Committed, curious and compassionate are three qualities that Brighton based dancer and dance teacher Laurie Booth embodies. I’ve been attending Laurie Booth’s “Bodyzone” dance classes for the last few months and couldn’t have asked for a more sophisticated movement teacher. Bodyzone is a mixture of conditioning exercises and movement forms, with a little meditation thrown in for good measure.
What I love about Laurie Booth’s work is the integral fusion of the scientific, with the philosophical and aesthetic. His knowledge of anatomy would could shame the average doctor, and he could take any cafe-lurking polo-necked Frenchman in an philosophy fight…actually martial arts seems a big influence on Laurie’s work…any day.
I didn’t really know what I was biting off when I first started to attend Laurie Booth’s dance classes. They’re physically demanding and personally involving. If you don’t like intensity don’t go near Laurie, who I suspect just may be an alien from somewhere even groovier than Brighton. Here’s what Ballet magazine said about his “Ice/Dream/Fire” performance:
“Two tattooed bodies, separated by over 6,000 years, are the inspiration for ‘Ice/Dreams/Fire’. The first was found deep in the permafrost of the Siberian Steppes. The other belongs to Laurie Booth. The images depict hybrid animals – part horse, a bit of stag, some eagle – entwined with abstract shapes, conveying a strong sense of movement. Booth has been fascinated by this archaeological discovery since he first read about the tattoos in the 1970s. He is moved by the simple significance of an image which disappears from history for six thousand years and then reappears at a time when no-one knows what the image signifies: he has become the personal embodiment of their reappearance by having had replica tattoos made on his own body. “
I like that kind of commitment, maybe I should get this blog address branded on my forehead…
One of Laurie Booth’s core concepts is “Primalmodern Movement” Can’t say I fully understand it…in fact, as someone who knows something about the body I was fairly horrified by how little of what Laurie says I totally get, though I get enough to guess he knows his stuff. Maybe best to go straight to the man:
“When we remove our body from the social narrative of our daily life and enter into the loop of reflective practice, we enter into the Bodyzone. The bodyzone is defined by the external spatial/temporal environment and the internal space created by the focused will of the practitioner. Entering the bodyzone we step away from our Relative Movement Identity (RMI) and move towards the experience of our Primal Movement Identity (PMI). The RMI is the body of use in our social life, a shell layer created out of muscular/skeletal habits and behavioral templates developed through the agency of life circumstance either intentionally, or, by default.The Primal Movement Identity is an altogether more subtle and liberating experience. More “
As well as being a performance artist and teaching groups, Laurie Booth uses the Gyrotonic® Training System in private one on one classes. I’ve had these highly recommended by non-stoopid friends, so check it out if you want to look after yourself. Chatting to Laurie I also learnt that he worked with dance in East African refugee camps, back when performing arts generally didn’t dirty their hands like that. Respect.
This video of Laurie Booth on the South Downs says more than I can, though I’d encourage you to check him out in the flesh as there’s something about recording movement that takes away…beauty, intensity….life really. That in itself is an interesting point for another post…Maybe nest to just go see him. Recommended.
Along with Laurie Booth’s classes, I’ve been doing Contact Improvisation and tango in Brighton this year. This exploration of dance after years of martial arts has been a real breath of fresh air. Martial artists tend to hold two prejudices in regard to dance: that it’s wimpier and has less philosophical depth. I have found both of these things not to be the case. So if you’re reading this and you’re a martial artist, I challenge you – get your dancing shoes on!
Photo© Thomas Richards