So Much to Love About the Rib Cage
Flexibility & Mobility for Performers
The rib cage is not a cage! In fact, the rib cage has the potential for beautiful mobility and flexibility. It participates in breathing, every breath requires movement of all 12 pairs of ribs, up and out on the inhale followed by down and in on the exhale. The rib cage changes shape in breathing, but that is not all…
It changes shape for movement! Imagine you are out and about when you see a super cool scaffolding and decide to move through the horizontal and vertical upright.
Or you want to move under one horizontal bar and over another.
The rib cage needs to participate and change shape to do these movements. The same changes are integral to grounded performing choreography.
Remember the pouring rice metaphor in A Dynamic Relationship with the Ground? Imagine that your sitting bones are full of rice grains. The video shows how to change the shape of your rib cage from your base. Notice how when one side (front/back, left/right) lengthens, there is an equal and opposite change on the other side.
Once you find these shape changes, can you allow them to happen as you make a simple sound with your voice or instrument? Focus on movement rather than sound. For many musicians, changing the shape of the rib cage is something they haven’t done as they make sound. This is a way to unlock tension in your torso.
We will see how this freedom supports arm movement, breathing, dynamic movement from the base confidence, and even more…
Be curious!