Modern Dance II / Spring 2022

I  WARM UP II Stretching III Watch the following video. Analysis Students discuss among themselves Mary Wigman's ideas about dance. Using the questions below as prompts, they write about them and post their reflections on Discussion Board.   Mary Wigman Question 1 Write your response to Wigman's dance performance in this video. IV   Harald Kreutzberg Question 2 What qualities of Wigman's movement groups are shown in Harald Kreutzberg's dance?  Choose from Wigman's  technique, which is structured in five main groups: 1 - Striding and sliding 2 - Springs, vibrations and bouncing 3 - Momentum and oscillations 4 - Falling and dropping (floor technique) 5 - Tensions: relaxed, sustained and motor tensions V Movement, Sound, Word Question 3 Why is the use movement, sound and word important aspects of expressionist dance? VI   Interview with Kurt Jooss Question 4 What does Jooss mean when he says that The Green Table is a ceremony of death? VII Ceremony: the ri...

Review I Concepts Developed by Rudolff Laban   Choreutics: Laban defined choreutics as “the practical study of harmonized movement.” Latter day colleagues of Laban’s, such as Valerie Preston-Dunlop and Vera Maletic, have delineated Choreutics respectively as the “spatial organization for dance” and “the theory and practice of ordering movement in space.”   Kinesphere :  “the sphere around the body whose periphery can be reached by easily extended limbs without stepping away from that place which is the point of support when standing on one foot” (1966, p.10). This spherical space around our body shifts as soon as we shift our weight. It is also the first area of movement exploration before going into “space in general”. It follows anatomical limitations, being actually more elliptic than spherical as constitutionally, the average body has a wider area of reach forward than backward. Visibly speaking the kinesphere stays invisible until the moment we move with...

I  Warm up II Stretching III Video   INFLUENCES   Die Brücke  and  Der Blaue Reiter IV Analysis Students discuss among themselves Mary Wigman's ideas about dance. Using the question below as a prompt, they write about it and post their reflection on Discussion Board. Question 1 Based on this video, what is expressionism? V Video   Arnold Schönberg Analysis Students discuss among themselves Schönberg's ideas about music. Using the question below as a prompt, they write about it and post their reflection on Discussion Board. Question 2  After watching Bernstein's presentation on Schönberg's music, what aspect of Schonberg's music could have influenced Wigman's ideas about dance? ------------------------------------------------ VI LINKS: Reading Expressivity Schools Check the link and scroll down to page 110. VII Analysis Students discuss among themselves Mary Wigman's ideas about expression, using the question below as a prompt, they write ...

  I Warm Up II Stretching III Video IV   Dance Expressionism   Expressive dance from German Ausdruckstanz , is a form of artistic dance in which the individual and artistic presentation (and sometimes also processing) of feelings is an essential part. It was a revolution. It would be more expressive, and show more spirit and emotion and less virtuosity. The dance would be improvisational, uninhibited and provocative. Future spiritual and bodily reform movements expressed themselves in a new "natural" naked dance. Schools for expressionist dance had special philosophies and emphases for dance, such as naturalness, breathing, tension / relaxation etc. It was often associated with floor contact, "weight" of dance movements, and experiments with music. Body and physicality were strongly emphasized.  Rudolf Laban was a theoretical prominent figure who was based on metaphysical ideas and one of the pioneers of Ausdruckstanz in Germany. From 1913-1918, Laban ...

I   Warm Up   II    Stretch   III   Concept: 4 Components of Human Movement   Laban’s Four Components of Human Movement with their Respective Elements :  •Direction – direct/indirect •Weight – heavy/light •Speed – quick/sustained •Flow – bound / free IV Activity 1   Create an 8 movements phrase in which each move has:    One direction (direct)  One direction ( indirect)  One weight (light)  One weight (heavy)  One speed (quick)   One speed (sustained)    One flow (bound)  One flow (free).  ----------------------------  V Activity 2 Add to your previous movement phrase the efforts listed below (one effort per movement). Add music to your phrase. Record it and post it on Discussion Board. Laban’s Eight Effort Actions :      The Eight Effort Actions help clients both physically and emotionally to embody and understand internal impulse while developing an expressive b...

I Warm Up II  Stretching III Concept: Space and Relationship / Laban's Cube   Apace and Relationship T he kinesphere is also the container of a cube (containing all diagonal directions and dimensions) and of an icosahedron made by three bi-dimensional planes: it contains angular geometry inside a round geometry. IV Activity Students experience what is like to move inside the imaginary cube, first individually (by following directions as to how to place themselves inside of it) then collectively (by using their creativity as each member of the group engages in different position). V Analysis Students discuss among themselves  their experience moving inside the imaginary cube. They use the question below as a prompt to write their reflections about the  relationship of the body with the space on Discussion Board.    Question 1 Explain in your own words the meaning of the kinesphere within the Laban's cube?    ---------------  VI Journaling

I Warm Up II Several subcategories of body are: Initiation of movement starting from specific bodies Connection of different bodies to each other Sequencing of movement between parts of the body   Patterns of body organization and connectivity -----------------------  III Patterns of Connectivity     With knowledge of Laban's concepts, via Bartenieff, Peggy Hackney identified six developmental patterns of body connectivity: breath, core-distal, head-tail, upper-lower, body- half, and cross-lateral .   Total Body Integration (Page 20)   Standing Lateral Core Distal Upper Lower  --------------------------------------------- IV. FLOOR Early Patterns of Total Body Connectivity. Question 2 After trying and/or observing the different movement patterns, explain how did it feel to put your body through this work? ------------------------------------------ IV    Laban-Baternieff 5 Developmental Movement Patterns    Naval Radiation Spinal Upp...

I Warm Up/Stretch II Body The body category describes structural and physical characteristics of the human body while moving.  This category is responsible for describing which body parts are moving, which parts are connected, which parts are influenced by others, and general statements about body organization.    Breath   Deliberately bringing your awareness to your breath as support for your movement is a precursor to whole-body coordination and virtuosity in movement. This is true for movers of all levels as breath allows the entire body to be supported from within in complex coordination.  Source: https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/total-body-connectivity-breath-patterning Breath Connectivity Athletes breathing versus diaphragmatic breathing. Walk around the room (Use directions, levels and focus) Now connect with your breath ass you walk. Now move on the inhale and pause on the exhale. Then, move on the exhale and pause on the exhale. Combine th...

I Warm Up / Stretch II Review of Solo Phrase III Art Nouveau In creating these harmonic designs, Laban utilizes his artistic understanding of  human anatomy, proportion, and range of motion.  Moreover, he draws on his Art Nouveau background to generate spatial patterns that are highly symmetrical. Art Nouveau designers stylized the curves of natural forms such as butterflies, flowers, and leaves to create beautiful  two-dimensional patterns. Question 1 What is Art Nouveau? IV ACTIVITY 1  Bring your 8 movements to your group. Offer your moves to your group. Add an Art- Noveau style, whatever that means to you, to your movements, based on the video above.  -------------------------------------------- V Laban’s space harmony scales are similar. Laban has taken the curves of natural movements and geometricized them, creating “harmonic” three-dimensional patterns.  VI  The video above shows an example of a “harmonic” three-dimensional pattern. Compare this ...