LYNN SIMONSON
by Bob Boross
Lynn Simonson has been a popular teacher of jazz dance in New York and throughout the world since the early 1960s. During that time she has drawn on her dance studies to develop a movement technique for jazz and modern dance that is independent of a particular style. Her technique is a result of her inquiries into dancing without injuries, and her method of teaching involves frequent references to anatomy and imagery.
Simonson grew up in Seattle, Washington, where she received her early training in ballet with former dancers from the Ballet Russes. At the age of 16, she won her first Equity job in musical theatre, and strayed from her classical upbringing after hearing a Mile Davis album. She made her way to NY at 18 in 1961, and soon found herself dancing four shows a day with the Radio City Ballet corps. Between shows, she found time time to take jazz classes with Jaime Rogers and Claude Thompson at the June Taylor studio. She was suited to the strong, tight style of Rogers, but she expanded her abilities when she started classes in the more lyrical style of Luigi.
She began teaching in NY, and was asked to teach in Holland in 1967. It was at this time that she seriously began to formulate her technical approach to jazz dance. Simonson was hampered with chronic injuries, so she began a study of anatomy and kinesiology in order to develop an approach to dance that would prepare a body to dance without being dependent on a particular style of jazz dance. Over the years, her Simonson jazz technique has been taught in New York at the Morelli Studio, and then at DanceSpace, a large studio complex at 622 Broadway, that was co-founded by Simonson. Her technique is the official jazz technique of DanceSpace. She has instituted an 18 week jazz dance teacher's training program, and has co-sponsored jazz dance concerts with Evolving Arts, Inc., the non-profit performance wing of DanceSpace. Simonson jazz technique is taught in 16 countries, and is popular in Japan, Holland, and Quebec, as well as being the primary jazz dance technique of the University of Massachusetts and Kent State University.
THE JAZZ DANCE TECHNIQUE OF LYNN SIMONSON
While many dance techniques demand that the dancer fit the ideal of the technique by forcing the body to accomodate positions and movement that may be inimical to its body mechanics, Simonson Jazz Dance is taught with the parameters of the individual dancer's body in mind - the natural range of motion that each individual has (i.e. what each individual dancer is capable of doing). A teacher of Simonson Jazz is trained to recognize work with musculoskeletal limitations in his or her students. Most dance injuries are due to faulty alignment or poor technique. Faulty alignment causes injury by placing stress on an area that wasn't designed to accomodate it. When alignment is poor, movement is inefficient, the body is fatigued, and and injuries are caused; when alignment is correct, movement is efficient and injury free. Problems in technique can only be addressed after alignment has been corrected, since faulty alignment warps technique and inhibits the development of appropraite muscle groups.
A DESCRIPTION OF LYNN SIMONSON'S JAZZ DANCE CLASS
Simonson is in her fifties, but she displayed the enthusiam and love for dance of a young hopeful. She began her class with exercises that included rolling up and down, flat backs, and side stretches. The movements were executed in a slow, continuous fashion, without jerky or strenuous applications. Simonson repeatedly gave instructions on the proper execution of the exercises, and frequently used anatomical references to focus the attention of the students. Mentioned were the pubic bone, sit bones, psoas stretch, "lumbar spine moves foward as the sacrum moves back," and to "lift the sit bones higher" in a forward stretch with straight legs.
The class continued on with rolling thru the feet, lunge and hamstring stretches, and then a tendu exercise that included a 1/4 rond de jambe and demi plie. During the exercises, Simonson used an entrancing tape of eastern sounding music, or drove the class with the aggressive rhythm she pounded on a hand drum. She walked constantly throughout the class, stopping to make individual corrections and noticing progress in students. Then came a series of passe/developpes with flexed and pointed feet, to the front and back in parallel and turned out to the sides. This is followed by a set of releases and contractions, and a lunge stretch to the front with a torso twist, similar to the classic yoga stretch.
By this time, it is 30-40 minutes into the class, and Simonson asked the now perspiring students for an adagio that has been worked on previously in the week. Again, it is a smooth, fluid motion of contractions, lunges, torso spirals, passe/developpes, and it included a brush back of the leg into an arabesque with an elongated body. The students work on the adagio in groups, and sit on the floor for stretches. The legs are straight in front, and they hold four counts with flexed and pointed feet in flat back and rounded positions. Floorwork continues with stretches in second position, and then with abdominal exercises. Simonson concludes the exercise portion of class by standing and executing a set of battements, in attitude with a pointed foot and then with a straight leg and a flexed foot, to the front and the sides.
The combination for the day is to a rhythmic drum selection by Cirque du Soleil. It is much like the exercises - smooth, fluid, lyrical - with contractions and a few sharper punches of the arms. In some ways, it reminds me of a jazzier version of some Horton technique movements. There is not much in the way of isolations, as the movement is sweeping and involves torso contractions rather than individual shoulder or hip isolations. It does include an attitude turn in plie than leads directly into a developpe front and a full body layout. There is also a chenie in plie into a split leap that descends to the floor. The combination is representative of a classical style of jazz dance - in plie with strong torso movements, but without the Broadway punch or flair of someone like Fosse or Cole. It does lean to modern dance, and it is easy to see why many Simonson dancers work successfully in modern dance copmpanies.
The students range from obvious long time students of Simonson, to many new dancers here from Japan. The more accomplished ones exhibit a smooth flow of movement and a strong sense of where their center of strength comes from. A layman might say that they look really "together," meaning that there is no jerky or awkward movements. The upper level students are very confident in their projection, and they are "dancing" the combination rather than walking their way through it or just trying to remember it. When the most accomplished group dances, they are able to exhibit a sense of line, form, and spatial design. Placement is natural and without force, and the students are able to match the grandeur of the orchestral drum track with their emotional expression. Simonson urges them to be "influenced by the drum accents," and the students respond with willing faces.
The Simonson class was a well thought out approach to getting a body ready to dance, and, as evidenced by the positive outlook of the students, a jazz and modern dance style that allows for the dance expression and progression of any level dancer.