Ways of Seeing (Widening)

When we name a movement, we can see it and experience it more clearly. This series explores the many names that Laban Movement Analysis (See post on LMA) offers. While these often sound like regular English words, they sometimes have slightly different meanings when used in an LMA context.

Shape Flow refers to the subtle, personal movement that underlies all movement and breath. For more information on Shape Flow, see previous post.

One element of Shape Flow is Widening.




Photo of boy by Nicholas Nixon.
Photo of woman by Richard Avedon.

In Widening, a Shape Flow movement expands to the right and left, in the horizontal dimension. The boy and the woman above are Widening. Their arms move out to the side, but their breath and whole bodily senses do too. Widening is expansive, open, vulnerable. It is the movement we do before we give someone a big hug. We Widen when we are proud, full of life. Also when we want to establish dominance, power.



Man, Unknown, MOMA collection.
Photo of woman by Ernest J. Bellocq.

Try it: Take a deep breath and expand your ribs out to the right and the left. Feel your chest and shoulders Widen. Allow your arms to follow the movement of your breath, imagine the whole world is yours. Think about the times in your life when you Widen. Decide on one situation in which you would like to Widen more. Think of the people you know who Widen. Do those moments excite you, irritate you? Do you trust them? Watch for the next time a dancer Widens in order to stretch out a movement, appear bigger.

What's The Egg That Needs To Be Cooked Now?

That's one of the things choreographer John Jasperse wondered about during a forum called Curating Dance: Ideas and Innovation held at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference on Friday January, 11th. The question derives from a Thurston Moore interview in which Moore recounts someone telling him, "You should never boil an egg twice."Jasperse spoke of this as a reminder to take risks, to keep challenging ourselves within performance creation and curation. This became a theme that was articulated quite beautifully by many of the eight panelists during a three hour forum.

I was especially touched by Jasperse, Sixto Wagan of DiverseWorks in Houston, and Ken Foster of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. These three passionately and boldly spoke about the role of risk taking not only in developing the arts but, even more importantly, as a way of developing the kind of citizens we want in our communities. Foster said, "The choice to not risk is as large a statement as the choice to risk. Over time, what happens to our culture? I know it looks safe to only present comedians, but it's not. I look at our own current political situation and I hold presenters largely responsible for that." And Wagan, "How can I help redefine what culture can be...What can I do to shake things up?"

These men struck me as thinking, questioning, caring human beings interested in supporting and developing other thinking, questioning, caring human beings. In a culture in which schools (and governments) have become places for filling in multiple choice bubbles, artists and the people who present them have an even greater responsibility to offer alternatives.

Jasperse spoke about our "convenience lifestyle," and a "permeating value system that says ease is good, effort bad." He said, "A soundbite that goes with this is 'if you can't say it quickly, it's not worth it.' But poetics exist in a realm of not one point." (Nice to be reminded of this at APAP, an event that seems set up to share soundbites.)

Jasperse reminded me of Jerome Bel and "La Societe de Spectacle," with his remarks. He continued, "Entertainment is not the central component of my work. Instead of that passive model, I look at pleasure in the aesthetic experience. If that doesn't function, people will say no. The pleasure is a means to an end and that end is awakening. That is my responsibility as an artist--- awakening."

Experiment with Dancer and Lines (AVMG)

Experiment with Dancer and Lines
Video made in January, 2008
Created in 2005 by Aynsley Vandenbroucke and Myra Margolin
Dancing by Aynsley Vandenbroucke
Animation by Myra Margolin
Music by J.S. Bach
(The Well Tempered Clavier performed by Glenn Gould)
Videography by Mathew Pokoik at Mt. Tremper Arts

AVMG APAP performances

January 13 at 3:20pm and January 14 at 6:25pm, 2008
APAP Showcase
Jodi Kaplan & Associates / Bookingdance.com
The Ailey Citigroup Theater (405 W. 55th St. at 9th Ave.NYC.)

See Aynsley Vandenbroucke Movement Group perform excerpts from "And How Should I Begin?" inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock."
Photo by Mathew Pokoik

Ways of Seeing (Shortening)

When we name a movement, we can see it and experience it more clearly. This series explores the many names that Laban Movement Analysis (See post on LMA) offers. While these often sound like regular English words, they sometimes have slightly different meanings when used in an LMA context.

Shape Flow refers to the subtle, personal movement that underlies all movement and breath. For more information on Shape Flow, see previous post.

One element of Shape Flow is Shortening.


above Tennessee by Lewis W. Hine.
right The Mother in Joy and Grief by August Sander.

In Shortening, a Shape Flow movement condenses down or up towards the center of the body. The people above are Shortening in their torsos. Shortening is a natural part of breathing and recuperating. It can be done in order to appear shorter and less imposing. We sometimes Shorten when we are in pain or feel shy or embarrassed or are cold. Shortening is the opposite of Lengthening.













above staff photo by Justin Ide/Harvard News Office.
The woman in the middle of the this photo is Shortening. Compare her with the woman on the left.

Try it: How do you respond to the people above? Who do you know who regularly Shortens? Exhale fully and feel your torso shrink. Pretend you have a very, very heavy book on your head. Does this feel natural or unusual for you? Do you Shorten while working on the computer, while at work, or with particular friends and family? Notice the next time you Shorten in order to talk with a child or connect more intimately with someone. Observe the ways that dancers use Shortening for expression or for rest.