Movement Background
Wendy Smith studied dance with Margaret Lasica in Melbourne and also completed a Diploma in Movement and Dance with Melbourne State College in 1986.
She went on to study with Joan Skinner In Seattle USA over a 10 year period from 1991 and has taught and used this work as a foundation for her explorations in dance, embodied anatomy and body work since that time.
She taught Kinesiology at VCAM (University of Melbourne) in the tertiary dance degree between 1997 – 2019.
Wendy was a founding member of State of Flux Dance Company 1996 – 2006. In this company she participated in research, performance and teaching of Contact Improvisation.
Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT)
Skinner Releasing Technique is a dance technique created by Joan Skinner that uses imagery and hands-on tactile studies to foster a deeper kinaesthetic experience of movement. The images used in this technique are metaphors for movement principles within natural laws of relativity. The guided poetic imagery is interwoven with music and sound that taps into the imagination, triggering spontaneous improvised movements allowing technical growth and creative process to be integrated.
Part of the classes will involve hands-on partner studies called partner graphics, where we can feel ourselves letting go of habitual holding patterns. Out of these, movement unfolds, sometimes in quiet gentle ways and sometimes surprising and inventive ways. Integration of the technical with the creative is a unique aspect of this work.
We will get to play with connecting our physicality with our imagination.
SRT is suitable for beginners as well as seasoned and professional dancers, actors, musicians, artists of all kinds, and all people interested in moving with ease.
Embodied Anatomy
In these workshops we’ll explore our anatomy through the visual, the verbal, as well as hands-on guided movement explorations.
In these sessions, you can expect to begin to understand the underlying blueprint of how we move and what physical relationships support us. We will explore moving with greater ease and suspension within the field of gravity.
Some movements and challenges of balance that once seemed quite difficult can very quickly become enjoyable places to explore and inhabit.
These workshops will allow for the application of this information in a broad range of uses from everyday movement to dancing.
All levels of experience and skill are welcome.
‘Undertaking Embodied Anatomy with Wendy is a thoughtful, intelligent and inclusive experience. She brings her girth of knowledge and love for movement to the studio, fusing the two in a manner that invites all kinds of bodies access to their own experience of embodiment and feltness. The learning supports and encourages curiosity via time taken to feel-into the body. Embodied anatomy is medicine for these difficult times, reminding us of the enduring reality and necessity of being-with our bodies’.
Paea Leach, Independent Dance Artist
for details of all upcoming workshops…
…visit our Upcoming Movement Classes & Workshops page.