The MIT Press: The MIT Press Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Access To TDR (1988-)
The MIT Press: The MIT Press Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Access To TDR (1988-)
The MIT Press: The MIT Press Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Access To TDR (1988-)
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CynthiaJ. Novack
Introduction
This photo essay is a summary movement analysis of contact improvisa-
tion.1 In general, movement analysis can be based on existing, formalized
systems or on methods devised by the individual researcher. Laban Move-
ment Analysis (or Labanalysis),2 various notation systems (e.g., Eshkol,
Labanotation, Benesh), the cataloging of choreographic elements (spatial
patterns and arrangements, movement structures, groupings of dancers,
etc.), and/or the relationship of movement to music, text, role, image,
costume, or set, are all possible approaches to analysis. The system chosen
or devised depends on the particular skills of the observer, the circum-
stances of the observation, the nature of what is being observed, and the
questions being asked.
My movement analysis of contact improvisation was made over a period
of three years (I983-85) on the basis of viewing live performance and
videotapes, using concepts drawn from Labanalysis and from dance com-
position. I constructed "coding sheets," lists of qualities with which to
observe and record impressions systematically. The items on the coding
sheets encouraged attention to four major categories of movement. Three
categories-"Body Use," "Space/Shape," and "Efforts"--were derived
from Labanalysis, and the fourth category-"Choreographic Elements"-
was derived from compositional and presentational techniques and devices
in dance. Utilizing these observations, I attempted to discern the connec-
tions between movement elements in contact improvisation, and to articu-
late how they were related and which were of major or minor emphasis.
My training as an anthropologist taught me to question any analytical
system for the intrinsic cultural bias of its classification and organization.
Laban's perceptions about movement are unique in their comprehensive
detail and organization, but they were nevertheless based on some arguable
cultural assumptions. In particular, Laban's system reflects a line of Euro-
pean thought which posits the individual as the unit to be measured-a
unit which may be divided into parts, categorized, and thereby under-
stood. Further, when applying this system to non-European modes of
120
Notes
i. All photographs are reprinted with the permission of ContactQuarterlyand Con-
tact Collaborations, Inc.
2. Labanalysis is an elaborate system for studying movement developed by Rudolf
Laban in Europe in the early part of the 20th century (see Laban 197I, I974). It
includes a notation system (Labanotation), and methods for analyzing the use of
space and dynamics (choreutics or space harmony and effort-shape). For accounts
of the Laban system as it has been developed in America, see Irmgard Bartenieff
(I980) and Cecily Dell (I977).
3. The concept of core qualities is central to Irmgard Bartenieff's work. See Bar-
tenieff (I980).
4. Laban conceived of movement in the physical world as organizing itself spatially
along lines of crystalline structures. Tara McClellan (I980) has suggested that
contact improvisation is one of the only American dance forms to organize itself
almost entirely within the icosahedron, a crystalline form with 24 points. Many
dance forms relate far more to the vertical axis running up and down through the
body, focusing on the independent, upright figure.
References
Bartenieff, Irmgard, with Dori Lewis
1980 Body Movement:Coping with the Environment.New York: Gordon and
Breach.
Dell, Cecily
1977 A PrimerforMovementDescription.New York: Dance Notation Bureau
Press.
Laban, Rudolf
1971 The Mastery of Movement. 3d ed. Revised and enlarged by Lisa Ull-
man. Boston: Plays, Inc.
1974 The Languageof Movement:A Guidebookto Choreutics.Annotated and
edited by Lisa Ullman. Boston: Plays, Inc.