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Space Time Energy

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.


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.



On Viewing Dance and Understanding Movement

Dances can tell a story, show an attitude, create an atmosphere, or be movement for movement's sake. You and your students may see very different things in the same dance. That's fine! Each of us brings our own background to a performance and the beauty of a live performance is that we, as performers or audience members, are expected to use our individual eyes and experiences to participate in that performance. It is not necessary to search for meaning, it is entirely appropriate to just enjoy watching the fascinating interactions of human bodies moving through space. Modern Dance is usually quite accessible to young people because it is very athletic with leaping, jumping and strong movement. Even in serious dances, young students can learn to watch for interaction of the dancers, shapes, use of music, and movement qualities.

To people who have only seen structured movement with recognized rules (e.g. basketball), modern dance movement may look strange, but the movement itself is really similar. We all have two arms and legs, etc. It is the intent in dance movement that is different, and in dance, the movement is more complex. Dancers aren't allowed to skip any muscles; feet are just as important as arms, as backs, as faces, as fingers in communicating an idea to an audience.

To fully understand dance, especially modern dance, it is important to understand some basic movement anatomy. In other words, it is important to understand the human body: joints, bone structure, muscles, body parts. All people move in basically the same way because all have basically the same body: arms, legs, head, torso, etc.

The dancer uses the body's capacity for movement combined with differences in speed, level, direction, movement quality, energy and shape to create dances. Motivations for dancing are highly individual and can include emotions, stories, visual images, etc.




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