How to do a plié and not get bored

Countertechnique, a movement methodology developed by Melbourne-based, Dutch choreographer and former Artistic Director of Chunky Move Anouk van Dijk, is a method for training performing artists to move in any direction with ease and fluency. Van Dijk started to develop her own practice and methodology in the late 1990s, and she applies this method to her own choreographies and teaches it to professional dancers and dance students worldwide. A psycho-physical approach to performer training informed by the Alexander Technique and William Forsythe’s space analysis, Countertechnique had a profound impact on twenty-six third-year dance students in 2020 at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), University of Melbourne. Following an intensive semester of classes and workshops with van Dijk and Countertechnique teachers, students reported an enhanced capacity to experiment, the enjoyment of full-bodied dancing, increased stamina, lower levels of pain and injury, and a deeper spatial awareness. In this interview with Carol Brown (Head of Dance, VCA), van Dijk discusses Countertechnique in relation to its founding principles, the local and global context, and specific dance tools that support performing artists to sustain long careers. Two interviews were conducted: one on 24 June 2020 in the middle of lockdown in Melbourne;and a second on 7 December 2020, when restrictions had eased thanks to Melbourne’s successful elimination of community transmission of Covid-19. The interviews, edited together here, sought to capture the dynamic multi-dimensional contribution Countertechnique makes to the performing arts curriculum at tertiary level, and how it moves beyond being a ‘technique’ to support other areas such as composition, inter-disciplinary practice, partnering, improvisation, and voice. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.