Expressivity through Laban Movement Analysis

University of Utah, Dance Studio in Marriott Building

I am learning about Expressivity in Laban Movement Analysis, and I am really enjoying the process. Well, actually it's two in one: Functionality-Expressivity. Let's say you have a choreographed section of a piece where your dancer just puts his arms up and down. That is the functionality of the movement. You might say, "Dancer, please put your arms up and down any way you like." After a while, you decided you want more energy and liveliness in the body, so you think to yourself hmmm, (s)he should be in Passion Drive! (Check out Robin Konie's Effort Bank site by clicking here for more details!) So you tell your dancer to add some weight effort, time effort, and flow effort into the mix of the function. Now the dancer is living in Passion Drive as the Functionality. However, there is something missing---a je ne sais quoi? Of course! EXPRESSIVITY. Hazzah! Expressivity is my new favorite topic in our LMA theory and movement classes because it involves creating images, characters, and worlds to help you achieve the clarity and goal of your choreography and/or movement. That is to say, for example, you tell the dancer -- Your arms remind me of a sling shot being stretched and then released, can you move with that image in mind? And you would explore this and watch the dancer move. Or you can create a small narrative like, You are five years old, you just found out your mother died. You run to your bedroom balcony and reach up to the heavens because you know your mom is living among the clouds. You want to be with her, but your arms get tired and you have to give away to the weight and drop them. Suddenly the dancer is not just moving the arms up and down, but now other parts of the body enliven. The face, the fingers, the tension in the neck, everything is involved. The face of an eager five-year-old reaches up desperately towards the sky, her/his toes are pushing against the ground with desperation, and perhaps the dancer becomes emotional. Then the dancer's body gives up and drops down with weight, but this time (s)he falls all the way down to the floor, defeated and heavy. Not only are you being clear with your dancer, but you are taking them on a journey. In addition, you are watching the choreography become clearer, cleaner, and more alive. The quality has improved. There are many other ways to practice Expressivity, but I was just introduced to it and I'm taking it all in one step at a time.

In our sessions, we will be doing more explorative movements in the next few days. I cannot wait to see what other wonderful tools my LMA/Bartenieff Fundamentals training with Integrated Movement Studies will provide me with. I hope this inspires you to bring some Expressivity into your own creative lives. To me, it feels like freedom.

LMA Effort Bank: http://www.lmaeffortbank.com
IMS: http://imsmovement.com

Knowing our Roots

Maman Germaine taught class yesterday in the morning. She is the founder of the school and a very powerful woman who commands presence and respect. When going across the floor during a specific exercise, she asked us all to keep our heads straight. You must know the base, the beginning, she said, so that you can know who you are. Even in contemporary dance, you must know your roots, for clarity. When you know who are and where you come from, you are a very powerful person.

Then she had us create a simple movement signature. Something we must show her every time we see her. I'm glad I kept mine simple!

We watched a video in the afternoon showing the beginnings of School on the Sand. It was fashioned after the idea of a New Babylon, where people around the world could come and share what they know and who they are. One dancers in the video said, black or white, art is not hypocritical. It does not lie. Maybe we do, but in art we show our hearts. Ciré Beye, who came to teach us Sabar at UC Berkeley was in the video. He was one of the first students to arrive here. Maman Germaine said in the video that at first there was nothing but sand. We put our tents down and called this our home! We take our time to know each other. We sleep together, eat together, dance together, and we take our time. It was an incredible video. Good for us to know the roots of L'Ècole des Sables. Good for us to think about our own roots. And how when we stomp the floor in the beginning of Patric's class, we are waking up our ancestors.

L'École des Sable--School of sand. Jant Bi--The Sun

I am here at a world class dance school in Toubab Dialow, Senegal. We are learning contemporary and traditional dance forms. You have no idea how fortunate I feel right now. There are dancers here from all around the world. France, Spain, Japan, England, Switzerland, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin, Congo, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Canada, New Caledonia, and then myself and another from Florida. It is an amazing group of people. The energy is incredible. We are dancing for almost seven hours a day and at the end we still have full energy that we put into our dance. We speak different languages the two common languages being French and English. We eat different food, have different customs, different ways of relating to family and friends. But it is not a problem at all. We all communicate. We all laugh and smile. We all have fun together. We are all grateful to be here. And we all dance. And when we dance together, I cannot explain the power that we have as a group. I have never in my life experienced anything like it.

So what are traditional and contemporary African dance forms? Well first off, we were asked to prepare a traditional dance to bring from our country. I could understand this as being relative to some, but for me, I have not traditional dance forms. Maybe modern dance, but that's so vague. Patric, the director clarified for us but only slightly. He said for Africans, it is clear what traditional dances are, for others, we will have to ask ourselves some hard questions. Already the guy from Florida brought up hip-hop as a possibility. No way I said. That is a tradition based in a particular marginalized group's rejection of power structure. The girl from Canada who we were grouped with suggested a native American circle dance. Even worse, I thought to myself.

For me, I have already been thinking a great deal about my relationship to my cultural positioning. How being an American pretty much means appropriating from sub cultures and then commodifying it. I was already holding some questions about my coming to Senegal in the first place. In some ways I accept that I have access to an incredible amount of information from many different places in the world. Good information. But I have to have respect for that information. I felt that for me, my tradition in dance most recently has been steeped with a bay area tradition. I think about Anna Halprin, Sara Shelton Mann, Kathleen Hermsedorf, Lisa Wymore, Peggy Hackney, Joe Goode, Amara Tabor-Smith, Dana and Shinichi Iova Koga and so on. A rejection of the norm, a questioning of structure, deep reflection on the body processes in conjunction with the mind, somatic awareness, core connectivity, and much of the teachings I have experienced have had influences from many parts of the world.

It has not been decided what we will share with the group, but I have an idea about how I want to approach the topic of what is tradition for me. In many ways, it is staying true to my own personal experience. It is my willingness to face a challenging question with honesty and integrity.

As for the distinction between contemporary and African dance forms . . . more to come!

We drove her to the airport

                              

We celebrated alongside some of the most talented people in the Bay Area. We toasted and danced with the cast and crew of "He Moved Swiftly...". We laughed at each others' jokes. We snuck in strawberries and hummus between every hip roll. We witnessed a flowing rap artist freestyle to the beats of Mario Bros.' Nintendo music. We watched the disco lights twirl in the red room and light up the picture frames pinned on the yellow walls. Speckles of glittering teeth, art pieces that came to life, and hands holding onto red plastic cups holding onto secret desires and dreams. Shirtless men, limber women, hammocks being pushed by ghosts, and secret conversations about transitions and growing young. We embraced Amara Tabor-Smith, our dance teacher and mentor, and after a night of music, art, and spirits we left the house of sleepy artist and entered my little tic-tac car. We drove her to the airport. He was at the wheel because my eyes were slipping in and out of sleep from three days of driving and traveling. Our bodies stiffened from the Salt Lake City to the Bay car ride. We were on our way to SFO. She had all her bags in my car ready for her destination: Senegal! She should be there now, connecting with new people and learning about their dance world. I am so glad Robyn and I had one more chance to see each other before her trip. I am so happy that I was with her at the beginning of her adventure. This Sunday I return to my Summer Intensive training with Integrated Movement Studies. The more I think about this project, the more excited I get over the possibilities. Safe travels Robyn! Open heart, open mind, and open doors!