Choreutic Concepts and Practice

Author(s): Valerie Preston-Dunlop

Source: Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, The
Proceedings of the First Conference of British Dance Scholars Sponsored Jointly by the
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and The Radcliffe Trust, 2-4 April 1982 (Spring, 1983), pp. 7788
Published by: Edinburgh University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1290804
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CHOREUTIC CONCEPTSAND PRACTICE

ValeriePreston-Dunlop
1. THE AIM

Rudolf Laban's original choreutic1 concepts are too complex, in

both his practice and his writings, to be usable for the analysisof
in the form in which he left them. The
contemporary
choreography
central hypothesis of this research is that a broadening, disintegration and reassembling of his material provides a rich
resource. When seen in context with the spatial practice of other
dance artists, teachers and theorists, it is possible to conceive of this
resource as central to the study of choreography.
To date two models of choreutic content exist. One is embedded
in the classroom practice of the classic ballet,2 the other, derived
from it, was put forward by Laban.3 Neither model is adequate for
the style and content of avant-garde dance today, for both are
sophisticated and self contained.
A model on a continuum is posited with the ballet/Laban
organisation of space as one pole, and an open-ended use of the same
base unit at the other.
2. SPACE, ITS NATURE
Dance lives in space. Space is "room for things to be different in,
different from one another at any time, different from themselves at
different times".4 "Space is where atoms can be", but "the void is
where they might be but are not".5 In choreography the atoms are
dancers dancing. The void is the apparent emptiness of the available
space which the choreographer turns into a place of meaningful
differences. But it is not a void; it has light, air and surfaces, albeit
not delineated in width, height and depth. A phenomenological
appreciation of the space6 reveals that it has a psychology. As
soon as it is decided upon as a spot where an encounter between
dancer/dance/audience will take place, it has. Also, the physical
properties of it colour the responses of both creator and appreciator.
The fact that it is a proscenium stage, an arena, the staircase of the
Museum of Modern Art, or Hyde Park turns the general expectation
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DANCE RESEARCH

into the more specific one of pantomime, high art, avant-garde, or

revue according to the venue.
3. THE PRIMARYCONCEPTS
Three primary concepts were identified by Laban and are apparent,
though in variation, in balletic practice:
a) the kinesphere or the dancer's square,
b) the geometric models or the geometric base of ballet,
c) the choreutic forms or standard balletic structures.
Through submitting a) to c) to a linguistic analysis,7 a fourth
concept emerged:
d) the utterance of the forms8 or the way in which the
structures are danced.
4. THE KINESPHERE(thefirstchoreuticconcept)
Space is divided up into manageable units by recognising that each
dancer inhabits his own bit of it, which is congruent with his own
body's size and extension. It is this bit of space which forms the
context for ballet's spatial structures and Laban's complex choreutic
theory.
Over and above the physical boundaries of the body and common
to everyone, there is the psychological body image boundary,
"which is harder to delimit but is just as real".9 The significance of
this boundary, which is a dimension of everyday interpersonal
behaviour, overflows into the aesthetic appreciation of dance works,
so that overlap, penetration, diminution and expansion of the
kinesphere reflect meaning in the dance.
4.1 The Shared Space
Beyond each kinesphere is space. For it to become a dance
space, it is delineated, given edges, dimensions and a centre to
become a contextual place in which artistic exchange can take
place between dancer and dancer, dancer and audience. It is
shared. Not only the proscenium stage, but also rooftops,
subway stations, attics and warehouses all have dimensions,
peripheries and centres and are used innovatively by artists like
Merce Cunningham1?and the Post Moderns.11'12
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CHOREUTIC

CONCEPTS

AND PRACTICE

To be of use to to-day's dances, the first of Laban's choreutic

and
concepts must be enlarged to encompass both thekinesphere
thesharedspace.
5. THE GEOMETRICMODEL (thesecondchoreuticconcept)
This model comprises the three regular geometric forms, octahedron, cube and icosahedron, the three axial crosses which form
the central framework, four kinds of direction, one- two- threedimensional and inclinational,13 planes of movement, curves and
straight shapes. These form the spatial elements underlying spatial
organisation. Balletic practice is a selection of them, highly
sophisticated - octahedral, primarily curves, central or peripherally
placed.'4 Laban's esoteric choreutic forms were, by contrast, icosahedral, curves and straight, central, transversal and peripherally
1
placed.
5.1 Traditional Treatment as Fixed Forms
Traditional practice, in both ballet and Laban-derived work,
has been to tie the geometry into tight forms, through laws of
harmonic progression, and to establish methods of performance
within a strict style. The routes from one position to another of
arm or leg are laid down and predictable in balletic practice
with the highly successful function of training the body in
specialist acts of dance. Laban-based practice was also
narrowly based; limited use was made of the shared space, of
body design, of crosses of axes. He succeeded in what he set out
to do, namely to provide an alternative way of moving, nontheatrical and personal. But he produced, in so doing, another
series of fixed forms,16such as his "A" and "B" scales.
5.2 Images
Geometric use of space can be seen against another use
motivated by images, human behaviour, animal movement,
symbolic gestures, dynamic feel, spatial imagination and so on,
which are usual starting points for choreography.
These images are transformed into dance movement, emerging
as syntheses of choreutic fragments, the curve, the line, the
angle, the axis, performed in wrist, in head, in waist, in focus, in
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DANCE RESEARCH

floor pattern, in relationships. Fragments of geometry are the

particles in which choreographic imagination manifests itself.
6. CHOREUTICFORMS
(thethirdchoreuticconcept,treatedwithan openapproch)
The traditional treatment already described as tightly organised
fixed forms is no model for imaginative dance, whether literal or
non-literal. But the geometric model may be treated quite differently
by an open approach. For instance, Laban's octahedral model gives
the line "Left to Right" passing through its centre, through the
dancer's torso. It is embodied in ballet 2nd position arms and
e a la seconde.But there is no reason why that line, and all
developp
choreutic lines, may not be dispersed, through change of location,
distance from centre, cross of axes, change of size, and reassembled
infree association.

6.1 The Continua from Fixed Form to Free Association

This series of continua show the links between fixed form (on
the left) and free association (on the right):
closed <

>. open

the kinesphere <

shape and location

locked

shared space
shape and location in
free association

performed by the body

congruently

performed in the body

at will

a predetermined
learnt skill

a creative open
skill

6.2 The Choreutic Unit (Ch/U)

The base unit fundamental to both fixed form and free association use of choreutics, is the choreutic unit. There are two
kinds:
the lineand the curve.
The line has three fundamental varieties:
vertical,horizontaland oblique.(see Photo A)
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CHOREUTIC CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

(A). A series of oblique lines in the limbs, torso and head, enhanced by the
dark line in the costume. (Photograph by Peter Sayers)

The curve has four fundamental varieties:

archedand spiral.
circular,flattened,
size.
all
have
They
and the sharedspace.
They are locatedin the kinesphere
or
means
all
located
are
of, the body.
in,
by
They
content.
The lines have directional
axes.
The curves have directional
relative
to the crosses of axes of the body, or
are
orientated
They
of the space.
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DANCE RESEARCH

The choreutic unit seems facile in its simplicity. Ben Shahn,

writing on non-literal painting:'7 "even with the renouncement
of content, some content does remain, if only of verticality and
horizontality", seems, on first reading, to disparage such base
units. But he knew that form, shape, and content were
inextricably linked and that one is necessary to the other,
indeed, is the other. Paul Klee,18 in contemplating the
possibility of placing in juxta-position diametrically opposed
colours, described it/them as "tremendous fragments of
meaning".
7. THE UTTERANCEOF THE FORMS AND THE UNITS
(thefourthchoreuticconcept)
How are choreutic units danced? Intention is, surprisingly, not
essential. A dancer need not intend to make a circle in order actually
to make one.
Humphrey described the two well-known kinds of design as
"static line" and "in time, as moving sequence".19 That is, line
occurs in positions and movements. However, these two do not
suffice to explain what happens choreutically, because a dancer's
phrase contains actual shapes and virtual shapes.20 These virtual
forms are too important to pass over, for they are fundamental to
performance, to style, and are the hallmarks of choreographers and
dancers. The study of the manner of materialisation of choreutic
units takes on a significance which warrants special attention.
8. MANNEROF MATERIALISATION(M/M)
Choreutic units appear in the dancer's body through:
a)
b)

a)

spatial progression
body design
spatial tension

c)
d) spatial projection
In spatial progression the choreutic unit is made visible in
motion. At no time is it visible in the design of the body. It
becomes apparent through the direction of the motion. It is
essentially spatial pattern perceived through time, for it has no
positional content, only a motional content.
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CHOREUTIC CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

b)

In body design the choreutic unit inhabits the body itself. The
unit is perceived immediately as a visible patterning of limbs, or
torso or head. The line is the body. Standing upright, a tilted
head, a design going across into another body or into the stage
set or into a headdress, are examples. It could be said that the
body is always designed. However in this study it implies that
the dynamics of the performance draws the audience's eye to
that design rather than to the motion itself (see Photo B).

(B). A complex cluster of interwovendesigns; a curve from her head

throughher chest to her liftedknee, a tiny circledfist, an obliquethrough
her arms and shoulderline, horizontalin her lower leg. (Photographby
PeterSayers)
c)

d)

Spatial tension is a way of moving or of holding a position

which causes a connection to be seen between the two ends of a
choreutic unit, making perceivable an illusory line. When the
two palms are made to face each other, and the fact of their
facing is drawn to the attention of the audience by the manner
of performance, spatial tension exists between the two hands.
Their relationship can be given spatial direction. The two
parties may be parts of one body, the bodies of two dancers, or a
dancer and a focus in the shared space.
Spatial projection is a line or a curve which continues beyond
the body into the kinesphere or into the shared space, and is
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DANCE RESEARCH

made visible by the dynamics and timing of the performance

and by the behaviour of the body fragments which initiate it. It
is a virtual line perceived through the dancer's performance (see
Photo C).

(C). His focus and dynamiclift send the energyprojectingdiagonallyup

beyondhis body. (Photographby PeterSayers)

8.1 Actual and Virtual

Dynamics, that is changes in timing, intention, attention, focus,
energy use, and flow, are seminal in determining which manner
of materialisation is being used. It was accepted from the start
that spatial tension was not actual but a virtual form in space.
Spatial projection is also virtual. That spatial progression was
also in the same category was not so obvious. When moving
oneself, drawing curves and lines is such an essential of dance
movement, even of any movement, that its virtual condition was
hard to notice. But, on reflection, it is. To find, indeed, that
body design which seemed so actual to begin with, was also
dependent on dynamics, for its perceptibility, was a further
illumination. Indeed, as Ben Shahn puts it, "The shape is the
content."21
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CHOREUTIC CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

9. CLUSTERINGOF CHOREUTICUNITS
AND MANNERS OF MATERIALISATION
Clusters are relationships between units caused by juxtaposition
and phrasing, which have significance. The relationships are
between one movement and another, one dancer and another,
dancers and their space. The relationships are seen in simultaneous
clusters and sequential clusters (see Photo D).

(D). A momentarychordicarrest;the progressionof the swingingleg and

the swirlingarmscross each other,the focusprojectsout, the weightcontinuesto progressforwards,and the wholedanceris arrestedin a dynamic
design.(Photographby PeterSayers)

Simultaneous clusters are choreutic units and their manner of

materialisation which
a) occur at the same time,
b)

belong together.
are
They
analogous to chords in music. They occur as two, three,
four or more part happenings. Often, the movement which creates
them is arrested, sometimes only momentarily, sometimes for
longer, which causes them to be visible.
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DANCE RESEARCH

Sequential clusters are choreutic units and their manner of

materialisation which
occur one after the other in phrases,

a)
b)

belong together.
are
They
analogous to melodic line in music. They occur as two or
more part phrases. Often more than one sequence occurs at the
same time in the same body. Monolinear and polylinear distinguish
single from concurrent sequences.
9.1 The Significance of a Cluster
Clusters are given significance by the nature of their relationships. That they happen sequentially or simultaneously is
significant in itself, but the nature of their belonging is more significant.
Clustering detail is shown through analysis of choreographic
works using the Ch/U. M/M notating method.22 The consistency of the clusters throughout Nijinska's Les Noces are
indicative of the unity of style of the piece. Her use of choreutic
forms is quite startlingly different from other works of the
period, which the clustering shows up clearly.
Grossman's Couplesproduced clusters of great density, in that
there were up to eight choreutic events in one body at the same
time, which accounted for its expression of concentrated, held
in, energy. Humphrey's Day onEarthproduced much more fluid
0

1 -q

16-7
>

Focus

>

(F )

(FD)

W.Xit

<EP?)r

/ IND Fk()
A

5(

fP)

The Ch/U. M/M notation of the opening movement of the Man in

Humphrey's 'Day on Earth'.

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CHOREUTIC CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE

changes of successive/simultaneous clustering of considerable

sophistication, allied to her characterisation of the four people
in the piece. Her personal use of choreutic forms was absolutely
clear.23

10. SUMMARY
a)

The three choreutic concepts are enlarged so that

the kinesphere
is seen to have a physical and a psychological
nature (Ref. 4.),
is seen to be inextricably related to the shared
ii) the kinesphere
for
choreutic
space
purposes (Ref. 4.1),
iii) the geometricmodelis seen to be related to danceimages,in
that images are geometric clusters (Ref. 5.2),
the
iv)
fixedchoreutic
formsare one pole on a continuum withfree
as the opposite pole (Ref. 6. 1).
associationforms
This provides a broad and articulate basis for analysis of
the choreutic content of choreographic works, or the
exploration of spatial forms in dance.
Thechoreutic
unitis the base unit for the analysis of spatial forms
in dance. It has two shapes, the line and the curve. It is a
notional unit until manifest by the dancer when it becomes
visible. The units materialise across the shared space, within
the kinesphere, from one kinesphere into the shared space, and
vary in size, direction, axis and location.
The performance of choreutic units has an actualand a virtual
component which is the area of study called manner of
i)

b)

c)

materialisation.

d)
e)

Choreutic units occur in sequential and simultaneous clusters.

Clusters are a significant part of the choreographic process.
11. REFERENCES

Bachelard, Gaston, ThePoeticsof Space,Trans. Maria Jolas. Boston: Beacon

Press, 1958.
in Sneakers.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1980.
Banes, Sally, Terpsichore
Cohen, Selma Jeanne (ed.), "Time to Walk in Space, Merce Cunningham",
DancePerspectives
34, Summer 1968 (New York).

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DANCE RESEARCH

Hall, Edward T., TheSilentLanguage.New York: Anchor Press, 1959.

Humphrey, Doris, TheArtof MakingDances.New York: Grove, 1959.
Kirstein, L. and Stuart, M., TheClassicBallet.New York: Knopf, 1972.
Klee, Paul, The Diariesof Paul Klee.Ed. Felix Klee, Los Angeles: University
of California Press, 1964.
Ed. Lisa Ullmann. London: Macdonald & Evans,
Laban, Rudolf, Choreutics,
1966.
Langer, Susanne K., Feelingand Form.London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1953.
Lawson, Joan, The Principlesof ClassicalDance. London: Adam & Charles
Black, 1979.
Dance.New York: Abbeville Press, 1978.
Livet, Anne (ed.), Contemporary
Lucas, J. R., A Treatiseon TimeandSpace.London: Methuen & Co, 1973.
Lyons, J., "Human Language" in R. Hinde (ed.), Non-VerbalCommunication.
Cambridge: University Press, 1972.
Preston-Dunlop, Valerie, "An Investigation into the Spontaneous Occurrence of Fragments of Choreutic Forms in Choreographed Dance
Works". Unpubl. dissertation, University of London, 1978.
Preston-Dunlop, Valerie (ed.) Dancing and Dance Theory.London: Laban
Centre, 1979.
Preston-Dunlop, Valerie, "The Nature of the Embodiment of Choreutic
Units in Contemporary Choreography". Unpubl. Doctrinal thesis, London: Laban Centre, 1981.
Shahn, B., The Shape of Content.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1957.

The dancers in the photographs are Dance Theatre students, Laban Centre
for Movement and Dance.
88

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