Grand center station

Both historical and forward-looking aspects of the dance field were active in Chicago this Saturday 21. Yesterday, the MCA presented a matinee, "American Original," that outlined the artistic life of modern dance pioneer Martha Graham; while at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, visiting artist K.J. Holmes led the second day of a workshop, "Body-Mind Centering and Improvisation."

Both experiences offered a similar philosophy: Movement that originates from, or travels through, the pelvis, navel and lower spine is coherent, connected and expressive. In the Graham program, Martha Graham Dance Company artistic director Janet Eilber shared notes written by Graham about her technique of "contraction," the action of pulling the navel back to the spine, which results in curving the back and drawing energy in to the body. The opposing action, "release," sets the energy of the body out through the limbs in expansive, full-body gesture.

The power of the contraction is so eloquently elaborated in Graham famous 1930 solo Lamentation, an abstract portrait of grief performed sensitively by Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch; while the starfish shapes of the bodies careening through space in 1948's Diversion of Angels demonstrated the outward-stretchingness of joy.

At the Hamlin Fieldhouse dance studio, K.J. Holmes, a New York-based performer and teacher, led dancers through an exploration of movement originating at the navel center. "In utero, your navel was your mouth," said Holmes. "Your source of nourishment, of eating and breathing. It is still a source of energy." According to the principles of Body-Mind Centering [bodymindcentering.com], the body retains the imprints of pattens established during conception, gestation, birth and infancy and tapping into these patterns helps us to continue evolving, grounding and developing new possibilities for dance movement.

The Chicago Moving Company, the dance company in residence at Hamlin, hosted Holmes' visit to Chicago.