Charles Slender-White - Countertechnique

TEACHER PROFILE: CHARLES SLENDER-WHITE

Based in San Francisco (USA), Charles Slender-White has had a dynamic performance career throughout Russia and Europe, before returning to sunny California to found his own company, FACT/SF. Here Charles shares with us his experiences and how, from the world of competitive athletics, he discovered his love for dance and Countertechnique.
By Madeline Harms.

Tell me a little about where you come from and how you started dancing:
I grew up in San Diego, California, and was a competitive gymnast and diver for 10 years. When I started dancing I was immediately excited by the intellectual component that went with a physical practice that was as demanding as sports. The idea of being an artist and making artistic choices, or becoming an instrument for other people to make artistic choices, seemed really exciting to me.

When was the moment that you decided that you wanted to make dance your profession?
My university training was a rather strict Graham modern dance program. In some ways this was limiting, but as a beginner it was useful to get a depth of knowledge, rather than a breadth of knowledge. In 2004, I was encouraged by my university professors to go to the American Dance Festival for more experience, and it was the first time I entered a community and environment of working arts-professionals. People seemed engaged, fulfilled and curious and I just wanted to be a part of this!

When did you discover Countertechnique and why did it grasp your interest?
I first met Anouk van Dijk at ADF in 2005, when she was teaching and choreographing there. I took her class at the beginning of the summer and honestly thought it was nonsense. To me, it was just a contemporary-ballet class. She also had a casual attitude towards dance and I thought that was wrong. I thought dance should be taken very seriously and I didn’t understand that there could be a different type of rigour. At the end of the summer, I watched the work she had created called Derivatives, that many of my other classmates were involved in. I could see that something had really changed in them; they performed in a way that I had never seen before in terms of ease of movement, the way they attacked the space with speed and endurance - it was like watching a magic show! So, that was my conversion moment.

When did you start to study the technique intensively and when did you become a teacher?
I stayed curious and followed Countertechnique from a distance during my first years as a professional dancer and choreographer working in Russia. I also taught during this time, but although my classes were fun, there wasn’t any real logic or philosophy behind them. After two years in Russia, I moved to back to California in 2008 and founded my own dance company, FACT/SF, in San Francisco. For the first four years I trained the dancers in my own way, but by 2012 I had became a certified Countertechnique teacher and brought this in as our main professional company training.

How does Countertechnique influence your approach to dance as a choreographer and director?
Countertechnique has helped me establish a common language with my dancers, not just in terms of movement vocabulary but also in problem solving. When we come across a technical challenge, we can use the Countertechnique toolbox to help strategically understand what we are doing mechanically. Furthermore, I have a few dancers who come from a ballet background and Countertechnique has been a useful way to help them find more ease in their joints, a more dynamic relationship to space and to dance in a more mindful way. Over the past six years, I have observed how Countertechnique educates dancers how to work safely; how it can condition their bodies to do the demands of work they need, but also help their minds engage in a healthy way, and carry this to the stage. As a result, the rate of injuries is very low.

It is important to clarify with dancers that although I use Countertechnique to help us in our work, we do not use Countertechnique as ‘choreography’.

Can you articulate what it is that gives Countertechnique its unique ‘aesthetic’?
I think sequential movement is a really big part of it, however what is unique is the use of space and weight of the body in space. Orientating the body parts along the horizontal axis, rather than just the vertical, and working perpendicular to the forces of gravity. I think that this creates an aesthetic of flowing movement, dynamic balance, quick direction changes, of whips and spirals. Sometimes dancers make the mistake of thinking that copying what it “looks” like is the same as “doing” Countertechnique. This is okay for the beginning, because this is one of the ways dancers learn (trying to look like the teacher), but then there must be a switch to the understanding that thinking the thoughts and doing the thoughts, is what Countertechnique is - not the shape or moves of choreography. I try to help my students understand this by saying my thoughts out loud whilst dancing and teaching.

How has Countertechnique helped you in your own performance career?
My body doesn’t really hurt anymore! Of course the body can get out of line in the way that it always can, but I feel like it happens less frequently and when it does happen I have a better understanding of how to help myself out. I also actually enjoy dancing now! Up until studying Countertechnique, I hadn’t realised that I had lost the enjoyment of dancing . I liked the ability it gave me to travel, the camaraderie with my colleagues, performing and making art, but the joy from the actual physicality and taking pleasure from my moving body had completely disappeared. Dancing, for me, had become more about success and achievement.

What would you like to see in the future of Countertechnique and its role in the dance world?
I think it would be interesting to have a longitudinal study on the psychological influence that Countertechnique has on dancers; how Countertechnique can change the dancer’s psychological self-perspective over a longer period of time, preventing physical or psychological trauma from occurring or healing old wounds. This could be very important, because I don’t think there is enough candid discussion in the dance field about the amount of trauma that dancers experience. By trauma, I mean the unnecessary body dysmorphia that dancers carry along with them, or opinions about the connection between dancing excellence and moral righteousness, which I think occurs a lot in the United States in particular. Here, when dancers make a technical mistake, the response is often negative criticism, which can very quickly spiral into unhealthy self-shaming, rather than being met by an objective curiosity about why it went ‘wrong’. In America, there is also often a direct relationship between effort and worth; the more effort you put in, the more valuable you are. Countertechnique proposes a different relationship to rigour and effort.

What best defines the spirit of Countertechnique?
Something that I love about teaching Countertechnique is the community of teachers, keeping in touch with each other even from all corners of the globe, sharing challenges, discoveries and experiences of teaching. And though I am the only teacher in San Francisco, I still feel connected to everybody else and feel that I can rely on them to support my continued practice, both as a practitioner of Countertechnique but also as a teacher. The openness of the teachers and this community is special. We all try to be as accessible and approachable to our students as possible, inside the studio and outside. We try to remain open, curious and receptive, which I think is really important for building the community.

Find out here where Charles is teaching next.

In September, the Teacher Profile Interview Series will feature dancer and Teacher Countertechnique Yi-chun Liu.

The Countertechnique Teacher Profile Interview Series started in October 2017 and is written by Madeline Harms, an Australian dancer and writer, currently based in Mainz, Germany. Learn more about Madeline on her blog Travelling Dancers.

Profile Anouk van Dijk

Profile Nina Wollny

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Profile James Vu Anh Pham

TEACHER PROFILE: NIHARIKA SENAPATI

Melbourne-based dancer Niharika Senapati, discovered Countertechnique early on in her career and since then has never looked back. Having worked as a dancer for Anouk van Dijk at Chunky Move, she studied Countertechnique intensively and organically became a teacher in 2014. With a fun-loving nature and honest love for dance and the moving body, Niharika shares with us her discoveries - from her humble Countertechnique-beginnings until now. By Madeline Harms.

Tell me a little about where you are from.
I come from quite a worldly family, everyone is spread out everywhere. My parents are both from India and throughout my childhood we moved around a lot. The sense of travelling between countries and cities is quite present, and has been like that for generations. Which is a lucky and privileged situation!

What was your first experience with Countertechnique like?
In my final year at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Anouk and Nina Wollny came to Perth and did a workshop with us. I remember how much I loved the feeling of the movement and it felt weirdly familiar on my body, even though I had never done it before. I remember Anouk talking about the body as a volume and that was the first time I had ever heard anyone refer to the body with this idea before. This particular concept was mind-blowing to me! But it wasn’t until my first project a year later that I really got into Countertechnique. Then I was just a complete nerd and absolutely loved learning the structure, creating exercises for myself and talking to myself out loud so I knew exactly what I was thinking about! It’s a little embarrassing but I just loved it.

How was your transition into professional life?
It all went unexpectedly smoothly! I graduated from WAAPA in 2011 and started to work with Anouk van Dijk at Chunky Move shortly after. It was a four day audition and was such an interesting exercise in confidence. In a way I nailed the first two days because I was so carefree and let all the channels be open, but as soon as I started to judge myself I struggled. However, to my surprise Anouk offered me an apprenticeship position for the first work and we have continued to work together since.

How does Anouk use Countertechnique tools within her choreographic work?
Countertechnique and her choreography are separate from each other, but they compliment each other very well. If you have done a lot of Anouk’s choreography it is easier to understand the technique, and if you’ve done Countertechnique a lot it’s easier to find your way through her choreography. In that sense they are intricately connected.

The more Anouk and I work together, the more we know about each other, and the more we exchange about Countertechnique. The tools are super present in the room and interlinked with the way that we learn, rehearse and perform the work. Sometimes the tools do become so interlinked with the movement, that they merge together. For example, the physical movement may be drawing a circle in the air with my arm, but in my mind that action becomes “wide-arm-pit”. Also, the sense of double presence in being aware of yourself and the space around you is always present when you’re performing. So in that sense, yes, the tools are super present in Anouk’s work, but yet again the tools are yours to use whenever you need. It’s your prerogative when, if and how you want to use them.

How does Countertechnique help you in your own performance career?
I think the continuous reiteration in Countertechnique that everything you do is (part of) a process has just radically changed the way I approach performance. The performance is another chance to practice whatever you’re doing or it is an incubated version of something that you practiced before. However it isn’t governed by success or failure, but is more of an articulation of the process that you’re undergoing. If you allow yourself to, you can undergo a change in your body and self from the beginning to the end of a performance. In a way it doesn’t matter what the choreography is, but just the fact that you are open to the present and becoming ever more aware of what is around you throughout the performance. It is also a constant renegotiation of where processes reveal themselves within the performance, from the relationship with the movement to the relationship with colleagues on stage.

Also, I used to struggle with articulating dance and essentially through Countertechnique I learnt how to verbalise the experience of the body. Dancers have extreme body intelligence, but it does take practice to know how to articulate that in verbal language. This has helped me particularly when working with actors, whose job is to create material in words. It’s interesting for me to be able to go into those processes, knowing that I can articulate the experience quite beautifully.

What is the main focus of your classes?
To have a really good time! Teaching a class is like hosting a party; it’s about providing the snacks and playing the right music at the right time and having the right conversations in the right moment with the right people. Simply creating an environment where people can have a good time. I have become quite good at tuning into the energy in the room, reading what is going on and transforming the space into something light, positive and fun.

How do you keep your classes fresh?
Keeping my music playlist fresh! I am a musical dancer and that’s how I feel the energy. Through the music I can access different rhythms in my body. I have always been driven by sound - it is the number one remedy for excess tension and playing fun music that you just want to dance to will bring a good time. I also like to play games a lot! I like to think about what tools I want to use during the class and then create games for the beginning of class that will allow the tools to be better understood in a fun way.

What is one last important thing you would like to share that Countertechnique teaches you?
By studying Countertechnique you become so aware of your thought patterns. You can catch yourself in situations that if you are unaware, can lead you down an unhelpful thought path. But if you are aware, you can turn your focus to where it needs to be. Lately I’ve been asking myself “how did I get here?”. Nothing ever happens completely out of the blue, of course there are exceptions, but generally most things happen in a ‘slow-fade’. It started from something very small a long time ago, but only later do we see how it worked out. Bad thoughts, or things that get in the way of your confidence, didn't just magically come to your mind - there was probably a moment in time that got you thinking about it in the first place.

There is a level of practice that can be done to start to observe that process from the beginning, so that you’re aware of it and can be in control of yourself. You always have a choice and you can find something else to be concerned about. I mean it’s easier said than done, but with practice it will get easier!

Find out here where Niharika is teaching next.

In July 2018, the Teacher Profile Interview Series will feature Teacher Countertechnique Charles Slender-White

The Countertechnique Teacher Profile Interview Series was initiated in October 2017. Madeline Harms is an Australian dancer and writer, currently based in Mainz, Germany. Learn more about Madeline on her blog Travelling Dancers.