VWCMDT -- Aspects of Dance and Design

129 East 7th Ames, Iowa 50010 515 232-7374 fax 515 233-9290

Aspects of Dance and Design
Excerpted from: A Practical Guide to the State of Iowa's Dance Curriculum

SPACE
Framing--emphasizing an individual or momemt or movement. Foreground vs background.
Focus--directing the audience's attention through stage picture, dancer's eye focus, individual and group shape.
Direction--forward, backward, diagonal, side, clockwise, counterclockwise
Level--high, middle, low, off the floor, on the floor
Locomotor patterns--methods of changing place

SHAPE
Shape--symmetry, flow (one focus point), contrast (many focus points); positive and negative space; foreground and background; self, partner and group. See Shape, page 36.

ENERGY or Effort
Movement Qualities--sustained (smooth), percussive (sharp and quick), collapse (letting the muscles go), suspension (being held up as if by a string; an illusion of low gravity), swing (just like the playground swingset, a combination of collapse and suspension), vibratory (many sharp and quick movements in a row).
Weight--light, heavy; overcoming or giving in to gravity.
Effort--strength of gesture; i.e. weak, strong.

TIME
Speed--how much movement is put in a given period of time.
Beat--a regular, underlying division of time.
Rhythm--the changing amounts of time given to each movement.

ASPECTS OF DESIGN

Form--unison, canon, rondo, random, ribbon, sequence, manipulation of sequence (repetition, abstraction/exaggeration, reversing, retrograde, condensation, expansion, embellishment, transferring movement to different body parts, addition, mirroring, inversion). See Form, page 44.

Floor pattern--the design made on the floor by the dancer's movement. See word list.

Facing--that part of the movement or shape can the audience see.

Compositional Balance--full use of space, entrances and exits, floor pattern, shape of entire dance, unity and harmony.

Dynamics is the use of all the above aspects of dance and design in such a way that the audience's eyes stay busy, and thus interested.

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When your students have progressed beyond creative movement and are ready to really think about making dances, you can help them focus by asking questions. By the way, students can be ready to choreograph (compose dances) very quickly if you structure and organize the first lesson.
The following are questions to ask students to help them examine themselves and their dances. The first five cues below will help the students get started.

1. Have an idea. (see previous page)
2. Decide what to communicate to the audience.
3. Depict that idea (characteristics or qualities of character) in movement.
4. Abstract those characteristics or gestures.
5. Decide what is important for the audience to see at any given time.

Questions to ask about choreography - These questions can be used to form the basis of dance criticism.

Do the movement choices clearly communicate the idea?
Is the entire dance balanced compositionally? (is it harmonic?)
What dynamic patterns does it have? Where are the highs and lows?
What about the dance holds our interest?
Does it explore the idea fully?
Is the movement complex enough to hold an audience's attention?
If music is being used, why? or why not?
What is the relationship of the music to the movement?
How can the movement be manipulated to gain complexity or to gain accessibility?

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WORD CUES TO GIVE STUDENTS ABOUT THEIR CHOREOGRAPHY

Think about:
Beginning and ending
Transitions between movement
Interesting floor pattern
Interesting shapes and use of space
Facing (what does the audience see?)
Energy; movement qualities; locomotor patterns; level, speed, direction

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RELATIONSHIPS OF MUSIC TO MOVEMENT

One to One
Relating the movement exactly to the music. For instance, a loud sound equals a big movement; smooth music equals smooth movement; the number of movements equals the rhythm of the music.

Background
Dance and music are independent, and the music is played as background for the movement.

Key Points
Certain obvious moments in the music are highlighted in the dance. For instance, at the cadence of the music, the dance phrase also comes to a close; at the climax of the music, the dance also climaxes; dynamically the movement and music are related, but rhythmically they may not be.

Form
The form/s used in the dance are taken from the music.
i.e. ABA, rondo, canon, round, accumulation, retrograde, inversion

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ABSTRACTING
Abstracting is making movement less literal by changing its speed, the size, level, direction, shape; adding form, complexity. Abstracting allows us to suggest a thing, rather than act it out. Somewhat akin to poetry versus prose; dance versus mime. Abstracting allows us to explore a moment, rather than tell the whole story.

Words to use to teach abstracting: Make it bigger, smaller, faster, slower, lighter, heavier, upside down, sideways, use different body parts.

See the Movement Break called "Sports Pictures" (p. 59).

Ask the art teacher about how painters abstract their subjects.

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AESTHETICS
Intent of the choreography--what do you want the audience to see/feel/understand. Choice of music should reflect this. Costumes and setting should also reflect this.

Pedestrian vs abstract--which should be used to best communicate an idea to the audience--easily recognized movement such as rock and roll dance steps or more unique movement? Is it important to you that the dance reflect you and your experiences? Or would common experiences better do that?

Authentic movement vs steps--Dancing, not doing movement that looks like what others think dance is.

Valerie Williams Co'Motion Dance Theater is in residence at Iowa State University Department of Health and Human Performance