By: John Byrne
Last night I dreamt I was on a roller coaster. I was moving through the sky in a dance to music. The strange thing was, I wasn’t doing any work, but I was having the sensation of dancing. I was not moving my body…the roller coaster was moving ME.
This got me thinking: what is the difference between moving a body and moving a body through space..
There are two types of movement. Axial and Locomotor. Axial movement happens in a stationary place and locomotor movement travels through space.
When you raise your arm, bend your knees, or even turn your head, you are performing an axial movement. Simply walk across the room and you are doing locomotor movement!
An experienced choreographer will have a strong understanding of these two different forms of movement, and he will implement this in his work. He will know that it is not only important to design the body but also to design the body through space.
One of the best examples of a choreographer who designs complex and brilliant axial movement is Camille Brown. You can see an example of this in a solo from Camille Brown’s BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play: now playing at the JOYCE Theatre in New York.
Great examples of choreographers who use locomotive movement in their dance making include Paul Taylor, Pina Bausch, Trisha Brown and Lar Lubovitch.
Enjoy how Paul Taylor not only focuses on the dancers’ individual movement, but how the dancers move through space in groups and relate to each other! See this in an excerpt for Paul Taylor’s piece, Promethean Fire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-KFRwETojc