THE LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT 6

In this last class of the session, we looked at Contemporary Choreographers, beginning with Mark Morris and Smuin, and looked at some of the upcoming groups in 2008/9. Most of the groups display the characteristics of the Post Modern era: multiplicity and diversity. They combine ethnic dance styles and music, and many of the theatrical elements, such as creative scenery and costumes and often video or digital images and lighting.

We then looked at the popular rhythm of hip-hop and the development of rap in the Black community which was later adopted by the white community.

We did a quick survey of the ways in which the homosexual choreographers either presented, or hid their sexual identities, depending upon the acceptability of homosexuals in the eras in which they lived. Charlie Chaplin satirized portrayals of masculinity, Ted Shawn taught masculine movements, Loie Fuller hid her body from view under veils, Bill T. Jones presented both his homosexuality and his masculinity searching for his identity as a Black, a male, and a homosexual. Joe Goode presented a program of effeminate gestures.

We then looked at decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court regarding nude dancing in clubs and saw that the question of whether nude dancing is expressive and therefore protected by the First Amendment was avoided by the Courts whose rulings were on the basis of the possibility of crime, prostitution, and the lowering of home values, rather than on the First Amendment issue, or the issue of morality.

Finally we looked at the many different movement programs existing today and at the emphasis on exercise and sports in our culture.

It was a wonderful experience for me this semester, and I thank you all for being there and being so interested.

THE LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT 5

Continuing on with the history of Modern Dance we looked at Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. They were the "parents" of the next generation of modern dancers at their Denishawn School of Dance. They broadened the sources of dance movements by presenting dances from Asia, India, and the American Indian cultures.

Best known of their students was Martha Graham, who introduced the contraction/release movement that was popular in Modern Dance for half a century, and can still be seen today. She was also concerned with expressing the psychological motivations of mythical, historical, and fictional characters.
Doris Humphrey focused on gravity and falls, and with Charles Weidman, choreographed many dances incorporating these movements. These movements influenced many of the contemporary choreographers .
At the same time dancers like Helen Tamiris, Valerie Bettis and Sophie Maslow were putting their own stamp on Modern Dance style. Tamiris was the most avant-garde and pioneered in experiments with instruments and voice. Maslow, along with William Bales and Jane Dudley created pieces that incorporated folk themes in the music and the dances.

One of the most important influences on Modern Dance was the introduction of the movements of dancers in Africa- the use of the torso, with hips and shoulders moving forward and back and side to side. Video clips of Chuck Davis in Africa and the dances that Katherine Dunham brought back from the Caribbean illustrated the movements of the torso to different drum rhythms, the bent knees and the foot pounding movements of these dancers.

Many of the popular dances came from the movements of the Blacks in Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean.

As has happened with many art forms and social movements, the White populations copied the styles of the Black minorities causing the Blacks people to move a step further in an effort to preserve their own identity. After Katherine Dunham, Black dancers became legitimate Modern Dancers, and some were admitted into Ballet troupes: Talley Beatty and Arthur Mitchell danced with Balanchine, Asadata Dafore came from Africa and became a sensation in the U.S.

The time was ripe for extended experimentation in the Post-Modern Period. Merce Cunningham, working with John Cage, used chance and spontaneity in his dances. Paul Taylor introduced comedy.

In the next generation, Twyla Tharp and Bill T. Jones experimented with new forms of dance and new troupes introduced cross cultural dance themes as well as the use of mixed media and mixed styles.

Each generation's choreographers produce works that reflect the values of the times. Ballet was elegant and formal when it originated in the Courts in France, but became more "Modern" in the present era in which diversity and multiplicity are important values.

Momix and Pilobolus are two groups that perform yearly in Marin and create new images with human bodies. Momix, playing with light and shadows produces illusions, and Pilobolus creates sculptures with human forms.

Alonzo King, of San Francisco based Lines Ballet, choreographs with other ethnic groups: one year with the Pygmies of Africa, another with the Shaolin monks and this year with Pharoah Sanders, a jazz musician. ODC San Franciso is another local group that experiments with movement. They focus on active movement and have presented a movement vocabulary that is now popular in the dance world: acrobatics/gymnastics/rolling bodies/bodily contact.

Two other contemporary groups are Joe Goode and Robert Moses'Kin. Goode presents romantic stories and "feel good" shows while Moses is more balletic.

We will continue with Modern/Contemporary Dance next week and finish the course with a look at how choreographers present homosexuality in their dances, what the Supreme Court has ruled about "expressive dance" and the popularity of movement in today's culture.

THE LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT 4

We first finished looking at the movements of the inner city African-Americans in Chicago, noting their greetings, their hand and arm language, and the deliberate movements of their eyes, shoulders, hips, and legs to communicate interest or lack of interest to another person. We finished with the symbolism of the "black power" , 5 step hand/arm movements.

We then moved on to look at the history of dance movements in ancient days, and in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Ballet was codified in France, by Louis XIV and ballet choreographers who developed rules for ballet positions and a written symbol system for preserving ballet movements. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the development of ballets with modern music, elaborate sets and costumes, and complete stories. Diaghilev was the master producer of elaborate ballets at this time, using the music of Stravinsky, the art of Picasso, and the dancing of such great stars as Fokine, Nijinsky, and Pavlova.

All through these centuries, people did their ethnic folk dances in their communities. Although some still do them, many of them have turned their folk dancers into professional performance companies.

We looked then at the beginning of modern dance in Germany by such innovators as Laban, Mary Wigman, Alwin Nikolais, Joos, Hanya Holm (who moved to America and choreographed stage shows like Kiss Me Kate, and was the first to use Labanotation, film and copyrights), and the American "liberator" of dance, Isadora Duncan. It was noted that the German dance choreographers were influenced by Cubism and Expressionism in Modern Art and were concerned with shaping space. Duncan saw space as limitless and each dance as spontaneous and unique to the dancer with no possibility of replication by another person, nor even by the originator at a later time.

We will continue on with the development of Modern Dance to see how movements of the torso entered the vocabulary of movement in dance.

Some of you have had dance classes, perhaps even performed , and if so we would like you to share some experiences with us.

The Language of Movement 3

We looked today at messages given with hands, and saw that most finger formations have different meanings in different cultures. Hands held out with palms up or extended with palms up or down also give different messages.
Arm movements and leg movements were also seen to give messages, some of which are invitations to a relationship of some sort, others are dismissive. Interpretations depend largely on the context in which the movements are made, and the mind-set, and expectations of the viewer.
When people pass on the street they follow the informal rule of "civil inattention": acknowledging the other person with brief eye contact (civil) and then lowering the eyes and turning them away from the other person to indicate that no further contact will follow (inattention). Greeting motions that often start with the "eyebrow lift" then can proceed to a smile, a gestural wave, a hug, or a kiss. Touching, handshakes, kisses and bows also vary form culture to culture.
Space is an important factor in giving body messages. The distances between people depend upon the types of relationships they have, and their openness (or lack of it) towards allowing other people into the group.
We can learn about ourselves and others by becoming more aware of these specific movements and considerating the possible interpretations available to us. If you have become more aware, and have noticed any specific movements of interest, please share them with us.
After looking at body language we turned to the spate of popular books that use body language as a tool for improving one's life, succeeding at an interview, getting ahead at work, even having better sexual relations. Some books even instructed us how to "fake it", deceive with facial expressions, and tell lies successfully. Most warned that the context was extremely important when reading body language.

Our next session was concerned with the research on language, and body

language of the black culture in the inner city in Chicago, where the words having to do with movement were most valued, as were the movement activities themselves (e.g. sports and dancing). We will continue to look at the body and hand movements in this study.

The Language of Movement 2

The Language of Movement 2


In this second session we continued looking at the history of body movement in Western cultures. The repression of emotional expressive movement has been attributed to three major factors: the churches that feared that free movements would lead to loss of control; the development of the capitalist society in which people had to be taught to fit into their needed roles; and the rise of the individual self as more important than community identity.
In the late 50's and early60's there was a social revolution in which the youth began to free themselves from what they considered to be the restraints imposed upon them by the adult community. They developed their own music- rock and roll- that came from African-Caribbean roots. Their revolution was aided by the Civil Rights movement that fought to have all minorities recognized as being equal with the majority in our society . This was the Post-Modern world of diversity and multiplicity. Body movements also became more free, as did attitudes towards sex and gender.
We then looked briefly at the movement development of infants, toddlers, and teen agers, observing the stages of changes in muscular control in young people, and the movements of teenagers who experienced radical changes in their bodies.
We started looking at some specific facial and body movements and the use of space to communicate. We'll continue with this next week and also look at some of the popular uses for the study of body language.
Look at the body movements of the candidates as they debate and give speeches this week. If you've seen anything that you'd like to share, click on comments below and write your comment in the box. You must include your name but you can ask that it not be published on the blog, if you wish, and I will exclude it.

Fall 2008 Welcome

Welcome to the OLLI class, The Language of Movement".


Welcome to the OLLI Course "The Language of Movement"
Our first meeting was an overview of the course topics followed by general information about non-verbal languages and the language of movement.
Edward Hall posed three ways in which we learn non-verbal languages: formal/informal/technical. Learning the rules of behavior of our culture he calls "formal" learning. Learning by imitating others (parents, other adults, peers) is "informal" learning. Informal learning is done largely without awareness. Learning from teaching, such as exercise or dance instruction, is "technical" learning, which is deliberate. We learn new behaviors primarily by imitating, which is a slow process of which we are seldom aware.
We noted two main ways of studying body movements: the psychological which offers explanation about the mover's motivations, and the sociological which examines the effects that movement has on other people. We will be largely concerned with the latter, which is important so that we won't be unaware and thus possibly victimized.
We then looked at the metaphors that we construct from the schemas of our bodies: body parts that are containers, or that operate in paths, center-periphery, or cyclical movements. These metaphors allow us to think abstractly, rather than literally, as when we say, "My cup runneth over", or "He is an upstanding citizen".
Next we began the story of movement in history, beginning with the festivals of Dionysius in which bodies moved freely, through the period in which the church repressed movements and then the Humanistic period in which the sense of "self" emerged .
Next week we'll continue with the History of Movement, look at some aspects of movement development (non-technically) and move on to the social interpretations of body movements.
Feel free to post any comments or ask any questions by clicking on "Comments" below. I hope you will share any information or observations you have with the class.