The generating movements

Choreographer, dancer, and teacher Joan Serra i Vilamitjana spoke to us about basic or generative movements which, combined with basic locomotion (walking, running, jumping, turning), generate an infinite number of movements. In this short lesson, I’ll explain these five generative movements that will form the foundation from which children can experience a wide variety of movements.
These movements don’t have a single technique or way of performing them; the interesting thing is that each child finds their own way of doing them and, above all, finds pleasure in the movement. Some children enjoy making them bigger or smaller, faster or slower, and that’s perfectly fine.
The generating movements are:
– Lateral swaying Weight shifts from one foot to the other, from right to left and vice versa, with or without lifting the feet off the ground. The center of gravity shifts from one side to the other, and this affects the rest of the body: the pelvis, the torso, the upper limbs, and the head.
– The forward-backward rocking motion The weight and center of gravity shift forward and backward. This rocking motion, which begins in the lower limbs, affects the movement of the pelvis, trunk, upper limbs, and head.
– Torsion The movement originates in the center of the body; the torso twists, affecting other parts of the body, such as the upper and lower limbs or the head. For greater torsion, the arms can assist by generating the momentum needed to even rotate the body.
– Flexion and extension The center of gravity shifts from bottom to top and vice versa. As a result of this movement, the lower limbs flex or extend. It is a movement that connects us with the earth and the sky, with the low and the high.
– Opening and closing It can be a very subtle and practically imperceptible movement, like the movement of breathing (inhaling and opening the chest, exhaling and closing), or a much broader movement that involves the whole body, including the lower and upper limbs, the pelvis and the head (also the gaze).