GRACE

GRACE: A NEW DANCE FORM

I want to share with you some ideas I have been developing about dance that have yielded very positive results for myself in my dancing, performing and actually everything!

This all began in the fall of 2025 when I decided on a whim to apply for a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. I knew at the time that I would probably not be chosen and indeed I was not, but the application process itself was so positive that it didn’t matter one bit.

As part of the application, I had to submit a project proposal for use of their New York studios. The project I decided upon was to develop a new form of dance, a style which is good for the body, especially one which is good for the joints. I have been focusing on defining the elements of this new dance form every day since. It is a work in progress but it is yielding amazing results for me.

I have named this new dance form GRACE.
Its symbol is an upside-down tree in silhouette.

Why is a new dance form needed?

The condition of our joints determines more about our wellbeing after the age of 50 than any other factor. It determines whether our lives are full of pain, stiffness and even surgeries like joint replacements or years packed with vitality and satisfaction and enjoyment of life. The difference is often determined by the state of the health of our joints, especially our knees and our lower back.

Unfortunately, traditional dance technique, and in fact most fitness modalities, stress the joints, increasing tension, compression, overuse and duress. In and of itself, that is not a problem. It’s to be expected that we as dancers use our bodies strongly. The problem is that there is often little time set aside for rest, release and reversal of the stress engendered. Over time the stress becomes chronic, ultimately leading to serious issues later.

(It is not just fitness technique that stresses the joints. Sitting on the sofa watching TV for 2 hours does too. Inactivity is terrible for your joints. That's why we all feel so stiff when we go to get up.)

What does GRACE do? How is it good for our joints?

GRACE has as its primary goal to expand the joints, creating space within them: When that happens something quite amazing occurs. The tissues in the joints have a chance to rest and heal, and they do! This is especially effective for the spine. But there is another benefit that comes with this as well: the mind and body also relax and we become happier.
GRACE is not a replacement for what you currently do: It is instead an adjunct, a supplement used to enhance your dance expression and health. These are not ideas about how to put new combinations together. They are ideas about ways to dance ones you already know in new and exciting ways.
GRACE does not offer physical training: You come to GRACE with a body trained in any way you like, using any dance style or fitness technique to develop the strength and agility needed. GRACE is a method which heightens those instead of providing them.
The elements of GRACE can be applied to any physical genre like weight lifting, swimming, aerial yoga and especially simply walking. They are also very helpful for the older population in fall management and in enhancing everyday tasks.
The elements can be used together or independently. And you may certainly find yourself adding to the list below as you discover how GRACE can affect you and your body. In other words, nothing here is written in stone. It is a developing theory.
Many GRACE elements actually come from other sources. Ballet for example stresses extending through the joints. So does Yoga. However, ballet is a stress-based technique. Yoga on the other hand is one of the few fitness methods which is wonderful for the joints.

There are 3 natural audiences these ideas benefit:

Dancers who are older as well as dancers who have had injuries. Basically, anyone who wants to reverse the stressful effects of dance and aging and extend their careers.
Dancers of any age who want to avoid future decline because of misuse.
Anyone older from the general population who wants to experience life safely and more fully.

The elements of GRACE: All of these features enhance joint health.

Each of these elements enhance our dance and can be implemented individually. Employ all and creativity plus ability are greatly enhanced.

1) Awareness.
2) The most beneficial type of joint movement.
3) Improve proprioception, particularly of the feet.
4) Stretch through the joints.
5) Engage the body fully.
6) Do not stop at the end of combinations.
7) Suspend the spine from the nape of the neck.
8) Form your energy along your body’s natural path.

Many of these concepts overlap, some significantly. But each offers a unique perspective which is valuable. The last two are the most important and were developed after the application was submitted.

My background in 3 areas helps explain how GRACE was developed.

I have trained in dance for over 50 years, studying a number of different styles intensely. I am an active dancer at the age of 82, practicing and performing extensively.
I have also trained deeply in the energy sciences during that time. It is the basis of my dance life. The last 25 years I have been studying Reiki, becoming a Reiki Master in 2005.
For 25 years I have worked with seniors, teaching thousands of classes in exercise for those older as well as writing over 100 articles on the effects of aging. I have also produced a DVD series to help those older improve their balance and avoid falls. Being 82, I personally encounter the process of aging and have a unique perspective about how to manage it well.

GRACE elements in detail:

Foundation Elements:

1) Awareness.

I am particularly interested in the type of awareness that involves noticing the effects movement has on the body. Once aware of any tension or stress in choreographies, classes or dance styles, you are in the position to do several things:

Determine whether the stress engendered dissipates quickly on its own, remains but resolves with follow-up exercises or digs in and becomes chronic.
Release the tension soon after it has been acquired and continue practice with renewed purpose and from a stronger position.
Learn what it is about the movement which produces the stress in the first place and modify your behavior to reduce it. Often that involves engaging the core more substantially.

My own dance habits have changed: I have now gotten into the habit of becoming aware in this way frequently as I practice. I have learned how to distinguish the sensation of tension in the hips versus the lower back, an important distinction which often determines next steps. I also examined my typical warm up process and discovered the best order in which to proceed based on how my body reacts to each exercise. So, for example, I learned to practice the smooth isolations of belly dance after intense ballet balance practice. The tightness ballet introduces in the hips is reversed by the smooth motion of isolations.

Everyone experiences stress differently. Comparisons are not important. Your own feelings and sensations are. Try not to judge them but simply become aware of them.

2) The most beneficial type of joint movement.

Joint Circling: I have been teaching circling the joints in my seniors' exercise classes for 25 years. This method is helpful especially for mature, injured or stressed joints. I have found that circling has amazing recuperative effects. It moves the joint thoroughly yet safely when executed in small sensitive movements. One of the ways circling is so important is that it can produce profound release.

Joint release is rarely taught and it is extremely important: The muscles surrounding the joint can do only 3 things: contract (tighten), stretch or release. In dance, and in life, we primarily tighten our muscles. Sometimes we stretch them (not enough) but we almost never release them. That means the associated joints never release either. You might think that sleep or inactivity would provide release but in reality, both tighten our muscles and joints because we are not moving for extended periods. Release is not generally taught in most fitness modalities.

Positive effect of release: With circling, the joint relaxes along with surrounding muscles and tissues. This release has a very positive effect in improving circulation and nervous system response through the joint. That in turn reduces inflammation, resulting in joint health improvement. Joint release is an excellent preparation for stretch, making stretching far safer and more effective.

Joint circling is a primary tool used throughout GRACE techniques.

Sequential effect:

The nervous system has an intriguing capability: It operates in sequence. A nerve ending is stimulated and it in turns stimulates other nearby nerve endings and they in turn do as well until an entire action is undertaken in sequence. We recognize sequential activity in several ways in GRACE.

Sequential release: When a joint in the body experiences profound release, it often triggers adjacent joints to release as well and so on and so on. This continues along the body's path, from joint to joint. When it occurs in the spine it can be quite breathtaking, with the entire spine relaxing in sequence. Sequential spinal release is central to the power of GRACE technique. It is described in more detail in #7. Similar sequential reactions take place with stretching as well as engagement as you will see. Being aware of this as you are experiencing it is really quite thrilling and I encourage you to pay attention.

3) Improve proprioception, particularly of the feet.

Proprioception is the body's ability to sense its own movement, action, and location in space: It is an especially potent contributor to balance when applied to the feet. Basically, it is the awareness of how your feet sense their surroundings. It is one of 3 senses which contribute to balance, the other 2 being eye focus and inner ear function. Any sense can be improved and very simply too. We can for example improve our eyesight through simple and direct exercise. We can improve other senses as well including the rest of the commonly known senses: our ability to hear, taste, smell and touch. If we improve proprioception through awareness exercise, we elevate our dance substantially. The benefits are fantastic. It is an easy improvement to make but rarely is it taught as such.

Substantive Elements

4) Stretch through the joints.

Stretching through the joints is a foundational principle of GRACE: The creation of more space in the joint is an obvious benefit.

Localized movement: In general, we tend to use our limbs locally. We think of our arms stopping at the shoulder and our legs stopping at the hip. This has an effect of diminishing the power of their movement. It also introduces increased risk of injury. Instead think that the arm extends through the shoulder joint and far into the torso when moving it. And especially, think of the leg stretching through the hip joint and well into the core.

Sequential stretch: When you extend through one joint, it stimulates adjacent areas to as well. For example, stretch through the shoulder and you quickly realize it causes you to stretch through your elbow, wrist and fingertips too. Going in the other direction, it stimulates a stretch in your rib cage and into your torso, all in sequence.

Belly dance is significantly different than other forms including ballet, modern and jazz since torso integration is essential in these others. In belly dance, isolations are the foundation. Stretching through joints and maintaining the ability to move them adeptly in isolation requires practice of both separately and especially together.

5) Engage the body fully.

This has proven to be an exceptional focus when performing: It is transforming not only how I dance but most importantly how I feel while performing. It has been a direct source to my own expression while dancing, circumventing performance angst and disconnection and instead giving me the ability to dance vibrantly.

Stimulate Full Body Engagement: Some ideas to focus on while dancing, especially performing:

Engage the lesser limb: In most dance, especially belly dance, the movements are choreographed in such a way that one of the legs or arms has less to do. Maybe it is when the standing leg has little presence. Often it is the "other" arm, the one not gesturing with an associated leg. Perhaps it is the arms pasted in a pose throughout the dance. If you energize the lesser limb(s) you lift the entire level of your dance. Notice that putting energy into that limp or inactive limb ends up stimulating the adjacent muscles which in turn activates areas of the body in sequence until the entire body is engaged. Again, this is a thrilling experience if you can train yourself to notice.
For a quick mental reminder, think of engaging your hands and feet, fingers and toes. The whole body in between will end up engaging as well, naturally.

6) Do not stop at the end of combinations.

A choreography is made up of a number of combinations. We usually learn the combinations in isolation and then put them together as a full dance. Combinations are usually based on the phrasing of the accompanying music. As performers, we have a tendency to stop or pause between combinations, in effect "dropping our energy". When this happens, it affects the impact of our dance. Far better to continue engagement from one combination to another. This is really just another aspect of being fully engaged. Basically, maintain your performance excitement (or presence) during the lulls.

An easy way to alleviate this problem is to include the end of the prior combination when you practice.

At this point, GRACE development made a significant shift:

After submitting the application last September, I experienced a powerful Reiki epiphany. I discovered the natural path of energy in the body and it is not what we have been taught. Here are two common ways of thinking of it. Neither of these ideas are wrong. I have simply come up with something different.

We can think of energy entering from the top of the head and flowing downward. This is a common spiritual concept. In dance we hear about connecting a string from the top of the head to the heavens above. It is a very useful image but it is not the solution I discovered.
We could also imagine energy entering from the earth through the soles of our feet and flowing upward. This is a concept related to being grounded, something very valuable these days with lots of angst flying through the air. Again, this is a useful concept but my discovery revolutionized movement for me on a fundamental level.

Think for a moment about anatomy: The spine is held upright with the head balanced on the top of the first vertebrae, the atlas vertebrae. The head is like a bobble head. It can freely move in all directions while the atlas vertebrae and the rest of the spine holds it up. The spine is the strong element, not the head. The head is not integral to balance or stability. The head is a moving object, not a stable one. The spine not only is stable but it is basically central in the origination of movement in the entire body.

Here is the whole point:

The natural path of energy in the body is from the top of the spine down, not the top of the head down. The top of the spine is actually the top of the neck. Think of suspending your body from the nape of your neck as if you are hanging there from a hook. Profound relaxation of the joints (in sequence) is the result. This is your body's natural energy path. It is in the form of an upside-down tree in silhouette!

The reason this realization is so profound is because that path is free of the blockages caused by every day distress as well as past trauma, plaguing us often from as long ago as childhood. When we experience the shock of injury or illness, the nervous system finds ways around the inflamed area to function, in effect creating detours which by necessity are less direct routes. After healing, the prior direct pathways are not usually re-established. Instead, the detour becomes the main avenue. These long ago formed detours are swept away with GRACE as well as current quagmires. The result is renewed streamlined natural pathways which in turn trigger dramatic release throughout the spine and then the entire body.

What is left is our essence without blockage. When I imagine this natural energy path, my automatic reaction is giddiness and delight because of the unconscious elimination of so much disquietude. Lightness is a real GRACE side effect. Walk across the room, imagining that you are suspended from a string connected from the top of your head upwards. In particular sense the strain surrounding and within the head. Now walk thinking of suspending your spine instead from the nape of your neck. The head pressure disappears. In essence the head should not be in the line of fire.

In effect, along with the dissolution of stress goes much mental complexity. Basically, the GRACE approach reduces tension in the thought process, another reason we become happier.

The power of thought:

We train our nervous system in different ways. Our primary technique is repetition through practice. But another potent tool is visualization.

Imagining doing something can be almost as powerful as actually doing it: Here is an example of how visualization can train the nervous system: This took place a number of years ago in a dance company: One member had 2 left feet while practicing a particular troupe choreography. She simply couldn't get the steps right during the many rehearsals, to such an extent that she almost got dropped from an upcoming performance. She disappeared for 2 weeks. At next rehearsed, she did the dance perfectly! When asked how, she said she did not practice in a traditional way at all. Instead, she had imagined doing the dance perfectly down to every detail. She had practiced a lot, but only in her mind. She taught her nervous system how to do the dance through thinking about it! (Key to doing this by the way, is to imagine in as much detail as you can muster.)

Mental focus is at the base of all of the elements of GRACE.

Real suspension versus vizualizing it:

Suspending versus lifting: When you think of suspending, the effort for doing anything is vastly reduced. In other words, lifting up requires more energy than hanging down. (Something similar happens with pushing versus pulling. Pushing off the floor to get up is far easier than pulling yourself up for example.)

Suspending is not collapsing: When we collapse, our weight falls onto our joints, compressing them. For instance, if we slump in our chair with our shoulders rolled forward and our chest sunken, the weight of our upper body caves in onto our spine and pelvic bones. When we suspend our weight, the opposite occurs. Our joints expand and open. Both imply relaxation but only one of them delivers.

The concept of suspending your body is central to this new approach: But it isn't physically possible, is it? We can't actually "hang" ourselves on something to suspend our body's weight. That is, not without some fancy equipment. Aerial yoga is one example of suspension equipment. Other examples include inversion gear allowing you to hang upside down. Both use gravity to stretch and release your muscles and joints.

But when you imagine or visualize suspending your body from the nape of your neck, the nervous system experience is actually more profound because in our imagination there is no stress or hardship. This is one way in which the power of the mind gives our body a better experience than the physical one.

7) Suspend the spine from the nape of the neck.

When you suspend yourself from the nape of your neck, the spine releases in sequence: Sequential release is a function of the nervous system. It is similar to sequential stretch or engagement but in this case the spine is the host and the release happens only in one direction. When release is stimulated at the top of the spine, where the atlas vertebrae meet the scull, the muscles and joints of the body release in sequence from the top down. The result is profound relaxation. The joints relax and space is created.

The release occurs along your body's natural energy path: It can easily be stimulated through thought, so much so that I visualize it to relax before getting my blood pressure measured (instead of thinking of Hawaii.). The effects of studying these phenomena have resulted in reduced blood pressure and my doctor recommending stopping long prescribed medication!

Benefits from suspending from the nape of your neck are far-reaching and for me, life changing.

Joint health improves, especially the joints of the spine.
Posture immediately improves: The back joints straighten out from the action of suspension. We get taller.
The neck's tension and distortion from a lifetime of stress softens with resultant improvement in the cervical vertebrae, their disks and the health of the root nerves that pass between each.
The rib cage stays lifted without effort! One of the most difficult things to accomplish when you are older is having the strength to keep your rib cage lifted. With suspension, there is no need to try to do anything. The rib cage automatically lifts and floats. This allows the lungs to breathe more deeply resulting in relaxation.
Core abdominal musculature is automatically engaged, again without effort. And the muscles are engaged in their stretched and lengthened form, which is far more attractive and powerful.
GRACE makes you happy emotionally and connected spiritually.

There are associated cautions too. (Recommended exercise to reduce these risks is noted in red italics.)

The relaxation can cancel our normal protections: We spend years building all the different parts of our body up, especially our core. With GRACE spine release, those rules go out the door. Rules like pulling your stomach in to protect your lower back aren't automatically triggered as normally would be. We can end up injuring ourself. Our traditional rules shift from being the central element in our technique to becoming an adjunct skill, to be used when necessary. We need to relearn how our body is protected using this different perspective.
The profound relaxation which results can make our dancing sloppy: The feet and legs can be so loose that choreography is executed less precisely. Consciously form your expression. See below.
We tend to lose our cultivated posture of feet set closely together, because our weight naturally falls down to earth with our feet hip distance apart. Among other consequences, our balance gets sloppy and our weight tends to shift from side to side, causing all kinds of nasty ramifications. Include adductor exercise to correct this. Ballet practice of the entrechat rapid crossing of the ankles is an excellent exercise for this purpose.
The knees and hips can get stiff: With all the body's weight hanging downward consistently when you suspend from the nape of the neck, the knee and hip joints lengthen but 3-dimensional movement stiffens. It's recommended that you regularly do circling exercise with both your knees and hips to retain your agility. Abductor exercise will as well help to reduce this effect.
The neck can get stiff too with all the attention to stretching it long. Lateral movement capability suffers, along with turning the head side to side. Increased neck flexibility exercise is highly recommended with GRACE study.
We tend to become ungrounded: Do ample foot exercise to counteract the "spacey" quality that can result from suspension.

Because of these risks the last GRACE element is needed.

8) Form your energy along your body’s natural path.

It's very enjoyable to move with a released body but it comes up short in precision and protection. Instead of going where the wind takes you, clarify your energy by giving it form, making it clearer, more precise and more distinct. Form it along your body's natural energy path.
The prize is that you can form yourself in any way you want. Here are some potential choices:

Simply give form to the energy already flowing: Define its edges by giving the energy simplicity and specificity.
We can form our energy from the nape downward along its natural path.
We can also form our energy from the feet up through mental concentration.
We can do both at the same time! This has the most profound effect but it also takes the most practice and the most concentration. It is an advanced effort.
Give your presence a different character: Make the movement deliberately gentle or sharp.
Bring more emotional expression to the movement or perhaps less. Highlight its spiritual source or create a pedestrian quality.
Through mental focus, center your artistic expression on any quality or characteristic: This is the essence of how an artist “sculpts” the manner in which they communicate. It is limited by your imagination and your ability to center your thoughts.

Give your Self instructions:

Our selves, aside from our ego, have innate intelligence that includes self-healing. The blockages we construct, whether consciously or not, prevent us from experiencing the full healing capacity of our organism. When we strip away those blockages from past and current trauma, our essential Self is revealed. We can ask that the Self follow specific instructions and it will. This is not a conscious practice but a dormant underlying ability that we simply are far less aware of because there is so much noise concealing this instinctive wisdom.

Sensible instructions:

By far the most important directive to give your Self is to not allow your body to move in a manner that injures you. The dangers inherent with the released movement that results from suspending from the nape of the neck is circumvented completely by this instruction. We do not have to be more specific than that unless we want to.
We can give any instructions that we want.
For example, we can ask the body to instinctively keep the legs together counteracting a released hip distance apart stance.
We can ask the body to protect our feet in particular as they work hard dancing.
Other instructions you might give your Self: Allow the movement to be flowing throughout. Move in an elegant graceful fashion. Sharpen the edges of your movement. Be seamlessly joined with your sister dancers when performing Tribal style improvisation. Your imagination is the limit.

Practice suggestions:

Practice each of the 8 GRACE elements doing anything: For example, practice sitting at your computer typing and engage your body fully, etc. Or practice while folding the laundry. Fold while suspending from the nape of the neck. And so on. These simple examples can teach you the very essentials of experiential learning. Great way to exhibit GRACE.
Practice walking: Experiment walking using the different elements. Especially notice how forming your energy while walking results in a smooth gait. Walking is an excellent activity to use to practice. I highly recommend taking a daily walk and focusing on one of elements. Frankly, it’s one of the best ways to learn GRACE.
Select a simple combination and practice it isolating each GRACE element: Of particular impact are rehearsing the nape of the neck release (#7), forming essential energy (#8) and full body engagement (#5). Rehearse each separately.
It is possible to focus on different elements for different phrases within a given choreography: Full body engagement works well for me traveling. Forming gives high battements and other vertical moves more stability and strength. This is very individual.
You can also focus on combined elements: The most successful for me is the combination of forming your essential energy and imbuing it with full body engagement at the same time. Another fantastic combination is forming energy from the top down and the feet up.
Try employing these same ideas while performing instead of just practicing: Be prepared for new avenues opening, especially in your personal expression and in your stage presence. Also see if performing while concentrating on any of these elements relieves much of performance anxiety.

In time, with much application, these elements become a part
of you and you no longer have to think about them.
In effect, your natural Self grows and becomes
more defined, mature and sophisticated.

GRACE is revolutionary. We still need our old approaches and protections.

GRACE creates an entirely new perspective on movement. Instead of relying on hard fought rules of engagement like pull your belly in and lift your chest up, GRACE suggests these functions occur more organically when we think of the energetic strength of the spine with energy powerfully originating at the top. The rules in turn become an accessory to have at your fingertips whenever needed instead of central to your dance expression. GRACE makes you a better dancer: more dynamic, improved stage presence, stronger psychologically in addition to the benefits of suspension: increased joint health, better posture, safer use of the body. Nonetheless, I believe we still need the more traditional techniques to develop strength and agility, particularly core ability and foot strength. As I mentioned earlier, you come to GRACE with your body already trained in your chosen training. GRACE uses the skill you already have and makes it more accessible and expressive.

Recommendations for teaching:

These ideas can transform the effect of dance training, making it safer for our joints:

Find more time for stretch and recovery: Unfortunately, most dance classes do not provide the opportunity for recuperative stretch or in many cases, stretch of any kind. If stretch is provided it's usually only for the last 5 minutes. I studied intensely with a rigorous master of one form of dance for 4 years, as often as 4-6 days per week. I must have attended nearly 1,000 technique classes with this fantastic teacher. In all those classes, not once was a period of stretch offered!
Allow the space students need to care for their body during class: Provide an environment where students and company members can relieve stress as it occurs without distracting others or diminishing the impact of the class.
Teach students how to take care of their body, especially the lower back, knees and feet: I believe it is the teacher's responsibility to train students and company members safe practices. Do not assume they already know. Encourage awareness and recuperative knowledge.
When offering challenging combinations, account for student vulnerability inherent in the learning process. Teach safe practices before risky maneuvers.
Use imagery to enhance comprehension: Assimilation and integration of dance lessons is one area of teaching which is for the most part ignored. It is a very effective way to train and is emphasized in many fitness arenas, especially sports. Visualization is a fantastic tool to accomplish this. For example, ask students to imagine in detail performing the dance perfectly. Practicing this visualization at various points in the class is amazingly effective at training the nervous system. (See "The power of thought" above).

GRACE will benefit you in direct relationship to
how much you practice its elements.
Practice, practice, practice.
Practice everywhere. Practice anywhere. Practice anything.

Other articles of interest:

General Guidelines for Dancers

Recuperating From Injury

Spinal Release Circling