The 33 Vertebrae – Technique Fundamentals
In Literal Technique, the bones that are central to our alignment are the spinal column (the vertebrae), the skull, the rib cage barrel, and the pelvic barrel. When we look at these bones, we see that movement happens at the vertebrae:
Movement of the spinal column happens at the 33 vertebrae.
Movement of the skull happens at its spinal column connection at vertebrae C1 and C2.
Movement of the rib cage barrel happens at the thoracic vertebrae.
Movement of the pelvic barrel happens at its connection to the sacral vertebrae (the sacrum) and its connection to the lumbar vertebrae.
In Literal Technique, the What Happens Where tells us where movement actually happens, and the Geeky Glory shows us how movement actually happens. Both of these eliminate guesswork (guesswork will not improve your technique!). The next step is translating this information into dance technique, which is where Literal Technique’s Technique Fundamentals come in. The Technique Fundamentals reorient us to where movement happens and how it happens in the context of Literal Technique, to help us learn how to train and view the body we are in.
I talked about the where and the how of the 33 vertebrae in prior newsletters (“The Bones at the Center of Alignment: What Happens Where?” and “The 33 Vertebrae”). So, what, then, are the Technique Fundamentals for the 33 vertebrae?
Let’s start with what we likely learned with conventional training. We were likely taught to think of the spinal column in parts and to align it in parts. We were also likely taught that the spine generally starts where the neck meets the torso and ends at the bottom of the waist. And we likely thought of the spine as located at the “back half” of the body. Alignment of the spinal column may have been equated with verticality, even though being off center or going in and out of the floor still requires alignment of the spinal column.
Literal Technique says that from the standpoint of technique (and reality), the spine is one structure with 33 vertebrae that move jointly but differently. If, when we move, we think of the back as the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae (and ignore the cervical vertebrae, sacrum and tailbone), we eliminate the wholeness of the central support of the body. Because of the bone connections and the overlap of muscle, learning to move the wholeness of the spinal column will change the way we move the body and, thus, the body’s expression.
So, our first technique fundamental is that the spine is one structure with 33 vertebrae that move jointly but differently. Literal Technique dispenses with the idea of sections of the spinal column and makes our starting point for an at-rest spine the actual spine: an anatomically curved structure with 33 vertebrae that are designed to act jointly but differently. This is our bone starting point.
Our second technique fundamental is that the skull, the rib cage barrel, and the pelvic barrel are connected to the 33 vertebrae such that they move because the vertebrae move. So, when we talk about movement of these bones, we are really talking about movement of the 33 vertebrae.
Thus, our third technique fundamental says there is a bone chain reaction in the body, and the 33 vertebrae are primary. The bone chain reaction originates at the 33 vertebrae as one structure; the alignment of the 33 vertebrae establishes alignment in the chain reaction. In other words, whether we are moving or not, vertical or not, the alignment of the skull, the rib cage barrel, and the pelvic barrel depends on the alignment of the 33 vertebrae. If the skull, the rib cage barrel, and the pelvic barrel are doing something we don’t want them to do, we must look to the vertebrae.
* * *
Here’s an exercise to help you acquaint yourself with the 33 vertebrae. Stand in parallel first position with your eyes closed and, starting at the skull’s connection to C1 and C2, slowly visualize your way down the 33 vertebrae, taking in the rib cage barrel’s connection at T1 to T12 and the pelvic barrel’s connection at either side of the sacrum. Now, keeping your eyes closed, slowly flex the 33 vertebrae as one structure by trying to make C1 and the tailbone touch. (You will be curving forward and will have to demi-plié.) As you slowly flex, focus your attention at the skull, the rib cage barrel, and the pelvic barrel. Staying in demi-plié, slowly extend the 33 vertebrae as one structure by increasing the distance between C1 and the tailbone. Once the 33 vertebrae are at rest, lengthen out of demi-plié to come back to standing.
Do the same exercise again, keeping your eyes closed, this time with one index finger on C1 and the other index finger on the end of the tailbone. Move slowly and visualize all of the bones.
Things to think about:
Are you moving the spinal column in parts? When you flexed forward, did one “part” of your body move faster and arrive at complete flexion ahead of another “part”?
Did the same thing happen when you extended the vertebrae to come back to standing?
What did your skull do?
What did your rib cage barrel do?
What did your pelvic barrel do?
What did the lumbar vertebrae do in relation to the sacrum and tailbone?
What did you have to do so that C1 and the tailbone arrive at complete flexion and extension at the same time?
What did your muscles do?
* * *
The 33 vertebrae give us as dancers an amazing capacity for expressive movement. Your task this week, in class or in your everyday life, is to take a good look at the spinal column, then play around with feeling and moving an anatomically curved spinal column as one structure with 33 vertebrae.