Dance Techniques 2010

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Observation Techniques
centers. Simpler and (in part) manual instruments are, however, also available at larger
dance institutions. 37
The knowledge gained from biomechanical research, however, has already made its
way into many contemporary dance techniques, especially those techniques that base
their understanding of movement and forms of conveyance explicitly on information
about the human movement apparatus. An example of this would be Axis Syllabus, a
movement and movement observation training developed by dancer and choreographer
Frey Faust. It uses the practical application of anatomical, biomechanical, and physical
knowledge during class to find and train ‘healthy’ (meaning with respect for the body and
its movement principles) movement solutions. 38
Cognitive research has its own viewpoint toward movement that, in turn, has a special
effect on dance training—combining experimental psychology with biomechanical
analysis methods. At Bielefeld University, for example, neuroscientists and movement
scientists have joined dance practitioners to explore questions about the structure of
human movement, especially researching movement control and acquisition. A project
team directed by Bettina Bläsing, specifically researching dance movement, was able to
show that subjects with greater dancing abilities had more differentiation and were more
strongly function–oriented in the mental representation of movement processes in long–
term memory than was the case for novices or beginners. 39 These results, along with
further studies, 40 suggest how a mental dance training might look like when adapted to
an individual’s unique movement memory. Research in Bielefeld also reconfirmed that
when one trains a movement process mentally, one also trains motor execution, and
vice–versa. 41 In addition to knowledge about the body’s anatomical, physiological, and
mechanical properties, knowledge about cognitive and neuronal regulation can also be
used to make dance training more effective for the teacher’s and dancer’s respective goals,
and to optimize physical processes.
Observation Techniques: This overview has characterized movement analysis as a
process that can be supported by a series of trainable ‘techniques’, each of which represent
their own specific view of movement and provide the appropriate observation tools.
The individual method must be chosen by the observer and fine–tuned to the dance technique
being examined, the individual goals, and the overriding analytic strategy. Analyzing
movement is thus a creative process in and of itself. This essay only presents a
selection of the most common movement analysis methods—they can be combined and
further developed. 42 Analysis itself can also create and form movement knowledge, as
well as movement processes.
My thanks to the experts Bettina Bläsing, Henner Drewes, and Claudia Jeschke, all of whom responded to
questions about various analytical methods.
37 There are, additionally, initial attempts to
develop measuring instruments that dancers
can use in their everyday lives: for instance,
a force platform in the form of a ‘force mat’
that the owner can easily roll up and store
after measuring the pressure dis-tribution on
the soles of his or her feet during a relevé.
A prototype of such a mat has been developed
by the Ambient Intelligence Group, which
is part of the excellence cluster Cognitive Interaction
Technology (CITEC) at the Bielefeld
University.
38 An anatomical–physiological type of
observation is increasingly characterizing contemporary
dance training; it is firmly anchored
in many techniques that take a somatic approach
(see the essay by Irene Sieben).
Gill Clark’s teaching can be exemplary here for
the specific work with anatomical knowledge:
see Gill Clarke—Minding Motion / Concept
and Ideology and her class on the DVDs.
In contrast to other movement analysis methods,
anatomy classes are almost universally
a part of dance universities’ curricula.
39 To get these results, the researchers
compared the biomechanical data of
executed movements with data that provided
information about the mental representation
of the process in the subjects’ long–term
memory; see Bläsing 2010, pp. 87–92.
40 See, for instance, Thomas Schack:
‘Building blocks and architecture of dance’.
In: Bläsing et. al., pp. 11–39.
41 Martin Puttke—dancer, dance teacher,
ballet director, and cooperation partner of
Bettina Bläsing—has already integrated a
corresponding, self–developed mental training
form in his ballet teaching; see Martin Puttke:
‘Learning to dance means learning to think!’
In: Bläsing et. al., pp. 101–114.
42 The questions used as the basis for the
research projects collected in this book
provide a good example of how elements of
different observation methods can be
combined and used to create a movement–
analysis framework. Observations that
resulted are primarily documented in the subsections
of Movement Characteristics
and Physicality. (See Diehl’s/Lampert’s introduction
about the creation of the question
catalog.) Based on the research projects,
it also becomes clear that movement analysis
is just one building block for analyzing dance
training and the interpretation of a dance
technique: Methodological, didactical, historical,
conceptual, ideological, social, psychological,
etc. aspects must additionally be researched
and considered with respect to their
effects on the movement and its aesthetic—
which occurs exemplary in this publication.