Fundamentals.

I have been reading chapters from Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections and throughout my blog I will document what I have learnt from such reading. Today I am going to talk about the chapter entitled What Is Fundamentals?.

WHAT IS FUNDAMENTALS?

          'In the miracle of new life we recognize what is truly fundamental in movement.'

                                                     -Peggy Hackney (2002. p. 11.)

This chapter begins by outlining the fundamentals of movement by looking at the development of a new born child. When the child is in its mothers womb its breathing and movement is a one with its mothers, establishing an immediate connection between mother and child. However when the child is born the connection remains yet the baby must breathe by itself and starts to discover their ability to move. As they breathe they 'are filling and emptying its tiny rounded body', bringing life to themselves and beginning to become their own, establishing an 'undifferentiated unity'. This is the fundamental of Breath a pattern that is developed as soon as life begins and happens instinctively throughout life.
The second fundamental is Core-distal connectivity and Hackneys states that 'The baby manifests itself by moving, always moving.' As they stretch and move they are using their core to contract and expand, learning to control their bodies and develop a sense of centre. Relationships are being set up with the outside world and within itself as it becomes more experimental with expansion and body shapes: 'Primary Spinal Reflexes are at work'. This pattern will continue to develop and lead to the exploration of other fundamentals.
The third fundamental is  Head-Tail connectivity and this involves the baby beginning to experiment with movement such as rolling. As it begins to pick its head up, looking around and supporting its own head, another pattern is developing. They begin to experiment with using their head-tail connection to role over, leading with both their head and tail, before sitting becomes possible.
They then go on to discover the body-half connectivity, using this when attempting to reach out for objects and push to reach their goal. This leads the baby to develop to the crawling stage and establish coordination between both body halves. They are now on their way 'to achieving wondrous and fun goals, such as ''researching'' sister's dolls'. This new pattern allows them to achieve upright positions and explore the space around them. By doing so they begin further self exploration. The fundamental Upper-Lower is linked with Body-half and both help with the infants development of movement. Upper-lower allows the baby to position itself securely and develop a connection between the upper and lower body. Furthermore this section of development also links to the fundamental Cross-lateral connectivity as this must be in place in order for the infant to move appropriately. For example when crawling they discover the most efficient and natural way to move is with opposite arms and legs, using the other fundamentals to stabilise this.
These six fundamentals are explored and established in the first nine months after a person is born and are kept in place throughout the rest of their life. As we become older these fundamentals happen automatically and lead to us being able to express ourselves in other ways, even within simple hand gestures. We do not think about them in everyday life but they remind us of 'what is fundamental in movement.' 

6 fundamentals-

1- BREATH                   3- HEAD-TAIL CONNECTIVITY          5- BODY-HALF CONNECTIVITY
2- CORE-DISTAL CONNECTIVITY   4- UPPER LOWER CONNECTIVITY  6-CROSS
                                                                                                                  LATERAL CONNECTIVITY

This works as the foundation for the fundamentals in movement. This is what Peggy Hackney says they are-
'1- Change is fundamental- The essence of movement is change. As we move, we are constantly changing.
2-  Relationship/Connection is fundamental- It is in our process of moving/changing that we create our embodied existence. But this change is not random. In the process of development, change is relational. As we move, we are always making connections, creating relationships, both within ourselves and between ourselves and the world.
3- Patterning body connections is fundamental.  (which I applied to the description of the infants development above.) Relationships which are created within our body become patterned as we grow.'

Reference-
Hackney, P. (2002) Making Connections- Total Body Integration Through Bartenieff Fundamentals. Routledge: New York.

This chapter opened my eyes to the fundamentals involved in the development of our movement and our identity within the world. We use the basic patterns established through everyday life to realise who we are and our capabilities as we grow. We have been exploring these fundamentals within lesson and by doing this reading I have been able to gather greater knowledge of each individually and apply them myself to the exercises we have been doing in class. I find now that when partaking in each exercise I am able to take time within myself to consider what fundamentals are particularly important in relation to the movement I am performing.