1. Sabine Lesenne
slesenne@gmail.com
twitter: @slesenne
« Writing movement : kinetography Laban and
traditional Dance in Chad. »
A work in progress
Congrès WRAB Paris 2014

2. The Origins of the research
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My practice
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A meeting
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Research on writing (PhD, 2009)
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Cinetography Laban training (Dance and music
academy of Paris) CNSMDP

3. How analyse these dances?
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System of Laban notation
- the philosophy: body experience in an Holistic way : dance, body in
work situation (effort theory), impact of environnement on bodies
(modernity, urbanisation)
- Gradually he symbolises movement and gesture with a writing
system
- decomposition of gestures
- a score of body movement like a score in music

4. A score example: a walk with arm movement

5. --> I need to understand, how to decompose
movement in Chadian dances
--> be careful of westerner interpretation of
movement and body representation

6. The effort
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Understand movement (at work) in factory
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quality of movement
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Vary the rhythms

7. The effort
"The study of movement deals with the spatial order of the
limbs' trajectories in the kinesphere; it also deals with the
relationship between the outward appearance of the movement
and the internal attitude of the person moving. This attitude is
apparent not only in the choice of trajectory or the use of a
certain limb, but also in the dynamic accentuations that are
chosen." Rudolf Laban "Dynamic Spaces"
« L’étude du mouvement traite de l’ordre spatial des trajets que les membres
effectuent dans la kinesphère; elle traite aussi de la relation entre l’aspect extérieur
du mouvement et l’attitude intérieur de celui qui bouge. Cette attitude ne se révèle
pas seulement dans le choix d’un certain trajet ou dans l’usage d’un certain membre,
mais se caractérise aussi par le choix des accentuations dynamiques." Laban,
Espaces Dynamiques

8. The effort
Axes of analysis in "effort": The time, the space, the weight, the
flow
links between movement and symbolic, signification of
choregraphy
- space: direct or indirect
- time: sudden or suspended
- weight: heavy (farm) or light
- flow: free or controled

9. The effort
●
Exemple 1: "Strike(Knock)"
space: direct
time: sudden
weight: ferme
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Example n°2: "dust"
Space: direct
time: sudden
weight: léger
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Example n°3: "shake (tremble)"
Space: direct
time: sudden
flow: free

10. African dances
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variety
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Flow of energy
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Symbolization of the immediate environment
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Links with cultures or ritual
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African Ballets:
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following the independence of the country
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an artistic mediation to the Chadian traditional
dances

11. Data
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Studied Collection (3 hours)
--> National Ballet of Chad dances
Ritual dances
Festives dances
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Youtube Vidéo

12. 6 dances by national ballet of Chad

13. Méthodology
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●
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Intensive viewing (analysed by effort grid)
Interviews with Chadian artists and dancers
(contextual information)
Synthesis of information

14. First results
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Esthetic of energy
Importance of the free flow,
origin of movement in vertebral spine
●
Versus Esthetics of the shape in classical
dance

15. ●
Vertebral spine

16. Breastbone and pelvis: two motors
(dynamic centers) in African dance

17. Breastbone and pelvis: two motors
(dynamic centers) in African dance
Kolbet dance
Male initiatory dance (exit of initiation; Need to reassure;
Reinstatement in the community)
South of the country
Serenity / lightness (Symbolized by the feather)
Rooting in the ground (The energy comes from
the ground)

18. Knowledge of the gesture: repetition
& Symbolic movement
●
●
●
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Spiritual context (perfect knowledge + places in
the improvisation)
Incorporated understanding
The African traditional dancer is in perpetual
dialogue with the cosmos, and as in any
language, he respects the "words" but
improvises, creates his "sentence" (Alfonse
Tiérou)
Baoundaye dance: Agrarian rite

19. Example: Baoundaye dance

20. ●
Bayan Dance: Dance of feminine initiation
Rooting in the ground
Secret of feminine ritual

21. Example: Bayan dance

22. Rythm dances: origin of tap dance ?
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The body as the musical instrument
The flow is not free any more but "controlled"
by the collective musical rhythm
Mbébé dance:

23. Mbébé Dance:

24. And so what?
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Laban --> The consideration of the internal and
foreign aspects in the approach of the
movement
Allows to consider the movement danced as an
EXPERIENCE in the phenomenological sense
of the term
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A display of living ( Derrida), a writing, a
registration

25. Writing traditional african dance?
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What the Chadian dances register :
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Energy --> motif notation
symbol (by repetition) --> traditional Laban Score +
effort symbol
musical space --> rythm notation
Ontology creation for digitalization of a video
collection (with FMSH Paris)