En manège: My journey into the Franklin Method® as a dancer.

New York 2019! A quick trip over the pond to work with my teacher, Eric Franklin. It was a far distance from where I started all those years back in every sense! Stay curious and you never know where life will take you!

Here is my story, and my personal mission: dancer wellbeing in mind and body using the Franklin Method®.

Have you ever just done something because you were curious and in your gut you felt it was right even though you were not sure what you were letting yourself in for?

I discovered Franklin Method® many years back as a dancer out with an injury! I was so cross I was injured and was out on couch rest for weeks. So, not believing my physiotherapist when they told me that I would be a better dancer once I had rested I decided to find some couch reading. And I discovered an intriguing book.  Initially fascinated by the wonderful images but not quite understanding it all, I returned to dance with some new ideas and used the images in that book to help me develop more creatively…

Then, a few years later, as a dancer and dance teacher I faced two major reconstructive surgeries and a very long rehabilitation back to walking and then to dancing.  Once more, I sat down with other books that Eric had written on the feet, green balls besides me, trying to find something that could help me because my journey back to dance was not as easy as I thought it would be…

Something kept taking me back to these books because at the time I felt I no longer had a body that worked as I wanted it to. I had to find another path, there had to be some way forwards…

Still curious, I made a 8 hour round trip to a workshop. It was the only one I could find that was running and I remember it so clearly, seemingly endless train travel to get to the venue: a tiny space on a super hot day! During this session, something started to click in my own body because I felt some movement that I had been looking for that I was unable to access previously and no medical professional had given me the answer to. I just felt at that moment there was more to all of this besides the wonderful images and the balls and the bands (they are brilliant though!). At that point I had many questions and the response I was given was to train as an educator - I was perplexed as I just wanted to know what exercises to do as something had felt instinctively good!

Finally, I recall setting my alarm very early to book into the only workshop Eric ran that year in the UK. The workshop was on nothing whatsoever to do with walking, but so many more insights and discoveries came one after the other, some of them very challenging. By the end of the day I was shattered, but I just felt there was something in this system. So, when the opportunity came round again I signed up to become an educator and I’ll admit I had no real idea where this journey was going at the time. I thought it would answer my questions as I’d get the insider perspective and more information beyond my books. It did, but it also opened up many other questions and a process of continual discovery which will now stay with me for life!

So what changed? I have really come to understand my body, my unique body, not the body that any movement system would like to shoehorn it into. There is a difference between a movement system and movement from the standpoint of our natural design and there are ways to get both to work together, but in all my training I had never experienced this to the depth I now do. I now know what my body can do, what it means to move with health and efficiently, have power, yet be comfortable and really, really enjoy it.

I think it is true to say that every Educator has their own learning path, we all have our own challenges we meet, often head on and work through during our training. For me, so much of the learning was not just about movement but learning about all of the pressure I put on myself which was one of the causes of a massive overload in my body. I had to unlearn all of that and start again. There was a point where I thought there was no possibility of returning to dance because there seemed to be too much history and back story behind every movement I did and so I did walk away for a long time. But, midway through my own training I decided go back, at first as an ultimate test of what I had been learning, and so I applied what I had been taught. And the day it finally all came together was just such a day of joy! So now, I’m back dancing as a very different dancer, with a different body, a different approach but a healthier body, a much happier dancer and as a more confident individual. I have trust in myself and my body and it no longer hurts!  Movement is truly a joy and I totally love it! And I think that’s what makes Franklin Method® so addictive, because it feels incredible to discover how to move and do so in a way by which you feel fantastic, energised and just wonderful!

Franklin Method® is a transformational system, and for me now it is a way of life, a daily practice and I don’t ever get bored with it!

I love working on it for myself and sharing it with others because I love to see all the little and sometimes big transformations that happen that really make a difference not just to movement, but to lives. That makes me smile a lot!  Once you find what you can embody you will find there are more and more depths to what you do - movement is no longer just movement but something really special.  There are always ‘so many ah-ha’ moments as my dancers have found out for themselves! I still have those moments too because it really is a continual process of learning and discovery.

Dancing still is a passion and a huge part of my life.  I love taking class, although with a totally different mindset and set of objectives. My own somatic practice has returned me all the way back to the beginning in many ways - using imagery in a hugely creative way but now moving beyond the codified systems of dance. It’s an exciting, playful, creative place to be and I love it!

So, having come full circle myself, my goal is to help you develop your passions, skills and talents and continue to feel the joy of dance at whatever level or in whatever genre to be the happiest, healthiest dancer you can be. That’s why I am also so proud to become the first Franklin Method® Educator who has also become a Dance UK Healthcare Practitioner. It feels a good place to be and their work aligns so much with my own and my ethos. In one of Eric’s books he talks about there being a space for everyone to make a contribution, and I finally feel like I am home, and hopefully I can help you too.

I’ve been through every possible emotion with dance, so I have an understanding of what you may feel, go through, give up or need help with to become the best you can be.  That’s more than strength or flexibility or repeating the same thing over and over, but a more holistic approach.  My approach is always to work with patience, kindness and positivity because dancers first and foremost are people with real feelings and real emotions about what they do. So, that’s my story, for now. Your journey will be different, so stay curious about your body and mind in movement, there is so much to discover. And who knows where that will take you?

Come and join me: when you really know ‘you’ so many of the missing pieces you have been looking for suddenly appear or slot into place…

And the greatest lesson of all I hope to pass on is that your best teacher is you.

In wellness, and wishing you a healthy and happy life in dance and beyond!

Sarah

xx

Have a look at my Franklin Method for Dancers page to see how I can help you and what is currently running!

©Sarah Pritchard, 2021, All Rights Reserved.

DISCLAIMER: as I do not know your individual circumstances, none of my blogs, my videos, my guidance in the Facebook group or any other materials available to you where I have not taken you on as a one to one client shall be construed as advice and I shall have no liability to you in any circumstances should you choose to rely on any of the materials I publish.