As a producer and choreographer of thematic, recent choreographies, Theme & Intention, he was inspired by Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, known as ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy).

For Dance and the City, Falkner has prepared details of his choreography entitled:

Acceptance and commitment therapy

There are two motifs within ACT that I focused on:

• Personal awareness and mindfulness
• Being aware of thoughts and feelings without preconceived notions or bias

Personal awareness and mindfulness were particularly attractive motifs of ACT viewed through the lens of dance. For me, one cannot move intentionally in either a cognitive or kinesthetic way without awareness and mindfulness. To support this in the choreography, I worked to include the dancers in the choreographic process. For instance, I would ask them where they felt that a choreography phrase is taking them in the movement space. Additionally, I might ask if they felt a jump or turn would feel more natural within what had already been set. My goal was to emphasize the role mindfulness plays during the creative process to stay true to theme. This ultimately served to be an important part of the puzzle that allowed the dance to take on the artistic personality it did.

Being aware of thoughts and feelings without avoidance or bias is the second motif from ACT that I focused on. An analogy that my mother uses is that of a train platform. Trains come and go from the station just as thoughts come and go from the mind. We can observe the thoughts and feelings from our perspective on the train platform while also recognizing that they are transient. In this way, as the station allows the trains to come and go, we must also allow the thoughts to come and go. For awareness to actively shape the choreography, I challenged myself to be open to movement phrases as they came to me. Historically, I would outright think that a movement phrase wouldn’t work without properly evaluating it. This limits the creative possibilities of a choreographer since they haven’t explored the ways that a movement phrase may support their theme. In contradiction to this precedent, I worked to be open to movement phrases and styles that normally wouldn’t have been explored. My goal was to challenge my own bias and preconceived notions. While this proved difficult, it was a step that challenged me and continues to be a tool I rely on to recognize when I may be limiting myself.

ACT has served as a tool for many to explore feelings, emotions, life events, and much more. Further, it has served as a theme for me to choreograph a dance. I hope that in sharing ACT, many more may benefit from the model of thought it provides.

The choreography video can be seen here:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CVScBoFldHh/?utm_medium=copy_link

More about Falkner and his work are available from:

https://falknerdischer.com/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8G9wk8hcEO/

https://youtube.com/channel/UCO8hO9RqxP_9rYNMh2vHhrQ

More about ACT:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_and_commitment_therapy

Photo: instagram.com/Falkner Discher

Članak Falkner Discher choreographer – Inspiration in the therapeutic model se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

This text gave us the idea to do interviews with dancers from all across the world. We would like them to tell us how the dance helped them in their work and life.

The first interviewed here is a dear friend Ildikó Nádas, from Budapest, Hungary.

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF BRIEFLY FOR OUR READERS (WHERE DO YOU COME FROM, WHAT DO YOU DO FOR LIVING, WHAT ARE YOU HOBBIES AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO TELL US)

I’m a Hungarian economist working as project manager & service designer for multinational companies in the IT/Telco sector. Typical job: you are one little droid in the system, never see the results of your work.

My hobbies cover all missing colour from my work: travel & foreign politics, trekking, gardening, cooking, artworks, running, dancing, swimming and learn electricity.

SINCE WHEN YOU DANCE AND WHY? WHO WAS YOUR INSPIRATION IN DANCING?

Since I was very young I loved gimnastics, but never had the chance to take classes. In the communist era possibilities for sport in Hungary were very limited. Later in my 30’s I’ve found an adult jazz-dance class and than I’ve ended up in an adult classical ballet class (amateur level obviously).

I’ve spent approx. 6 yrs there – 2 evenings per week – and it was such a relief to work with my body again after sitting in the office for 8-10 hours. Our Master and the owner of the school is a great teacher, she loves to teach and ballet is her passion, which has made us addicted too.

What I love about ballet is that it has structure and discipline – these are necessary for the quality performance. However at the same time it teaches you to – I know it is a cliché – express yourself in a different way.  Since we are not professionals, it was quite funny to see how many „variants can we invent“ for one simple move, like a plié…. but when we’ve managed to do the exercise in harmony – it was kind of euphoria. Together we create something nice that the audience may enjoy.

WHAT HAVE YOU TAKEN AND USED IN LIFE FROM DANCING, HOW IT WAS USEFUL FOR YOU?

First of all balance. If you don’t find your perfect vertical centerline or axis, the movements will go astray. In ballet you find your balance by constantly reaching towards the sky – I know it sounds „spiri-ezo-stuff“, but that is the only way it works.

The other important „rule“ is that you start every motion from your inner core. Somehow this will make the motion whole, forceful and harmonious. As I grew older, I’ve realised that those decisions proved to be beneficial for me, that I’ve made based on my inner feelings. You somehow feel in your centre which way you have to go, but sometimes that is not logical, nor it meets the approval of others around you. Those are the blessed decisions – and those endeavours are the ones you’ve initiated from „your core“.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT DANICING AND WHY YOU RECOMMEND PEOPLE TO DANCE?

See the above. Otherwise just do what you like – as long as it doesn’t hurt/annoys anyone else, it’s fine.

http://developpe.hu/

Članak Interview – Ildikó Nádas se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.