Ebb and Floorwork: Harmonizing the body with the floor to achieve Flow

Ebb and Floorwork is a movement philosophy that investigates an active search for the flow experience through a movement floorwork aesthetic. By implementing and modeling the primary use of the floor after Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s conditions of flow my research asks: how does floorwork lead to a state of flow and enhance a dancer’s training, how do different movement modalities help find effortlessness (a familiar sensation of flow), and does instilling a state of flow enhance the ability to do floorwork? This research is driven from my observations of many collegiate dancers having a disconnected relationship with the floor. My aim is to underscore how floorwork trains and stimulates a full body and mind activation, requiring dancers to be sensitive in the present moment and highly aware of their movement choices. It is in the flow state that I feel paves the way for dancers to be grounded, leading to optimal performance both in body and mind. Although the flow experience is subjective, Ebb and Floorwork gives a platform for dancers to deliberately find their own flow experience so that there is more room for conscious decisions and less stress as they perform