Additional Recordings of André Bernard’s Workshop June 16-27, 1986
Eva Karczag donated these recordings to the Thinking Body Institute Archive in 2020. For purposes of presentation in the Archive, she arranged the conversion of the original recordings to MP3 files. It would appear that this collection represents another copy of the recordings made for Bernard’s California Berkeley Moving Arts Workshop. The general time frame for the lessons is the same. These recordings and written summaries provide a slightly different perspective on the learning experiences Bernard shared in his Berkeley workshop than the Ruth Botchan documentation.
Bernard’s workshop classes given on June 16 and June 17 were not recorded. Brief notes describe the lesson given on June 18, but there was no recording of Bernard’s conduct of the class. The recordings in this series of lessons begins on June 19, 1986. Brief written summaries of each recorded lesson correspond to the date the lesson occurred.
The Terms of Use of the Thinking Body Institute Archive explain that educational exploration of the material is heartily encouraged, but copying the recordings is strictly prohibited.
June 16 and 17, 1986
Not recorded and no notes.
June 18, 1986
The third day of the workshop
Not Recorded. Anatomy of the iliofemoral joint, line of movement from the center of knee to the center of the hip. Bouncing, greater trochanters melting, sit bones melting.
In the Constructive Rest Position: Review of the suit of clothing full of sand pouring out. Femur into the acetabulum, shoulders as epaulets, eyes. Balancing on femur heads.
June 19, 1986
The fourth day of the workshop – Length: 1:57:05
Review of femur into acetabulum while sitting, standing and walking. Planes of movement (sagittal, coronal, transverse.) Spinal column, tail.
Lying on side – spinous processes folding down.
June 20, 1986
The fifth day of the workshop – Length: 1:34:37
First ½ hour is missing. Section on levers – see pages 22-30 in Human Movement Potential. Center of knee to ankle, three leg joints, lifting objects, line through second toe, compression and tensile axes. Up the front and down the back.
In the Constructive Rest Position, river image, three joints.
June 23, 1986
The sixth day of the workshop – Length: 1:46:03
Warm up: tapping. Sitting (femurs), anatomy of atlanto-occipital joint. Walking exercise, tying shoe exercise, anatomy of the pubic symphysis, narrowing across the front of the pelvis, widening across the back of pelvis. Rib cage, vertebral-costal joints.
Lying on side: Ribs into vertebrae.
In Constructive Rest Position: first rib being perpendicular to the ground. Standing: manubrium on marionette string.
June 24, 1986
The seventh day of the workshop – Length: 1:52:00
First 15 minutes are missing. Sitting to standing. Climbing stairs, line of movement from top of sternum to atlanto-occipital joint, shoulder girdle, sterno-clavicular joint.
In Constructive Rest Position: sponges under scapulae, scapulae floating down, shoulders widening (epaulets), rocking partner. Standing: Scapulae
June 25, 1986
The eighth day of the workshop – Length: 1:37:19
Warm-up: In partners, prone position, tapping and rocking. Scapulae sliding down, rolling crawling, walking. Lecture: Manubrium to atlanto-occipital joint, shoulders, clavicle, acromio-clavicular joint, gleno-humeral joint. Breathing diaphragm, umbrella image, arrowing rib cage, hissing, forced exhalation.
In Constructive Rest Position: Abdomen as a balloon, scapulae spreading out, space between scapulae and ribs, rib cage as an umbrella closing around the central axis. Space between the acromion and glenohumeral joint. Space under armpits, central axis as mercury rising (thermometer), suit of clothing review.
June 26, 1986
The ninth day of the workshop – Length: 1:56:07
Sleep positions, Sitting with tactile aid. Standing with tactile aid, tongue and hyoid bone. Fibula: festoons and pendulum. Line of movement from pubic symphysis to 12th thoracic vertebra.
In Constructive Rest Position: Lily pads floating, suit of clothes, abdomen as a balloon, breath passing around the tongue, hyoid moving toward atlas, neck pit soft, armpits, festoons from sit bones to the fibula, fibula as a pendulum, pubic rami resting together, heads at symphysis and 12th thoracic moving together, sternum to the atlas.
June 27, 1986
The tenth day of the workshop – Length: 1:41:24
Partners standing. Ribs as circles, shoulder girdle as cape. Review: sternum to atlas, tongue soft. Acetabulae as mouths swallowing femur heads, armpits soft, ribs natural, soft pallet as arch rising up. (Missing section on anatomy of foot – see pages 85-87 in Human Movement Potential. Front and back of the foot, foot grasping lightly, zipper from pubis to navel.
In Constructive Rest Position with lower legs over bench: The feet. Pants zipper zipping and then sinking. Line from center of foot to acetabulum. Closing talk.