Full Description
Group Motion--an improvisational dance performance practice--represents fifty years of co-creation by the authors, with the participation of thousands of dancers, musicians, videographers and others around the globe. Informed by Mary Wigman's expressionist dance and other contemporary dance and theater traditions, Group Motion has brought dance not only to stages worldwide, but also to public parks, prisons and airports.
Part memoir, part guidebook, part philosophy of art treatise, this book provides step-by-step guidance to dozens of improvisational structures or games for dance professionals, theater artists, musicians and other performers who use movement for creative expression.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
The Origins of Group Motion
Group Motion in Practice
Dance Is My Life: Brigitta's Story
Running into Dance: Manfred's Story
Group Motion Performance Stories
Part I. Group Motion Game Structures
Solo/Duet
Active-Passive
Activation
Mirror
Closing Your Eyes
Self Portrait Dance
Solo Dance/Writing
Dialogue
Connected to Strings
Self-Activation
Breathing Movement
Final Reflections on Solo/Duet Forms
Circle
Impulse
Name Game
Adding
Final Reflections on Circle Forms
Space
Areas
Crystallization
The Grid
Shadow Dance
Exchange Game
Moving or Being Still
Triangle/Diamond Dance
Group Dialogue/Trialogue Dance
Final Reflections on Space Forms
Sound
Time Dance
Message Dance
Receiving Sound Energy
Conducting Sound Energy
Sound Activation/Soundscapes
Words into Sounds
Final Reflections on Sound Forms
Word
Traveling Landscapes
Say What You Do
Word/Movement Mirror
Chat Room
Writing Process and Activation
Textography
Storytelling Dance
Alter Ego Monologue
Alter Ego Dialogue
Final Reflections on Word Forms
Ritual
House or Village Square Dance
Object Dance
Group Activations
Tableaux Stills
Group Tableaux Travel
Evolution Cycle
Past Lives Circle
Doing Nothing: The Dance of Stillness
Game Sequences
Introduction to the Friday Night Workshop
Model of Group Motion on a Friday Night
The Significance of Ritual Dances
Part II. Group Motion Practices
Eight Therapeutic Principles of Group Motion
The Partnership of Dance and Music
A Process of Collective Creation
Community Performance Project
Monday Night Improv Lab
Moving Beyond the Games
Reflection on the Practice of Free Improvisation
Practice of Interaction with Technology
Part III. Closing Conversations and Meditations
Cooperation: The Universal Creative Principle
Dance as a Vehicle for Understanding Human Nature
The Awakening of the Body in the Technological Age
The Art of Dance and Transformation
The Art of Free Improvisation
From Then to Now and There to Here
Dance as an Art Form
Dance Is a Way of Life
Appendix I: Dance Chronology: Brigitta Herrmann
Appendix II: Theater and Dance Chronology: Manfred Fischbeck
Bibliography
Index
