Dance Techniques 2010

Barbara Passow — Jooss–Leeder Technique
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3. Movement phrasing—eight fundamental qualities:
The basic components for a movement sequence’s
variation on qualities and dynamic modulation are
energy, the movement initiation, and speed. Eight fundamental
movement qualities can be derived by combining
the components’ characteristics. A movements’
dynamic shadings and phrasing can be derived by
using these combinations, as listed in Table 2 below.
In summary, Passow’s training program contains the
following fundamental types of movements:
→ Whole–body movement shapes initiated centrally
and peripherally, as well as isolated partial–body
movements;
→ Torso mobility: torso bends and leans, as well as
successive rolling upwards and downwards;
→ Weight–shifts and releases in various directions and
levels;
→ Stability / Instability: fall and recovery movements,
flexible and stable leans, tilts, center and off–center
turns;
→ Foot positioning, gesture leg movements, and attitudes;
→ Step movements and sequences (with directional
changes and frontal changes);
→ One and two–legged jumps and / or landings;
→ Falls and changes in body position (floorwork);
→ Swings and swinging movements;
→ Waves and impulse movements.
A wide range of exercise sequences and complex movement
combinations can be created by selecting movement
forms and motifs from the various element groups. These
represent a systematically structured exercise program in
which the dance’s expressive quality is experienced by accessing
a spectrum of variations as well as precise execution.
Beyond acquiring these qualities and skills through the
involvement with the Jooss–Leeder Technique in Passow’s
classes, students are also made aware of fundamental technical
movement principles; for example, alignment and
centering, pelvis positioning, outward rotation in the pelvic
joint, stable–labile (center and off–center), economy of
movement, etc. In class students are able to experience the
key features and peculiarities of this technique, and able to
understand analogies by learning various ways of executing
different movements (for instance, different types of
curves or approaches to contractions, regulation of tension,
and understandings of release).
Table 2: Eight Movement Qualities 24
Movement qualities
Energy / Intensity
strong
weak
Spatial Initiation / Design
central
peripheral
Speed / Time
quick
slow
1 strong central slow
2 weak peripheral quick
3 strong peripheral slow
4 weak central quick
5 strong central quick
6 weak peripheral slow
7 strong peripheral quick
8 weak central slow