choreutic concepts and practice

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Choreutic Concepts and Practice Author(s): Valerie Preston-Dunlop Source: Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, The Proceedings of the First Conference of British Dance Scholars Sponsored Jointly by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and The Radcliffe Trust, 2-4 April 1982 (Spring, 1983), pp. 77-

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CHOREUTIC CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

Valerie Preston-Dunlop

1. THE AIM

Rudolf Laban's original choreutic1 concepts are too complex, in both his practice and his writings, to be usable for the analysis of contemporary choreography in the form in which he left them. The central hypothesis of this research is that a broadening, dis- integration and reassembling of his material provides a rich resource. When seen in context with the spatial practice of other dance artists, teachers and theorists, it is possible to conceive of this resource as central to the study of choreography.

To date two models of choreutic content exist. One is embedded in the classroom practice of the classic ballet,2 the other, derived from it, was put forward by Laban.3 Neither model is adequate for the style and content of avant-garde dance today, for both are sophisticated and self contained.

A model on a continuum is posited with the ballet/Laban organisation of space as one pole, and an open-ended use of the same base unit at the other.

2. SPACE, ITS NATURE

Dance lives in space. Space is "room for things to be different in, different from one another at any time, different from themselves at different times".4 "Space is where atoms can be", but "the void is where they might be but are not".5 In choreography the atoms are dancers dancing. The void is the apparent emptiness of the available space which the choreographer turns into a place of meaningful differences. But it is not a void; it has light, air and surfaces, albeit not delineated in width, height and depth. A phenomenological appreciation of the space6 reveals that it has a psychology. As soon as it is decided upon as a spot where an encounter between dancer/dance/audience will take place, it has. Also, the physical properties of it colour the responses of both creator and appreciator. The fact that it is a proscenium stage, an arena, the staircase of the Museum of Modern Art, or Hyde Park turns the general expectation

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into the more specific one of pantomime, high art, avant-garde, or revue according to the venue.

3. THE PRIMARY CONCEPTS

Three primary concepts were identified by Laban and are apparent, though in variation, in balletic practice:

a) the kinesphere or the dancer's square, b) the geometric models or the geometric base of ballet,

c) the choreutic forms or standard balletic structures.

Through submitting a) to c) to a linguistic analysis,7 a fourth concept emerged:

d) the utterance of the forms8 or the way in which the structures are danced.

4. THE KINESPHERE (the first choreutic concept)

Space is divided up into manageable units by recognising that each dancer inhabits his own bit of it, which is congruent with his own body's size and extension. It is this bit of space which forms the context for ballet's spatial structures and Laban's complex choreutic theory.

Over and above the physical boundaries of the body and common to everyone, there is the psychological body image boundary, "which is harder to delimit but is just as real".9 The significance of this boundary, which is a dimension of everyday interpersonal behaviour, overflows into the aesthetic appreciation of dance works, so that overlap, penetration, diminution and expansion of the kinesphere reflect meaning in the dance.

4.1 The Shared Space

Beyond each kinesphere is space. For it to become a dance space, it is delineated, given edges, dimensions and a centre to become a contextual place in which artistic exchange can take place between dancer and dancer, dancer and audience. It is shared. Not only the proscenium stage, but also rooftops, subway stations, attics and warehouses all have dimensions, peripheries and centres and are used innovatively by artists like Merce Cunningham1? and the Post Moderns.11'12

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To be of use to to-day's dances, the first of Laban's choreutic

concepts must be enlarged to encompass both the kinesphere and the shared space.

5. THE GEOMETRIC MODEL (the second choreutic concept)

This model comprises the three regular geometric forms, octa- hedron, cube and icosahedron, the three axial crosses which form the central framework, four kinds of direction, one- two- three- dimensional and inclinational,13 planes of movement, curves and straight shapes. These form the spatial elements underlying spatial organisation. Balletic practice is a selection of them, highly sophisticated - octahedral, primarily curves, central or peripherally placed.'4 Laban's esoteric choreutic forms were, by contrast, icosa- hedral, curves and straight, central, transversal and peripherally placed. 1

5.1 Traditional Treatment as Fixed Forms

Traditional practice, in both ballet and Laban-derived work, has been to tie the geometry into tight forms, through laws of harmonic progression, and to establish methods of performance within a strict style. The routes from one position to another of arm or leg are laid down and predictable in balletic practice with the highly successful function of training the body in specialist acts of dance. Laban-based practice was also narrowly based; limited use was made of the shared space, of body design, of crosses of axes. He succeeded in what he set out to do, namely to provide an alternative way of moving, non- theatrical and personal. But he produced, in so doing, another series of fixed forms,16 such as his "A" and "B" scales.

5.2 Images

Geometric use of space can be seen against another use motivated by images, human behaviour, animal movement, symbolic gestures, dynamic feel, spatial imagination and so on, which are usual starting points for choreography. These images are transformed into dance movement, emerging as syntheses of choreutic fragments, the curve, the line, the angle, the axis, performed in wrist, in head, in waist, in focus, in

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floor pattern, in relationships. Fragments of geometry are the particles in which choreographic imagination manifests itself.

6. CHOREUTIC FORMS (the third choreutic concept, treated with an open approch)

The traditional treatment already described as tightly organised fixed forms is no model for imaginative dance, whether literal or non-literal. But the geometric model may be treated quite differently by an open approach. For instance, Laban's octahedral model gives the line "Left to Right" passing through its centre, through the dancer's torso. It is embodied in ballet 2nd position arms and developp e a la seconde. But there is no reason why that line, and all choreutic lines, may not be dispersed, through change of location, distance from centre, cross of axes, change of size, and reassembled infree association.

6.1 The Continua from Fixed Form to Free Association

This series of continua show the links between fixed form (on the left) and free association (on the right):

closed < >. open

the kinesphere < , shared space

shape and location shape and location in locked free association

performed by the body performed in the body congruently at will

a predetermined a creative open learnt skill skill

6.2 The Choreutic Unit (Ch/U)

The base unit fundamental to both fixed form and free association use of choreutics, is the choreutic unit. There are two kinds: the line and the curve. The line has three fundamental varieties: vertical, horizontal and oblique. (see Photo A)

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(A). A series of oblique lines in the limbs, torso and head, enhanced by the dark line in the costume. (Photograph by Peter Sayers)

The curve has four fundamental varieties: circular,flattened, arched and spiral. They all have size. They are located in the kinesphere and the shared space. They are all located in, or by means of, the body. The lines have directional content. The curves have directional axes. They are orientated relative to the crosses of axes of the body, or of the space.

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The choreutic unit seems facile in its simplicity. Ben Shahn, writing on non-literal painting:'7 "even with the renouncement of content, some content does remain, if only of verticality and

horizontality", seems, on first reading, to disparage such base units. But he knew that form, shape, and content were inextricably linked and that one is necessary to the other, indeed, is the other. Paul Klee,18 in contemplating the

possibility of placing in juxta-position diametrically opposed colours, described it/them as "tremendous fragments of

meaning".

7. THE UTTERANCE OF THE FORMS AND THE UNITS (the fourth choreutic concept)

How are choreutic units danced? Intention is, surprisingly, not essential. A dancer need not intend to make a circle in order actually to make one.

Humphrey described the two well-known kinds of design as "static line" and "in time, as moving sequence".19 That is, line occurs in positions and movements. However, these two do not suffice to explain what happens choreutically, because a dancer's phrase contains actual shapes and virtual shapes.20 These virtual forms are too important to pass over, for they are fundamental to performance, to style, and are the hallmarks of choreographers and dancers. The study of the manner of materialisation of choreutic units takes on a significance which warrants special attention.

8. MANNER OF MATERIALISATION (M/M)

Choreutic units appear in the dancer's body through: a) spatial progression b) body design c) spatial tension

d) spatial projection a) In spatial progression the choreutic unit is made visible in

motion. At no time is it visible in the design of the body. It becomes apparent through the direction of the motion. It is essentially spatial pattern perceived through time, for it has no positional content, only a motional content.

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b) In body design the choreutic unit inhabits the body itself. The unit is perceived immediately as a visible patterning of limbs, or torso or head. The line is the body. Standing upright, a tilted head, a design going across into another body or into the stage set or into a headdress, are examples. It could be said that the

body is always designed. However in this study it implies that the dynamics of the performance draws the audience's eye to that design rather than to the motion itself (see Photo B).

(B). A complex cluster of interwoven designs; a curve from her head through her chest to her lifted knee, a tiny circled fist, an oblique through her arms and shoulder line, horizontal in her lower leg. (Photograph by Peter Sayers)

c) Spatial tension is a way of moving or of holding a position which causes a connection to be seen between the two ends of a choreutic unit, making perceivable an illusory line. When the two palms are made to face each other, and the fact of their

facing is drawn to the attention of the audience by the manner of performance, spatial tension exists between the two hands. Their relationship can be given spatial direction. The two

parties may be parts of one body, the bodies of two dancers, or a dancer and a focus in the shared space.

d) Spatial projection is a line or a curve which continues beyond the body into the kinesphere or into the shared space, and is

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made visible by the dynamics and timing of the performance and by the behaviour of the body fragments which initiate it. It is a virtual line perceived through the dancer's performance (see Photo C).

(C). His focus and dynamic lift send the energy projecting diagonally up beyond his body. (Photograph by Peter Sayers)

8.1 Actual and Virtual

Dynamics, that is changes in timing, intention, attention, focus, energy use, and flow, are seminal in determining which manner of materialisation is being used. It was accepted from the start that spatial tension was not actual but a virtual form in space. Spatial projection is also virtual. That spatial progression was also in the same category was not so obvious. When moving oneself, drawing curves and lines is such an essential of dance movement, even of any movement, that its virtual condition was hard to notice. But, on reflection, it is. To find, indeed, that

body design which seemed so actual to begin with, was also

dependent on dynamics, for its perceptibility, was a further illumination. Indeed, as Ben Shahn puts it, "The shape is the content."21

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9. CLUSTERING OF CHOREUTIC UNITS AND MANNERS OF MATERIALISATION

Clusters are relationships between units caused by juxtaposition and phrasing, which have significance. The relationships are between one movement and another, one dancer and another, dancers and their space. The relationships are seen in simultaneous clusters and sequential clusters (see Photo D).

(D). A momentary chordic arrest; the progression of the swinging leg and the swirling arms cross each other, the focus projects out, the weight continues to progress forwards, and the whole dancer is arrested in a dynamic design. (Photograph by Peter Sayers)

Simultaneous clusters are choreutic units and their manner of materialisation which

a) occur at the same time,

b) belong together. They are analogous to chords in music. They occur as two, three,

four or more part happenings. Often, the movement which creates them is arrested, sometimes only momentarily, sometimes for longer, which causes them to be visible.

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Sequential clusters are choreutic units and their manner of materialisation which

a) occur one after the other in phrases, b) belong together.

They are analogous to melodic line in music. They occur as two or more part phrases. Often more than one sequence occurs at the same time in the same body. Monolinear and polylinear distinguish single from concurrent sequences.

9.1 The Significance of a Cluster

Clusters are given significance by the nature of their relationships. That they happen sequentially or simultaneously is significant in itself, but the nature of their belonging is more significant. Clustering detail is shown through analysis of choreographic works using the Ch/U. M/M notating method.22 The con- sistency of the clusters throughout Nijinska's Les Noces are indicative of the unity of style of the piece. Her use of choreutic forms is quite startlingly different from other works of the period, which the clustering shows up clearly.

Grossman's Couples produced clusters of great density, in that there were up to eight choreutic events in one body at the same time, which accounted for its expression of concentrated, held in, energy. Humphrey's Day on Earth produced much more fluid

0 16-7 1 -q Focus > > n ,

(F ) (FD) W.Xit

<EP?)r ~ ~ ~ F x

/ IND Fk() fP) A

5( - D

The Ch/U. M/M notation of the opening movement of the Man in Humphrey's 'Day on Earth'.

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changes of successive/simultaneous clustering of considerable sophistication, allied to her characterisation of the four people in the piece. Her personal use of choreutic forms was absolutely clear.23

10. SUMMARY

a) The three choreutic concepts are enlarged so that

i) the kinesphere is seen to have a physical and a psychological nature (Ref. 4.),

ii) the kinesphere is seen to be inextricably related to the shared space for choreutic purposes (Ref. 4.1),

iii) the geometric model is seen to be related to dance images, in that images are geometric clusters (Ref. 5.2),

iv) the fixed choreutic forms are one pole on a continuum withfree associationforms as the opposite pole (Ref. 6. 1). This provides a broad and articulate basis for analysis of the choreutic content of choreographic works, or the exploration of spatial forms in dance.

b) The choreutic unit is the base unit for the analysis of spatial forms in dance. It has two shapes, the line and the curve. It is a notional unit until manifest by the dancer when it becomes visible. The units materialise across the shared space, within the kinesphere, from one kinesphere into the shared space, and vary in size, direction, axis and location.

c) The performance of choreutic units has an actual and a virtual component which is the area of study called manner of materialisation.

d) Choreutic units occur in sequential and simultaneous clusters.

e) Clusters are a significant part of the choreographic process.

11. REFERENCES

Bachelard, Gaston, The Poetics of Space, Trans. Maria Jolas. Boston: Beacon Press, 1958.

Banes, Sally, Terpsichore in Sneakers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1980. Cohen, Selma Jeanne (ed.), "Time to Walk in Space, Merce Cunningham",

Dance Perspectives 34, Summer 1968 (New York).

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Hall, Edward T., The Silent Language. New York: Anchor Press, 1959. Humphrey, Doris, The Art of Making Dances. New York: Grove, 1959. Kirstein, L. and Stuart, M., The Classic Ballet. New York: Knopf, 1972. Klee, Paul, The Diaries of Paul Klee. Ed. Felix Klee, Los Angeles: University

of California Press, 1964. Laban, Rudolf, Choreutics, Ed. Lisa Ullmann. London: Macdonald & Evans,

1966. Langer, Susanne K., Feeling and Form. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,

1953. Lawson, Joan, The Principles of Classical Dance. London: Adam & Charles

Black, 1979. Livet, Anne (ed.), Contemporary Dance. New York: Abbeville Press, 1978. Lucas, J. R., A Treatise on Time and Space. London: Methuen & Co, 1973. Lyons, J., "Human Language" in R. Hinde (ed.), Non-Verbal Communication.

Cambridge: University Press, 1972. Preston-Dunlop, Valerie, "An Investigation into the Spontaneous Occur-

rence of Fragments of Choreutic Forms in Choreographed Dance Works". Unpubl. dissertation, University of London, 1978.

Preston-Dunlop, Valerie (ed.) Dancing and Dance Theory. London: Laban Centre, 1979.

Preston-Dunlop, Valerie, "The Nature of the Embodiment of Choreutic Units in Contemporary Choreography". Unpubl. Doctrinal thesis, Lon- don: Laban Centre, 1981.

Shahn, B., The Shape of Content. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957.

The dancers in the photographs are Dance Theatre students, Laban Centre for Movement and Dance.

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