Axis Syllabus System | Matthew Smith
Levels
A – for professional dancers only
B – requires no special preparation, for dancers of various backgroundss
Axis Syllabus
This workshop goes with a subtitle – Fascial Underground. The fascia has been described as the “Cinderella tissue” because it was thought to be unimportant and something to be discarded in Anatomy research. But NOW fascia really has come to the ball and is becoming recognised as a key “elasticy” player in how our bodies hold themselves together. More importantly, Fascia is understood to be a sensory organ, the largest in the body, gathering information of the forces passing through it and relaying that data to the brain so as to have the richest possible picture of where the body is at, at any moment.
This workshop will be about applying these new ideas on Fascia in a practical way. We will look at different methods where we can harness and encourage the trampoline like properties as well as developing a keener sense of how it shuttles forces from one part of the body to another like an underground metro. Its networks reinforce our body shielding it allowing us to bounce on the squidgy bits. We will look too at how we can make it more sensitive in its information gathering abilities.
Why to do all of that? Well fascia can share the work of the muscles so they don’t have to engage so much making your dancing lighter and easier and more fun.
The Axis Syllabus (AS) is an approach to dance and movement that is based on scientific enquiry. Rather than centering itself around aesthetic criteria it asks the question, what movement is appropriate for an entire life of moving well? Like meditators exploring the nature of mind with their own minds the AS community develops and shares ideas on safe healthy movement via experiential research. Of course this approach whilst very important and perhaps undervalued has its limits and thus the AS also incorporates an interdisciplinary approach pulling in ideas from scientific enquiry elsewhere in fields such as medicine, biomechanics, physics, sports science, and somatic approaches. Ideas are therefore not clung to because of their traditions but are simply evaluated on their relative merits and can be easily discarded if found to be false. Interestingly some of the experiential insights have found their support from these disciplines, others are still to be tested and likewise, ideas brought in have been validated with real physical experience. Consequently the AS is always in flux ever adjusting to the exponential stream of new information being added. It is a physical practice of theory deemed to be current and the best available ….. for the moment.
Biography
Matthew Smith is a dancer/teacher/choreographer from New Zealand where he worked primarily with the dance company Black Grace but also with many other NZ companies. In Europe where he now lives he has worked with Random Scream of Belgium, Carol Brown Dances of London, company Willi Dorner and theatercombinat of Austria, Impure Company of Norway, which also collaborated, with the Brazilian dance company Cena 11. Matthew performs around the world for Klaus Obermaier in “Apparition”. His own work “observing observing” was presented at S.E.A.D and at the ITS festival in Amsterdam and his first full length work “Spin” premiered this February with the Studio Contemporary Dance Company in Zagreb. When not performing he is involved in education. He has taught Pilates at P.A.R.T.S. in Belgium and with Babara Mayr at the Pilates Akademie in Vienna. He has taught contemporary technique for various companies in Europe and in the dance school S.E.A.D as well as teaching regularly at Tanzquartier Vienna. He is a teacher of the Axis Syllabus, which is an approach to movement and dance developed by Frey Faust. He is in the Masters programme at the British School of Osteopathy.