| TH 2400 - 01 Movement for the Actor I LABAN and KINESICS "Form and Feeling" |
| Fall Semester 2012 Instructor: Bruce Cromer Herbst Theatre CA, MW 10-11:50 Office and Office Hours: T148K, MWTH 12-1 (other times by appointment) Phone: 775-2430 “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as’twere, the mirror up to nature...” HAMLET, Act III, Scene ii. Course Objectives: To aid the young actor in character work by learning Body Language (kinesics) and modified Laban movement analysis; these techniques will be applied to the physical study and imitation of classmates (and monologues). Students will thereby have their own gestures and postures defined by each other. Ideally, this course will enable students to use or omit their personal mannerisms more consciously in their acting, and give them a broader repertoire of physicalizations for their character transformations. Work will be connected to Robert Cohen’s ACTING POWER theories regarding Tactics and Obstacles. This course lays the groundwork for period style classes in the Junior and Senior years of the PATP; the instructor intends the course to aid Sophomores in their Character class. Tentative Course Outline: Week One (August 27, 29) Laban Energies Week Two (September 5) Laban Energies Week Three (September 10, 12) Cohen Tactics (Reading from ACTING POWER) Week Four (September 17, 19) Cohen Tactics (Reading from ACTING POWER) Week Five (September 24, 26) Eyes, Faces, Touches, Gestures (Reading from IDIOT’S GUIDE: pgs. 1 through 90) Week Six (October 1, 3) Positions, Space and Time, Postures of Power, Deception (Reading from IDIOT’S GUIDE: pgs. 91 through 102, 113 through 152) Week Seven (October 8, 10) Emotions (Reading from IDIOT’S GUIDE: pgs. 153 through 166) Week Eight (October 15, 17) Closeness, Courtship, Signals (Reading from IDIOT’S GUIDE: pgs. 190 through 225) Week Nine (October 22, 24) Gendered Gestures and Codes of Culture (Reading from IDIOT’S GUIDE: pgs. 305 through 329) Week Ten (October 29, 31) Physicalizing Songs Week Eleven (November 5, 7) Monologue or Song Week Twelve (November 14) Monologue or Song Week Thirteen (November 19) Scenes Week Fourteen (November 26, 28) Scenes Week Fifteen (December 3, 5) Scenes Grading Criteria: Professional Skills (Attendance and Attitude) - There are 27 classes this semester; missing 20% (6 classes) will earn you an F for the course. Two lates constitute one absence. There are no excused absences for this course! You are expected to come to all sessions punctually, prepared, with assignments completed, ready to work and discuss. Discussions are informal but don’t chat when others are trying to work or share their thoughts. Sweats or tights with soft- soled shoes are required. No food is allowed in the studio, but you may have a water bottle. Keep all personality conflicts outside the space, please. No active cellphones, computers, etc. are allowed in the studio; be sure they are turned off before each session begins. Movement Sheets - Written assignments will be due at the end of each Wednesday class session, regarding either reading, class exercises, or “field study” topics about classmates. These will be graded on their thoroughness (two full 8 ½ x 11 pages), authenticity, and application of class content. Impersonations (Field Studies) and Monologues - During the semester, you will observe and record the kinesics and Laban observations of two classmates. In the final weeks of the course, you will perform a physical impersonation of them. Costumes and props will be allowed for these improvised demonstrations of what you’ve learned about duplicating their mannerisms. You will be subjectively graded by the instructor on the authenticity and thoroughness of your work. You will also apply Laban and Body Language choices to a one-minute monologue or song, and a scene. Required Texts (in bookstore): COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO BODY LANGUAGE, by Peter Andersen. ACTING POWER, by Robert Cohen. (You may already have this book from prior classes.) Recommended Texts (some in bookstore): PEOPLE WATCHING, by Desmond Morris. ACTIONS, AN ACTOR'S THESAURUS, by Marina Calderone and Maggie Lloyd-Williams. JUGGLING FOR THE COMPLETE KLUTZ, by Cassidy. FIELD GUIDE TO GESTURES, by Nancy Armstrong and Melissa Wagner. GESTURES, by Roger E. Axtel. A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK FOR THE ACTOR, by Bruder, Cohn, etc. |
| TH 241 - BODY LANGUAGE Gaze Behavior Excerpt from BODYMIND, by Ken Dychtwald - What do your eyes reveal about your inner feelings, your passions, your fears? In what way are your eyes truly "windows to your soul"? To illustrate some of the ways in which the eyes reflect the inner person, I will describe several different types of eyes and share with you what I believe they indicate. Large rounded eyes frequently reflect a warm, loving personality. This basic type of eye structure projects a caring attitude, as though the person were softly reaching out with his eyes to make honest and loving contact. Large, rounded eyes usually make other people feel comfortable in their presence. Bulging eyes, on the other hand, indicate a nervous, penetrating way of being in the world. Such a person will, in a sense, be forcefully reaching out with his eyes and will often make other people uncomfortable and anxious in his presence. As a result, the eyes will usually discourage rather than attract warm feelings from other people. Eyes that are deeply set within the eyes sockets often indicate a lifetime of withheld expressions and withdrawn sadness. It is as though, in an attempt to guard and protect himself, this person has tried to pull his eyes and their seeing powers inward to this core. Deep-set eyes also frequently indicate that the person spends a large amount of time critically observing the actions and activities of others. From their receded position, the eyes seem to methodically absorb information like the lens of a camera. I have worked with people who have what I call "Baby eyes". These eyes are characterized by a wide-open, pleading quality and often belong to people who were Mamma's little boys or Daddy's little girls. Baby eyes are doubly expressive. First, they show that the person has not allowed the ocular segment of his face to mature and develop fully. Second, baby eyes usually turn out to be extremely seductive and manipulative. This individual uses his soft and sensual eyes to hold you while he attempts to draw you closer to him. I am not saying that these attributes or activities are necessarily negative or harmful; rather, they seem to be related to a slightly immature way of seeing and being seen in the world. There seems to be some correspondence between the hardness or softness of a person's eyes and his interpersonal relationships. In general, the individual with hard, tense eyes sees the world in terms of how he might control it. These eyes are overly aggressive and assertive and seem to reach other and grab whatever they are focusing on. On the other hand, eyes that appear soft reflect a passive, receptive way of seeing the world. The soft-eyed person will tend to be easygoing and relaxed, perhaps slightly less able or will to control the activities of his own life than is his hard-eyed counterpart. Field Study Questions: 1) What is the shape of your field studies' eyes? How does this reflect their personality? Do they fit Dychtwald's analysis? Are they nearsighted or farsighted? Dycthwald says that myopic people (nearsighted) "tend to have difficulty projecting themselves outward. Their interpersonal vision is comfortably focused more on near than on far activities. These people are often inwardly focused or shy and will tend to be highly rational and introspective." In regards to farsighted people, Dychtwald says, "hyperopia often corresponds to an inability to perceive activities that occur up close. As a result, the farsighted person will find more psychosomatic comfort in involving himself with activities that keep his attention focused away from himself and looking outward. He will tend to be extroverted and outgoing and probably not very introspective.. Whereas the nearsighted person withdraws into himself for safety, the farsighted person extends himself into activities and relationship and future-oriented thinking as a way to avoid having to engage and develop his inner self." 2) Of the five types of gazes discussed in class from Pease's SIGNALS, the Business Gaze, the Social Gaze, the Intimate Gaze, Over-the-Shoulder-with-Raised-Eyebrows-and-Smile, Over-the-Shoulder-with-Frowning-Brows-and-Mouth, which do you see your field studies using and under what conditions do they use them? Do your subjects ever use the Eye-Block, with half or fully-lidded eyes? 3) Are your field study subjects aware of how they correctly or incorrectly signal "turn-taking" when they're in conversations or in classes? Do they talk when someone else is talking, or do they listen (perhaps with eyes averted from the speaker), then look to the speaker when they take over the conversation? Do they then look away only to look back when they "surrender the floor"? Do they sometimes have problems with interpersonal interactions because they don't follow this basic human signal pattern? 4) Do your subjects hold their gaze on particular people for a longer amount of time than others? What are the circumstances when you observe this? 5) What is the gaze behavior (type of gazes and duration of them) of your subjects when they are acting? Does it change significantly from their personal life? 6) Were you ever close enough to observe your subjects' pupil dilation and contraction? Under what circumstances did you observe this phenomenon and what occurred? |
| From THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO BODY LANGUAGE: Types of Gestures --- A) Emblems B) Illustrators: Batons, Ideographs, Pointers, Pictographs, Spatials, Bodily Reproductions, Triumphant Displays, Punctuators, Synchronous |
| Cohen Tactics: Threat (I Win, You Lose) Screaming Hidden Arsenal (Implying A) Overpowering Observing Intently Followthrough Attack Conclusiveness Taking Charge Induction (I Win, You Win) Confirming Lulling Inspiring Frankness Flattery Seduction Amusing Disarming |
| Biography of Rudolf Laban Rudolf Laban (1879-1958) was the son of a high ranking military figure in the Austro-Hungarian empire. He spent much of his time in Bosnia and Herzigovina, in the towns of Sarajevo and Mostar as well as the court circle in Vienna and the theatre life of Bratislava. He was educated in both western and eastern cultures. Rejecting the military career planned for him, he became an artist. Through his studies of architecture at the Ècoles des Beaux Arts in Paris he observed the moving body and its spaces. Aged thirty, he moved to Munich, the art centre of Germany. There he focused on revolutionising the movement arts, spending the summer months at his Arts School on Monte Verita. In 1919 his major career in Germany began. Rudolf Laban ran a dance theatre company, a chamber dance theatre company and opened a main school, a movement choir for amateurs, wrote articles and books, performed, and created dance works. Over the next ten years he created 25 Laban schools and choirs for the education of children, amateurs including men, and professional dancers in Latvia, Zagreb, Paris and Germany, always retaining a 'movement laboratory' for his own research. In 1927, he moved to Berlin, opening the Choreographisches Institut. By 1929, his 50th birthday celebrations show that he was at the height of an influential career, not only as a leader of the Ausdrucktanz movement, but as a recognised intellectual in the field of dance theatre and movement study. He was appointed director of movement and choreographer to the Prussian State Theatres in Berlin in 1930. In 1934, in a Nazi Germany, he was appointed director of the Deutsche Tanzbühne. Falling foul of Nazism in 1936 while at the height of his career, his name and work was destroyed by the Government Propaganda Ministry. Many of his followers emigrated, especially to the United States, and in 1938 he took refuge in Britain. At the age of sixty, supported by Lisa Ullmann, he started a new phase in his career. He worked in industry, introducing work study methods to increase production through humane means, and greatly influenced the movement education culture in Britain opening, through Lisa Ullmann, The Art of Movement Studio in Manchester in 1946. In 1953 the studios moved to a donated country estate in Addlestone. In his last years he concentrated on movement as behaviour, studying the behavioural needs of industrial workers and psychiatric patients. This enabled him to lay the technical basis for what is now the profession of movement and dance therapy, and a basis for the expressive movement training of actors. He died in his late seventies in 1958. But his work lives on in astounding abundance. Many people are unaware that what they do is influenced by the vision, energy and creative boldness of Laban. Rudolf Laban was in poor health most of his life suffering from what we would now call spasmodic manic depression, which appeared during and after excessive creative endeavour and after what he perceived as rejection of his ideas. He was poor throughout his career, and never owned a home or possessions beyond his working papers. He married twice and fathered nine children, although his family life ceased when his career took off in 1919. He developed and relied on a series of apprentices to follow through his ideas, Mary Wigman being the first, Marion North being the last. Rudolf Laban's ideas were influenced by the social and cultural changes of the time and the contexts that he worked in. The traditional constraints against showing feeling were beign questioned, opening the way for a freeing of the feeling body. Rudolf Laban believed the best way to advocate this freedom was by mirroring it in dance and the movement arts. Freud’s discovery of the psyche, opened a previously closed door and the body’s sexuality need no longer be hidden. The movement arts were thought to be a great medium to express this new freedom, by men and women dancing barefoot and in little clothing. In Paris and Munich (1900 - 1914) Rudolf Laban acquired his spiritual attitude and unique value regardless of gender, social status or educational standing. He interpreted this as valuing individuals own choice of movement , and self initiated vocabularies. Rudolf Laban witnessed the response to cultural changes by visual artists such as Klimt, Kockoshka, Shiele, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and Kandinsky. He asked himself what was the equivalent of the visual arts revolution for the movement arts? He abandoned the constraints of traditional steps, the reliance on music to inspire and structure dance, the need to mime a story to reveal a body, freed to find its own rhythms, create its own steps and revel in the medium of space. His search for the basic vocabulary of expressive movement identified the basic factors of movement flow, with weight, embodying time and space. Rudolf Laban wrote articles and books and formed dance choirs of young male and female performers in his endeavour to introduce a contemporary mass dance culture for urban populations. He created dance works of a celebratory and participatory nature which often dealt in abstract terms with a social and spiritual agenda to educate socially aware dancers. The First World War put an end to social positioning and this was reflected in theatre art by discarding the traditional positioning of actors. He removed the hierarchical system of ballet companies and replaced it with the democratic ensemble. Rudolf Laban created and toured works for his large and impoverished company. His works explored social themes just as his drama counterparts did (e.g. Brecht), as constructivist visual artists did (e.g. Malevitch) and as caricaturists did (e.g. Grosz). Rudolf Laban and his pupil Kurt Jooss made dance into a social force, creating political anti-war ballets and anti-poverty ballets in the 1930's. Dance in Opera The public were confounded, either elated by the rule breaking defiance of a dance that showed 'freed, enlarged, strengthened dancing' or infuriated at the defiance of tradition. Critics were either rapturously pro or aggressively anti, and Opera dance could never be the same again. Rudolf Laban fundamentally excelled as an experimenter with choreographic processes and was not a successful choreographer of products. He needed others to polish his works once he had completed the first experiments What sets Laban apart from other early dance pioneers in this century? He was both a creative artist and a creative theorist at home, in the studio and the laboratory, equally able to express himself through movement and writing. His legacy is not in outstanding theatre works of dance but in studio practices and theoretical methods driven by movement practice. Dance Literacy Rudolf Laban's passion was to establish dance as an art of equal standing to its sister arts, a place it had never held. It had to establish a medium through its own literacy, hence in his burning desire to find a notation for dance. Without literacy dance would never be taken seriously by the cultural elite. Rudolf Laban spent twenty years understanding movement sufficiently to create signs on paper that could represent body parts moving in space and time dynamically. Today, as Labanotation, his system caters for the needs of the modern dance world. Just as musical notation has to adapt to the changing needs of composers. So Labanotation has to grow to cope with modern needs and technologies. Conclusion What aspects of his work still provide a basis for development in the 21st Century? The multi-faceted and continually developing nature of Laban’s output forms both a challenge and a difficulty for students of his work. No-one can encompass it all. Major dance training courses offer Laban work on their curriculum, but these are not necessarily his prime legacy. He maintained that he had no method and had no wish to be presented as having one. Rather a spirit of enquiry is the main legacy that unites the scattered and diverse body of people who use his work. |
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