Dayita splits her time as a freelance dancer and an editor for The Clean Copy. She joined the teacher training programme in October 2018.
In 2016, Dayita was working as Coordinator at Shoonya when Robin offered a week-long introductory workshop in the Alexander Technique. She joined the workshop because it was so easily accessible and she was curious to try a new somatic practice. Dayita didn’t do much more with the Technique until October 2018, when Robin and Béatrice announced the beginning of a teacher training course. During 2018, Dayita was rehearsing and performing a lot. ‘I would have a stiff neck every few days, and it took ages to get rid of each time,’ she says. Since joining the programme, she can count on one hand the number of times she has had a stiff neck. ‘With the tools that I have gained, I’m able to recover frozen neck muscles within a day or two. The effects of the Technique are incredible and long-lasting,’ she finds. Since the Technique is working so well for her, Dayita would recommend it to performers. In addition to preparing the body for movement and helping with recovery, it allows the performer to be much more present in rehearsal and on stage. ‘More than anything, the Technique has increased my ability to let go if I am not succeeding in a particular movement, and approach it differently. As dancers, we are taught to work through pain, and although I haven’t stopped doing that entirely, I am finding ways to let myself experience movement more carefully and to try alternative pathways,’ she says. Being in the programme has encouraged Dayita to focus more on process rather than outcome, which has allowed her to approach dance with less judgement and expectation than she did previously. She has enjoyed how flexible the programme is, and that although information often repeats, there are always new layers to discover. At the moment, Dayita is interested in the concept of ‘head above the effort’, which is a conscious message that you can give yourself in any activity. In dance, she finds that this thought reduces the downward pressures in the body, facilitating lightness and a sensation of going ‘up’.