about Feldenkrais that interests you as a ballet teacher?

Feldenkrais gives students a tool for sensing themselves rather than relying on the two-dimensional visual experience of the mirror, or the possible comment of the teacher.

KH: Many come to Feldenkrais later in life or after injury. But you introduce it in beginning ballet classes and use the concepts to coach healthy professional dancers. Why?

It will help you address core body issues that you can't get to through ballet. I don't use Feldenkrais just to prevent injuries. It's also about getting your prime performance. I'm concerned with making artists.

KH: Can you give an example of how Feldenkrais supports that goal?

I went to a Feldenkrais conference once, and every workshop that I signed up for was somehow involved with the pelvic clock [the name of a common Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement[R] lesson]. I just accidentally signed up for all these similar workshops. But when I got back to ballet class the next week, I had a triple attitude turn. And I thought 'what is this?' I realized I had never really been to the number seven on my pelvic clock in my attitude turn on my right leg. My ballet teacher said, "I thought you'd been working on this for weeks." I said, "That wouldn't have done any good. It was the pelvic clock for a week."

KH: How do you bring the Feldenkrais concepts into ballet class?

I introduce a theme before starting the barre and take whatever time I need to do that. So I'll teach an Awareness Through Movement lesson or sometimes I'll teach a brief concept for 10 minutes or so (it might be something taken from an ATM lesson). The essence of an ATM is that you understand the feeling. You have to understand how YOU do it. It sounds so obvious, but it's really not. I encourage my students not to listen to me at first. To not respond to my corrections because I think they respond before they feel. Then they become layered with corrections. This is the nightmare: layers of compensation that develop.

KH: So, the Feldenkrais lessons help dancers address this?

Feldenkrais has a concept called cross-motivation, where a person is not fully aware that they are holding onto the muscles and posture of a previous movement. When they go to another movement without letting go, the range of motion is limited. For example, you're in a back bend and your vertebrae are in slight extension. Then you go to do a somersault. This is why people hurt their necks doing somersaults. The back is not helping with the roundness.

KH: Your students seem to take their own pace with a combination out of time with the rest of the class. Why do you allow that?

People live in their own very personal musical rhythm. What often happens in dance class is that they can't match their rhythm to the rhythm of the class. That's why I let people be late for the count when they're first learning. It's more important that they be present in a room full of people and find their spine. As they get more comfortable with that, I begin enforcing them to be in my rhythm.

KH: On Saturday, you stopped and asked the class to notice where their tendu comes from.

Yes, my question is, what's the first thing you mobilize? I want them to not let the teacher's correction be more important than their own body. I try to give them an internal sense of themselves. My goal is for them to never need a teacher. I want them to have their own sense of feedback.

KH: Can you give an example of a Feldenkrais concept that can help a ballet dancer?

Stand on the back of your heel. Now stand on the front of your heel. Back of the ball. Front of the ball. Most people are dancing on the back of the heel. The foot is like the Golden Gate Bridge. You have one pile-on and another pile-on and another pile-on. The problem is most people are only standing on one pile-on and they don't get to use the suspension part of the bridge.

KH: Do you ever get students who object to your approach?

Sure. But most people are happy to find out about themselves. I'm trying to get the students to be self-interested. You can hide in ballet and not be self-interested. I think ballet is rejuvenating and wonderful if you do it with awareness.

KH: Why would you recommend that dance teachers consider studying the Feldenkrais Method?

Feldenkrais is a recovery for yourself as a teacher. Teaching is hard on your body. You're not warmed up and you're not thinking of yourself. You just throw yourself up there and do it. And you'll be less bored. How often do you think, 'I cannot do another tendu.' Practicing Feldenkrais will make you more inventive.

Ballet technique is nothing without you, the dancer. You bring it to life. How do you keep your personal voice and your artistic integrity within the codified technique? That's what Feldenkrais is for me. It helps me bring ballet to life.

For more information about The Feldenkrais Method, visit www.feldenkrais.com.