THE LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT 7

This is a blog that invites comments about the guest presenter we had today.

Deborah Slater, a San Francisco choreographer, spoke about influential Bay Area dancers and choreographers and showed tapes of their work. She also showed tapes of her own pieces which she calls "theater pieces". She distinguishes this form from "dance" by noting that it depends upon deep emotional expression, rather than on just body movements.

We could see, in her work, and in that of other contemporary choreographers, the elements of our post-modern culture that we talked about during this course: multiplicity and diversity. In the pieces shown we could see the combinations of music/dance/scenery/costumes/and stories and the use of a variety of sources for movement. The contemporary dancers were more acrobatic than they had been in the Modern period, and employed much more body contact.

To those of you who are reading the blogs, feedback that can help to improve the courses I give will be most welcome. You can comment on the blog page, in an e-mail to me (goldmark@usfca.edu), or on a piece of paper other than the course evaluation form.

THE LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT 6

After looking at the contributions to Modern Dance by Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey we turned to other dancers, Helen Tamiris, Valerie Bettis and Sophie Maslow who were also 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. Chuck Davis and Katherine Dunham brought dances from Africa and the Caribbean that included the movements of the torso to different drum rhythms, the bent knees and the foot pounding movements of these cultures.
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 Black 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.
A film of one of Mark Morris's dances illustrated the influence of ballet and folk dance on his Modern Dance style. There is little subtle, small body movements in his choreography and he usually creates movements on the beat of the music. The late Michael Smuin was another choreographer who created movements on the the beat of the music. However, he used costumes and more elaborate sets and presented dances that were more akin to show pieces than to Modern Dance, and were popular entertainments.

After showing some previews of dance groups that were coming to the Bay Area this year, we next talked about hip-hop music and rap, two contemporary art forms that originated in the Black/Latin areas of the South Bronx and swept the nation and the world.

Next week we will have choreographer Deborah Slater talk to us about the different choreographies in dance groups in the Bay Area. This promises to be a very interesting and informative session. After that we will look at Break Dancing, the choreography of homosexual choreographers, the law and dance, and the popularity of movement in today's society.

Posted by bernice goldmark at 3:16 PM 0

THE LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT 5

Moving along with movements that are deliberate, we began the story of dance in our society. We saw that changes in dance occurred, along with changes in the other arts, when there were changes in the values in society. The Greek Dionysian expressive dancing gave way to Christian suppression of body movements in the Middle Ages. Dance in the 17th and 18th century was either the dances done by the people in the country or villages, or the early ballet developed by the nobles and the court and exhibited by King Louis XIII and IV. 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, as Russia became the important center of ballet. 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 then at 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, however, 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.

Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn 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.
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 4

We began today with a quick survey of some of the recent, popular books that tell us how to read body language so that we can better succeed in life. It was noted (by a student) that the advice was for the middle class society in our country- for those who wanted to "get ahead", have better relationships, even find happiness. It was also noted (by a student) that specialists in reading body language are employed by lawyers to aid them in their selection of jurors.

We then moved on to the language of movements of the inner city Chicago African Americans whose body movements were used deliberately to communicate. Many people in the Black communities resent the fact that the white population has adopted much of their culture (music/dance/language/art) and seek to preserve it for themselves. Thus they not only maintain, but often exaggerate their movements in order to keep them uniquely "theirs".

Movement, in general, is highly valued by the groups that were studied, as revealed by their language. Words indicating rapid movements, or having the potential for movement, present positive images. For example, being "hip", "bopping," "swinging" are valued, where as "slouching" is not. The placement of the legs, the arms, and the shoulders communicate intentions deliberately, as do the movements of the hips, shoulders, head, eyes and lips. Handshakes (giving skin) vary and each style communicates meaning that is shared in the community.

Finally, we looked into the broader area of cultural differences, comparing some values and movements of the Native Americans and the

Japanese with those of our own culture. Hall has said that to feel comfortable in a different culture we need to learn to move to the rhythms of that culture.

Next week we'll finish looking at cultural differences in everyday movement and move on to look at differences in dance movements, which are deliberately choreographed.

Many of you have studied dance at one time or another, and/or have followed dance group performances for many years. We'd like to hear your experiences and impressions.